Whois & Analysis for usip.org

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American non-partisan, independent, federal institution that provides analysis of and is involved in conflicts around the world.

The Institute was established by an act of U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

The board is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Its headquarters, in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., sits at the northwest corner of the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Nonviolence (from Sanskrit ahimṣā, non-violence, "lack of desire to harm or kill") is the personal practice of being harmless to self and others under every condition.

It comes from the belief that hurting people, animals or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and refers to a general philosophy of abstention from violence based on moral, religious or spiritual principles.

War is a state of armed conflict between societies.

It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military forces.

An absence of war is usually called "peace".

Warfare refers to the common activities and characteristics of types of war, or of wars in general.

Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant casualties.

Institutions are "stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior".

As structures or mechanisms of social order, they govern the behaviour of a set of individuals within a given community.

Institutions are identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intentions by mediating the rules that govern living behavior.

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment.

Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, and only rarely to a third party or as independents.

Congress has 535 voting members: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators.

The House of Representatives has six non-voting members in addition to its 435 voting members.

These members can, however, sit on congressional committees and introduce legislation.

These members represent Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.