Research & Analysis
U.S. Institute of Peace’s articles, reports, tools and other features provide policy analysis, research findings, and practitioner guides. These publications examine critical conflict issues at the center of the Institute’s work to prevent and resolve violent conflict.
The views expressed in these publications are those of the author(s).

USIP Hosts International Gathering on Water Security and Conflict Prevention
Assuring access to water of adequate quantity and quality in the face of increasing challenges poses a growing risk of future conflicts. But in preventing any outbreak of conflict, better water management can play a vital role in building peace and cooperation, a variety of officials and specialists said at the Water Security and Conflict Prevention Summit held at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on September 10.

USIP, Partners Release Report on Realizing ‘Responsibility to Protect’
Despite the war-weariness of Americans and political and institutional obstacles, the United States should take the global lead in fulfilling the "Responsibility to Protect," an international norm aimed at protecting civilians from genocide and mass atrocities, two senior U.S. foreign policy figures said July 23 at the release of a report issued by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), the U.S. Holocaust Museum and the Brookings Institution. The Responsibility to Protect principle is generally ...

Obama’s Africa Trip Seizes on Progress to Trumpet Economic Potential
President Barack Obama’s first extended trip to Africa will seize on democratic and economic progress in the three countries on his itinerary – Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania – to inspire further advances across the continent and encourage more American companies to plunge in.

Clean Hands in Peacekeeping: The U.N. Needs to Do More
In the wake of a United Nations report on atrocities committed at the end of last year by Congolese government soldiers and M23 rebels, USIP Jennings Randolph fellow Carla Ferstman sees a disconnect between the U.N.’s human rights standards for host government forces and those set for militaries that participate in its own peacekeeping contingents.

Eastern Congo: Changing Dynamics and the Implications for Peace
On February 22, 2013, the U.S. Institute of Peace convened a panel of experts to discuss recent developments in the war and their implications for peace. Raymond Gilpin, director of USIP’s Center for Sustainable Economies, was joined by John Prendergast and Sasha Lezhnev, both from the Enough Project who recently returned from the region, and Adotei Akwei of Amnesty International.

Instability in the DRC
USIP’s Raymond Gilpin and Brett Boor examine how conflict minerals are a symptom – and not the cause – of the continued instability in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
USIP: Teaching African Peacekeepers How to Keep the Peace
USIP trained hundreds of African peacekeepers in seven nations this year in how to negotiate and mediate the peace.

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman on Challenges and Opportunities in Africa
As six of the world’s ten fastest growing countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, the United States must help develop the potential and strengthen mutually beneficial partnerships with African nations, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told a packed auditorium at the U.S. Institute of Peace on March 28.
Eye on Sub-Saharan Africa
With its research, analysis and field work, USIP is on the ground in key African nations working to prevent conflicts from turning deadly and to build local capacity to stop disputes from escalating into violent conflict.

Gender and Peacebuilding: Highlights from 2011 and Looking Ahead to 2012
Gender and Peacebuilding Center Director, Kathleen Kuehnast, discusses USIP's focus on women's equality in 2011 and looks ahead at the gender projects USIP will work on in 2012.