December 13, 2018
Since taking office in August 2018, Colombia’s government has sought to devise new strategies to advance peace and security in a country long plagued by armed conflict and organized criminal violence. Political consensus around peace, however, has remained elusive.
The United States Institute of Peace, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Woodrow Wilson Center on Tuesday, December 11th hosted a conversation with three prominent members of the Colombian Senate’s Peace Commission.
Speakers:
Roy Barreras
Senator, Partido de la Unidad Nacional
Michael Camilleri
Director, Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program, The Inter-American Dialogue
Iván Cepeda
Senator, Polo Democrático Alternativo
Paloma Valencia
Senator, Centro Democrático
Steve Hege, moderator
Senior Expert on Colombia, U.S. Institute of Peace
December 13, 2018
The world’s most violent conflicts are being fought within its most youthful populations. In the five countries that suffered nearly 80 percent of recent deaths from violent extremism, half of all people were younger than 22. The youth in these countries are also some of their communities’ most effective peacebuilders and best hopes for breaking cycles of violence.
On December 12, USIP streamed a forum with thought leader and youth leader participants from USIP’s Youth Leaders’ Exchange with His Holiness the Dalai Lama discussing what it takes to build inner resilience and how to apply it to peacebuliding.
Speakers:
Wadi Ben-Hirki
Founder, Wadi Ben-Hriki Foundation (Nigeria)
Jimmie Briggs
Executive Director, Leave Out Violence-U.S., (U.S.)
Meron Kocho
Member of Council, MESPO-Iraq (Iraq)
Maya Soetoro-Ng
Advisor, Obama Foundation (U.S.)
Gregg Zoroya
Editorial Writer, USA Today (U.S)
December 11, 2018
Trends in global terrorism change every year. From fragile states to urban megacities, data shows how many societies are impacted by violence. But, how does this data help prevent and counter violent extremism? The findings of the sixth annual edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) provide data on the evolving trends of global terrorism that are useful for policy, programming and research.
December 7, 2018
Over the last two decades, policy frameworks like the Women, Peace and Security agenda, provide a valuable platform for advocacy efforts. Yet such approaches do not tackle the underlying issue of gender inequality. As researchers have documented, where there is less gender equality there is less peace.
The U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted this discussion examining how policies and programs can be shaped to better prevent the use of sexual violence and re-establish secure environments when it does occur.
November 30, 2018
Do postwar peacebuilding interventions work to keep peace? How do we measure the effectiveness of such international interventions? Join former USIP Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow Pamina Firchow as she discusses her findings on how to measure the impact of local-level interventions on communities affected by war.
November 29, 2018
Global adversaries, especially states like Russia, China and Iran, use sharp power tools of coercion, disinformation and proxy campaigns to achieve their geopolitical goals and weaken Western influence.
Former U.S. ambassadors Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) discussed their views on how soft power tools can and should be used to counter sharp power employed by global adversaries at USIP’s seventh Bipartisan Congressional Dialogue
Speakers:
Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL)
19th Congressional District of Florida, U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA)
8th Congressional District of Virginia, U.S. House of Representatives
Nancy Lindborg, moderator
President, U.S. Institute of Peace
November 28, 2018
As the loss of ISIS territory drives thousands of “foreign terrorist fighters” to return home, and hundreds of people convicted of terrorism-related offenses are scheduled for release over the next several years, communities worldwide are faced with rehabilitating and reintegrating people disengaging from violent extremism.
USIP hosted this discussion of how policies and programs can address trauma and reduce stigma to foster cross-cutting affiliations and social learning, enable rehabilitation, and ease reintegration for people disengaging from extremist violence.
Panelists:
Jesse Morton
Founder and Co-director, Parallel Networks, and co-author of the forthcoming report, “When Terrorists Come Home: The Need for Rehabilitating and Reintegrating America’s Convicted Jihadists”
Dr. James Gordon
Founder and Executive Director, The Center for Mind-Body Medicine
Dr. Sousan Abadian
Franklin Fellow, Office of International Religious Freedom, Department of State
Stacey Schamber
Senior Program Officer, International Civil Society Action Network
Colette Rausch, moderator
Senior Advisor, U.S. Institute of Peace
October 31, 2018
The 2018 National Defense Strategy asserts that the United States is emerging from a post-Cold War period of “strategic atrophy.” On October 30, 2018, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted a discussion with Secretary Mattis on how the National Defense Strategy seeks to meet the shared challenges of our time through strengthening and evolving America’s strategic alliances and partnerships.
October 30, 2018
One in five elections worldwide is marred by violence—from burned ballot boxes to violent suppression of peaceful rallies, to assassinations of candidates. A USIP study of programs to prevent violence suggests focusing on improving the administration and policing of elections. The study, of elections in Kenya and Liberia, found no evidence that programs of voter consultation or peace messaging were effective there. A series of speakers discussed these findings.
Speakers:
Pat Merloe
Senior Associate and Director for Election Programs, NDI
John Tomaszewski
Africa Director, IRI
Joshua Changwony
Deputy Executive Secretary, Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO, Kenya)
Oscar Bloh
Chairman, Elections Coordination Committee (ECC, Liberia)
Inken von Borzyskowski
Assistant Professor, Florida State University
Jonas Claes, facilitator
Senior Program Officer, Center for Applied Conflict Transformation, USIP
Debra Liang-Fenton, facilitator
Senior Program Officer, Center for Applied Conflict Transformation, USIP
October 25, 2018
Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik
Director of Learning & Evaluation, Alliance for Peacebuilding
Michael Findley
Professor of Government and Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Lise Morjé Howard
Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown University
Renard Sexton
Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University and International Crisis Group
Rebecca Wolfe
Director of Evidence & Influence, Mercy Corps
