Chester A. Crocker

Fen Osler Hampson

Pamela Aall

Forty of the world’s leading international affairs analysts examine the relationship between political, social or economic change and the outbreak and spread of conflict.

Managing Conflict in a World Adrift

"Diplomacy in pursuit of peace and security faces severe challenges not seen in decades. Obstacles to diplomacy are coming from the re-emergence of strong states, discord in the UN Security Council, destabilizing transnational non-state actors, closing space for civil society within states, and the weakening of the international liberal order. Diplomacy and the Future of World Order develops three visions of the future in which states and other key actors in the international system respond by deciding to go it alone, return to a liberal order, or collaborate on a case-by-case basis to address common threats and problems. The central focus of this book is peace and conflict diplomacy, defined as the effort to manage others' conflicts, cope with great power competition, or deal with threats to the state system itself. The distinguished international group of experts writing in this volume analyze the different scenarios' impact on peace and conflict diplomacy from the perspective of key actors and regions. It also explores the prospects for discord or collaboration around four major security issues-peacekeeping, nuclear nonproliferation, cyber competition, and terrorism. Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall conclude by identifying emerging types of diplomacy that can provide the foundation for global peacemaking and conflict management in an uncertain future"--

Diplomacy and the Future of World Order

Pamela R. Aall

In each of the 24 cases examined in this volume, mediation was a multiparty effort, involving actors working simultaneously or sequentially. These accounts attest to the crucial importance of coordinating and building upon the efforts of other players.

Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World

Herding Cats

United States Institute of Peace

Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World examines conflict management capacities and gaps regionally and globally, and assesses whether regions--through their regional organizations or through loose coalitions of states, regional bodies, and non-official actors--are able to address an array of new and emerging security threats.

Rewiring Regional Security in a Fragmented World

Africa has experienced dozens of conflicts over a variety of issues during the past two decades. Responding to these conflicts requires concerted action to manage the crises – the violence, the political discord, and the humanitarian consequences of prolonged fighting. It is also necessary to address the long-term social and economic impacts of conflict, to rebuild communities, societies and states that have been torn apart. To accomplish this requires the involvement of institutions and groups rarely considered in formal official African conflict management activities: schools, universities, religious institutions, media, commercial enterprises, legal institutions, civil society groups, youth, women and migrants. These groups and organizations have an important role to play in building a sense of identity, fairness, shared norms and cohesion between state and society – all critical components of the fabric of peace and security in Africa. This volume brings together leading experts from Africa, Europe and North America to examine these critical social institutions and groups, and consider how they can either improve or impede peaceful conflict resolution. The overarching questions that are explored by the authors are: What constitutes social cohesion and resilience in the face of conflict? What are the threats to cohesion and resilience? And how can the positive elements be fostered and by whom? The second of two volumes on African conflict management capacity by the editors, The Fabric of Peace in Africa: Looking beyond the State opens new doors of understanding for students, scholars and practitioners focused on strengthening peace in Africa; the first volume, Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management in a Time of change, focused on the role of mediation and peacekeeping in managing violence and political crises.

Looking beyond the State

The Fabric of Peace in Africa

The prevailing narrative on Africa is that it is awash with violent conflict. Indeed, it does suffer from a multitude of conflicts — from border skirmishes to civil wars to terrorist attacks. Conflicts in Africa are diverse and complex, but there have been a number of cases of successful conflict management and resolution. What accounts for the successes and failures, and what can we learn from Africa’s experience? Minding the Gap: African Conflict Management in a Time of Change takes on these questions, bringing together more than 20 experts to examine the source of conflicts in Africa and assess African management capacity in the face of these conflicts.

African Conflict Management in a Time of Change

Minding the Gap

Among the unwelcome legacies of the past century are a group of conflicts, both intrastate and interstate, that seem destined never to end. From Kashmir to Nagorno-Karabakh, Colombia to Sudan, the Korean Peninsula to the Middle East, these deeply entrenched, intermittently violent conflicts have so far resisted all outside efforts to resolve them.What lessons aside from the apparent futility of mediation can such dismal situations possibly offer? As the distinguished contributors to "Grasping the Nettle" make plain, this is not a rhetorical question. Unyielding conflicts offer numerous insights not only about the sources of intractability but also about such facets of mediation and conflict management as how to gain leverage, when to engage and disengage, how to balance competing goals, and who to enlist to play supporting roles.The first part of this eye-opening volume identifies and analyzes the defining characteristics and underlying dynamics of intractable conflicts. The second part turns the spotlight on no fewer than eight current cases, in each instance chronicling the conflict's evolution, evaluating the internal and external factors that have conspired to prevent a settlement, and assessing whether past peacemaking initiatives have in fact only aggravated the conflict. The conclusion makes the point that even intractable conflicts eventually end and highlights the strategic approaches and tactical steps that have yielded success in the past for mediators and conflict managers from governments, international organizations, and NGOs."

Analyzing Cases of Intractable Conflict

Grasping the Nettle

Penelope Hartland-Thunberg

Economic and Political Prospects

Namibia at the Crossroads

David R. Smock

When Somali gunmen killed 18 American Rangers in Mogadishu on October 3, 1993, public and congressional support for the American and UN missions in Somalia dropped dramatically. In fact, U.S. policymakers began to rethink commitments to peacemaking in Africa in general. Nevertheless, many African and U.S. specialists on African affairs--including the contributors to this volume--strongly urge the United States to continue active engagement with Africa and creatively support African initiatives to manage and resolve their own conflicts. This book brings together nine specialists from Africa and the United States--including former diplomats, academics, policymakers, and policy analysts--to assess ways to enhance the U.S. contribution to African efforts to prevent, manage, and resolve violent conflicts. The contributors conclude that U.S. initiatives can take a variety of forms and need not involve American troops. There is a new African willingness to assume responsibility, but African instutional and fanancial capabilities are severely limited. African initiatives therefore have little chance of success without significant and sustained international, and particularly American involvement.

The U.S. Role in Peacemaking

African Conflict Resolution

An international group of experts confront challenges to peace and conflict diplomacy by considering three potential scenarios for world order–evaluated through regional perspectives from around the world–where key states decide to go it alone, return to a liberal order, or collaborate on a case-by-case basis.

Professor of International Affairs at Norman Paterson School of International Affairs Fen Osler Hampson

The definitive volume on the sources of contemporary conflict and the array of possible responses to it.

Chester A. Crocker

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