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United States Institute of Peace

James Rupert

Senior Writer/Editor, Public Affairs and Communications

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James Rupert is a senior writer and editor at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

As a foreign affairs correspondent Rupert has reported from more than 70 countries for the Washington Post, Newsday and Bloomberg News, and served as a foreign affairs editor at the Post and Newsday. Over a 30-year journalism career, he has served as a resident correspondent in Morocco, Tunisia, France, India, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Cote d’Ivoire and Pakistan. His coverage has focused heavily on South and Central Asia, the Arab and Islamic worlds, the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa.

Rupert is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow and Michigan Journalism (now Knight-Wallace) Fellow. Before joining USIP in 2015, he served as a writer at the Atlantic Council and editor of its UkraineAlert newsletter.

Rupert graduated from Swarthmore College in 1979 and served as a Peace Corps volunteer, building and teaching in a vocational school in Morocco.

Publications By James

At the Sahel’s Center, Tension Rises Over Chad’s Disputed Election

At the Sahel’s Center, Tension Rises Over Chad’s Disputed Election

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

By: Dr. Yamingué Bétinbaye; Kamel Fakhry; James Rupert

A disputed presidential election in Chad last week is making few global headlines, but poses new risks to African and international efforts to reverse the Sahel region’s spreading instability, conflict and human displacement. Chad is centered in the world’s largest belt of military rule: six nations across Africa that have suffered armed coups since 2020. Among them, Chad is the first to hold elections to restore civilian rule. But a string of setbacks to a fully credible vote has yielded a contested result that risks further domestic conflict and a narrowing of popular legitimacy for the next government, led by the incumbent transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Type: Analysis

Global Elections & Conflict

In Russia’s Hybrid War on Europe, Moldova’s Critical Next 15 Months

In Russia’s Hybrid War on Europe, Moldova’s Critical Next 15 Months

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

By: Donald N. Jensen, Ph.D.; James Rupert

A rising risk in southeast Europe is Russia’s sharpening of conflicts to block Moldova’s effort to join the European Union. The Kremlin is escalating a hybrid campaign to manipulate three Moldovan elections over the next 15 months. Moscow last week hosted the formation of a political bloc around its primary Moldovan ally, a fugitive billionaire convicted of the country’s worst-ever bank fraud — and sent a startling flood of pre-election cash that police seized at Moldova’s main airport. This is a critical season for Moldova’s democratic allies to help it defeat Russian disinformation and election subversion.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

For Peace in Sahel, African and U.S. Experts Urge Focused Partnership

For Peace in Sahel, African and U.S. Experts Urge Focused Partnership

Thursday, February 22, 2024

By: Katia Cavigelli; James Rupert

The past month has sharpened a decade-old question for U.S. and international policymakers: How best, in 2024, to help stabilize what is now the world’s largest single zone of military rule and violent conflicts — Africa’s Sahel region? After three military-ruled Sahel states withdrew from the West African regional community in January, those juntas last week proclaimed an alliance aimed at resisting international pressures, including those for their return to elected civilian rule. Former U.S. and African officials yesterday urged what they called vital changes in U.S. and allied policies to prevent a dangerous spread of the Sahel’s crises.

Type: Analysis

Fragility & Resilience

Russia’s War on Moldova Will Be Political in 2024. And Then?

Russia’s War on Moldova Will Be Political in 2024. And Then?

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

By: James Rupert

As Ukraine defends its independence and democracy against Russia’s invasion, tiny Moldova confronts a parallel Russian “hybrid war” — and the past 12 weeks have sharpened this battle for Moldova in 2024. Moldova advanced its accession to the European Union and joined EU sanctions against Russians driving the war on Ukraine. Moldova’s government scheduled a referendum to ratify the country’s future as a European democracy after more than 150 years as a militarized frontier of Russian empires. Russia’s malign uses of information, election interference and capacity to trigger a real war — a second front against Europe — heighten the urgency to strengthen Moldova’s resilience and energize its pro-democracy constituency in 2024.

Type: Analysis

Democracy & Governance;  Global Policy

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