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.
Illicit Drugs Are Undermining Pacific Security
A quick succession of drug busts in Fiji earlier this year — the seizure of 3.5 tons of crystal methamphetamine followed by another 1.1 tons — underscored the threat that the illicit drug trade and narco-corruption pose to the stability and security of countries and societies situated along the so-called Pacific drug highway.
How China Seeks to Dominate the Information Age
A combination of U.S.-China rivalry and China’s national security goals is driving Beijing to take a more assertive approach to the governance of international common spaces — from outer space to cyberspace. China’s leaders believe the world has transitioned from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Consequently, Beijing sees the ability to generate, move, analyze and exploit information more rapidly and more accurately as the new currency of international power.
How to Avert a Gang Takeover of Haiti
Policymakers across the Western Hemisphere were shocked this weekend by news of a concerted effort by a coalition of gangs to attack Haiti’s key infrastructure, block the capital’s airport and prevent Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning from a trip abroad. After all, the analysis went, Henry’s position seemed cemented as the deadline of February 7 — when he was supposed to hand over power to an elected government — passed with no real challenges to his rule. Now, absent an inclusive transitional arrangement that can effectively govern, the possibility of total collapse and anarchy in Haiti is ever more real.
In Congo, Peace Means a Halt to ‘Brutal, Illegal Mining’
Pétronille Vaweka, a Congolese grandmother, has mediated local peace accords in her homeland’s wars. But now, she says, one of Africa’s longest, bloodiest conflicts can be solved only if the United States and other democracies “will wake up” to protect their own economic and security interests.
After Taiwan’s Election, China Is Now Ratcheting Up the Pressure
Beijing is intensifying its pressure on Taiwan’s freshly elected president, William Lai Ching-te. Instead of relying on conventional military or economic pressures, however, Beijing has employed multifaceted tools of coercion to demonstrate disapproval of the January election results. Although China is carefully calibrating its behavior to avoid provoking Taipei or the United States, Beijing’s efforts to gradually change the status quo and erase the traditional boundaries between Taiwan and China could lead to escalated tensions and unintentional conflict.
Increasing Stability in a Deterrence Relationship with North Korea
A Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons remains a critical U.S. national security interest, but it is now a long-term interest. Because there is little possibility of disarming the regime in Pyongyang at an acceptable cost in the foreseeable future, the United States-South Korea alliance needs a strategy to coexist peacefully with a nuclear-armed North Korea.
For the Marshall Islands, Nuclear Remembrance Day Is a Painful Reminder
Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, a legacy that is commemorated today on the 70th anniversary of the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test. This nuclear legacy still reverberates in the Marshall Islands today, straining its relationship with Washington and creating a fissure that Beijing is exploiting as it seeks to increase its regional influence.
Plan for Gaza’s Future Highlights the Challenges That Lie Ahead
The document that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented to his security cabinet for discussion on February 22 may be his first formal articulation of a postwar plan for Gaza, but is largely a compilation of views that have been expressed publicly over the past few months. Accordingly, it offers few surprises, but could deepen tensions between Israel on one side and the United States and regional stakeholders on the other.
A Framework for Meaningful Economic Engagement with North Korea
North Korea has faced enormous challenges in providing health and food security for its population since its economic collapse and famine of the 1990s. A principal reason was prioritizing state security in the military-first policy under Kim Jong Il and later advancing nuclear and missile programs under Kim Jong Un. Self-reliance ideology was another important factor. In addition, the unresolved Korean War and underlying North Korean perceptions of U.S. and international hostility cast a cold shadow over diplomatic and economic cooperation.
The Limitations of India and Russia’s Transactional Relationship
Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it might seem as though ties between India and Russia have strengthened. While much of the West isolated Russia, India-Russia energy trade spiked, and India made efforts to accommodate Russia on the world stage. The two countries have also had visible public exchanges, such as a mid-January phone call between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s trip to Moscow at the end of 2023.