Syria’s Socially Mediated Civil War
Sheldon Himelfarb, the director of USIP’s PeaceTech Initiative, which sponsored the research, talked with Syria Deeply about his team’s process and findings.
Latest Publications
Crimea Seizure: A Policy Struggle Five Years Later
Five years after Russian forces took Crimea from Ukraine, the international community is still struggling with how to respond to a major power seizing another country’s territory for the first time since World War II and the founding of the United Nations, a senior State Department official said.
Amb. Bill Taylor on Russia’s Annexation of Crimea
On the five-year anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Amb. Taylor—a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine—explains why it has been so difficult for Ukraine and its allies to oust Russia from the Ukrainian territory. “Sadly … the people of Crimea are worse off than they were five years ago,” while the West continues to struggle with how to respond to Moscow’s territorial grab.
The Fatemiyoun Army: Reintegration into Afghan Society
Since 2013, as many as 50,000 Afghans have fought in Syria as part of the Fatemiyoun, a pro-Assad force organized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. Based on field interviews with former fighters and their families, this Special Report examines the motivations of members of the Afghan Shia Hazara communities who joined the Fatemiyoun as well as the economic and political challenges of reintegrating them into Afghan society.
Violent Extremism and Community Policing in Tanzania
After the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi and the increasing presence of al-Shabaab in nearby countries, Tanzania turned to community policing as a way of responding to the threat of violent extremism. But is it having the desired outcome? This new report, based on workshops and interviews with police, community leaders, and others, examines the challenges and potential of community policing in addressing Tanzania’s public safety and security concerns.
Patricia Kim on North Korea Diplomacy
Patricia Kim analyzes the failure of the Hanoi Summit. “China should lean in,” says Kim discussing the spectrum of tools Beijing has available from diplomacy to unilateral sanctions. In future negotiations, the U.S. should focus on “hammering out a clearly defined and time bound roadmap that ends with the de-nuclearization of North Korea.”