Menu

United States Institute of Peace

James Rupert

Senior Writer/Editor, Public Affairs and Communications

Print the Page

Contact

Please submit all media inquiries to interviews@usip.org or call 202.429.3869.

For all other inquiries, please call 202.457.1700

James Rupert is a senior writer and editor at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

As a foreign affairs correspondent Rupert has reported from more than 70 countries for the Washington Post, Newsday and Bloomberg News, and served as a foreign affairs editor at the Post and Newsday. Over a 30-year journalism career, he has served as a resident correspondent in Morocco, Tunisia, France, India, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Cote d’Ivoire and Pakistan. His coverage has focused heavily on South and Central Asia, the Arab and Islamic worlds, the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa.

Rupert is a former Alicia Patterson Fellow and Michigan Journalism (now Knight-Wallace) Fellow. Before joining MexLucky in 2015, he served as a writer at the Atlantic Council and editor of its UkraineAlert newsletter.

Rupert graduated from Swarthmore College in 1979 and served as a Peace Corps volunteer, building and teaching in a vocational school in Morocco.

Publications By James

On Veterans Day and Every Day, U.S. Veterans Are Peacebuilders

On Veterans Day and Every Day, U.S. Veterans Are Peacebuilders

Thursday, November 9, 2023

By: James Rupert

The Veterans Day that Americans observe this week is rooted in hopes for peace that burst in 1918 from a train parked in a French forest: Allied and German military officers had signed a halt to humanity’s deadliest war ever. One hundred five years later, warfare in Ukraine, Israel-Gaza and dozens of countries have heightened both bloodshed and Americans’ concerns about whether humankind can fulfill our hopes for a world governed through laws rather than armed might. Still, the building of peace continues, even amid violence — and its builders include those who know best the horror of wars for having fought them.

Type: Blog

Civilian-Military Relations

For Ukraine Democracy: Reforms Now, Elections When Possible

For Ukraine Democracy: Reforms Now, Elections When Possible

Thursday, November 2, 2023

By: James Rupert

Ukraine this year faces a new version of a recurrent problem: How can countries sustain and strengthen democracy amid war or upheaval? Ukraine is postponing parliamentary elections this year that election experts say would be dangerous to hold under Russia’s continued military assault. In such straits, how might any democracy, whether established or emerging, renew the accountability and representativity of its government? Ukrainian officials and civic leaders say the country has no perfect option, but can do it through a combination of reforms and commitments already underway.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Democracy & Governance

Russia’s Africa Summit — and a Future for Wagner

Russia’s Africa Summit — and a Future for Wagner

Thursday, August 3, 2023

By: Heather Ashby, Ph.D.;  James Rupert;  Kirtika Sharad

Ever since Russia’s Wagner mercenary group jolted Vladimir Putin’s regime with its brief mutiny in Russia, foggy uncertainty has surrounded Wagner’s future roles — whether domestically, as part of Putin’s web of armed forces, as a fighting force in Ukraine, or as a Kremlin tool of influence and profit in Africa. The past week offers the most prominent sign yet of how Wagner’s flamboyant chief, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, is pressing to retain an African role. While mostly shoved out of public view, Prigozhin was able to appear at Putin’s Russia-Africa Summit to meet African contacts and re-declare his relevance.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Global Policy

At Ukraine’s Edge, Russia Presses Hybrid War on Tiny Moldova

At Ukraine’s Edge, Russia Presses Hybrid War on Tiny Moldova

Thursday, July 27, 2023

By: James Rupert

At a sensitive edge of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Moscow is sustaining a campaign to regain control in Moldova, the small, ex-Soviet republic landlocked between Ukraine and Romania. Russia has maneuvered for years to scuttle Moldovans’ aims to join the European Union, crimping their economy and controlling easternmost Moldova with Russian troops and proxies. A Kremlin-backed party won a Moldovan regional election in May and Moscow will aim to defeat Moldova’s pro-European national government in elections by 2025. The United States and its partners should urgently unify efforts to help Moldovans sustain their independence and stability.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Democracy & Governance;  Global Policy

View All