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.
Trashing Social Divides in Pakistan
Photo by Farhat Abbas
Will a "New Egypt Be Born?"
Photo courtesy of NY Times
How Capacity Building Abroad Saves Money
Photo Credit: UNAMID/Flickr
Giving Peacetech a Chance
I hope lots of people saw this great line from George Clooney, when he was asked about his recent work -- the Sentinel project -- to rent a satellite and point it at Sudan. Ironically, he offered these words to a CNN interviewer on the same week that USAID announced it had partnered with an NGO called Humanity United to issue a global challenge grant for new ideas on ways to use technology to prevent atrocities.
Revolution to Retribution on Facebook
A Facebook page created for the killing of Egyptian teen Khaled Said that originally helped to crystallize the sentiment of the opposition is now being used as a platform to incite violence, showing how social media can be used not only to prevent violence, but to stoke it as well. In this case, a still image of the shooter was posted on the revolutionary Facebook page, "We Are All Khaled Said." Within hours, page visitors identified the shooter as Karem Baskoeta and posted detailed personal information in hopes of inspiring retaliation.
Taking the Next Steps in Afghanistan
Photo Credit: The New York Times/ Doug Mills
Labor Strikes Plague New Islamist Governments
The fledgling new governments in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco are now facing persistent challenges from a different kind of unrest - labor strikes. In all three countries, hundreds of strikes have repeatedly disrupted government services and private industries since the Arab uprisings erupted in January 2011.
How Women Drive Nonviolent Movements for Change
In 2004, when Iraqi political and religious leaders tried to roll back a longstanding law asserting broad rights for women, thousands of Iraqi women mobilized to defend it and to enshrine their rights in the constitution. They marched, wrote protest letters and lobbied the U.S.-led coalition then ruling the country. Carla Koppell, then with the Institute for Inclusive Security, suggested to political analysts evaluating Iraq’s spreading insurgencies that the women’s campaign was a type of activism that U.S. policy should support. But the analysts were dismissive, Koppell recalled in a discussion last week at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “They said, ‘Oh, that’s just women who haven’t taken up arms yet,’” Koppell said. “Yeah. That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? And women were the majority of the country.”
Tension Rising Ahead of Kenya, Liberia 2017 Elections
With elections coming up next year in Liberia and Kenya, the time for early and sustained efforts to prevent clashes is now. Forthcoming USIP research shows that domestic institutions hold the key: election commissions, the police and, above all, political leaders. Any international support to those institutions and leaders must now move from plans to action in order to achieve any desired impact amid rising tensions.