For Peace in Sahel, African and U.S. Experts Urge Focused Partnership

For Peace in Sahel, African and U.S. Experts Urge Focused Partnership

Thursday, February 22, 2024

By: Katia Cavigelli;  James Rupert

The past month has sharpened a decade-old question for U.S. and international policymakers: How best, in 2024, to help stabilize what is now the world’s largest single zone of military rule and violent conflicts — Africa’s Sahel region? After three military-ruled Sahel states withdrew from the West African regional community in January, those juntas last week proclaimed an alliance aimed at resisting international pressures, including those for their return to elected civilian rule. Former U.S. and African officials yesterday urged what they called vital changes in U.S. and allied policies to prevent a dangerous spread of the Sahel’s crises.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & Resilience

Riots in Papua New Guinea Are a Warning: Urgent Change is Needed

Riots in Papua New Guinea Are a Warning: Urgent Change is Needed

Thursday, January 11, 2024

By: Gordon Peake, Ph.D.

Riots erupted in Papua New Guinea's capital yesterday, laying bare the hollowness of governance that is failing to meet public needs, thus risking deeper violence and instability. U.S attention to the Pacific Islands' largest and most populous nation is increasing, partly because it is an arena for geopolitical competition with China. While Papua New Guinea's leaders are good at rolling out the red carpet for visiting partners, the state fails lamentably in providing basic services for its people. This week’s violence is a wake-up call for U.S and international policymakers to re-focus on this root of the country’s instability.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & GovernanceFragility & Resilience

From Ruins to Resilience: The Path Toward Recovery in Ukraine

From Ruins to Resilience: The Path Toward Recovery in Ukraine

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

By: Jaco Cilliers

Despite the destruction wrought by Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has continued to provide services to its people at an exemplary level throughout the war. This commendable resilience stems from significant investments and reforms made over the last 30 years. Notably, bolstering institutional capacity, the digitalization of public services, robust engagement with civil society, and a deeply rooted culture of voluntarism have all played crucial roles. Furthermore, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), where I serve as Ukraine’s resident representative, has been instrumental in building resilience across all strata of Ukrainian society.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & ResilienceReconciliation

In Earth’s Climate Crisis, Africa Demands a Fairer Sharing of Costs

In Earth’s Climate Crisis, Africa Demands a Fairer Sharing of Costs

Thursday, September 14, 2023

By: Tegan Blaine, Ph.D.;  Emmanuel Davalillo Hidalgo

Earth’s intensifying storms, heat, droughts and floods underscore that humanity is falling behind in its race against climate change. With global powers and institutions still debating how to transform economies and share the costs of surviving a destabilizing climate, the planet’s most vulnerable continent managed partial advances this month toward a regional consensus. The first-ever Africa Climate Summit amplified demands for a robust, fairer collective response to a warming planet — but fell short of forging a unified African position. Critically, it missed a chance to outline a strategy for dealing with the combined impacts of climate and violent conflicts.

Type: Analysis

EnvironmentFragility & Resilience

Six Months in, Where Does the U.S.’ Pacific Islands Strategy Stand?

Six Months in, Where Does the U.S.’ Pacific Islands Strategy Stand?

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

By: Gordon Peake, Ph.D.;  Camilla Pohle

In September 2022, the United States announced the Pacific Partnership Strategy, its first-ever roadmap for the region, amid increasing geopolitical competition between China and the United States and its partners. However, the strategy only makes one reference to Beijing — most of the text details how Washington will tackle the challenges that have been identified as priorities by the Pacific Island countries themselves, especially the climate crisis. This reflects the U.S. government’s understanding that, while some regional leaders have expressed their own concerns about China, Pacific Island countries want Washington to engage with them for their own sake, not just to counter Beijing.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & ResilienceGlobal Policy

Vice President Harris Helps Focus on Ghana, West Africa

Vice President Harris Helps Focus on Ghana, West Africa

Thursday, March 30, 2023

By: Palwasha L. Kakar;  Katie Todd

Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of Ghana this week as the place to launch her show of U.S. commitment to a new partnership with Africa can be no surprise. Ghana is one of Africa’s more established democracies and is at the center of the coastal West Africa region that the United States has targeted for focused efforts to prevent instability and the spread of extremism that is driving insurgencies in the neighboring Sahel region. As Ghana confronts that threat, notably in its vulnerable north, its community and civil society groups form an essential resource that partners should support.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & ResilienceReligion

What’s the State of Play on the Global Fragility Act?

What’s the State of Play on the Global Fragility Act?

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

By: Corinne Graff, Ph.D.

The White House’s recent release of 10-year stabilization and conflict prevention plans marks another milestone in U.S. efforts to implement the closely watched Global Fragility Act (GFA). The legislation received bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress before being signed into law by then President Donald Trump in 2019. It requires the U.S. government to develop a strategy for preventing the drivers of violent conflict and extremism, and to test a more coordinated, cost-effective and sustained U.S. approach in hot spots around the world.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & Resilience

Les Haïtiens ont-ils enfin trouvé la formule pour avancer ?

Les Haïtiens ont-ils enfin trouvé la formule pour avancer ?

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

By: Keith Mines

Les gros titres d'Haïti ont été si mauvais pendant si longtemps que peu attirent plus l'attention du monde. Il semble que presque chaque jour, il y a des histoires de dizaines de personnes tuées dans la capitale du pays ou de la Garde côtière américaine empêchant des centaines de migrants haïtiens d'atteindre les côtes américaines. Ensuite, il y a les titres les plus inquiétants qui disent que la guerre ou même un massacre à la rwandaise s’approchent parmi les « conditions cauchemardesques » du pays. Avec la situation d'Haïti apparemment plus inextricable que jamais, certains observateurs se sont demandé si le monde est tout simplement fatigué d'essayer d'aider Mais à la fin de l'année dernière, un accord peu médiatisé a été forgé par les Haïtiens - injectant une lueur d'espoir que le pays pourrait emprunter un nouveau chemin.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & GovernanceFragility & Resilience

Have Haitians Finally Found the Formula for Moving Forward?

Have Haitians Finally Found the Formula for Moving Forward?

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

By: Keith Mines

The headlines from Haiti have been so bad for so long that few get the world’s attention anymore. It seems like nearly every day there are stories of dozens being killed in the country’s capital or of the U.S. Coast Guard stopping hundreds of Haitian migrants from reaching U.S. shores. Then there are the more ominous headlines that say war or even a Rwanda-style massacre are approaching amid the countries “nightmarish conditions.” But at the end of last year, an underreported development could help put the country on a new path, injecting a glimmer of hope despite much pessimism.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & GovernanceFragility & Resilience

Fragile States Provide Extremists Fertile Ground to Recruit and Grow

Fragile States Provide Extremists Fertile Ground to Recruit and Grow

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

By: Mona Yacoubian

Editor’s Note: Below are the excerpts of an interview originally published by the European Eye on Radicalization with USIP’s Mona Yacoubian about the various drivers of terrorism and constructive ways to address the phenomenon. She says the fragility of states provide an enabling environment for terrorists to operate and underscores the various ways that extremists benefit from this environment.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & ResilienceViolent Extremism