Over the past two years there has been a remarkable transition in perceptions among Washington-based policy makers regarding the nature of the threat posed on the Korean Peninsula, from a focus on North Korea's nuclear program and military strength to a focus on the potential instability arising from North Korea's economic vulnerabilities and political uncertainties.  The major challenge for the United States is to pursue its strategic objectives in Northeast Asia by dealing with the prospect...

Recent years have given rise to an intense debate about appropriate roles for Latin America's armed forces: Should they remain the guardians of political stability, or should they restrict themselves mainly to external defense?

Can power sharing prevent violent ethnic conflict? And if so, how can the international community best promote that outcome? In this concise volume, Timothy Sisk defines power sharing as practices and institutions that result in broad-based governing coalitions generally inclusive of all major ethnic groups. He identifies the principal approaches to power sharing, including autonomy, federations, and proportional electoral systems.  

Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

The United States Institute of Peace has convened a series of seven study group meetings since March 1995 on managing potential territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. These meetings were held as part of an ongoing series of activities on potential conflicts in Asia and implications for U.S. policy. Senior experts and grantees of the Institute researching the issue were invited to present their latest findings on aspects of the South China Sea dispute to a group of forty to fifty specia...

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Africa's marginalization in U.S. foreign policy has increasingly become a reality; this disengagement by the United States from African affairs presumably weakens its interests as well as its ability to help prevent and end armed conflicts on the continent.