Afghanistan Media Assessment

Afghanistan Media Assessment

Monday, December 13, 2010

By: Eran Fraenkel;  Emrys Shoemaker;  Sheldon Himelfarb

This report was commissioned by the United States Institute of Peace’s Center of Innovation for Media, Conflict, and Peacebuilding. It assesses Afghanistan’s media sector through a new tool developed by USIP, which combines elements of a traditional media assessment with conflict analysis.

Type: Peaceworks

Peace, Inc.

Peace, Inc.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

By: Sheldon Himelfarb;  Anand Varghese

To make their mark, the architects of peacebuilding's bleeding edge need to leave the government payroll and start their own industry.

Type: Analysis

Nonviolent Action

Media That Moves Millions

Media That Moves Millions

Friday, January 17, 2014

By: Sheldon Himelfarb;  Sean Aday

Three years to the month since protests swept across the Middle East, the new year once again sees peaceful demonstrators facing off against hardened and sometimes violent security forces, this time in the Ukraine. And like in the Arab Spring, social media is being said to play a significant and potentially decisive role in empowering Euromaidan protesters in ways that couldn't have been imagined a decade ago.

Type: Analysis

Can You Help Me Now?

Can You Help Me Now?

Monday, November 15, 2010

By: Sheldon Himelfarb with contributions from Cecilia Paradi-Guilford

The United States Institute of Peace, in conjunction with Mobile Accord, TechChange, the UN-mandated University for Peace, and the National Defense University, hosted a Smart Tools for Smart Power event on June 24, 2010, entitled “Can You Help Me Now? Mobile Phones and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan.” The meeting brought together a cross section of the leading innovators in the use of mobile phones in difficult environments with Afghanistan specialists and government policymakers. This report s...

Type: Special Report

Iran’s Disputed Election

Monday, June 22, 2009

By: Dan Brumberg;  Steve Heydemann;  Sheldon Himelfarb;  Asieh Mir

Posted: June 22, 2009 Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on June 19 called for an end to the political demonstrations that have engulfed Tehran – and riveted the world -- for the past week. In his first public response to the political unrest, Khamenei warned those participating in the protests to stay off the streets, blaming foreign leaders and the media for exploiting differences within Iran’s political sphere to destabilize the country.  He furthermore warned protesters they...

Type: Analysis

Media in Fragile Environments

Media in Fragile Environments

Friday, April 29, 2011

By: Eran Fraenkel;  Emrys Schoemaker;  Sheldon Himelfarb

The methodology defined in this work helps a media assessment team understand the causes of conflict in a society, identify changes that could reduce that conflict, and create media interventions that help realize those changes. 

Type: Book

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Media as Global Diplomat

Media as Global Diplomat

Monday, June 1, 2009

By: Sheldon Himelfarb;  Tamara Gould;  Eric Martin;  Tara Sonenshine

 It would be tempting to pronounce American public diplomacy dead in the 21st century. Where government once served as a powerful middleman for information and access, shaping prevailing messages about the United States, now the Internet connects two billion people directly. The result is a brave new world for multilateral international communication, with unprecedented power to connect and divide, spread truth and rumor, and organize dispersed individuals for good, evil, and everything in be...

Type: Special Report

The Parochial Web

The Parochial Web

Monday, January 13, 2014

By: Anand Varghese

In July 2010, renowned Internet research scholar Ethan Zuckerman gave a TED Talk on “Listening to Global Voices.” He describes how, while the infrastructure of the Internet might create new opportunities for us to have conversations across geographic and cultural boundaries, in reality, we tend to connect with people most like us. As in the offline world, on the Internet, birds of a feather flock together.

Type: Analysis

Promoting Legal Awareness in Afghanistan through Radio Programming

After traveling to Afghanistan to conduct an in-depth media evaluation, the Center is working with local partners to use edutainment to address the challenges of dealing with Afghanistan’s multiple informal and formal judicial sectors through a serial radio drama. The Center is also using new technology and radio to provide youth with the capability to inform others on legal issues and solutions.

USIP in 2012: Year in Review

Thursday, December 20, 2012

From the idea of an interfaith center in Baghdad to prospective programs encouraging Burmese media to contribute to peace, USIP experts discuss conflict resolution and peacebuilding efforts in 2012 and plans for this new year in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Burma, the two Sudans and more.

Type: Analysis