Ending Conflict: From Pirating to Insurgencies

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have little to lose. With low risks and enormous payoffs, pirating becomes a logical business model in a failed state, according to Karin von Hippel, codirector of the Center for Strateic and International Studies Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project. This week she appeared on CNN's Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull, "Pirates Hold American Hostage" to describe the dynamics of the conflict.

Von Hippel also testified this week before the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on U.S. Strategy for Afghanistan: Achieving Peace and Stability in the Graveyard of Empires.  Watch an excerpt from her testimony here.