Reflecting the debate between state-centered and human-security approaches to security strategy, Africa-US Relations explores the interactions between the US and African countries in a wide spectrum ...of key arenas. The authors range from such traditional security issues as peacekeeping and terrorism to concerns with HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation, aid policies, and international trade. Their contributions place in sharp relief the differences in inner logic and preferred consequences among alternative strategic perspectives--as well as the implications of those differences for policy choices.
The wave of ethnic conflict that has recently swept across parts
of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Africa has led many
political observers to fear that these conflicts are contagious.
...Initial outbreaks in such places as Bosnia, Chechnya, and Rwanda,
if not contained, appear capable of setting off epidemics of
catastrophic proportions. In this volume, David Lake and Donald
Rothchild have organized an ambitious, sophisticated exploration of
both the origins and spread of ethnic conflict, one that will be
useful to policymakers and theorists alike. The editors and
contributors argue that ethnic conflict is not caused directly by
intergroup differences or centuries-old feuds and that the collapse
of the Soviet Union did not simply uncork ethnic passions long
suppressed. They look instead at how anxieties over security,
competition for resources, breakdown in communication with the
government, and the inability to make enduring commitments lead
ethnic groups into conflict, and they consider the strategic
interactions that underlie ethnic conflict and its effective
management. How, why, and when do ethnic conflicts either diffuse
by precipitating similar conflicts elsewhere or escalate by
bringing in outside parties? How can such transnational ethnic
conflicts best be managed? Following an introduction by the
editors, which lays a strong theoretical foundation for approaching
these questions, Timur Kuran, Stuart Hill, Donald Rothchild, Colin
Cameron, Will H. Moore, and David R. Davis examine the diffusion of
ideas across national borders and ethnic alliances. Without
disputing that conflict can spread, James D. Fearon, Stephen M.
Saideman, Sandra Halperin, and Paula Garb argue that ethnic
conflict today is primarily a local phenomenon and that it is
breaking out in many places simultaneously for similar but largely
independent reasons. Stephen D. Krasner, Daniel T. Froats, Cynthia
S. Kaplan, Edmond J. Keller, Bruce W. Jentleson, and I. William
Zartman focus on the management of transnational ethnic conflicts
and emphasize the importance of domestic confidence-building
measures, international intervention, and preventive diplomacy.
Ending Civil Wars Stedman, Stephen John; Rothchild, Donald; Cousens, Elizabeth M
2002, 20020101
eBook
The most comprehensive, systematic study to date of the implementation of peace agreements--of the factors determining the successes and failures that occur after the treaties are signed.
This paper examines the potential importance of externally-facilitated peace dividends and donor coordination in sustaining peace after the signing of an accord. We extend our previous research on US ...performance after civil wars to learn if adversary assumptions on peace dividends have additional positive impact when a wider sample of major Western European donors is included. Was the lack of US follow-through compensated for in whole or in part by the extension of development assistance allocations from European allies? We find that cases in which donors provide significant and sustained post-conflict aid are somewhat less likely to return to civil war than those who do not receive comparable assistance. Moreover, we find in such cases that donor coordination reinforced behaviour that encouraged the implementation process, providing an extra incentive for maintaining the peace agreement over the five-year threshold and beyond.
In the wake of negotiated settlements to civil wars, one critical problem involves reassuring people who have been killing one another that conflict is not about to break out again, endangering ...people's lives. Those concerned with the success of negotiated settlements have debated how best to enhance the prospects of a stable peace. We address this question by exploring variables that may explain the longevity of negotiated peace settlements. These variables are divided into two categories—one tapping into the potential effects of the environment in which settlements are negotiated and another focusing on the impact of settlement arrangements. On the basis of our analysis of thirty-eight civil war settlements negotiated between 1945 and 1998 we identify the environmental factors and institutional choices that affect the short-term stability of the peace following civil war.
