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.
Planning for the Unforeseen
The "Mass Atrocity Prevention and Response Options Tabletop Exercise," held June 12 and 13 at USIP, brought together key government agencies for an exercise designed to build relationships between agencies and help participants become more comfortable with planning for a potential mass atrocity in the fictional country of Atropia.
Democratic Breakthroughs: The Ingredients of Successful Revolts
Although each revolution is different, each successful case of democratic breakthrough shares common domestic and international influences. This report examines 11 cases of past successes at removing autocratic regimes and establishing elections. It then applies its findings to the emerging revolutions of the Arab Spring.
Mutual Accountability
This paper builds on remarks on mutual accountability at the July 18 U.S. Institute of Peace panel discussion “From Transition to the Transformation Decade: Afghanistan’s Economic and Governance Agenda after Tokyo” (second session on “Filling the trust gap—what does ‘mutual accountability’ mean, what are the first steps, what is the role of civil society?”). The views expressed in this brief do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Institute of Peace, which does not take policy positi...
Managing a Mediation Process
Managing the Mediation Process offers an overview of the process of mediating interstate and intrastate conflicts. Each of its six chapters covers a different step in the process, identifying what needs to be done at that step and how best to accomplish it.
Managing Public Information in a Mediation Process
Managing Public Information in a Mediation Process, the second handbook in the Peacemaker's Toolkit series, helps mediators identify and develop the resources and strategies they need to reach these audiences. It highlights essential information tasks and functions, discusses key challenges and opportunities, and provides expert guidance on effective approaches. Examples from past mediations illustrate how various strategies have played out in practice.
The Meaning of Munich Fifty Years Later
In an era of changing world power balances, what lessons can NATO draw from the Munich accords of 1930?
Morality and Foreign Policy: Realpolitik Revisited
Focusing on post-World War II American foreign policy and its intellectual architect, George Kennan, this volume explores the moral dimensions of realpolitik and the ethical dilemmas posed by present-day politics. Is Kennan responsible for persuading the U.S. foreign policy establishment that morality should go by the wayside? Or was Kennan right to regard as "presumptuous" the idea that Americans should tell other societies how to behave? Kennan gives his own influential view in an article r...
My Kashmir
The picturesque Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, for centuries a model of harmony and coexistence, has been ravaged by conflict for sixty years, caught in a tug-of-war between historical rivals India and Pakistan. Now that both nations are nuclear powers, some see the Kashmir issue as a flash point for what could become a nuclear war. In My Kashmir, Wajahat Habibullah lays out the intricate web of issues at the root of the conflict: ethnicity, religion, national identity, friction between n...
The Role of Civilian and Military Agencies in the Advancement of America's Diplomatic and Development Objectives
George Moose, vice chair of USIP's board of directors, testified on March 5, 2009 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations on "The Role of Civilian and Military Agencies in the Advancement of America's Diplomatic and Development Objectives." The hearing focused on the role of the military and civilian agencies in U.S. foreign policy, in permissive and nonpermissive environments. Like Moose, the Subcommittee's Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Ranking Member ...
U.S.-Iran Relations
Briefing before the bipartisan Congressional briefing series sponsored by Congressmen Howard Berman (D-CA) and Chris Shays (R-CT) on the rising tensions in U.S.-Iran relations over Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iran’s nuclear ambitions featuring Suzanne Maloney, co-chair of USIP’s Iran Policy Forum, and the International Crisis Group.