Menu

United States Institute of Peace

Home ▶ Projects

Prioritizing Peace During the Pandemic

COVID and Conflict

Share This
Print the Page

As the coronavirus pandemic causes global disruption, USIP knows what it means to adapt our expertise and resources to match the ever-shifting nature of peacebuilding. Throughout our 35 years, we've helped lead the way on matters of peace and conflict and are committed to making peace possible amid the new reality of COVID-19.

Read stories of resilience from USIP's global network of peacebuilders »

People march in Beirut to honor those killed when a deadly explosion ripped through the heart of the city. Aug. 11, 2020. (Diego Ibarra Sanchez/The New York Times)

October 15, 2020

The Beirut Blast Has Yet to Spark Political Reform by Elie Abouaoun and Osama Gharizi
Iraqi border police at the Zurbatiya border crossing with Iran, Monday, March 9, 2020. (Ivor Prickett/The New York Times)

August 26, 2020

Conflict Prevention in the COVID Era: Why the U.S. Cannot Afford to Go it Alone by Corinne Graff and Laura E. Bailey
A nearly empty street market in Lagos, Nigeria, April 12, 2020. (Yagazie Emezi/The New York Times)

August 18, 2020

Is Insecurity Undermining the Coronavirus Response? Evidence from Nigeria but Aly Verjee
Medics receive casualties at the Al Razi hospital in government-controlled Aleppo, Syria, April 28, 2016. (Declan Walsh/ The New York Times)

August 5, 2020

Coronavirus Throws Another Challenge at Syria’s Doctors by Anthony Navone
Secretary-General António Guterres visits the Democratic Republic of the Congo to take stock of and mobilize additional support for the response to the Ebola outbreak, Sept. 1, 2019. (UN Photo/Martine Perret)

July 23, 2020

Amid COVID, We Need Enhanced International Coordination to Build Peace by Jonathan Papoulidis, Corinne Graff and Beckelman
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a global cease-fire to combat COVID back on March 23. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)

July 8, 2020

U.N. Finally Endorses a COVID Cease-fire: Will it Make a Difference? by Tyler Beckelman and Amanda Long
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, at his office in Harare in 2019, dismisses assertions by Zimbabwean and international human rights organizations that he has sustained the state’s historic pattern of abuses. (Zinyange Auntony/The New York Times)

June 24, 2020

COVID Raises the Stakes for Zimbabwe’s Civil Society Movement by Miranda Rivers and Precious Ndlovu
A woman passes through a sanitizing tunnel in Mumbai. April 25, 2020. (Atul Loke/The New York Times)

June 22, 2020

Coronavirus Tightens its Grip on South Asia by Ashish Kumar Sen

VIEW ALL COVID-RELATED CONTENT »

Past Events

Health workers entering the Dharavi slum to conduct contact tracing and quarantining people who came into contact with a coronavirus patient in Mumbai, April 28, 2020. (Atul Loke/The New York Times)

COVID in South Asia: Regional Responses

Recorded June 17, 2020

USIP and experts from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka discuss states' responses to the coronavirus pandemic across the region and what countries can do to maintain and restore their economies, health systems, and citizens’ trust in elected officials.

People visit a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria, South Africa. (Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times)

Harnessing Coronavirus for a Peaceful and Prosperous Africa

Recorded May 27, 2020

Representatives of the African Union Commission and the African Diplomatic Corps, and other experts discuss the African Union’s efforts to mobilize the fight against coronavirus while still alleviating threats to human security and international peace. 

A flash mob organized by Mutual-Aid Space, a group organized to help the needy, outside a building the group has occupied in Milan, Saturday, April 25, 2020. (Alessandro Grassani/The New York Times)

People Power in a Pandemic: How Movements are Confronting COVID

Recorded May 19, 2020

Activists and peacebuilders from South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela discuss how nonviolent movements are confronting and adjusting to their new operating environments, how they are spreading awareness about the virus and safety measures in their communities, and how they envision the post-coronavirus era in their societies.  

The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that connects North Korea to China, in Dandong, China. (Lam Yik Fei/The New York Times)

The Impact of Coronavirus on North Korea

Recorded April 14, 2020

View the webcast from USIP's online discussion with experts on the latest information regarding the COVID-19 situation in North Korea, the impact of COVID-19 on North Korea’s isolation vis-à-vis the international sanctions regime, the potential for instability in North Korean society, and the potential for sanctions relief to aid coronavirus response efforts.

Related Publications

Coronavirus Shows Why Libya Needs to Build its Institutions

Coronavirus Shows Why Libya Needs to Build its Institutions

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

By: Nate Wilson

Even before the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe, Libya’s health system—like many of the country’s institutions—was in crisis. The country’s public health infrastructure has been neglected since the 2011 uprising and even before it was in need of a fundamental overhaul. On top of that, many of the foreign medics in Libya fled following the conflict in 2011 and have not returned.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Global Health

Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen on Israel’s Political Turmoil and the Coronavirus Crisis

Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen on Israel’s Political Turmoil and the Coronavirus Crisis

Thursday, April 9, 2020

By: Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen

After three elections, Israel’s political crisis is reportedly coming to an end. Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen explains that the focus has now shifted to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying, “What you do often see in the face of these immediate crises is a lot of banding together and cooperation … the question is how long it holds afterwards.”

Type: Podcast

Conflict Analysis & Prevention;  Global Health

The Coronavirus is a Call To Build Resilience in Fragile States

The Coronavirus is a Call To Build Resilience in Fragile States

Thursday, April 9, 2020

By: Nancy Lindborg

As more developed nations have struggled desperately to contain and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, the specter of the virus rolling through the more fragile countries in the Sahel, Horn of Africa, and parts of the Middle East is a terrifying, slow-motion train wreck with the potential to trigger a devastating multidimensional-tiered health, economic, political, and security crisis. It also provides an urgent call to action to do things differently in fragile states so they can recover better.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & Resilience;  Global Health

Venezuela: Could the Coronavirus Threat Be an Opportunity?

Venezuela: Could the Coronavirus Threat Be an Opportunity?

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

By: Keith Mines; Steve Hege

Helping Venezuela resolve its political crisis will be vital to containing the potentially catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic there. A truce in the country’s power struggle is urgent, and last week’s U.S. proposal for a transitional government offers useful ideas, even for a naturally skeptical governing regime. Advancing them would benefit from mediation, perhaps by the Vatican or the United Nations, and will require cooperation among the major powers—the United States, Russia and China—involved in the crisis. If Venezuelans and outsiders can join against the common human threat of coronavirus, that could lay foundations for an eventual political solution to the decade of turmoil that has brewed the hemisphere’s worst humanitarian disaster.

Type: Analysis

Global Health;  Mediation, Negotiation & Dialogue;  Peace Processes

View All

Latest Publications

Why Counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan Still Matters

Why Counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan Still Matters

Thursday, May 9, 2024

By: Ambassador Anne Patterson; Tricia Bacon, Ph.D.; Ambassador P. Michael McKinley; Joshua White, Ph.D.; Brian Finucane, Ph.D.

From wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to rising tensions in the South China Sea, there is no shortage of crises to occupy the time and attention of U.S. policymakers. But three years after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the threat of terrorism emanating from South Asia remains strong and policymakers need to be more vigilant. Indeed, at the end of March, an Afghanistan-based affiliate of ISIS launched a devastating attack outside of Moscow, killing over 140 people.

Type: Question and Answer

Global Policy;  Violent Extremism

What Does the Xi-Ma Meeting Mean for Cross-Strait Relations?

What Does the Xi-Ma Meeting Mean for Cross-Strait Relations?

Thursday, May 9, 2024

By: Jennifer Staats, Ph.D.; Naiyu Kuo

Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks on April 10 with former Taiwan president Ma Ying-Jeou in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. The meeting came as tensions between Beijing and Taipei remain high, particularly following Taiwan’s election at the beginning of the year, which saw pro-sovereignty candidate William Lai Ching-te win a historic third term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Ma served as president from 2008 to 2016, is a member of the Nationalist (KMT) party and is known for advocating closer ties with mainland China.

Type: Question and Answer

Global Policy

A Livable Climate Needs Help From Youth; the U.S. Can Foster It

A Livable Climate Needs Help From Youth; the U.S. Can Foster It

Thursday, May 9, 2024

By: Elsa Barron; Katherine Waters

Humanity is at a tipping point. New data confirms 2023 as Earth’s hottest-ever recorded year. Increasing temperatures, rising seas and extreme weather are heightening tension over resources, damaging people’s health and livelihoods, and displacing millions. Young people have one of the largest stakes in climate decisions made today, for they face the lasting environmental consequences of climate change — and the consequent threats to peace and security. Yet youth remain mostly excluded from decision-making on climate. U.S. leadership, via three steps in particular, can bolster genuine youth leadership on climate that prioritizes the welfare of future generations.

Type: Analysis

Environment;  Youth

How Congress Can Help Improve Relations with North Korea

How Congress Can Help Improve Relations with North Korea

Thursday, May 9, 2024

By: Matthew Abbott

Although the Constitution authorizes the president and the executive branch to lead foreign affairs, it also vests the legislative branch with responsibilities that impact the conduct of diplomacy and statecraft. These include the ability to “declare war,” “raise and support armies,” “regulate commerce with foreign nations” and approve treaties and diplomat appointments, as well as general oversight functions and power to appropriate money from the Treasury.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy;  Peace Processes

International action on climate change is failing. How can it be strengthened?

International action on climate change is failing. How can it be strengthened?

Thursday, May 9, 2024

By: Tegan Blaine, Ph.D.; Dan Reifsnyder

After a record-breaking 2023, consolidated climate change science clearly shows that the earth’s temperature over the last 12 months was more than to 1.6oC above the pre-industrial average. This makes the most ambitious temperature goal of the Paris Agreement — holding the increase in global temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels — no longer scientifically feasible. Most estimates suggest that the increase will be 2.9oC or more by 2100. Meanwhile, international action under the Paris Agreement is faltering. “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said two years ago.

Type: Analysis

Environment

View All Publications