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.
In Venezuela, Nonviolent Action Is Key to a Negotiated Democratic Transition
On July 28, Venezuela held one of the most consequential elections in its history. The country’s political opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado, overcame popular disillusionment, political divides and a rigged electoral system to earn a landslide victory for its unity candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. According to one civil society group, estimates “extrapolated from the official vote count receipts” from a representative sample of local voting centers give González 66% of the vote. Venezuela’s opposition met the moment with an inspired pro-democracy campaign.
En Venezuela, la acción no violenta es clave para una transición democrática negociada
El 28 de julio, Venezuela celebró una de las elecciones más importantes de su historia. La oposición política del país, liderada por María Corina Machado, superó la desilusión popular, las divisiones políticas y un sistema electoral amañado para obtener una aplastante victoria para su candidato de unidad, Edmundo González Urrutia. Según un grupo de la sociedad civil, los cálculos «extrapolados de los recibos oficiales del conteo de votos» de una muestra representativa de centros de votación locales otorgan a González el 66% de los votos. La oposición venezolana respondió al momento con una inspirada campaña prodemocracia.
¿Qué papel pueden desempeñar los movimientos sociales noviolentos en procesos de paz?
Cuando comenzaron las negociaciones entre el gobierno colombiano y el grupo armado de las FARC en 2013, apenas había una mujer entre los 20 negociadores. Dos años más tarde, el 20% de los negociadores del gobierno y el 43% de los negociadores de las FARC eran mujeres. Su participación amplió la agenda de las negociaciones que desembocaron en el histórico acuerdo de paz de 2016, que incluía importantes provisiones en materia de género. La participación de las mujeres en el proceso de paz de Colombia constituyó un claro éxito en la construcción de paz, y fue posible gracias a una coalición nacional de mujeres muy diversa, que se movilizó para insistir en unas negociaciones que incluyeran la perspectiva de género.
What Role Can Nonviolent Social Movements Play in Peace Talks?
When negotiations between the Colombian government and the rebel FARC group kicked off in 2013, only one of the 20 negotiators was a woman. Two years later, 20 percent of government negotiators and 43 percent of FARC negotiators were women. Their participation broadened the agenda of the talks that led to the historic 2016 peace accord, which included important gender provisions. Women’s participation in the Colombia peace process was a clear peacebuilding success — and it was ultimately made possible by a diverse national women’s coalition, which mobilized to insist on gender-inclusive negotiations.
What We Know — and Don’t Know — About Religion and Nonviolent Action
Kenya captured the world’s attention last month as thousands of youth took to the street to protest the government’s controversial proposed tax hikes. As these demonstrations reached a boiling point in late June, the predominately Gen-Z activists received support from a somewhat unexpected ally: faith leaders.
How Nelson Mandela’s Legacy Still Resonates for Youth Movements
As December marks 10 years since the passing of Nelson Mandela, an icon of 20th-century struggles for justice and peace, a new generation of activists is building from his legacy to counter our 21st-entury crises of rising global violence. Among the signs of Mandela’s vital relevance for us now is a global, online conference to bolster nonviolent social action in pursuit of justice and peace that opens December 7, hosted by the Stanford University-based World House Project with partner groups from South Africa, India, Mexico and elsewhere.
Overcoming the Challenges of Transitional Mobilization
Nonviolent action can be a powerful way to bring about peaceful transitions from autocratic rule to democracy. But even when initially successful, movement leaders often face significant challenges, from frustrations that grievances are not addressed quickly enough to counterrevolutions aimed at restoring the authoritarian status quo. This report examines two recent transitions—the 2011 Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and Armenia’s 2018 Velvet Revolution—and presents recommendations for improving the likelihood that change initiated through nonviolent action leads to robust and lasting democracy.
Youth Activism: Balancing Risk and Reward
A striking feature of many successful nonviolent action campaigns is the outsized presence of young people, especially on the front lines. Recent history is replete with examples — mass movements in Iran, Hong Kong, Sudan, Lebanon, Algeria and others have all drawn strength from major swells of determined youth mobilization.
Women Help Nonviolent Campaigns Succeed, But Nonviolent Discipline Remains Crucial
In recent weeks, the world has watched in awe as Iranian women rise in peaceful protest against their country’s violent and patriarchal theocracy. Their courage is at once extraordinary and familiar, paralleling other inspiring episodes of women-led nonviolent activism. Indeed, women have played central roles in many of the world’s most impressive nonviolent campaigns.
Iran’s Protests ... and the Afghan Sisters Next Door
Iran’s women are seizing worldwide admiration with 26 days of courageous defiance against their authoritarian government’s violent confinement of females as second-class citizens who may not freely work, marry, divorce, travel or even be seen with their heads uncovered. Less noted are this audacious movement’s existing, and potential, connections to the tenacious, 14-month campaign by Afghan women resisting the even tighter oppression of the Taliban. Street protest slogans, social media posts and other links illustrate a synergy between the movements that both should use in the difficult task of converting their inspiring courage into real change.