Question And Answer
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.
Climate Change Adaptation and Conflict in Nigeria
Climate change, a growing number of voices in media and policy circles warn, is raising the risks of violent conflict in the twenty-first century. Dire futures are predicted for some of the world’s poorest, least prepared countries and their most vulnerable citizens. This report, sponsored by the Centers of Innovation at the U.S. Institute of Peace, evaluates these claims for conflict-prone Nigeria.
Conflict in the Niger Delta
This report, sponsored by the Centers of Innovation at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), draws on the experiences of the author and Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) over the past four years in the Niger Delta. During this period, conflict has escalated significantly while governance indicators, for the most part, have stubbornly refused to improve.
NGOs and Nonstate Armed Actors
Two seasoned NGOs engage nonstate combatants on international human rights law to get them to change behaviors, from eliminating use of landmines to protecting civilians. Their work can inform and complement other attempts at engagement.
A Manual to Facilitate Conversations on Religious Peacebuilding and Reconciliation
USIP has found the documentary film "The Imam and the Pastor" useful as a resource for workshops and training programs exploring themes of religious peacebuilding and inter-group reconciliation. As such, we commissioned religion and peacebuilding specialist David Steele to produce a facilitator’s manual so that others might use this documentary, and the follow-up documentary "An African Answer," in their own training and workshops.
Midterm Challenges in Nigeria
At the midpoint between presidential elections in Nigeria, the country’s leaders need to take stock of the conflict resolution mechanisms in place to deal with the political divide between north and south, Muslim and Christian, and to prevent electoral violence in 2015. Depending on how it contributes to regional balance, power sharing, and perceptions of fair play, the coming phase of party coalition building may well determine future national stability.
What’s Next for Security in the Niger Delta?
The Nigerian government’s 2009 amnesty of militants in the Niger Delta dramatically reduced the violence that had plagued the region and restored preinsurgency levels of oil production. However, many of the problems that sparked violent confrontations remain unaddressed. This new Special Report draws on the views of many sectors of Nigerian society to gauge whether peace on the delta can be sustained.
Insights
The Insights newsletter is a new USIP publication that highlights the intersection between theory and practice in the peacebuilding field on a quarterly basis.
Spring 2015 Insights Newsletter
Insights highlights major questions on the research and practice of peace and conflict, to more than 10,000 subscribers from around the world.
Women, Religion and Peacebuilding
Women, Religion, and Peacebuilding: Illuminating the Unseen examines the obstacles and opportunities that women religious peacebuilders face as they navigate both the complex conflicts they are seeking to resolve and the power dynamics in the institutions they must deal with in order to accomplish their goals.
Preventing Conflict through Participatory Urban Planning in the Niger Delta: CMAP
In Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil capital and third-largest city, up to 480,000 people living in the waterfront areas of the city face the threat of demolition from the Rivers State government. One third of the city, and 79% of Nigeria's urban population, lives in what the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) defines as “slum conditions.” Mass demolitions, even the threat of mass demolition, poses the possibility of sparking widespread conflict in a country that provides almo...