About Peace and Stability Operations: U.S. Institute of Peace

Institute staff members Ted Feifer (program officer, Professional Training Program, top left), Daniel Serwer (director, Peace and Stability Operations, middle-standing), and George Ward (director, Professional Training Program, right-seated) confer with Chris Dell (then head of the U.S. Office in Pristina, left-seated) during 2001 Institute sponsored workshop for Kosovar municipal leaders.

About Peace and Stability Operations

Based on its strong foundation in education and research, the United States Institute of Peace is increasingly engaged on the ground in conflict zones abroad seeking to apply what has been learned in order to prevent conflict, to meet the enormous challenges of postconflict stabilization, and to derive further lessons that will improve future conflict management efforts. The Institute provides technical assistance and critical conflict management tools and resources within an integrated framework that draws on all Institute programs to:

Facilitate dialogue among ethnic and religious groups to prevent violence;

Train local and national political and civil society leaders in conflict management skills;

Provide technical assistance on constitution-making, transitional justice, property disputes, and other rule of law issues;

Support civil society development through information, training, and grants;

Encourage efforts to reform education systems distorted by war and to design conflict management curricula; and

Develop options for peacekeeping and maintaining public security as well as meeting other postconflict challenges.

The Institute's postconflict stabilization efforts are led by Institute executive vice president Harriet Hentges. Coordination for the planning and implementation of postconflict stabilization activities is headed up by the Institute's Office of Peace and Stability Operations under the direction of Dan Serwer.

Iraq Stabilization

Preventing intercommunal, interethnic, and interreligious violence through dialogue;

Promoting rule of law, including constitution-making and transitional justice; and

Training and education of leaders for a democratic Iraq by improving negotiation, mediation, and consensus-building skills.

These efforts include a grant to the Iraq Foundation for Sunni/Shia dialogue as well as advice to the Iraq Governing Council on a special war crimes tribunal and on the constitutional process, based on the lessons learned in the Institute’s study of 18 cases of post-conflict constitution-making.

The Institute’s Washington-based Iraq Working Group regularly convenes experts from academia, think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, the media, Congress, and the administration for discussions of critical postconflict stabilization issues on the ground in Iraq. These have included meetings on the role of Iraq’s neighbors in the stabilization process, on the contributions of civil society to democratization, and on religious politics in Iraq. Two of the Institute’s 2003-2004 senior fellows—Faleh Jabar of London University and Amatzia Baram of Haifa University—are leading experts on Iraq, its social system, and the relationship between Islam and the state.

Learn more about the Institute's work in Iraq.

Afghanistan Rule of Law

Starting with the concept for a judicial commission incorporated into the Bonn agreement for postconflict Afghanistan, the Institute has focused on the administration of justice, including workshops and training on criminal justice that have been vital to communication among Afghan judicial institutions and to planning for judicial reform. The Institute has worked with Afghans on integration of the formal judicial system with traditional Afghan judicial mechanisms and has also collaborated with the International Resources Group and the American Bar Association to collect, format, and print over 1,000 sets of Afghanistan’s pre-Taliban era law codes in Dari, Pashtu, and English, delivered to the Interim Authority and the United Nations in June 2002.

Read more about the work of the Institute's Rule of Law Program.

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A protester lets a white dove fly as other protesters display placards during a bayside protest in the shallow water off Manila Bay. AP Photo

Philippines Facilitation Project

The U.S. administration has asked the Institute to facilitate peace talks between the government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, one of the Muslim-based insurgent groups operating in the southern island of Mindanao. An Institute team of staff, senior former diplomats, and military officers will spearhead the Institute’s efforts. They will draw upon recent experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans to assist the parties in preparing for negotiations and to implement a resulting peace agreement. The Institute will work in an unofficial capacity alongside the government of Malaysia, which has the lead role in the mediation.

The Institute has already conducted training in conflict management, negotiation, and problem solving for Philippine government officials and minority representatives and held a university faculty seminar on conflict management education. The Institute has made a dozen grants for work on the Philippines, most concerned with the conflict in Mindanao.

Learn more about the Institute's Philippine Facilitation Project.

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Balkans Post-Dayton Peacebuilding

The Balkans was the first zone of conflict in which the Institute developed on-the-ground peacemaking efforts, starting immediately after negotiation of the Dayton accords of 1995. Efforts included support for the Inter-religious Council in Sarajevo, which still plays an important public role in promoting interfaith tolerance in Bosnia, as well as the first meetings among justice officials in post-war Bosnia and a series of pathbreaking dialogues involving Serbs and Albanians after the NATO-Yugoslavia war. A substantial number of senior fellows and 140 grants have focused on Balkans issues since the early 1990s, including return of displaced people and refugees, the roots of nationalism in the Balkans, and demobilization of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

As peace in the Balkans takes hold eight years after Dayton, the Institute has monitored events through its Washington-based Balkans Working Group and has focused its on-the-ground efforts on remaining “war and peace” issues: security sector reform in Serbia, promoting dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and Kosovo final status. Activities have included negotiation training for about 20 percent of Belgrade’s Foreign Ministry, training for Serbia and Montenegro Defense Ministry officials, preparation of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina for talks with Belgrade, and a dialogue between young leaders of civil society and politics from Belgrade and Pristina.

Look at an overview of the Institute's work in the Balkans.

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Related Institute Publications

Following its mandate to promote the prevention, management, and peaceful resolution of international conflicts, the United States Institute of Peace is committed to publishing significant works that offer new insights and information to practitioners, scholars, diplomats, and students, among others. Over the years the Institute has published numerous reports and policy briefs in support of Institute peace and stability operations.

Look at a full list of Institute reports.

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Related Conferences and Events

As part of the Institute's efforts to develop a greater understanding on the challenges of preventing conflict and maintaining peace, the Institute has sponsored a wide assortment of public briefings related to its peace and stability operations work in zones of conflict around the globe.

Look at a full list of recent Institute events.

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For More Information

Please contact the Office of Peace and Stability Operations by e-mail at peaceoperations@usip.org. Written inquiries may also be sent to the address listed below.

United States Institute of Peace -- 1200 17th Street NW -- Washington, DC 20036
(202) 457-1700 (phone) -- (202) 429-6063 (fax)
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