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.
A New Agenda for Bosnia and Herzegovina
As concerns grow about Bosnia's post-war recovery, USIP presents its fourth report on recent developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and various options the U.S. government, Europe and Bosnia could pursue to prevent a return to violence there. In his paper, author Jim O'Brien, who served as the presidential envoy for the Balkans in the 1990s, cautions against taking a big initiative in Bosnia to head off a future crisis, but rather advocates taking on many, smaller battles that will ultimately...
Macedonia: Understanding History, Preventing Future Conflict
Ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians in the Republic of Macedonia have distinctly different but equally ethnocentric views of the causes and course of the armed conflict in 2001. These attitudes, which are largely emotionally driven and fueled by prejudice, are likely to stifle efforts to overcome existing animosities and may well sow the seeds of future conflicts.
An Ounce of Prevention
"The science of medicine was the first to discover that 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,'" Henryk Sokalski reminds us as he begins this study of a unique United Nations mission. "In the political realm, however, its full potential has yet to be realized." An Ounce of Prevention—and the UNPREDEP mission itself—begins in early 1995 with a telephone call to Sokalski at his Warsaw home from UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, and it ends several years later in a disappointing Sec...
Putting Peace into Practice: Can Macedonia's New Government Meet the Challenge?
Summary Macedonia's September 15 parliamentary elections were the first since the country narrowly avoided an all-out civil war with the brokering of the Ohrid Framework Agreement by the United States and the European Union (EU) in August 2001. Macedonia's future as a unitary state largely depends upon the successful implementation of the Framework Agreement. The underlying problems that sparked the seven-month conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and Macedonian security forces...
Taking Stock and Looking Forward: Intervention in the Balkans and Beyond
Ten years of intervention in the Balkans—beginning with European monitors in 1991, extending through the ill-fated humanitarian efforts of the UN Protection Force in Bosnia (1992–95), to the current multi-purpose interventions in Bosnia (1995), Kosovo (1999), and Macedonia (2001)—have provided the most extensive post–Cold War experience in international community efforts to stabilize a conflict zone. Where do the Balkans stand now? What more needs to be done there? What has been learned? What...
Peace Agreements: Macedonia
Framework Agreement (08-13-2001) Posted by USIP Library on: August 14, 2001 Source Name: President of the Republic of Macedonia web site: Press Releases from the Presidential Cabinet Source URL: www.president.gov.mk/eng/info/soopstenija.asp?id=90 Date Downloaded: August 14, 2001
The Future of Macedonia: A Balkan Survivor Now Needs Reform
Macedonia has managed to maintain internal stability and independence through a tumultuous decade. It now has to face crucial issues threatening the country's social peace, prosperity, and further integration into the European economy. These include establishing a more modern, civic democracy; increasing transparency and efficiency in governance; and addressing endemic corruption and public cynicism.
Peace Agreements: Macedonia-Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Agreement on the Regulation of Relations and Promotion of Cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (04-08-1996) Posted by USIP Library on: March 30, 2000 Source Name: United Nations Information Centre, Washington, D.C. Source Document Number: U.N. Doc. No. S/1996/291 Date Digitized: March 10, 2000
Macedonia: Prevention Can Work
This report focuses on recent developments in Macedonia, and seeks to identify the obstacles to and opportunities for continued democratization and greater ethnic harmony in a country that has--despite many difficulties--avoided the kind of violent conflict seen elsewhere in the Balkans during the past decade.
De-Balkanizing the Balkans: Security and Stability in Southeastern Europe
Summary In the aftermath of the Kosovo conflict, Southeastern Europe is at a crossroad. Today's historic opportunity is to create a zone of security and stability in a region that has known little of either. Otherwise, the Balkans will become a permanent black hole in the heart of Europe. The governments of Southeastern Europe, having responded positively to the West's call for cooperation during the conflict--in most cases against their own public opinion--and having incurred subst...