“Opportunity”: When asked to describe this moment for the U.S. peacebuilding field, this was the most common word that hundreds of participants at the “American Peacebuilding as a Crossroads” conference chose. It would have been understandable if participants had...
March 2026
Dawn or Dusk? Three Emergent Dynamics Facing Peacebuilding
Are we facing the dusk or dawn in the field of peacebuilding? Yes! Peacebuilding approaches that evolved from the end of the Soviet Union to the COVID pandemic are under duress, if not in collapse. Many analysts try to fit the emergent shape-shifting of U.S. domestic...
Military Might Without Security: Why Force is Not Enough to Address Hemispheric Challenges
The U.S. government has launched a strategy to restore “American preeminence” in the Western Hemisphere through largely military means, “identifying drug and human trafficking” as a primary threat to U.S. security. Since September 2025, the U.S. military has conducted...
At the Crossroads, Always: Peace Studies for a Perilous Moment
In July 1989, the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science published a special issue entitled “Peace Studies: Past and Future.” These essays were to explain the significant growth of American collegiate programs examining problems of war, peace,...
Past as Prologue: Reclaiming the Journey of American Peacebuilding
American peacebuilding stands at a crossroads. To chart the way forward, we must recall and reclaim the core ideas, adaptations, and innovations that shaped earlier federal investments in the study and promotion of peace—particularly those surrounding the creation and...
Congress Has a Chance to Lead on Peace – Again
As the United States navigates a new war in the Middle East and other global conflicts persist, the U.S. Congress should assert its vast power to promote peace. Members on both sides of the aisle have played pivotal roles in shaping past U.S. initiatives aimed at...







