This is the first integrated survey of conflict resolution since the Cold War, offering an ideal introduction to the subject and an authoritative assessment of its current stage of development. What steps can be taken to prevent, manage and resolve major civil and international conflicts such as those in Bosnia, Rwanda, Palestine, Cambodia and Kosovo? What can we learn from conflicts where settlements have been reached, such as in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Mozambique? How can we respond effectively to contemporary conflicts? Using original interpretations of conflict theories, case studies and examples of current practice, the authors analyse responses at different phases of conflict, from prevention and intervention in war zones to war endings and post-settlement peacebuilding. Since the end of the Cold War, conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace-keeping and peace-building have risen to the top of the international agenda. The second edition of this hugely popular text charts the development of the field from its pioneers to its contemporary exponents and offers an assessment of its achievements and the challenges it faces in the changed security environment of the early 21st century. The book has been extensively revised and expanded. Existing material has been thoroughly updated and new chapters added on peace-building from below; reconciliation; responding to terror; gender issues; the ethics of intervention; dialogue, discourse and disagreement; culture and conflict resolution; and future directions for the field. The first part offers an original and comprehensive survey of the theory and practice of conflict resolution in contemporary conflicts. It gives a clear picture of the state of the art in preventing, limiting and ending violent conflicts, post-war reconstruction, peace-building and reconciliation. Drawing on up-to-date statistics of conflict and contemporary case studies, the book explores the scope for conflict resolution and also the formidable obstacles it faces. The second part enters into the controversies which have surrounded conflict resolution as it has become part of the mainstream. Addressing critiques of the field, the authors argue that a new form of cosmopolitan conflict resolution is emerging that is neither a marginal and visionary enterprise nor a tool of the powerful, but offers a hopeful means for human societies to transcend and celebrate their differences. Contemporary Conflict Resolution 2nd edition is essential reading for all students of peace and security studies, conflict management, international politics and related disciplines.
"This book marks a milestone in peace research. The insightful review of the early development of the field of conflict resolution brings a much–needed perspective on the challenges presented by late twentieth–century conflicts. The authors provide a complex and highly differentiated view of today′s international collectivity, in which no one set of actors or perspectives predominates. The analysis of contemporary conflict processes is brilliant, and is solidified by case studies of ongoing conflicts and the roles played by governments, the UN, NGOs and grassroots groups. The authors′ attention to the actual indigenous peacemaking capabilities that remain in even the most violent war zones, capabilities that are usually ignored and overrun by outside intervenors, is very important for the strengthening of viable peacebuilding activity in such zones. These local capabilities are the basis for hope in a violent world.
This book is a must for students in the fields of peace studies and international relations, for researchers and practitioners, and for policy–makers."
Elise Boulding, former Secretary–General of the International Peace Research Association and Professor Emerita of Sociology, Dartmouth College
"Since 1988 thirty–eight peace accords have been signed, most of them internal. The publication of this book is a timely response to this remarkable new phenomenon. It is a most comprehensive and well–written overview of conflict resolution theory and practice, appraising the literature on every stage of the cycle, from conflict prevention through violence to peacebuilding."
Professor John Darby, University of Ulster
"Contemporary Conflict Resolution should be mantatory reading for international relations and security studies scholars ... Too many books on conflict resolution either lurch too far in the direction of policy activism or bog down in desiccated theoretical debates. Not this one. While remaining true to the book′s scholarly mission, the authors combine a refreshing personal commitment to the cause of international peace with a realistic measure of the odds stacked against it."
European Security
"Its structure makes it accessible to both experts in the field and those new to it. It would make an excellent text for any college level course on global conflict resolution."
The Ethnic Conflict Research Digest
"Contemporary Conflict Resolution covers the prevention, management and transformation of deadly conflicts. It is designed to meet the need for a single, comprehensive survey of contemporary conflict resolution and its management of post–Cold War conflicts. The book usefully describes the evolution of conflict resolution theory and how to distinguish between the tasks of preventing violent conflict and of mitigating, alleviating or terminating it once it has broken out."
International Peacekeeping
"Readers are presented with a very well structured book that presents one of the most comprehensive surveys of conflict resolution since the end of the Cold War and the immense transformation of the types of conflict seen in the contemporary world."
Journal of International Relations and Development
