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.
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...
Unlearning Violence: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us that “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…” So when we see steps toward justice and a narrative of hope returning to a country worn by violence and conflict, those of us in the peacebuilding field feel reinvigorated. We were fortunate to see an example on July 14, when the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo co-sponsored with USIP a discussion with that country’s Personal Representative of the President in Charge of the Fight Against Sexual Violence and Child Recruitment, Jeanine Mabunda Lioko Mudiayi.
The Iran Nuclear Deal: Pitfalls and Promises
The debate swirling around the historic nuclear deal reached by Iran and the world’s six major powers this month played out among two nuclear experts, a sanctions specialist and an Iran scholar during an event co-hosted by USIP at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars yesterday. The discussion outlined many of the issues that will top agendas in Washington and Tehran as lawmakers in both countries consider the agreement in the coming months.
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.
U.S.-Turkey Dialogue: Ideas to Curb the Spread of WMD
The strategic implications of the July 14 Vienna accords on Iran’s nuclear program are a matter of considerable concern not only to the Arab Gulf States and Israel, but also to the only Middle East/European member of NATO: Turkey. That country’s leaders must now assess the implications of the nuclear agreement for their own security, and even more so, for what has often been a rocky relationship with the United States.
Obama, in Africa, Will Need to Balance Agenda, Ex-Envoys Say
Six years after Barack Obama first visited sub-Saharan Africa as a presidential messenger of democracy, he faces a more complicated task in turning back to the continent next week. Obama hosts Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, on July 20, and then flies to Kenya and Ethiopia. As he does, the continent’s security threats and its urgent need to address ongoing poverty are forcing him to balance priorities and messages, say two former assistant secretaries of state now at the U.S. Insti...
Bring Back Our Democracy
Activist movements are changing the way that the world changes — and if the United States wants to help democracy abroad, it needs to update who it throws its weight behind.
Q&A: Security and Democracy in Tunisia after Latest Attack
A Tunisian gunman recently massacred 38 people at the major resort of Sousse. It was the second mass attack this year, after the March 18 assault on the well-known Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis that killed 22 people, most of them tourists. U.S. Institute of Peace Special Advisor Daniel Brumberg explores the ramifications for Tunisia and the region, as the country shows determination to pursue a democratic transition.
Beating the Islamic State Won’t Fix Iraq
The country's extremist problem goes way beyond ISIS. And unless the state fixes its governance troubles, it will have to fight this war all over again.
South Sudan’s Independence Day: No Cause for Celebration
South Sudan, the world’s youngest state, marks four years of independence on July 9. But many South Sudanese, who struggled for that statehood for decades, are finding nothing to celebrate. When they won independence in 2011, the 11 million South Sudanese hoped that their new nation would let them develop their land in peace. Instead, it has plunged into civil war.