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.
Can a Source of Conflict Be Turned Into a Unifier Instead?
One of the first things the Ukrainian parliament did after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych last month was to repeal a law that allowed regional authorities to adopt Russian as a second official language after Ukrainian. The acting president understood the potential of the repeal to inflame tensions and vetoed the measure, but the moves highlight a larger question: what is the precise role of language in ethnic and national conflicts? Is language a driver of conflict, or is that merely a symptom of political and economic grievances?
From Détente to Meltdown
As "self-defense forces" storm Ukrainian bases in Crimea and Russian President Vladimir Putin embraces the peninsula's return to the Russian Motherland, Moscow's adventurism is creating a dangerous ripple effect far beyond the cold shores of Crimea. With Russia, the United States, and Europe dancing around the abyss of a new Cold War, Moscow's cooperation in resolving other international disputes will be severely tested. The first casualty of the Crimea debacle could be the ongoing efforts of...
Libya’s Criminal Economy of Arms, Drugs, People Shakes Prospects for Transition
"What are black markets? They are people's markets." The declaration by then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi illustrates one of the many reasons it will be difficult to end Libya's illicit trade in drugs, weapons and people. In a new USIP report, Mark Shaw and Fiona Mangan use more than 200 interviews with Libyan smugglers, detainees, port managers, security officials and others to map trafficking in the region and explain how it hurts the transition to democracy.
U.N. Refugees Chief Guterres Urges Support for Fleeing Syrians
Calling the Syrian civil war and its spillover into neighboring countries “probably the worst humanitarian crisis in the world since the Rwandan genocide,” António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, used a March 12 appearance at the Institute to appeal for greater international support for Syrians who’ve fled their homes because of the conflict and for the neighboring countries that are taking in millions of them.
'Women of Courage' Awardees Challenge Social Norms Head On
Roshika Deo’s announcement that she would run in her country’s first election since a military coup eight years ago drew vicious condemnation on social media – racist and homophobic comments, threats of rape. Her story hails from the South Pacific island nation of Fiji, but it reflects the kinds of attacks, verbal and physical, also faced by her fellow recipients of the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage Awards this year.
Iraq Needs Political Reconciliation to Avoid Wider Splits, Deputy PM Says
Iraq’s political divisions will require considerable efforts at reconciliation and better communication among the country’s major political parties, or those divisions are likely to widen, Rowsch N. Shaways, Iraq’s federal deputy prime minister, said during a visit to the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on March 5.
Election Prospects Give Afghanistan a Shot at Future Beyond 2014
James Dobbins, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, touted televised debates of presidential candidates, millions of new voters registered legitimately, and other visible signs to argue that Afghanistan has a chance at scoring the country’s first peaceful and democratic transfer of presidential power next month.
New European Institute of Peace Prepares for Debut
In times of slow economic recovery, and historically low levels of political trust, the creation of a new peacebuilding organization in Europe offers a rare and unexpected opportunity for optimism on the continent. On February 18, seven countries signed the charter establishing a European Institute of Peace, or EIP, based in Brussels.
Tunisia’s Ghannouchi Points to Country’s Democratic Advances, New Constitution
Tunisia’s dominant Islamist movement, which voluntarily ceded political power to a caretaker government last month, is intent on demonstrating “co-existence” between Islamists and secularists and “the compatibility of Islam” with democracy, human rights and consensus politics, the movement’s leader said at an informal meeting with specialists at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on February 24.
Feingold Urges DRC Reforms, Great Lakes Regional Cooperation in Remarks at USIP
Africa's Great Lakes region is ripe for progress in resolving its deadly conflicts, particularly in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but it will take deeper regional cooperation and the DRC's full implementation of internal reforms that it has already agreed to, Russell D. Feingold, the U.S. special envoy for the Great Lakes and the DRC, said at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on February 20.