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.
Question And Answer
Amid a Changing Global Order, NATO Looks East
Why We Should All Worry About the China-India Border Dispute
The December 2022 clash between Chinese and Indian troops along the two countries’ 2,100-mile-long contested border — known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — highlights a worrying “one step forward, two steps back” trend. This brawl was the worst since 2020, when fighting in the Galwan Valley took the lives of 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers. Although these clashes are often followed by dialogue and other steps to reduce tensions, both sides have increasingly militarized their border policies and shown no indication of backing down. And the situation on the border remains tense, as Beijing and New Delhi are hardening their positions on either side of the LAC, with the potential for escalation between the two nuclear-armed powers.
Understanding India’s Manipur Conflict and Its Geopolitical Implications
Since May 3, the northeastern Indian state of Manipur has witnessed repeated inter-ethnic clashes primarily between two local ethnic communities, the Meitei and Kuki. The violence has resulted in over 75 deaths and the burning of at least 1,700 buildings (including homes and religious sites). More than 35,000 people are currently displaced as well, with many now living in one of the 315 relief camps in the state. As the fighting continues, these numbers may also be rising.
Time is Running Out for India’s Balancing Act on the Myanmar Border
India has had a simmering crisis on its northeastern border since the Myanmar military’s February 2021 coup d’état. Over 50,000 civilians have fled across the border from Myanmar’s Chin State and Sagaing Region into India’s northeast. New Delhi has maintained a delicate balancing act, allowing refugees into the country but refraining from political pressure on the junta and its State Administrative Council (SAC). However, as the situation in Myanmar continues to worsen, India will need to rethink its position before the fallout seriously threatens its interests.
Acclaimed Iraqi Women’s Rights Lawyer Pleads, 'Please Don’t Forget Iraq'
A poignant plea from a prominent Iraqi lawyer who was lauded this week for her community leadership illustrated the determination it takes to achieve change in the most daunting circumstances. “Please, don’t forget Iraq,” Suaad Allami told an audience at the U.S. Institute of Peace, just hours before President Barack Obama announced plans to send 300 military advisers to support her country’s security forces amid the current crisis.
Q&A: Iraq’s Spreading Turmoil
With fighting in Iraq spreading since the shocking onslaught of a militant group once aligned with al-Qaida, the country's Parliament convened this week to start forming a new government based on the April elections, only to adjourn again within hours. Sarhang Hamasaeed, a senior program officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace, explains the latest developments, the forces tearing at the country's fabric and the effects on the broader region.
Assad's Hollow Mandate
On June 3, in a parody of democracy, Bashar al-Assad will be reelected as president of Syria for his third seven-year term. If he serves out this term, Assad will be eligible to run for a fourth term in 2021 that would extend his presidency to 28 years -- two years short of his father's tenure. Syrians may yet be spared almost six decades of direct Assad family rule, but the outcome of Tuesday's vote is a foregone conclusion.
The Strategy Killer
The White House and State Department are hard at work on two major new documents that will lay the foundation for America's national security policy for the remainder of the Obama administration and possibly beyond: the National Security Strategy, rumored for release this summer, and the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), slated for release later this year. The usual bureaucratic tussles will ensue about what should and should not be included in these documents, and the admi...
Karzai: What Will History Say?
Years of suspicion and acrimony between the U.S. and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai likely will give way to a more generous reading of his tenure in the history books, according to a former United Nations official and a retired American general who led international forces there.
U.S. Africa Summit Leaders Face Weighty Agenda for Continent
President Barack Obama and African leaders attending the first U.S.-Africa Summit in Washington next month face an array of factors undermining the democratic development and economic growth achieved on the continent in recent decades, according to three former high-level U.S. officials on Africa who spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
National Security Advisor Rice Vows Long-Term Ties with Africa
National Security Advisor Susan Rice drew attention to Africa's progress in the past two decades and its possibilities for economic growth, good governance and long-term stability, in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace on the eve of next week's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.