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International Online Training Program On Intractable
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Conflict Research Consortium, University
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External Intervention
Glossary | Menu Shortcut Page
In highly escalated conflicts the parties may, for all practical purposes, be unable to
control themselves or limit their destructive actions. This is especially true for
violent, all-out confrontations in which the conflict is fueled by the intense
emotions which arise when people experience the tragedy of war. This loss of control
can also occur in escalated and bitter, but still nonviolent confrontations, such as those
which typically occur within political systems which still place effective limits on violence.
In these cases one option may be some kind of forceful outside intervention which
imposes a moratorium on hostilities while providing the parties with the time that they
need to re-examine their approach to the situation and consider available alternatives. At
the international level, peacekeeping forces can enforce a truce, which gives time
to the diplomats to try to negotiate a peace treaty which will formally end hostilities.
At the national level, police can keep fighting factions apart; even at the interpersonal
level, friends or relatives can intervene in a dispute between two people, first to
physically keep them apart, and then, perhaps to help them work through the underlying
difficulty in a nonviolent way.
External intervention can be either neutral (as it is in all of the above examples), or
partisan. Partisan intervention occurs when an outside party puts pressure on one of
the disputants to act in a particular way. The international sanctions against South
Africa during the Apartheid era, for example, placed pressure on the South African
government to end that system of racial discrimination. Likewise the sanctions
against Iraq were intended to prevent Iraq from developing or storing weapons of mass
destruction. Both of these examples illustrate how external intervention can empower
one group, at the expense of another.
The alternative is neutral intervention, in which an outside party moves in to try to
prevent further violence, and/or to help the parties negotiate a formal end to their
conflict. Peacebuilding--in which the ordinary citizens (as opposed to leaders or
diplomats) try to reconcile their differences and rebuild normal relationships--is another
way in which external intervention can be helpful.
Key to the success of all of these approaches is not simply the suppression of
conflict, but rather the channeling of conflict in more constructive, but still effective,
ways. This requires that all external intervenors adhere to basic principles of fairness
and make a commitment to provide all the parties with a forum through which their
complaints can be meaningfully addressed.
Links to Examples
- Andrew Kohut and Robert Toth -- Managing
Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: A Public Perspective
- This article examines U.S. public opinion about U.S. intervention in foreign affairs and
wars. It illustrates the importance of persuasion and integrative power to encourage
such intervention.
- Mary Anderson -- Humanitarian NGOs in Conflict
Intervention
- This article looks at the effects (both positive and negative) of humanitarian NGOs.
Sometimes these organizations actually make conflicts worse, not better, she
observes.
- Chester Crocker -- Lessons on Intervention
- This article reviews when intervention makes sense, what form it should take, and when
it should occur.
- Alexander George -- The Role of Force in
Diplomacy: A Continuing Dilemma for U.S. Foreign Policy
- George examines different approaches to the use of force in foreign policy. Military
force, or the threat of force, has played a key role in coercive diplomacy and deterrence
strategies. Credible threats are often used to protect national interests. Historically,
he finds a tension between military views on the effective use of force and what is seen
as politically effective use of force.
- A Conversation On Peacemaking With Jimmy
Carter
- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has personally intervened in many conflicts around
the world. Here he reflects on his experiences and what he has learned.
- Patrick Coy -- Going Where We Otherwise Would
Not Have Gone': Accompaniment and Election Monitoring in Sri Lanka
- This article is about Peace Brigade International's efforts at protective accompaniment
and election monitoring.
- 1995 Aspen Institute Conference on
Intervention in the Post Cold War World -Report of Conference Key Findings, Ideas, and
Recommendations
- The 1995 Aspen Institute Conference convened to consider the question, "How can the
international community establish greater stability in the world system at large, and
within that system, what is the role of international intervention?"[p. 10]
International intervention can take many forms, including political, economic, diplomatic,
humanitarian, and military interventions.
- Mohamed Sahnoun -- Managing Conflicts in the
Post-Cold War Era
- Sahnoun explores issues surrounding military and humanitarian interventions in internal
national conflicts. The author hopes that a better understanding of the sources and
catalysts of internal conflicts will make us better able to craft effective preventative
strategies.
- David Stuart -- United Nation's Involvement in
the Peace Process in El Salvador
- Stuart points out a number of factors which contributed to the success of the UN efforts
in peacebuilding in El Salvador..
- Pamela Aall -- Nongovernmental Organizations
and Peacemaking
- The author argues that NGOs have the potential to play key roles in restoring civil
society and building peace. She examines some of these roles, along with the
pitfalls that must be avoided in the process.
- McIntosh -- Sanctions
- McIntosh examines the use and effectiveness of United Nations sanctions in five cases.
Drawing on these cases, he suggests three factors which influence the effectiveness of
sanctions
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Links to Outside Sources of Information
INCORE
Publications and Papers: The UN in the Congo
Future U.S. Engagement
in Africa: Opportunities and Obstacles for Conflict Management - US Institute of Peace
Special Report
Links to Related Sections
Coalition Building
Elections / Instituting Democracy
Peace Zones
Crisis Management
Cooling-Off Periods
De-Escalatory Language
Copyright ©1998 Conflict Research Consortium -- Contact: crc@colorado.edu