Political Reform
Latest from USIP on Political Reform
- September 25, 2012 | Publication
Frances Z. Brown and William Byrd, two of USIP's Afghanistan specialists, discuss the challenges facing Afghanistan in transitioning to full national control over its security and domestic affairs as international military activity and other assistance wind down.
- September 25, 2012 | Publication
Steven Heydeman, USIP's senior adviser for Middle East Initiatives, discusses The Day After project and the support it has received since the Septeber 10 launch in Berlin.
- September 24, 2012 | Publication
Countries transitioning to democracy must change old models of organizing the police, armed services, and intelligence services, which typically were characterized by mistreatment of the public, for models that stress transparency, accountability, and citizen involvement. Yet each new government in the Middle East and North Africa must tailor its reforms carefully and patiently in order to avoid backlash among security services.
- September 12, 2012 | Publication
The U.S. civilian and military surge in Afghanistan aimed at transforming local governance, but it fell short because the strategy assumed that progress on security and governance would go hand in hand and that bottom-up progress would be reinforced by the national government. Going forward, the international community should focus on a few key governance issues to address and use the Strategic Partnership Agreement as a vehicle for long-term planning.
- September 12, 2012 | Publication
Contrary to some views, Afghanistan has been and can be governed effectively and be politically stable. But history indicates that overly ambitious and rushed modernization efforts are likely to face sharp domestic reactions that can set development back, sometimes for decades.
- August 29, 2012 | Publication
The Day After project brought together a group of Syrians representing a large spectrum of the Syrian opposition—including senior representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC), members of the Local Coordination Committees in Syria (LCC), and unaffiliated opposition figures from inside Syria and the Diaspora representing all major political trends and components of Syrian society—to participate in an independent transition planning process.
- August 16, 2012 | Publication
Afghanistan’s Presidential Decree of July 21 has been billed as an “anti-corruption decree,” setting forth the Afghan government’s concrete plans for fighting corruption. But even a cursory reading reveals the decree is about far more than just anti-corruption. In fact, it appears to be a detailed short-term work program for 32 government ministries and agencies, also including suggestions for actions by the National Assembly and the Supreme Court.
- August 15, 2012 | Publication
Manal Omar, director of USIP’s Iraq, Iran and North Africa programs, talks about the transfer of power and challenges facing Libya.
- August 13, 2012 | Publication
Eight months after the popular uprisings in Yemen and five months after President Abdo Rabo Mansour Hadi took the presidency, Yemenis are eager to embark on the justice and security reforms that they demanded during their 11-month long revolution. To support the transition process, USIP has begun to conduct research on local-level justice issues in Yemen and provide information on comparative experiences of other transitional countries on both “top down” and “bottom up” rule of law and legal empowerment initiatives.
- August 8, 2012 | Publication
International leaders are increasingly speculating that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's days are numbered, as calls for his peaceful departure grow louder. But, in the case he is toppled, what happens in the aftermath of regime collapse?
- August 7, 2012 | Publication
USIP's senior adviser for Middle East initiatives, Steven Heydemann, discusses “The Day After” project, a Syrian-led effort to plan for a post-Assad transition.
- July 30, 2012 | Publication
The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) is providing start-up funding and advisory support for the Sudd Institute, a new, independent policy research organization based in the South Sudanese capital of Juba.
- July 27, 2012 | Publication
In some countries, the unexpected death of a president sets off a chaotic scramble for power, with constitutional guidelines for succession largely ignored. But faced with just that predicament, Ghana went the opposite route.
- July 27, 2012 | Publication
Although each revolution is different, each successful case of democratic breakthrough shares common domestic and international influences. This report examines 11 cases of past successes at removing autocratic regimes and establishing elections. It then applies its findings to the emerging revolutions of the Arab Spring.
- July 25, 2012 | Publication
If Burma’s recent political reforms are to continue, they must be underpinned by “tangible, equitable and sustained economic progress,” writes USIP’s Raymond Gilpin in a new blog post on the International Network for Economics and Conflict (INEC).
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