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.
Q&A: Yemen on the Edge of Fracture?
Yemen’s path since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising has long seemed shaky, but this week’s events have created the most serious crisis facing the country in decades. With the government’s resignation, many observers fear the complete fragmentation and breakup of the state. Erica Gaston, a former senior program officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace, explains the ramifications.
Pakistan School Attack Sparks New Form of Public Action
In the aftermath of the horrific Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that left more than 140 people dead, most of them children, a national consensus against terrorism may be emerging in Pakistan. Also developing is a new style and approach for civil society activism.
The United States Will Never Win the Propaganda War Against the Islamic State
To win hearts and minds in the Middle East, America needs to let local allies do the talking.
Two Decades of Peacebuilding: USIP Vice President Smock Retires
His career was rooted in college friendships with a Ghanaian and a Nigerian. It propelled him through posts in four foreign countries and a peace mediated in a local community in Africa that has held for more than 10 years. David Smock, USIP’s vice president for Governance, Law & Society and director of the Institute’s Religion and Peacebuilding Center, retires at the end of this week after more than 24 years at USIP, an organization that itself is only 30 years old.
USIP: In Review and Looking Forward (Video)
From a campaign for peaceful elections in Afghanistan to a radio program engaging youth in South Sudan, USIP worked with civil society, political leaders and others in 2014 on a range of actions to prevent, mitigate or resolve violent conflict during a particularly chaotic year in global affairs. Top USIP experts discuss highlights of the year and glance ahead at 2015.
Sources of Conflict: Religion or Economic and Political Power?
Religion is cited as the basis for too many conflicts that actually center more on competition over economic advancement and political power, according to David Smock, director of USIP’s Religion and Peacebuilding Center. In a discussion at the Rumi Forum, Smock and USIP colleagues Palwasha Kakar and Susan Hayward explored the role of religion in conflict and the institute’s work to unlock that dynamic.
Ukraine-Russia Conflict Colors View of Civic Roles in Central Asia
Ukraine and the countries of Central Asia wouldn’t seem to have much in common other than their former Soviet past. But post-Soviet Russian ambitions may be linking them in unexpected ways. The outcome of Ukraine’s current effort to consolidate its democracy, against Russia’s resistance, has ramifications for whether the Central Asian countries view civil society and democracy as a driver of instability or a force for reform.
After Attack on Arab-Jewish School, 'I Have to Keep Fighting For It'
Inbar Shaked Vardi and Mouran Ibrahim are 14 years old but speak in a way that many adults in the maelstrom of the Middle East can’t muster – of Arab-Jewish “shared living,” a step even beyond mere co-existence. When their school, the flagship Max Rayne campus of the Hand in Hand Jewish-Arab bilingual school network in Israel, was attacked recently, their outlook on the world was tested once again.
Ukraine: USIP’s Bill Taylor on the Prospects for the New Government (Video)
Bill Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who currently serves as USIP’s acting president, just returned from a visit to Kyiv and discusses the prospects for the country’s new reform-oriented government.
Nigeria PeaceGame Highlights Potential for Violence in Upcoming Election
Widening political rifts, increasing militant attacks and plunging oil revenues are escalating the risks of more widespread violence in Nigeria’s upcoming elections, according to experts who played roles ranging from international organizations to the militant group Boko Haram, during a daylong PeaceGame exercise.