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.
The Way Forward: Building Libya’s New Security Forces
While the new Libyan leadership may come up with an interim security plan, which could include an international peacekeeping force, a long-term solution will be one of the biggest issues facing the new leadership.
What’s Next for the New Libya
Of all the issues facing Libya’s new, nominal leadership, one that may be the most pressing, yet less conspicuous, is the growing dissension among Libyan youth. Even as changes from the revolution sweep Libya, many youth have begun to feel the new leadership feels a bit like the old.
Helping Libya’s New Leaders Move from Euphoria to Reform
USIP’s Colette Rausch, director of USIP’s Rule of Law Center of Innovation, discusses the situation in Libya and what issues Libyans will have to address after Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi is out of power. While no two countries are exactly alike, USIP’s Rule of Law Center has been there before – helping countries like Nepal, Kosovo and Iraq as they navigated the minefield that is a transition from dictatorships to civil societies.
Justice and Security Dialogue: A New Tool for Peacebuilders
USIP’s Colette Rausch explains what Justice and Security Dialogue is and why it’s becoming a valuable tool to combat lawlessness and promote the rule of law.
Justice and Security Dialogue in Nepal
Countries emerging from conflict will never achieve either security or justice unless civil society and security agencies learn to work together. This report describes a new approach to promoting dialogue and cooperation that has enabled the Nepal Police and local communities to bridge the gulf of mistrust and together start tackling crime and instability. This approach is now being customized to work in other war-torn societies.
USIP's Afghan Rule of Law at Work: Strengthening Long-Term Security
USIP was among the first organizations to focus on law and justice issues in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks and the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida in 2001. Since 2002, USIP has been studying traditional dispute resolution in the country.
Laws of War
An American Red Cross survey released this spring shows that 59 percent of American youth believe there are times when it is “acceptable” to torture the enemy. And only one in five American youth is familiar with the Geneva Conventions, last revised in 1949, that define the way civilians and military personnel are to be treated in war.
Religion and Peacebuilding in Egypt
Religious tensions in Egypt recently erupted into violence at two churches near Cairo, highlighting the importance of interfaith dialogue. Read about USIP's work to improve Coptic-Muslim relations in Egypt.
Traveling toward the Rule of Law in the Middle East and North Africa: Avenues and Obstacles
This brief was written by the director of USIP’s Rule of Law Center of Innovation and three of the center’s senior advisers: Colette Rausch, Jason Gluck, Vivienne O’Connor and Scott Worden. The authors’ analysis is informed by their knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa and their firsthand experiences in promoting the rule of law in transitional states such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo and Nepal.
Strengthening Justice and Security in the Himalayas
The U.S. Institute of Peace has unveiled a pathbreaking survey of attitudes toward the police, justice and rule of law in politically troubled Nepal, an effort that could help guide reforms needed to tame the violence and corruption plaguing the Himalayan nation’s young democracy.