Publications
Articles, publications, books, tools and multimedia features from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest news, analysis, research findings, practitioner guides and reports, all related to the conflict zones and issues that are at the center of the Institute’s work to prevent and reduce violent conflict.
Are China and the Philippines on a Collision Course?
Tensions between China and the Philippines have sharply escalated in recent months over territorial disputes in the South China Sea that could draw in the United States.
Will Sweden’s NATO Membership Deter Russian Aggression?
Sweden’s flag was hoisted at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels today as the Nordic country became the 32nd member of the transatlantic military alliance. Sweden’s membership, which follows that of neighboring Finland, is a consequence of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
How China Seeks to Dominate the Information Age
A combination of U.S.-China rivalry and China’s national security goals is driving Beijing to take a more assertive approach to the governance of international common spaces — from outer space to cyberspace. China’s leaders believe the world has transitioned from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Consequently, Beijing sees the ability to generate, move, analyze and exploit information more rapidly and more accurately as the new currency of international power.
After Taiwan’s Election, China Is Now Ratcheting Up the Pressure
Beijing is intensifying its pressure on Taiwan’s freshly elected president, William Lai Ching-te. Instead of relying on conventional military or economic pressures, however, Beijing has employed multifaceted tools of coercion to demonstrate disapproval of the January election results. Although China is carefully calibrating its behavior to avoid provoking Taipei or the United States, Beijing’s efforts to gradually change the status quo and erase the traditional boundaries between Taiwan and China could lead to escalated tensions and unintentional conflict.
People’s Relations: Moving Between Taiwan and China
From 1945 to 1949, an estimated million-plus people from China arrived in Taiwan. The newcomers joined an existing population of 6 million, significantly changing the demographic makeup of modern Taiwan. In this episode, we look at the stories of some of those who arrived, and how perspectives of China differ among generations and those who travel back and forth.
Thomas Sheehy on U.S. Investment in Africa’s Critical Minerals Infrastructure
Everything from the economy to national security depends on critical minerals like cobalt — which has prompted immense U.S. investment in Africa’s mining infrastructure, says USIP’s Thomas Sheehy: “Africa is seen as a continent where we can start to very slowly move away from our overdependence on China for critical minerals.”
Report of the Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its four partner countries in the Indo-Pacific—Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and New Zealand—have entered a period of increased engagement. This engagement is taking shape in the context of the war waged by the Russian Federation (Russia) against Ukraine, NATO’s growing awareness of the security challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China (China), and important structural changes in the international system, including the return of strategic competition between the United States and China and Russia. It is occurring not only in bilateral NATO-partner relations but also between NATO and these Indo-Pacific countries as a group.
Two Years Later, What Has the Indo-Pacific Strategy Achieved?
This month marks the second anniversary of the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS). USIP experts Carla Freeman, Mirna Galic, Daniel Markey, and Vikram Singh assess what the strategy has accomplished in the past two years, how it has navigated global shocks and its impact on partnerships in the region.
Malaita and the Provincial-National Divide in Solomon Islands
In 2019, Malaita Province in Solomon Islands made geopolitical headlines when its former premier, Daniel Suidani, came out against the country’s closer bilateral relations with China. As a result of his stance, Suidani was removed from his position in February 2023.
Economic Coercion: Diversifying and Derisking from China
China has a track record of banning products from Taiwan, including fish, alcohol, fruits and other agricultural goods. In this episode, we examine how China uses trade to try to influence Taiwan and how Taiwan pushes back.