| Abbreviation | USIP |
|---|---|
| Motto | Think. Act. Teach. Train. |
| Formation | 1984 |
| Headquarters | 2301 Constitution Avenue NW, D.C. |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| President | Richard H. Solomon |
| Website | usip.org |
The United States Institute of Peace was created by Congress as a non-partisan, federal institution that works to prevent or end violent conflict around the world. President Ronald Reagan signed the United States Institute of Peace Act that established the Institute in 1984.
According to its Web site, USIP employees study conflicts, then find ways to end or prevent violence through analysis and on-the-ground training. The group is prohibited by law from receiving private funding. The use of federal funds buffers it from special interests.
The group works to prevent, manage and resolve violent international conflict by “promoting post-conflict stability and development,” according to its Web site. USIP seeks to bridge its analysis with action, incorporating training on the ground to prevent violent conflict or identify ways to end conflict by convening warring groups or tribes.
USIP works in more than 30 countries, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) called USIP “an applied research facility” that “sponsors research and puts it to practice, training the next generation of professionals in the process.”[1] USIP’s Web site says its motto is to “think, act, teach and train.”
USIP convened the bipartisan Iraq Study Group in 2006. [2]
Because it is nonpartisan and federally funded, USIP builds its reputation as being a neutral government actor. The group has been called on to conduct so-called Track II diplomacy, in which USIP experts can engage in unofficial dialogue with diplomatic entities in a way that the official U.S. government can’t.
Richard Solomon, a former senior State Department official and ambassador to the Philippines, is the president of USIP. He has held that position since 1993.
On February 17, 2011, the House of Representatives for the 112th U.S. Congress voted to eliminate all funding to USIP in FY 2011 as part of a broader effort to cut federal spending.[3][4]
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The idea behind the formation of a peace organization in the United States dates to the first years of the republic. In 1783, George Washington called for the adoption of a "proper Peace Establishment." Two-hundred years after Washington circulated his vision to the states President Ronald Reagan signed the United States Institute of Peace Act in 1984.
Prior to USIP's creation in 1984, there was a campaign to create a “Department of Peace” by Sen. Jennings Randolph in 1946. In the 1970s and 1980s, Randolph joined Senators Mark Hatfield and Spark Matsunaga and Rep. Dan Glickman in an effort to form a national peace academy. That followed a recommendation of a commission appointed by President Jimmy Carter and chaired by Matsunaga.
The charter Congress wrote for the new Peace Institute said it must “serve the American people and the federal government through the widest possible range of education and training, basic and applied research opportunities, and peace information services on the means to promote international peace and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world without recourse to violence.”
In 1996, Congress authorized the Navy to transfer jurisdiction of the federal land – a portion of its Potomac Annex facility on what has been known as Navy Hill – to become the site of the permanent USIP headquarters, across the street from the National Mall at 23rd Street and Constitution Ave., NW, in Washington, D.C. Officials broke ground for the new headquarters building in 2008. President George W. Bush, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attended the event. Pelosi quoted President John F. Kennedy’s commencement speech to American University in 1963: "The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war," Kennedy told the crowd, as Pelosi recounted. "We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just." George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, spoke about preventing war. As President Bush stood by his side, he said: “In your time, I think this is one important idea that has real legs and staying power.”
USIP’s annual operating budget for fiscal 2011 is about $39.5 million. The Institute's request for 2012 is $42 million. USIP is not allowed to receive private funding for its operations. However, about $88 million was raised in private funds for the construction of its new headquarters building on the National Mall. The group spends the money on “national security priorities” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, the Middle East and Northeast Asia, according to its budget documents. It also runs programs in Africa, including Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and in the Americas, including in Colombia and Haiti.[5]
USIP employs analysts and field workers to oversee programs in those countries to develop justice systems, improve health care, build the media and expand science and technology within those countries.[6] USIP employs approximately 320 people.
An op-ed in The Wall Street Journal February 16, 2011, by Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah and former Democrat congressman Anthony Weiner of New York, attacked funding for USIP as part of the broader debate about federal spending.
“The USIP is a case study in how government waste thrives,” they wrote. “The idea began during the Cold War as a modest proposal with $4 million in seed money. But the organization received government funding year after year essentially because it had been funded the year before—and because it had important allies.”[7]
Former U.S. Central Command Commander Anthony Zinni wrote an op-ed, published in The New York Times March 7, 2011, in support of USIP. “Congress would be hard-pressed to find an agency that does more with less. The institute’s entire budget would not pay for the Afghan war for three hours, is less than the cost of a fighter plane, and wouldn’t sustain even 40 American troops in Afghanistan for a year. Within the budget, peace-building is financed as part of national security programs, and is recognized as an important adjunct to conventional defense spending and diplomacy. The institute’s share of the proposed international affairs budget, $43 million, is minuscule: less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the State Department’s budget, and one-hundredth of 1 percent of the Pentagon’s.”[8]
On February 17, 2011, the House of Representatives for the 112th U.S. Congress voted to eliminate all funding for the U.S. Institute of Peace in FY 2011 continuing resolution.
In Iraq in 2007, USIP helped broker the initial peace agreement that is seen as the turning point in the war there. USIP experts were asked to assist the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division in the reconciliation effort in Mahmoudiya, located in what was known as “the Triangle of Death” in Iraq’s western Anbar province. USIP was seen as a neutral player that was able to convene Sunni tribal leaders, Iraq’s Shiite government leaders, and senior members of the U.S. military. Soon after the meeting, attacks and casualties declined significantly. The agreement led to a reduction of the U.S. military presence there from a brigade-level unit of about 3,500 soldiers to a battalion-level unit of about 650. Gen. David Petraeus, the senior commander in Iraq, noted that the turnabout was “striking.” Petraeus also said that USIP “is a great asset in developing stronger unity of effort between civilian and military elements of government.” [9]
The U.S. government used USIP to help convene the bipartisan Iraq Study Group in 2006 that studied the conflict in Iraq and recommended ways forward. USIP facilitated the group’s trip to Iraq and hosted several meetings of the group. According to USIP, the group’s political neutrality made it an appropriate entity to host the group’s sensitive deliberations. The effort was undertaken at the urging of several members of Congress with agreement of the White House. A final report was released to Congress, the White House, and the public on December 6, 2006.[10]
In Fall 2008, U.S. Institute of Peace, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Academy of Diplomacy jointly convened the Genocide Prevention Task Force to "spotlight genocide prevention as a national priority and to develop practical policy recommendations to enhance the capacity of the U.S. government to respond to emerging threats of genocide and mass atrocities."[10]
The 14-member task force,[10] co-chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Defense Secretary William Cohen, outlined "a national blueprint to prevent genocide and mass atrocities."[11] In December 2008, the task force released its report "Preventing Genocide: A Blueprint for U.S. Policymakers"[12] detailing its recommendations and guidelines. The Economist called it a "report steeped in good sense."[13]
On August 4, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a proclamation suspending U.S. entry to individuals active in "serious human rights and humanitarian law violations"[14] and called for the creation of an Interagency Atrocities Prevention Board to review, coordinate and develop an atrocity prevention and response policy, and incorporate recommendations provided by the Genocide Prevention Task Force.
Ahead of Sudan’s April 2010 national elections – the first in the war-torn country since 1986 – and the January 2011 referendum, USIP staff traveled to some of the more unstable regions to help prepare people for the elections.
Amid heightened tensions, USIP experts focused on improving cultural awareness, citizenship skills, and training Sudanese on electoral violence triggers – all critical steps to ensure that the polls did not turn violent. The elections and referendum were held with relatively no bloodshed and were widely deemed a success. Building upon USIP’s successful electoral violence prevention training, USIP is implementing a series of violence prevention workshops throughout the country post-election and post-referendum.
According to its website, The Iran Primer: Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy "offers a comprehensive but concise overview of Iran's politics, economy, military, foreign policy, and nuclear program."
The Iran Primer convenes 50 experts to discuss Iran’s evolving relationship with the West and "chronicles U.S.-Iran relations under six American presidents and probes five options for dealing with Iran." The Iran Primer is edited by USIP Expert Robin Wright.
Iran Primer authors include:
The institute has also served U.S. government officials and policymakers.
USIP organizes its work in accordance with the three phases of conflict: prevention, mediation and resolution, and post-conflict stabilization. The Institute is made up of three centers, with a fourth set of centers whose issues cross each phase of conflict.
Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention (CAP):[15] This team works where the threat to peace is most acute, conducting research and analysis and bringing together civil society groups, government leaders, academics and others for dialogue and to promote collaboration.
Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution (CMCR):[16] USIP experts work on active conflicts, supporting training and education, developing tools for practitioners and identifying best practices for ending violence.
Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations (PPSO):[17] This team works to advise newly-forming governments and institutions, promote and maintain community reconciliation, and help different groups on the ground to coordinate their efforts to maintain security and provide services.
Centers of Innovation (COI):[18] USIP identifies and applies best practices in seven topical areas whose issues cross each phase of conflict:
The Institute is governed by a Board of Directors, with an equal number of Republican and Democratic directors appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate.[19] The president and executive officers of the Institute are in turn selected by the Board of Directors.[20]
Board of Directors
Members ex officio
In March 2011, USIP moved into a new, permanent facility at the northwest corner of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Designed by Moshe Safdie Architects and Buro Happold, the LEED-certified building aims to serve as a dynamic symbol of America's commitment to peacebuilding. It includes a Global Peacebuilding Center for public education and an Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding.
The Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding[21] is the education and training arm of the United States Institute of Peace. The Academy offers practitioner-oriented courses at the Institute’s headquarters in Washington and elsewhere, conducts conflict management workshops and training in conflict zones abroad, and serves as an education resource for professionals, teachers, and students around the world preparing to work in and on conflict zones.
The USIP sponsors an annual national peace essay contest (NPEC) for high school students. The 2011-2012 topic addresses the impact of new media on peacebuilding and conflict management.
USIP provides scholars, policy analysts, policymakers, and other experts with opportunities to spend time in residence at the Institute to reflect and write on international peace and security challenges.
The Institute's Jennings Randolph Program awards fellowships to enable outstanding scholars, policymakers, journalists, and other professionals from around the world to research and reflect on international peace and security challenges. According to its website, the Insittute offers between eight and 12 fellowships each year. They are open to citizens of any nation.
The program is named after U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph who played a key role in the passage and enactment of the United States Institute of Peace Act in 1984.
Notable current and past USIP senior fellows include:
According to its website, the Global Peacebuilding Center (GPC) is "designed to engage visitors in the work of the Institute and excite them about the role that they, as individuals, can play in the peacebuilding process."
The Global Peacebuilding Center aims to increase public understanding—especially among students and teachers—of international conflicts and nonviolent approaches that can be used to resolve them. The interactive exhibition space is expected to draw up to 500,000 visitors annually to highlight the institute's scholarship and work in the field.[22]