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.
Haiti: A Forward Look
Five months after Haiti’s January 12th earthquake, the situation on the ground remains critical. With the arrival of hurricane season, the failure to provide adequate shelter and instill hope for a better future threatens stability.
Improving Natural Resource Management in Sudan
Most experts view secession as the most likely outcome of the 2011 referendum on southern Sudan's potential secession. While this scenario may lead to some stability in the long run, effective secession immediately after the referendum may prove difficult.
Constitution Making, Peacebuilding, and National Reconciliation
USIP's advisory work on constitution making is focused on providing options to design and conduct participatory, inclusive, transparent, and nationally owned constitution making processes that enjoy legitimacy and promote national dialogue, reconciliation, and a consensual political community.
Rebuilding Afghanistan's Political Immunity
Afghanistan is an exceptionally fissiparous country, riven by innumerable conflicts over scarce resources and longstanding enmities between neighboring groups. Traditionally, such disputes have been managed by ad hoc groups of elders, known as jirgas or shuras. In the past 30 years, the stature and security of the jirga system and of the elders themselves have been challenged and undermined by all the parties contending for power, including the state itself.
Stephen J. Hadley Testifies on the New START Treaty
Stephen J. Hadley, senior adviser for international affairs, testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the new START Treaty on June 10, 2010.
On the Issues: Iran Sanctions
The United Nations Security Council on June 9 voted to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, targeting conventional arms and the finances of 40 Iranian companies. The U.N. Security Council decision was not unanimous as two of the 15 nations on the council -- Brazil and Turkey – voted against the measure. Lebanon abstained. In an update to a May 20 “On the Issues,” USIP experts Robin Wright, Dan Brumberg and George Lopez provide different views on the U.N. vote and whether these sanction...
A New Kind of Balkans Drama
The Balkans face more trouble in Kosovo as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina unless the United States and European Union take dramatic steps to get both back on track toward EU membership.
Transitional Justice in Balance
In the first project of its kind to compare multiple mechanisms and combinations of mechanisms across regions, countries, and time,Transitional Justice in Balance: Comparing Processes, Weighing Efficacysystematically analyzes the claims made in the literature using a vast array of data, which the authors have assembled in the Transitional Justice Data Base.
Mediating Peace with Proscribed Armed Groups
Summary Reforms to antiterrorism legislation are required to improve its effectiveness and fairness and make it possible to engage diplomatically with proscribed armed groups. The legal bases for proscription should be clarified and the criteria for delisting published. Listing and delisting instruments should be more nuanced and flexible. In addition, a separate legal and political component should facilitate engagement with proscribed groups in peace processes and humanitarian work...
Cooperation and Tension in Regional and Global Infectious Disease Surveillance
Globalization of infectious disease transmission has led to international and regional initiatives to improve surveillance and response. The World Health Organization’s revised International Health Regulations provide a more robust legal framework for outbreak investigations. New regional networks are strengthening collaborative approaches to prevention of pandemics even in parts of the world where political tensions usually run high.