PrintLinda Bishai
Senior Program Officer, Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding
Contact
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For all other inquiries, please call 202.457.1700.
Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Education, Health and Peacebuilding, Rule of Law, Training
Linda Bishai is a senior program officer in the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding at the United States Institute of Peace. She focuses on peacebuilding education and conflict management programing in Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Bishai was also responsible for a series of programs on electoral violence prevention in Sudan before the general elections and the South Sudan referendum and then served as an international observer for the Carter Center missions in both cases.
Before USIP, Bishai was an assistant professor of political science at Towson University, where she taught courses in international relations, international law, the use of force and human rights. Her research interests include identity politics, liberal internationalism, international use of force, and the development of international law after the Nuremberg trials. During 2003-2004, Bishai served as a Supreme Court Fellow at the Federal Judicial Center, where she worked on an introduction to international human rights law for the federal judiciary. She has also taught at Brunel University, the London School of Economics and the University of Stockholm. Bishai holds a B.A. in history and literature from Harvard University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics.
Publications:
- "Civic Education and Peacebuilding: Examples from Iraq and Sudan," Co-authored with D.H. Levine, Special Report, October 2010.
- "Will Truth Bring Peace or Justice?," The Reckoning: Perspectives on International Human Rights. POV, July, 2009.
- "Leaving Nuremberg: America's love/hate relationship with international law," Review of International Studies (Vol. 34, 2008).
- Sudanese Universities as Sites of Social Transformation, Special Report, February 2008.
- Public Health and Conflict in Iraq: Rebuilding a Nation's Health, USIPeace Briefing, July 2007.
- Armed Conflict as a Public Health Problem: Current Realities and Future Directions, USIPeace Briefing, May 2007.
- "Forgetting Ourselves: Secession and the (Im)possibility of Territory Identity" (2004).
- "Liberal Empire," Journal of International Relations and Development (Vol. 7, No. 1, 2004).
- "Intervention in Law & Politics," Cooperation and Conflict (Vol. 36, No. 4, 2001).
- "Secession and Security: The Politics of Ethno-Cultural Identity," Security and Identity in Europe: Exploring the New Agenda (2000).
- "Sovereignty and Minority Rights," Global Governance; A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations (1998).
- "Altered States: Secession and the Problems of Liberal Theory," Theories of Secession (1998).
Publications & Tools
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South Sudan celebrates the first anniversary of its formal independence and nationhood on July 9. Though hopes for progress remain high, the young nation is struggling on several fronts—internal security, relations with Sudan, development, rule of law and statebuilding. The specialists at the U.S. Institute of Peace who work on conflict management and peacebuilding programs in South Sudan examine the gains made and the many challenges ahead. Countries: South Sudan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Political Reform, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Rule of Law
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As South Sudan celebrates the first anniversary of its independence, USIP offers a range of resources for examining the new country's first year and for beginning to discuss its trajectory in the coming years. Countries: South Sudan, The Two Sudans
| Issue Areas: Mediation and Facilitation, Negotiation and Diplomacy, Political Reform, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Rule of Law
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A close partnership between USIP and a Sudanese organization over the past seven years is strengthening USIP programming in a key African country that has been torn by conflict--and helping to build a vibrant civil society organization where few have prospered previously. Countries: Sudan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Training
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USIP has been training Pakistanis from a variety of backgrounds in practical peacebuilding, creating—with the help of a local partner--a network of conflict managers in a strategically vital country plagued by instability. Here is the exclusive story of how a USIP-trained conflict manager helped to avert “honor” killings in a rural Pakistani village. Countries: Pakistan
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Training
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With the overwhelming vote in favor of separation, a new nation will be born on Saturday, July 9: the Republic of South Sudan. Countries: Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, The Two Sudans
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Mediation and Facilitation, Political Reform, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Rule of Law
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In the past year, Sudan has successfully passed two milestones established by its Comprehensive Peace Agreement: national elections in April 2010 and a referendum this January on independence for the country’s south. Many analysts and commentators feared, in both cases, that an eruption of violence could block the path to a peaceful resolution of the north-south conflict laid out in the historic 2005 accord. |
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U.S. Institute of Peace scholars, fellows and staff will attend this month’s International Studies Association (ISA) Convention in Montreal, reflecting USIP’s central role in this field. The convention runs from March 16-19, 2011. Countries: Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, The Two Sudans
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Rule of Law
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Between 2006 and 2010, the United States Institute of Peace developed several civic education programs for Iraq and Sudan as part of broader efforts to promote postconflict stability and development and help prevent a return to violence. This report describes those programs after first examining the conceptual bases for civic education and how they differ from and overlap with human rights. |
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USIP has supported over 300 products, projects, and activities related to human rights and peacebuilding. From grants to fellowships, from training to education, from working groups to publications, the Institute strives to encourage more practice and scholarly work on the issue of human rights, and seeks to deepen understanding of the role human rights play in conflict and in peace. Issue Areas: Human Rights
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Sudan’s upcoming elections in 2009 raise hopes and concerns for the country’s future. According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005 between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Sudan is scheduled to hold national and state level elections in 2009. Countries: South Sudan, Sudan, The Two Sudans
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Economics and Conflict, Training
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In Sudanese universities, students and faculty have historically served as vital voices for political change and community and international engagement, but recent educational policies have severely limited their voices. |
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On March 22, 2007, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) Task Force on Public Health and Conflict held its third symposium, Iraq: Rebuilding a Nation’s Health. The Task Force is committed to raising the profile of conflict analysis and resolution in the field of public health education. Countries: Iraq
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Health and Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities
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Events
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February 2, 2011
With preliminary results on Sudan's January referendum expected in early February, and final results coming soon thereafter USIP held a public event, "Perspectives on Sudan's Referendum." Panelists at this event reflected on their experiences in Sudan during the referendum, and then looked forward to the challenges ahead for both northern and southern Sudan. |
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April 2, 2010
This April Sudan held long-anticipated elections for almost every level of government. USIP held a public event to examine some of the uncertainties around the upcoming elections and to place the elections into Sudan's larger political context. Countries: Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, The Two Sudans
| Issue Areas: Conflict Analysis and Prevention, Post-Conflict and Peacekeeping Activities, Training
| Programs: Workshops and Training in Zones of Conflict
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