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.
Myanmar’s Resistance Is Making Major Advances
The resistance’s capture of the northern city of Lashio on August 3 marks a watershed moment in Myanmar’s conflict. After a month of fierce fighting, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and allied resistance forces captured this crucial stronghold in northern Shan State, dealing a severe blow to the beleaguered junta. This represents more than just the loss of a major city. It is the first time that a military regional command has been captured by resistance forces.
Amid Illicit Drug Boom, Is the Pacific’s Regional Security Architecture Fit for Purpose?
In January, Fiji police seized more than four tons of methamphetamine during two raids in Nadi, marking one of the largest drug seizures in the country’s history. But while Fiji police made the seizure, they weren’t working alone. Such a significant law enforcement operation would not have been possible without the immense multi-jurisdictional, cross-border coordination between Fiji’s police, the Australian Federal Police and the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre.
Western Sahara’s conflict Is over. Negotiating the terms comes next.
One of Africa’s longest wars shifted toward a conclusion in July when France recognized Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over the Western Sahara. That action, alongside Morocco’s military advantage, effectively will leave the indigenous Sahrawi independence movement with no choice but to eventually settle for some form of autonomy within Morocco. While this reality will be unsatisfactory for the estimated 173,000 Sahrawis living in refugee camps, their best option, and that of their backer, Algeria, is now to seize the opportunity to negotiate for best-possible peace terms with Morocco. Ending a war that keeps so many stateless and living in squalor while also removing a major irritant to the Moroccan-Algerian relationship will improve regional stability.
Donald Jensen on Ukraine’s Surprise Incursion into Russia
The Ukrainian military seized a chunk of territory in the Kursk region of Russia as part of a surprise incursion that has left the Russian military in “a panic,” says USIP’s Donald Jensen, adding that Putin’s strategy until now did not “take into account that Ukraine could strike back, and they certainly have.”
After Trading Prisoners with Russia: Can the World Negotiate with Putin?
Last week’s prisoner exchange with Russia — the largest since the Cold War, with 24 captives exchanged among seven countries — sparked hopes internationally that, just maybe, similarly determined diplomacy might help thaw the frigid relations between Russia and the West and open space for a negotiated end to Russia’s aggressions abroad. Unfortunately, the prisoner deal’s underlying message is that Vladimir Putin’s regime uses negotiations only when it sees the outcome, as it did last week, as a victory at the expense of its perceived enemies. The deal illustrates the narrowness of opportunity for any negotiated solution to settle the sides’ differences.
The Lobito Corridor: A U.S. Bet on Africa’s Critical Mineral Development
Demand for critical minerals is expected to skyrocket in the decades ahead. These minerals — such as copper, cobalt and lithium, among others — power the electronics we use every day and are essential for transitioning to greener energy technologies. The U.S. is increasingly working with African partners to develop the continent’s abundant critical minerals, an effort that is vital to advancing U.S. economic and national security interests. It also will have major implications for African countries: How these critical minerals are developed will significantly impact the continent’s economic future and beyond, even affecting peace and stability. This increasing U.S. policy focus comes against the backdrop of intensifying U.S. geopolitical competition with China, which dominates many African mining sectors.
What Role Can Nonviolent Social Movements Play in Peace Talks?
When negotiations between the Colombian government and the rebel FARC group kicked off in 2013, only one of the 20 negotiators was a woman. Two years later, 20 percent of government negotiators and 43 percent of FARC negotiators were women. Their participation broadened the agenda of the talks that led to the historic 2016 peace accord, which included important gender provisions. Women’s participation in the Colombia peace process was a clear peacebuilding success — and it was ultimately made possible by a diverse national women’s coalition, which mobilized to insist on gender-inclusive negotiations.
China’s Global Security Initiative: Tilting the Balance in Central Asia
In recent years, Beijing has been reevaluating its conceptual framework for foreign policy, with a focus on enhancing its role in global governance. With the aim of transforming China into the world's leading country, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has put forward a number of new initiatives — including the Global Security Initiative (GSI) — as a way of creating new formats of cooperation between China and the countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Global South.
Ambassador William Taylor on the Russia Prisoner Exchange
The recent exchange of prisoners between Russia and Western countries was historic on multiple fronts. But the “coherence and solidarity” displayed by U.S. allies was what made the deal possible, says USIP’s Ambassador William Taylor: “The conversations among allies were as important as the conversation with the Russians.”
Bangladesh’s Accidental Revolutionaries Topple Sheikh Hasina — What’s Next?
Bangladesh has experienced its most consequential political event in at least two decades. On June 6, one day after Bangladesh’s high court reinstated the country’s job quota system that favored descendants of the 1971 liberation war, about 500 students gathered at Dhaka University to demand its repeal. Two months later, on August 5, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had governed for 15 years, abdicated power and fled the country as a coalition of Bangladeshi students, political opponents and ordinary citizens marched on her residence to demand her resignation. As the prime minister departed for India, the head of the army announced his plan to form an interim government in a televised address.