By Robert D. Lamb ■ It’s common to talk about the evolution of machines in comparison to humans — the Turing test, when will computers be as intelligent as humans, can robots be conscious like humans, etc. But there’s a forgotten tradition of research (called cybernetics) that compares humans, machines, and human societies to see what […]
Read more...Category: Peace & Conflict
Coming Soon: Long Version of “Dual-System Problem”
For years, I’ve been researching, writing, speaking, advising, and ranting about systemic problems in foreign-policy making, especially with regards to complex conflicts, stabilization and reconstruction, and international development. Today, Melissa Gregg and I submitted the full draft of our joint monograph, “The Dual-System Problem in Complex Conflicts,” arguing that policy systems today are fundamentally unadapted to the complex […]
Read more...Unlearned Lessons and the Dual-System Problem (SSI commentary)
By Robert D. Lamb ■ My most recent commentary focuses why policy systems so often fail to institutionalize lessons learned with respect to conflict, fragility, and development—and what the research community can do differently to help policy makers overcome barriers to effectiveness. > Read the full commentary here
Read more...Announcing the Foundation for Inclusion
For the past year or so, in my spare time, I have been quietly working on a new initiative with the intention of launching it soon after the election, whatever the outcome. Throughout my professional and volunteer career, I’ve worked in various ways on issues of exclusion – exclusion from political systems, from economic opportunity, […]
Read more...Thoughts on “Ungoverned Areas and Threats from Safe Havens”
It feels strange that my name (to the degree anyone knows who I am) is still associated with the term “ungoverned” — I hate the term and use it only in scare quotes today, as should be clear to anyone who’s read the final report of the Ungoverned Areas Project (which I led as a Defense Department […]
Read more...The Uncertain Transition from Stability to Peace (CSIS report)
By Robert D. Lamb, Kathryn Mixon, and Sarah Minot ■ Most violent conflicts since the turn of this century were in countries that had experienced an earlier violent conflict. How can we tell when a country is likely to remain stuck in a cycle of violence? What factors suggest it might be “ripe” for stabilizing and […]
Read more...Advances and Challenges in Political Transitions: What Will the Future of Conflict Look Like? (CSIS report)
Edited By Robert D. Lamb and Johanna Mendelson Forman ■ The United States has provided support to political transitions worldwide for many years. But it was just 20 years ago that the U.S. government established an office specifically to respond when regimes or conflicts ended and to maintain momentum toward positive change. Today’s conflicts, however, are […]
Read more...How Will We Learn? (CSIS keynote)
By Robert D. Lamb ■ In my final keynote address as CSIS’s conflict director (and my most popular talk to date), I reviewed decades of “lessons learned” in peace and conflict to reveal 15 themes the peacebuilding and stabilization field can’t seem to get right. “When will we learn?” is the wrong question. The more useful question is: “How will […]
Read more...South Asia Regional Dynamics and Strategic Concerns: A Framework for U.S. Policy and Strategy in South Asia, 2014–2026 (CSIS report)
By Robert D. Lamb, Sadika Hameed, and Kathryn Mixon ■ Once the United States withdraws most or all of its forces from Afghanistan, what issues are likely to continue to be of concern to U.S. policymakers in South Asia? What regional dynamics are likely to affect their ability to achieve policy priorities there? While the United […]
Read more...All of My Afghanistan and Pakistan Research in One Place
Quoting from my program’s page at CSIS summarizing our four years of research on Afghanistan and Pakistan: Since 2010, the Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation (C3) has studied security, governance, and politics in Afghanistan and Pakistan to find potential paths to stability and prosperity. One line of research, focusing on service provision and governance, studied […]
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