Publications & Tools
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Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) are closely following developments throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In a series of reports and interviews, they cover a wide range of issues. Countries: Africa, Asia, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Economics and Conflict, Human Rights, Political Reform, Rule of Law, Security Sector Reform/Governance
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The Obama administration’s reaffirmation of American engagement in the Asia-Pacific region for strategic and economic reasons is welcome, but describing it as a “pivot” toward the region in the wake of U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan neglects the continuity through decades of U.S. involvement in the region, three senior foreign policy figures from the United States, Japan and South Korea said at a forum sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on December 15. |
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Multilateral teams can often bring a level of expertise and impartiality to preventing conflicts that other missions cannot. With a little more support, they can be an even better tool for conflict prevention. The report is based on Review of Political Missions, a project launched by New York University ’s Center on International Cooperation in 2010. The United States Institute of Peace funded this project in association with the governments of Norway and Switzerland. Countries: Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Iraq, Libya
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Mediation and Facilitation, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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The brief examines the interests, connections and dimensions of Syria's popular uprising in the Arab Gulf states. Emile Hokayem is the Senior Fellow for Regional Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies-Middle East based out of Mamana, Bahrain. |
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USIP leaders explain the effect that events around the world and here at home will have on the U.S., and the contributions the Institute can and does make during a time of tremendous challenge – and opportunity. |
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This Peace Brief is part of a series examining the regional dimensions of Syria’s popular uprising. The Institute invited leading experts from the U.S. and across the Middle East to identify key vectors of influence Syria’s neighbors are bringing to bear on the conflict; to forecast how the on-going conflict in Syria will affect the delicate and volatile regional balance of power; and to examine how the Syrian opposition and the Syria regime are factoring in regional and cross-border dynamics. |
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Four members of the newly formed Syrian National Council (SNC) appeared at USIP in Washington for “Voices from the Front Lines: an Update on the Syrian Opposition.” The members are determined to create a representative, effective group that is a viable alternative to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. |
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The new role of social media in popular revolutions and other political change is not the inevitable force for good some commentators portray it as, but its complicated effects are promoting a wider transfer of geopolitical power from traditional nation-states to individuals and institutions, according to speakers at a conference held at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on September 16. |
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Yemen is seeing some of its worst violence this year with at least three subsequent days of fighting this week between divided government forces, tribal groups and unarmed pro-democracy protesters, inching the country ever closer to full-blown civil war. Countries: Asia, Yemen
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Political Reform, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Rule of Law
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Last week, Yemen’s President Ali Abdallah Saleh -- who remains in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia recovering from injuries incurred in a bomb attack on the presidential compound in June -- announced that he had delegated authority to his vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to sign an agreement negotiated through the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) last spring that would remove Saleh from power. |