PrintRichard H. Solomon
President (1993-2012)
Contact
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Languages: Mandarin Chinese
Multimedia
Richard H. Solomon served as president of the United States Institute of Peace from 1993-2012 during which time he oversaw its growth into a center of international conflict management analysis and applied programs.
Prior to that, Solomon was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 1989 to 1992. He negotiated the Cambodia peace treaty, the first United Nations "Permanent Five" peacemaking agreement; had a leading role in the dialogue on nuclear issues between the United States and South and North Korea; helped establish the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation initiative; and led U.S. negotiations with Japan, Mongolia and Vietnam on important bilateral matters. In 1992-93, Solomon served as U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. He coordinated the closure of the U.S. naval bases and developed a new framework for bilateral and regional security cooperation.
Solomon previously served as director of policy planning at the Department of State and as a senior staff member of the National Security Council. In 1995, Solomon was awarded the State Department's Foreign Affairs Award for Public Service, and he has received awards for policy initiatives from the governments of Korea and Thailand. In 2005, he received the American Political Science Association’s Hubert H. Humphrey career award for “notable public service by a political scientist."
Solomon began his career as professor of political science at the University of Michigan, and also served as head of the Political Science Department at the RAND Corporation. Solomon holds a Ph.D. in political science, with a specialization in Chinese politics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Publications:
- Creating a Common Communications Culture: Interoperability in Crisis Management
USIP Virtual Diplomacy Series 17, August 2005 - "Managing International Conflict in the Twenty-First Century" in Passing the Baton: Challenges of Statecraft for the New Administration
Peaceworks, May 2001 - Exiting Indochina: U.S. Leadership of the Cambodia Settlement and Normalization with Vietnam (USIP Press, 2000).
- Chinese Negotiating Behavior: Pursuing Interests Through "Old Friends"
(USIP Press, 1999).
Other:
- The Challenge of Managing U.S.-China Relations [pdf]
Presentation by Richard Solomon to the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, March 6, 2012 - Enabling the Rise of the Dragon: The Challenge of Managing U.S.-China Relations
Tenth Annual Holdridge Memorial Lecture, Novermber 15, 2011 - Confronting the Challenge of "Political Will" (with Lawrence Woocher)
Instability Warning and Genocide Prevention Symposium 2010, March 18, 2010 - Managing the Great Asian Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities in U.S.-China Relations
Keynote address at the U.S.-China Business Council Gala Dinner, June 2004 - Teaching Peace or War?
Congressional Testimony, October 2003 - In Memoriam of John Wallach: A Sower of Seeds of Peace
Peace Watch, August 2002
Publications & Tools
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Following the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three consulate staff on Sept. 11, USIP’s president said, “[Their] deaths remind us all of the courage and sacrifices made by our State Department partners… [It] is a tragic loss for the country and the Institute – and indeed for the cause of peace and stabilization in Libya.” Countries: Libya
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USIP President Richard Solomon introduces Defense Secretary Leon Panetta before he delivered the 2012 Dean Acheson Lecture. |
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Former President Mohamed Nasheed spoke at USIP on June 25 at an event co-hosted with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict on his country’s political challenges, nonviolence and climate change. Learn more about this discussion |
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As part of its ongoing partnership with the National Academy of Engineering, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on June 25 focused their joint Roundtable on Technology, Science and Peacebuilding on four initiatives. Issue Areas: Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding
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U.S. Institute of Peace President Richard H. Solomon spoke at a special event at USIP on June 14 in recognition of National Flag day and to pay tribute to the diplomatic service of the ambassador of Singapore, Chan Heng Chee, who served in Washington, DC for 16 years. Solomon was joined by former USIP Executive Vice President Tara Sonenshine, now serving as Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Issue Areas: Negotiation and Diplomacy
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In honor of Memorial Day, USIP President Richard H. Solomon said: This day is an important opportunity to recognize our patriotic heroes who have sacrificed their lives so that we may all breathe the air of freedom. |
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USIP President Richard H. Solomon shares his views on the transitions to civilian-led efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan after a decade of military presence. Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq
| Issue Areas: Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Security Sector Reform/Governance, Training
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C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” aired live from USIP’s headquarters on April 10. USIP President Richard Solomon, along with Andrew Wilder and Steven Heydemann, discussed the Institute’s cost-effective role in conflict zones across the globe. Countries: Afghanistan, Syria
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Mediation and Facilitation, Negotiation and Diplomacy, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Training
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USIP briefed Air Force Lieutenant General Richard Y. Newton III. The briefing outlined USIP’s efforts to promote dialogue between India and Pakistan and ease tensions in the volatile Kashmir region; to harness the power of technology for crisis mapping, humanitarian response, and interagency coordination; and USIP’s training programs. Countries: India, Kashmir, Pakistan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding
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USIP President Richard H. Solomon submitted the following written testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs on March 30. Solomon explains how USIP's peacebuilding and conflict management work minimizes the need for costly military interventions. Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan, The Two Sudans
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U.S. Institute of Peace President Richard H. Solomon’s book on how the U.S. negotiates has been translated into Chinese. Solomon, former U. S. assistant secretary of state, has written widely about China. |
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The United States Institute of Peace proudly recognizes the ongoing work of the State of Texas in growing connections ranging from young people and technology to women in peacebuilding. |
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In a historic gathering of the leading officials who have built and managed the U.S.-China relationship, policymakers from both sides of the political aisle assembled at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on March 7 to assess the history, current state and future prospects for this critical relationship. The occasion was the 40th anniversary of President Nixon’s breakthrough trip to Beijing in February 1972. Countries: China, United States
| Issue Areas: Mediation and Facilitation, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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We spoke to USIP President Richard Solomon about U.S.-China relations, 40 years after "the week that changed the world," the major visit of President Richard Nixon to China. Countries: China
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Economics and Conflict, Human Rights, Negotiation and Diplomacy, Rule of Law
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After nearly two decades of leading the United States Institute of Peace, Richard H. Solomon announced on January 26 that he will step down as president in September 2012. |
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February marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China. The trip was also a milestone in the history of journalism. On January 17, USIP and the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau hosted a screening of the documentary film Assignment: China. |
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Adm. James Stavridis, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, spoke with USIP staff about some of USIP’s programs making a difference in conflict zones |
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The recently adopted fiscal year 2011 federal budget includes $39.5 million in funding for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) -- a 20 percent reduction from the fiscal year 2010 level of $49.2 million. |
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Dr. Richard H. Solomon, president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, testified on the important role of USIP in national security affairs. Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan, The Two Sudans
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USIP President Richard Solomon writes in Politico about the U.S. Institute of Peace's mission to promote peace at a time of war. |
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The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the National Defense University (NDU) signed a historic memorandum of agreement this week that fosters deeper and strong collaboration between two national institutions working on national security and international conflict. |
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Informed by discussions and interviews with more than fifty seasoned foreign and American negotiators, this landmark study offers a rich and detailed portrait of the negotiating practices of American officials. Including contributions by eleven international experts, I assesses the multiple influences--cultural, institutional, historical, and political--that shape how American policymakers and diplomats approach negotiations with foreign counterparts and highlights behavioral patterns that transcend the actions of individual negotiators and administrations. Countries: France, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Soviet Union (USSR), Turkey, United States
| Issue Areas: Negotiation and Diplomacy
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Since the Holocaust we have often heard the words "never again." Yet, too often the world has failed to mount serious action to prevent genocidal violence, making "never again" an empty slogan. |
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On Tuesday, March 6, 2008, USIP hosted a wide-ranging discussion entitled "A World Without Nuclear Weapons: The International Dimension." The panelists included Ambassador Max Kampelman, distinguished lawyer, diplomat, and educator, as well as former vice chairman of the Institute’s board of directors; George Perkovich, vice president for studies – global security and economic development, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Ambassador James Goodby, research fellow at the Hoover Institution. USIP President Richard H. Solomon moderated. Countries: Asia, Europe, North America, United States
| Issue Areas: WMD, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control
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No technologies have been more powerful in reshaping the post-Cold War international system than those of the information revolution. Over the past two decades, nation-states and subnational groups, international businesses, and multinational organizations have struggled to incorporate the dramatic possibilities for their work of satellite communications, the Internet, inexpensive telephone and cell phone services, fax machines, and global computer networks. |
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Congressional Testimony by Richard H. Solomon, president of the U.S. Institute of Peace. Countries: United States
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This report summarizes discussions at a conference of leading officials and specialists on January 17, 2001. The conference program was organized around five panel discussions covering two functional topics (organizing for national security and international conflict management) and three geographic regions of special concern to the United States (Russia, the Balkans, and Northeast Asia). Countries: Asia, Europe, Russian Federation, United States
| Issue Areas: Security Sector Reform/Governance
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This book recounts the diplomacy that brought an end to great power involvement in Indochina, including the negotiations for a UN peace process in Cambodia and construction of a “road map” for normalizing U.S.-Vietnam relations. |
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After two decades of hostile confrontation, China and the United States initiated negotiations in the early 1970s to normalize relations. Senior officials of the Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations had little experience dealing with the Chinese, but they soon learned that their counterparts from the People’s Republic were skilled negotiators. |
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Following two decades of rapid growth, social change, and industrialization, the countries of the East Asian region are experiencing their first regionwide economic crisis. The immediate economic causes of Asia's financial crisis--especially unsustainable short-term foreign debt incurred by the private sector and exposed by the sudden devaluation of overvalued local currencies--have been identified. The challenges for U.S. leadership in response to the region's current financial crisis are to contain the damage so that it does not cause a round of global economic deflation and domestic instability that could harm regional security and to sustain confidence in U.S. leadership to stimulate reform of the regulatory system for managing global capital flows. |
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Events
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June 25, 2012
Former President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives will speak at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on June 25. |
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June 25, 2012
This third meeting of the Roundtable solicited views from the membership on the direction of each of the four initiatives launched by the Roundtable in December 2011: using data-sharing to improve coordination, sensing emerging conflicts, adapting agricultural extension to peacebuilding, and harnessing systems engineering to peacebuilding. Issue Areas: Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding
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May 11, 2012
On May 11, USIP hosted a series of discussions ranging from managing conflict in complex environments to lessons learned from USIP-funded projects. The sessions were part of the 2012 Alliance for Peacebuilding's Annual Conference which focused on new models for peacebuilding that works across disciplines in chaotic, fragile environments. |
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March 7, 2012
On March 7th, USIP and the Richard Nixon Foundation hosted a day-long symposium marking the 40th Anniversary of President Nixon’s extraordinary meetings with leaders of the People’s Republic of China. President Nixon’s trip was a watershed moment for the Sino-American relationship and its effects are still being felt today. The conference focused primarily on examining the origins of the trip, the current status of Sino-American relations and the outlook for the future of this critical bilateral relationship. |
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February 1, 2012
On February 1, 2012, USIP and the Atlantic Council hosted President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia as he addressed what Georgia, North Africa, and other reforming societies have in common. Countries: Georgia
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Political Reform, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities
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January 17, 2012
The U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California has produced a new documentary film, Assignment: China – The Week that Changed the World. Written and narrated by Mike Chinoy, formerly CNN’s senior Asia correspondent and Beijing bureau chief, the film uses previously unreleased footage and interviews with the reporters and officials who accompanied President Richard Nixon to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the media coverage of the trip that changed the course of U.S.-China relations. The United States Institute of Peace and the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau hosted a screening of Assignment: China, followed by a conversation featuring some of those who traveled to China with Nixon. |
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October 25, 2011
USIP, in collaboration with the Institute for Inclusive Security, USAID, and Vital Voices, hosted a discussion with Ambassador Swanee Hunt and USAID’s Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg on lessons emerging from the Bosnia conflict with a particular focus on the best ways to ensure a direct role for women in peacebuilding efforts worldwide. In addition, film producer Abigail Disney and film director Pamela Hogan presented their PBS documentary, “I Came to Testify,” that describes how a group of 16 women from Bosnia, victims of the war’s systematic rapes, broke through political and societal silence by stepping onto the witness stand at an international tribunal. |
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June 9, 2011
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June 10, 2011
In spite of the compelling challenges associated with building legitimate governments, health systems development in post-conflict and fragile states has experienced important successes. The conference reviewed the last decade in health programming in post-conflict and fragile states, as well as addressed key questions about the intersection of health in "fragile states" and development, national security policy, and considered a way forward. |
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April 12, 2011
Howard and Teresita Schaffer, authors of "How Pakistan Negotiates with the United States: Riding the Roller Coaster" (USIP Press, April 2011), and panelists discussed past, present and future U.S.-Pakistan negotiations and relations.
Countries: Pakistan, United States
| Issue Areas: Negotiation and Diplomacy
| Programs: Grant Program
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November 16, 2010
The U.S. faces important decisions as it prepares for talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran on its nuclear activities. A distinguished group of 50+ scholars and policy analysts concluded that the U.S. should rebalance its approach to Iran, leveraging the gains achieved from sanctions by indicating a willingness to engage Iran diplomatically on a wide range of issues. The study group’s report is a broad prescription for rebalancing U.S. policy in a way that could increase the chances for success in the talks. |
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November 3, 2010
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November 5, 2010
In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council passed landmark Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security, which linked women’s experiences of conflict to the international peace and security agenda, acknowledging their peacemaking roles as well as the disproportionate impact of violent conflict on women. Ten years later, the U.S. Institute of Peace co-hosted a three-day Women and War conference focused on the varied experiences of women during wartime and how to make sustained progress toward international peace and security. The event featured an extraordinary coalition of national and international participants, including U.N. and U.S. government officials, the international diplomatic communities, military personnel, academics, civil society leaders, and practitioners in the fields of security, development, and conflict resolution. Countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Iraq
| Issue Areas: Arts and Peacebuilding, Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Education, Gender and Peacebuilding, Human Rights, Media, Conflict, and Peacebuilding, Negotiation and Diplomacy, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Rule of Law, Security Sector Reform/Governance
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September 16, 2010
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell joined USIP President Richard H. Solomon to discuss the Obama administration's next steps in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
Countries: North Korea, South Korea
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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September 14, 2010
This event features four USIP grantees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia and Sudan who are intimately familiar with the on-the-ground realities in their countries. The grantees discuss implementing peacebuilding projects in difficult and dangerous environments. Washington planners will be able to hear first hand what on-the-ground practitioners are doing to stay safe while getting important work done.
Countries: Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Sudan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Political Reform
| Programs: Grants & Fellowships
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May 12, 2010
This event celebrated the publication of “American Negotiating Behavior: Wheeler-Dealers, Legal Eagles, Bullies, and Preachers,“ by Richard H. Solomon and coauthor Nigel Quinney. Published by the U.S. Institute of Peace, this landmark study offers a rich and detailed portrait of the negotiating practices of American officials.
Countries: United States
| Issue Areas: Mediation and Facilitation, Negotiation and Diplomacy
| Programs: Grant Program
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April 1, 2010
Anwar Sadat, considered one of the great leaders whose efforts were indispensable in ending war between Egypt and Israel, inspired many. Almost three decades after his passing, a comprehensive resolution to the Middle East conflict remains elusive. Countries: Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Territories
| Programs: Grant Program, Grants & Fellowships
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November 4, 2009
Thirty years to the day after the taking of the U.S. hostages in Iran, in the wake of their controversial June 2009 presidential election, the regime's ensuing crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, and recent news of U.S. funding cuts for Iran democracy programs, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) offered his views on how the U.S. should approach Iran on the issues of human rights and democracy. Countries: Iran
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June 22, 2009
From his first day in office, President Barack Obama has made Arab-Israeli peacemaking a top foreign policy priority. In recent weeks, he has consulted with a wide range of leaders from the region, including Israel’s new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu |
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April 3, 2009
A USIP Congressional Newsmaker Series Event Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Economics and Conflict
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February 3, 2009
Distinguished panelists and citizen journalists around the world to discuss the role of media in public diplomacy. |
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October 7, 2008
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October 10, 2008
A public event co-sponsored with The International Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and The US Army Combined Arms Center (CAC) |
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September 17, 2008
A public event jointly sponsored with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor |
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March 21, 2008
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March 6, 2008
A public event sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) |
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February 7, 2008
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October 16, 2007
Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention
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May 23, 2007
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October 19, 2006
Issue Areas: Religion and Peacemaking
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October 5, 2006
Issue Areas: Religion and Peacemaking, Security Sector Reform/Governance
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March 21, 2006
Countries: Liberia
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February 7, 2006
Countries: North Korea
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September 28, 2005
Countries: China, Japan, North Korea, Russian Federation, South Korea, United States
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Negotiation and Diplomacy
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October 25, 2002
Issue Areas: Security Sector Reform/Governance
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September 5, 2002
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June 12, 2002
Countries: North Korea
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May 6, 2002
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April 2, 2002
Countries: Philippines
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February 14, 2002
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