William Stanley tells the absorbing story of the UN peace operation in Guatemala's ten-year endeavor (1994-2004) to build conditions that would sustain a lasting peace in the country. Unusual among UN peace efforts because of its largely civilian nature, its General Assembly mandate, and its heavy reliance on UN volunteers to staff field offices, the mission (MINUGUA) focused initially on    More >

Nearly half of all UN peacekeeping missions in the post–Cold War era have been in Africa, and the continent currently hosts the greatest number (and also the largest) of such missions in the world. Uniquely assessing five decades of UN peacekeeping in Africa, Adekeye Adebajo focuses on a series of questions: What accounts for the resurgence of UN peacekeeping efforts in Africa after the Cold    More >

How did Macedonia attain its status as the only Yugoslav republic to achieve a nonviolent transition to independence in the early 1990s? And why did the initial peace fail to endure? Sasho Ripiloski traces Macedonia's peaceful extrication from the Yugoslav morass and then examines the new country's subsequent state-building efforts and offers an explanation for its later collapse into    More >

There has been a great deal written on why peace operations succeed or fail.... But how are those judgments reached? By what criteria is success defined? Success for whom? Paul Diehl and Daniel Druckman explore the complexities of evaluating peace operation outcomes, providing an original, detailed framework for assessment. The authors address both the theoretical and the policy-relevant    More >

How do disputants in Africa's civil wars—rebel movements, ethnic groups, state leaders—find security in the midst of anarchic situations? Why do some rebel movements pursue a secessionist agenda while others seek to overthrow the existing government? Under what circumstances will insurgents agree to share power? Proposing answers to these questions, Ian Spears offers a fresh    More >

Why do some enduring, violent rivalries between states end peacefully, while others drag on interminably or cease only with the complete collapse or defeat of one of the states? Eric Cox provides extensive evidence to support his explanation of how these disputes end, comparing successful and failed attempts to terminate rivalries in Latin America and the Middle East.    More >

Frustrated efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan give urgency to the question of how to craft effective, humane, and legitimate security institutions in conflict-ridden states—and whether legitimate policing can in fact be developed in the midst of insurgency and terrorism. David H. Bayley and Robert M. Perito confront these questions head on. Against the backdrop of failed US attempts to    More >

Unique in its breadth of coverage, the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations presents the most detailed collection of data on peace operations—those launched by the UN, by regional organizations, by coalitions, and by individual nations—that is available. Features of the 2010 volume include:                  More >

Responding to the burgeoning interest in the role of civil society in peace processes, this groundbreaking collaborative effort identifies the constructive functions of civil society in support of peacebuilding both during and in the aftermath of armed conflict. The authors also highlight the factors that support those functions and the obstacles to their fulfillment. A comprehensive analytical    More >

Although policymakers and practitioners alike have enthusiastically embraced the idea that security and development are interdependent, the precise nature and implications of the dynamic interplay between the two phenomena have been far from clear. The authors of Security and Development: Searching for Critical Connections realistically assess the promise and shortcomings of integrated    More >

Did the United Nations successfully help to build a just, peaceful state and society in postconflict East Timor? Has transitional justice satisfied local demands for accountability and/or reconciliation? What lessons can be learned from the UN’s efforts? Drawing on extensive field work, James DeShaw Rae offers a grassroots perspective on the relationship between peacebuilding and    More >

Fully revised to reflect the realities of the post–September 11 world, this acclaimed curricular reference provides a comprehensive review of the field of peace, justice, and security studies. Seven introductory essays systematically cover the state of the discipline today, surveying current intellectual and pedagogical themes. These are followed by seventy classroom-tested syllabuses    More >

Unique in its breadth of coverage, the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations presents the most detailed collection of data on peace operations—those launched by the UN, by regional organizations, by coalitions, and by individual nations—that is available. Features of the 2009 volume include:                  More >

The authors explore the application of situational crime prevention (SCP) techniques to the battle against terrorism. "It is little wonder," the editors assert in their introduction, "that SCP should emerge as a significant approach to solving the problem of terrorism. It is an approach that is so practical and so focused on protecting individuals, locations and groups from    More >

There is increasing consensus among scholars and policy analysts that successful peacebuilding can occur only in the context of capable state institutions. But how can legitimate and sustainable states best be established in the aftermath of civil wars? And what role should international actors play in supporting the vital process? Addressing these questions, this state-of-the-art volume explores    More >

Unique in its breadth of coverage, the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations presents the most detailed collection of data on peace operations—those launched by the UN, by regional organizations, by coalitions, and by individual nations—that is available. Features of the 2008 volume include:

• a summary analysis of the trends and developments in peace    More >

How do rule of law programs contribute to conflict management? What strategies best address the challenges to securing the rule of law in fragile countries? What place do rule of law policies have in efforts to achieve stable and equitable development? The authors of Civil War and the Rule of Law address these fundamental questions, analyzing rule of law programs in the context of    More >

From the dilapidated camps of Lebanon to the eye of the storm in Gaza, Palestinian refugees continue to be a focus of world attention. The Future for Palestinian Refugees addresses in depth this most difficult of the outstanding problems impeding peace in the Middle East. Michael Dumper maps the contours of the issue, with special reference to wider international practice and its    More >

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How and why do women's contributions matter in peace and security processes? Why should women's activities in this sphere be explored separately from peacebuilding efforts in general? Decisively answering these questions, Sanam Anderlini offers a comprehensive, cross-regional analysis of women's peacebuilding initiatives around the world.   Anderlini also traces the    More >

In the transition from war-torn societies to stable multiparty democracies, what is the role of former rebel leaders? Can rebel movements effectively transform themselves from military to political organizations? From Soldiers to Politicians explores when and how militias succeed in reorienting their goals and practices toward legitimate political activities. The authors present eight    More >

Unique in its breadth and depth of coverage, the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations presents the most detailed collection of data on peace operations—those launched by the UN, by regional organizations, by coalitions, and by individual nations—that is available. Features of the 2007 volume include:  

• an introductory essay on the priorities and    More >

The first in a series of "inside" histories, Peacekeeping in Sierra Leone relates how a small country—one insignificant in the strategic considerations of the world powers—propelled the United Nations to center stage in a crisis that called the UN's very authority into serious question; and how the UN mission in Sierra Leone was transformed from its nadir into what    More >

In the midst of the continuing violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there are many who remain committed to moving forward on the road to peace. The Palestinian and Israeli contributors to this book, recognizing the great potential of civil society and NGOs for the peacebuilding process, focus on realistic opportunities for conflict transformation.The book includes a directory of    More >

Few would dispute the importance of donating funds and expertise to conflict-ridden societies—but such aid, however well meant, often fails to have the intended effect. This study critically evaluates international democratization assistance in postconflict societies to discern what has worked, what has not, and how aid programs can be designed to have a more positive impact.   The    More >

As nongovernmental organizations play a growing role in the international response to armed conflict tasked with mitigating the effects of war and helping to end the violence there is an acute need for information on the impact they are actually having. Addressing this need, Aiding Peace? explores just how NGOs interact with conflict and peace dynamics, and with what    More >

Embroiled in civil war since independence, Sudan has also suffered from the failure of both regional and international actors to fully come to terms with the scope of the complex issues involved. Sudan: The Elusive Quest for Peace contributes to a fuller understanding of those issues, exploring the factors that have contributed to the conflict from the days following independence to the    More >

Despite the prominent role that competition over natural resources has played in some of Africa's most intractable conflicts, little research has been devoted to what the economic dimensions of armed conflict mean for peace operations and efforts to reconstruct war-torn states. Redressing this gap, this volume analyzes the challenges that the war economy posed, and continues to pose, for    More >

Krishna Kumar surveys the nature and significance of international aid designed to build and strengthen independent news media in support of democratization and development. Providing the first comprehensive coverage of media assistance programs, Kumar discusses the evolution, focus, and overall impact of a range of intervention strategies. He also presents seven in-depth case studies based on    More >

The world now spends close to $5 billion annually on United Nations peace operations staffed by more than 80,000 military and civilian personnel, and commitments to comparable operations outside the UN command structure are on an even greater scale. The Annual Review of Global Peace Operations is the first comprehensive source of information on this crucial topic, designed for students,    More >

Providing both a means and a motive for armed conflict, the continued access of combatants in contemporary civil wars to lucrative natural resources has often served to counter the incentives for peace. Profiting from Peace offers the first comprehensive assessment of the practical strategies and tools that might be used effectively, by both international and state actors, to help reduce    More >

This integrative discussion of the multiple dimensions of peacebuilding in postconflict societies offers a systematic approach to strategies and processes for long-term social, political, and economic transformation.   Ho-Won Jeong links short-term crisis-intervention efforts to a sustained process that encompasses the entire complex environment of a conflict. His broad analytic framework    More >

What would have happened had the "road not taken" been the chosen action in past conflict interventions? What can we learn from a close look at alternatives that were not selected? Drawing on six detailed case studies (the Balkans, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, Somalia, and Zaire/Congo), I. William Zartman identifies a series of missed opportunities—options that arguably would have    More >

With the increasing use of elections as a tool for peacebuilding after civil war, the question of why some postconflict elections succeed and others fail is a crucial one. Tackling this question, Terrence Lyons finds the answer in the internal political dynamics that occur between the cease-fire and the voting.   Lyons shows that the promise of elections can provide the incentive for the    More >

The long-running conflict over the sovereignty of Western Sahara has involved all the states of northwest Africa and many beyond since Spain ceded the territory to Morocco and Mauritania in 1976. Erik Jensen traces the evolution of the conflict—from its colonial roots to its present manifestation as a political stalemate. Jensen reviews the history of the dispute, describes the quest by the    More >

Third in an acclaimed series, Searching for Peace in Asia Pacific offers critical background information, up-to-date surveys of the conflicts in the region and a directory of some 400 relevant organizations working in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The authors provide detailed, objective descriptions of ongoing activities, as well as assessments of the prospects for    More >

  Confronting the corrosive influence that war economies typically have on the prospects for peace in war-torn societies, this study critically analyzes current policy responses and offers a thought-provoking foundation for the development of more effective peacebuilding strategies. The authors focus on the role played by trade in precipitating and fueling conflict, with particular emphasis    More >

The causes of violent conflict, as well as approaches to conflict prevention, have been studied extensively, but only recently has attention been given to the subregional dynamics of internal wars. The authors of this original collection explore conflicts in Africa, Central Asia, and Central America, seeking new insights that can provide the foundation for more nuanced, more effective preventive    More >

They are part of rebel factions, national armies, paramilitaries, and other armed groups and entrenched in some of the most violent conflicts around the globe. They are in some ways still children?yet, from Afghanistan to Sierra Leone to Northern Ireland, you can find them among the fighters. Why?   Young Soldiers explores the reasons that adolescents who are neither physically    More >

Sandra Whitworth looks behind the rhetoric to investigate from a feminist perspective some of the realities of military intervention under the UN flag.   Whitworth contends that there is a fundamental contradiction between portrayals of peacekeeping as altruistic and benign and the militarized masculinity that underpins the group identity of soldiers. Examining evidence from Cambodia and    More >

With the proliferation of civil wars since the end of the Cold War, many developing countries now exist in a "postconflict" environment, posing enormous development challenges for the societies affected, as well as for international actors. Postconflict Development addresses these challenges in a range of vital sectors—security, justice, economic policy, education, the    More >

Why do some peace agreements successfully end civil wars, while others fail? What strategies are most effective in ensuring that warring parties comply with their treaty commitments? Of the various tasks involved in implementing peace agreements, which are the most important? These and related questions—life and death issues for millions of people today—are the subject of Ending    More >

  Ending a two-decade-long armed insurgency, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord was signed in December 1997 by the government of Bangladesh and the PCJSS, the political representative of the Hill people. However, because of ambiguities within the accord and the failure to implement many of its crucial elements, the situation in the CHT today is far from peaceful. Amena Mohsin    More >

How can the United Nations, regional and subregional organizations, government donors, and other policymakers best apply the tools of conflict prevention to the wide range of intrastate conflict situations actually found in the field? The detailed case studies and analytical chapters in From Promise to Practice offer operational lessons for fashioning strategy and tactics to meet the    More >

Globalization, suggest the authors of this collection, is creating new opportunities—some legal, some illicit—for armed factions to pursue their agendas in civil war. Within this context, they analyze the key dynamics of war economies and the challenges posed for conflict resolution and sustainable peace.   Thematic chapters consider key issues in the political economy of    More >

Events in Europe over the past decade or so have created a dynamic requiring significant conceptual and practical adjustments on the part of the the United Nations and a range of regional actors, including the EU, NATO, and the OSCE. This volume explores the resulting collaborative relationships in the context of peace operations in the Balkans, considering past efforts and developing specific    More >

Although the 1995 Cenepa war between Ecuador and Peru was the first military conflict in South America in more than five decades, the Ecuador-Peru relationship might be characterized as one of enduring rivalry—punctuated by the threat of armed combat. In the context of this history of recurrent crises, Herz and Nogueira analyze the mediation process that followed the 1995 war.   The    More >

Though the prevention of conflict is the first promise in the Charter of the United Nations, it is a promise constantly betrayed by international organizations, governments, and local actors alike. At the same time, and in a more positive vein, recent studies provide much-needed information about why and how today's conflicts start and what sustains them. This ground-breaking book presents some of    More >

Searching for Peace in Europe and Eurasia offers much-needed insight into the possibilities for effective conflict prevention and peacebuilding throughout the region. Presenting surveys of the violent conflicts in Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, the contributors offer a unique combination of background information, detailed descriptions of ongoing activities, and assessments of    More >

Errol Henderson critically examines what has been called the closest thing to an empirical law in world politics, the concept of the democratic peace.   Henderson tests two versions of the democratic peace proposition (DPP)—that democracies rarely if ever fight one another, and that democracies are more peaceful in general than nondemocracies—using exactly the same data and    More >

Continuing a widely acclaimed series, Searching for Peace in Central and South Asia provides critical background information, up-to-date surveys of the violent conflicts in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Ferghana Valley, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan, and a directory of more than 150 organizations working in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the    More >

Despite intensive international efforts in the area of conflict prevention, there is still little agreement about how civil wars might best be averted. And, as the news regularly reminds us, the many attempts at preventive action have not been strikingly successful. The authors of Conflict Prevention offer a new perspective, arguing that such efforts could be much more effective if they    More >

The UN intervention in East Timor amply illustrates the type of complex operation that the United Nations increasingly is being asked to undertake. Michael Smith analyzes the successes and failures of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which was designed to work in partnership with the East Timorese in guiding the country to independence following the 1999 vote to secede    More >

When the Dayton peace agreement was signed in 1995, there were expectations among the signatories, the Bosnian population, and the international community alike that the pact would not only end conflict among Bosnia's three armies, but also establish a political and social foundation for more robust peace. Recognizing that the latter goal—incorporating political reform and democratization,    More >

How do societies that have been wracked by violent conflict reconcile themselves to their recent history—and lay the foundations for a peaceful, stable future? How do they deal with the impulse for revenge? What should be done with those responsible for acts of state violence under a previous regime? How can individuals and communities best be helped to cope with the aftermath of national    More >

Women typically do not remain passive spectators during a war, nor are they always its innocent victims; instead, they frequently take on new roles and responsibilities, participating in military and political struggles and building new networks in order to obtain needed resources for their families. Consequently, while civil war imposes tremendous burdens on women, it often contributes to the    More >

Despite the deployment of NATO forces in Kosovo and the UN's direct involvement in governing the province, such terrors as murder, disappearances, bombings, and arson have become routine occurrences. William O'Neill analyzes the nature of the violence that continues to plague Kosovo's residents and assesses efforts to guarantee public security. O'Neill considers how the particular evolution of    More >

This comparative study assesses the causes—and consequences—of failures to fulfill pledges of aid to postconflict societies. In each of six case studies, the coauthors (drawn from both donor states and recipient countries), evaluate multilateral efforts to support sustainable recovery and peacebuilding in societies emerging from protracted violence. They first establish the timing,    More >

Current scholarship on civil wars and transitions from war to peace has made significant progress in understanding the political dimensions of internal conflict, but the economic motivations spurring political violence have been comparatively neglected. This pathbreaking volume identifies the economic and social factors underlying the perpetuation of civil wars, exploring as well the economic    More >

A milestone in the search for sustainable peace, this handbook highlights the invaluable contributions of people working in the field. The authors clarify how fieldworkers "fit" in the overall peacebuilding process; provide details of the most effective practices; and offer guidelines for preparing for the field. Part 1 of the book introduces concepts and tools for sustainable    More >

Although the idea of postconflict peacebuilding appeared to hold great promise after the end of the Cold War, within a very few years the opportunities for peacebuilding seemed to pale beside the obstacles to it. This volume examines the successes and failures of large-scale interventions to build peace in El Salvador, Cambodia, Haiti, Somalia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authors shed light    More >

Echoing the words of the Hippocratic Oath, the author of Do No Harm challenges aid agency staff to take responsibility for the ways that their assistance affects conflicts. Anderson cites the experiences of many aid providers in wartorn societies to show that international assistance—even when it is effective in saving lives, alleviating suffering, and furthering sustainable    More >

The fragile peace agreements that have in the post–Cold War years sought to resolve protracted conflicts fall well short of being genuine, stable settlements. This volume is concerned with how those agreements might be strengthened and, especially, how best to conceptualize the period after a tentative peace has been negotiated. Six case studies explore three major conflicts from differing    More >

The results of more than fifty years of peacekeeping operations—ranging from diplomatic efforts to so-called peace enforcement (the use of military force)—have made it clear that a new international political capability is required to adequately manage internal conflicts. That capability, peace- maintenance, is introduced and explored in this seminal work. Varying in degree of    More >

On the Humanitarian Times list of the Top Ten Books of 1998! With the resolution of intrastate conflicts in Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia, and with new hope for the peaceful settlement of many still-existing conflicts, attention is turning to the issue of “free and fair” elections. This book examines the nature of postconflict (transition)    More >

Drawing on case histories of emergency relief programs that have successfully promoted development, Anderson and Woodrow offer guidelines for fashioning assistance programs designed to counter the effects of both natural and human-caused disasters. Arguing that relief efforts must support and enhance existing capacities, they present an analytical framework for assessing the characteristics and    More >

Recent experiences have demonstrated once again the complexities of brokering an end to deep-rooted ethnic and international conflicts, as well as the difficulties of evaluating the outcomes of third- party interventions. Addressing these issues, this book offers a sophisticated approach to assessing mediation efforts and to reconstructing and interpreting mediation processes. Kleiboer develops    More >

Though its national life often has been characterized by violence, Haiti has not been victim of a full-fledged internal conflict, or civil war. Why, then, is the international community conducting "postconflict peacebuilding" operations there? Addressing that question, Chetan Kumar examines the course of international involvement in Haiti through the prism of the country's unique past    More >

Reviewing, comparing, and contrasting major models of foreign policy decisionmaking, contributors to this volume make a substantial contribution to the debate between cognitive and rational theories of decisionmaking. The authors describe the leading cognitive and rational models and introduce alternative models of foreign policy choice (prospect theory, poliheuristic theory, theory of moves, and    More >

With civil wars and internal violence on the rise over the past two decades, bilateral donor agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs have been playing an increasingly critical role in rehabilitation efforts once an acute conflict is over. In this process, it has become clear that the traditional aid focus on the economic sector, though essential, is not sufficient; the political and    More >

The civil wars that have been prominent features of the first post–Cold War decade have revealed a close and active relationship among the news media, governments, and humanitarian organizations. Beyond loose talk of the "CNN factor," however, analysis of this linkage and attention to its implications have been lacking. This brief volume looks at institutional interactions between    More >

This book explores the multifaceted security problems facing the Third World in the aftermath of the Cold War. Ayoob proposes that the major underlying cause of conflict and insecurity in the Third World is the early stage of state making at which postcolonial states find themselves. Drawing comparisons with the West European experience, he argues that this approach provides richer comparative    More >

Mediation is rapidly becoming one of the most important methods of settling conflicts in the post-Cold War world, practiced by virtually every actor and dealing with every conceivable issue in the relations between states. This book represents the most recent trends in and thinking about the process and practice of international mediation. A coherent, analytical, well-integrated text, complete    More >

Using El Salvador as an example of the UN's recent multidimensional peacekeeping operations, Johnstone explores the delicate balance between the potentially conflicting goals of peace and justice. Johnstone challenges the view that these twin goals are incompatible, attributing the relative (though still incomplete) success of the Salvadoran peace process to the mutually reinforcing relationship    More >

In this first comprehensive and critical account of the development of Johan Galtung's thought, Peter Lawler places Galtung's work in the context of past and contemporary debates in international relations, political theory, and the social sciences more generally. The starting point of the book is an examination of the young Galtung's writings on sociology and the foundational model of peace    More >

With the development of the atomic bomb, Albert Einstein remarked that everything had changed except our thinking about the world. Einstein and Bertrand Russell warned us that "we have to learn to think in a new way. . . . shall we put an end to the human race; or shall we renounce war?" Unfortunately, we are facing the end of this century still in the midst of wars of various    More >

Bjorn Møller explores the implications of switching to a new type of defense structure, nonoffensive defense (NOD), that would maintain an undiminished—or even improved—capability for defense while possessing no offensive capabilities. The advantages of such a switch, he posits, would be enhanced possibilities for arms control and disarmament, increased crisis stability, and the    More >

Though the United Nations will face numerous challenges on the world's oceans in the next decades, it has not yet developed the capability to operate effectively in the areas of maritime peacekeeping or enforcement. This study examines the various regional maritime challenges confronting the United Nations and describes several organizational and experiential models—ranging from Claiborne    More >

Challenging the literatures on war termination, civil war, and revolution—which typically dismiss the possibility of negotiated settlement—Stephen Stedman examines the problem of negotiations during civil wars and demonstrates that third party mediation can help resolve such conflicts. Stedman analyzes four international attempts to mediate a settlement to the Zimbabwean civil war of    More >