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.
From Conflict in the Streets to Peace in the Society
From Hong Kong’s boulevards and Nairobi’s Uhuru Park to the maidans of Kyiv, Cairo and Tunis, millions of people have massed in recent years to demand greater democracy and transparency from their governments. Dozens of similar campaigns have been fought more quietly. A quarter-century of worldwide growth in such non-violent civil resistance movements has sharpened a question both for their activists and for practitioners of traditional peacebuilding: How can such resistance movements and conflict-resolution work be combined to build more stable, democratic societies?
Women and Violent Extremism: A Growing Threat Demands Concerted Action
The extremist organization ISIS manipulates gender dynamics far better than its opponents often understand. It recruits young men with promises of control over women and uses mass rape as a form of cohesion. At the same time, it lures isolated women with appeals to enlarge their lives by joining a cause. Policymakers seeking to address the role of women in countering violent extremism must take an equally layered, multi-pronged approach to gender, according to experts from government, the Uni...
Nigeria's Buhari Presses for Military Aid, Pledges 'Zero Tolerance' for Corruption
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said his new government will “do what it takes” to defeat the extremist violence of Boko Haram, and he bluntly called on the U.S. to ease its restrictions on providing the weapons that his military needs to prevail in the fight. In an address at the U.S. Institute of Peace today, he also reaffirmed “zero tolerance” for corruption and pledged to restore trust in the country’s governance.
New U.N. Goals Highlight Danger of 'State Fragility' to Development
A new set of development goals that will be adopted by the world’s heads of state at the United Nations in September highlights the crucial problem of “fragile states” and the need to strengthen their governance, according to experts including current and former top diplomats and USIP President Nancy Lindborg.
After Ireland Vote: Various Roads to LGBTI Rights
Following Ireland’s constitutional referendum to legalize same-sex marriage, the newly appointed senior U.S. diplomat on human rights for gender minorities said he is “incredibly optimistic” about the prospects for the global campaign to guarantee such protections. Still, U.S. Special Envoy Randy Berry and an international group of activists said May 26 that gender-rights movements in many countries face tougher political landscapes than in Ireland and must rely heavily on more legalistic app...
Burundi Unrest Evokes Hurdles for U.S. in Preventing Threats
The attempted coup in the tiny African country of Burundi, after weeks of unrest that has killed more than 20 people, provided immediate examples of quandaries for peacebuilding during a discussion at USIP this week: how U.S. diplomacy can emphasize prevention to counter threats, and how best to support young people to deter dangerous forms of extremism.
Rebuilding Nepal, from the Government Up
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that wreaked havoc in Kathmandu has opened up an opportunity for the reform the country so desperately needs.
A Rising Challenge: the World’s 'Fragile' States
America’s foreign interests, including its security, increasingly are challenged by the world’s “fragile” states—those in which “governments are weak, ineffective or disconnected from their people,” according to Nancy Lindborg, president of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Across the world, it is in such fragile states that poverty and violent conflict are becoming concentrated, Lindborg said in speeches this month in Texas.
Afghan President: Pakistan Is Why Peace with Taliban Is Possible
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has declared himself “cautiously optimistic” that he can get Pakistan’s help to negotiate a peaceful end to Afghanistan’s 13-year-old Taliban insurgency. Tonight he explained why.
Afghan President Ghani’s Message in U.S. Visit: Help Us Stand on Our Own Feet
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani likely will use his first visit to Washington since taking office to thank the American people for their sacrifice for the cause of peace in Afghanistan, and to appeal for steadfast backing to prevent a precipitous drawdown of U.S. civilian and military support that could plunge his country back into a bloody civil war. According to experts at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Ghani will emphasize that Afghanistan’s new leadership is committed to reforming government,...