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.
Promoting Middle East Democracy: European Initiatives (Arabic Edition)
Summary With the end of the Cold War, major geopolitical shifts prompted southern Europe to reorient its strategic landscape toward the southern Mediterranean. From a European vantage point, the Mediterranean's strategic importance centers on migration, energy dependence, security/counterterrorism, and trade.
U.S.-China Cooperation on the Problem of Failing States and Transnational Threats
Summary American and Chinese perspectives on the threats and challenges emanating from failing states have been converging, especially since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States.
Promoting Values as Critical as Military Force in Combatting Terrorism, Rice Says
The war on terror is "as much a conflict of visions as a conflict of arms," said National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice during a speech at USIP.
Ijtihad: Reinterpreting Islamic Principles for the Twenty-first Century
Summary Many Muslims believe that they must choose between Islam and modernity or between Islam and democracy, but these are false choices. To reinterpret Islam for the twenty-first century, the practice of ijtihad (interpretation and reasoning based on the sacred texts) must be revived. Religious scholars effectively terminated the practice of ijtihad five hundred years ago. But the principles of interpretation are well established and the need for contemporary interpretation is co...
New USG Office to Address Need for Coordination of Post-Conflict Civilian Resources
A workshop examined the development of an Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization within the State Department.
Ijtihad: Reinterpreting Islamic Principles for the Twenty-first Century (Arabic Edition)
Summary Many Muslims believe that they must choose between Islam and modernity or between Islam and democracy, but these are false choices. To reinterpret Islam for the twenty-first century, the practice of ijtihad (interpretation and reasoning based on the sacred texts) must be revived. Religious scholars effectively terminated the practice of ijtihad five hundred years ago. But the principles of interpretation are well established and the need for contemporary interpretation is co...
Taming Intractable Conflicts
Written from the mediator's point of view, Taming Intractable Conflicts lays out the steps involved in tackling the most stubborn of conflicts. It first puts mediation in a larger context, exploring why mediators choose or decline to become involved, what happens when they get involved for the wrong reasons, and the impact of the mediator's institutional and political environment.
Downward Spiral: HIV/AIDS, State Capacity, and Political Conflict in Zimbabwe
In the post-Cold War era, diverse new threats to long-term global political and economic stability have emerged. Such threats include terrorist activities, the proliferation of nuclear technologies and delivery systems, and biological threats that include both bioweapons and naturally occurring epidemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
Serbia Takes a Step in the Right Direction
USIPBriefing analyzes the outcome of the recent presidential elections in Serbia and their likely impact.
Donor Activities and Civil Society Potential in Iraq
The $87 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004, signed by President Bush on November 6, 2003 (Public Law 108-106) made available to the United States Institute of Peace $10 million for “activities supporting peace enforcement, peacekeeping and post-conflict peacebuilding” in Iraq. Aiming at identifying areas in which the Institute might provide added value, the Institute undertook a preliminary mapping of donor ac...