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.
The Outlook for COP28: Fighting, Fighting Everywhere, with Progress on the Line
The 2023 U.N. Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP28) risks becoming two December weeks of negotiations in Dubai rife with visible conflicts: With the chair of COP28 perceived by many as having conflicts of interest with the oil and gas industry, a newly released Global Stocktake report highlights how far global action is from achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Pacific Island Nations Seek Climate Solutions Outside of COP28
While the Pacific Islands are responsible for less than 1 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, they face disproportionate impacts from climate change. These impacts are wide ranging: rising sea levels, salinization and dwindling availability of fresh water, increasing and more intense tropical storms, floods, drought, ocean acidification and coral reef bleaching. Already, NASA finds that sea level rise in Tuvalu is 1.5 times faster than the global average — and is expected to more than double by 2100.
North Korea’s Satellite Launch Adds a Spark to Already Simmering Tensions
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are simmering again as a result of North Korea’s launch of a military reconnaissance satellite, which prompted South Korea to lift restrictions on reconnaissance activities imposed by the 2018 inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA). The satellite, which was launched on November 21, utilized ballistic missile technology in violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Biden administration, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the G7 foreign ministers swiftly condemned the launch.
How Nelson Mandela’s Legacy Still Resonates for Youth Movements
As December marks 10 years since the passing of Nelson Mandela, an icon of 20th-century struggles for justice and peace, a new generation of activists is building from his legacy to counter our 21st-entury crises of rising global violence. Among the signs of Mandela’s vital relevance for us now is a global, online conference to bolster nonviolent social action in pursuit of justice and peace that opens December 7, hosted by the Stanford University-based World House Project with partner groups from South Africa, India, Mexico and elsewhere.
Ahead of Election, Bangladesh’s Political Turmoil Spills into the Streets
With Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections set for early January, the opposition’s push for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the installation of an interim election-time government has reached its crescendo — sending the country’s streets and politics into tumult in the process. With no sign of political compromise in sight, Bangladesh’s January elections will likely do little to repair its deep political divisions.
The U.S. Needs All the Friends It Can Get
The United States needs as many friends as it can get in the intensifying struggle with China, Russia and Iran. But to build large and effective coalitions, it will need to be flexible. At the global level, where competition encompasses security, technology and commerce, it makes sense to appeal to universal principles rooted in the Western traditions of individual liberty and representative government. But at the regional level, especially in those places where most of the United States’ natural partners are not democracies, we will need to be pragmatic and appeal to the shared interests of preserving the independence and sovereignty of individual states against revisionist encroachments.
Civil War Pushes Sudan to the Brink of Humanitarian Disaster
Away from the headlines dominated by the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, a civil war between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is pushing the country to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. As an allegedly genocidal RSF gains the upper hand, a U.N. official has warned that Sudan is “facing a convergence of a worsening humanitarian calamity and a catastrophic human rights crisis.”
With Milei’s Election, Argentina Heads into Uncharted Territory
In the 1976 Academy Award-winning film “Network,” a disgruntled television personality convinces his audience to shout “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Javier Milei, now president-elect of Argentina, has convinced his country’s voters to do the same thing, only at the ballot box, rather than in the studio. The good news for Milei is that he has won the election. The bad news for him is that he now has to govern and make good his pledge to replace Argentina’s “model of decadence” — this in a nation, which, with ups and downs, has been in long-term decline for almost a century.
“Sewage of the Cold War”: China’s Expanding Narratives on NATO
Although China’s views on NATO have fluctuated since the early days of the Cold War, Beijing’s recent statements on the alliance have sharpened. This report argues that they amount to a “rhetorical attack” on the alliance’s legitimacy that can potentially undermine trust among its Asia-Pacific partners and, more broadly, confidence in Western ideas of collective security. The report offers recommendations for investments NATO should make in understanding, tracking, and countering Chinese narratives about the alliance.
Priscilla Clapp on the Recent Success of Myanmar’s Resistance
Increased coordination between various elements of Myanmar’s resistance has sparked massive gains, says USIP’s Priscilla Clapp: “In just a few weeks, the opposition forces have managed to dislodge the military from their bases and encampments” along many parts of the borders with China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh.