Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:55:04.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Third-party techniques for preventing conflict escalation and promoting peaceful settlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

William J. Dixon
William J. Dixon
Affiliation:
Professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Get access

Abstract

Although agents employ a wide range of conflict management techniques in practice, scholars have evaluated only a few of these. A more complete empirical analysis of the spectrum of third-party procedures used to manage international crises reveals that two techniques in particular are most effective: mediation efforts and third-party activities to open or maintain lines of communication. The endpoints of preventing escalation and promoting peaceful settlement take into account the notion of conflict as a dynamic evolutionary process, consisting of several phases, which in turn affect the outcome of third-party management. Crisis management methods that have proved successful in a bipolar world may be similarly successful in the post-cold war environment, an issue future work must address.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1996 , pp. 653 - 681
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alker, Hayward R., and Christenson, Cheryl. 1972. From causal modelling to artificial intelligence: The evolution of a UN peace-making simulation. In Experimentation and simulation in political science, edited by Laponce, J. and Smoker, P.. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Alker, Hayward R., and Greenberg, William J.. 1971. The UN Charter: Alternative pasts and alternative futures. In The United Nations: Problems and prospects, edited by Fedder, Edwin H.. St. Louis: Center for International Studies, University of Missouri.Google Scholar
Alker, Hayward R., and Midlarsky, Manus I.. 1985. International disputes data: A comparison of approaches and products. International Studies Notes 12:1–9.Google Scholar
Alker, Hayward R., and Sherman, Frank L.. 1982. Collective security-seeking practices since 1945. In Managing international crises, edited by Frei, Daniel. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage.Google Scholar
Bercovitch, Jacob. 1986. International mediation: A study of the incidence, strategies and conditions of successful outcomes. Cooperation and Conflict 21:155–68.Google Scholar
Bercovitch, Jacob. 1992. The structure and diversity of international mediation. In Mediation in international relations, edited by Bercovitch, Jacob and Rubin, Jeffrey Z.. New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Bercovitch, Jacob, Anagnoson, J. Theodore, and Wille, Donnette L.. 1991. Some conceptual issues and empirical trends in the study of successful mediation in international relations. Journal of Peace Research 28:7–17.Google Scholar
Jacob, Bercovitch, and Rubin, Jeffrey Z., eds. 1992. Mediation in international relations. New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Bercovitch, Jacob, and Wells, Richard. 1993. Evaluating mediating strategies: A theoretical and empirical analysis. Peace and Change 18:3–25.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, Lincoln P., and Leiss, Amelia C.. 1969. Controlling small wars. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Butterworth, Robert Lyle. 1976. Organizing for collective security: The UN Charter's chapter 8 in practice. World Politics 28:197–222.Google Scholar
Butterworth, Robert. 1978. Do conflict managers matter? International Studies Quarterly 22:195–214.Google Scholar
Butterworth, Robert Lyle, and Scranton, Margaret E.. 1976. Managing interstate conflict, 1945–74. Pittsburgh, Penn.: University Center for International Studies.Google Scholar
Coplin, William D., and Rochester, J. Martin. 1972. The Permanent Court of International Justice, the International Court of Justice, the League of Nations, and the United Nations: An empirical survey. American Political Science Review 66:529–50.Google Scholar
Diehl, Paul F. 1993. International peacekeeping. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, William J. 1993. Democracy and the management of international conflict. Journal of Conflict Resolution 37:42–68.Google Scholar
Dixon, William J. 1994. Democracy and the peaceful settlement of international conflict. American Political Science Review 88:14–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1968. Collective security and the future international system. Monograph Series in World Affairs. Denver, Colo.: University of Denver.Google Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1983. Regime decay: Conflict management and international organizations, 1945–1981. International Organization 37:189–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1986. Why we still need the United Nations. Policy Papers in International Affairs, no. 26. Berkeley, Calif.: Institute for International Studies.Google Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1993. Collective conflict management: Evidence for a new world order? In Collective security in a changing world, edited by Weiss, Thomas G.. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Reinner.Google Scholar
Haas, Ernst B., Butterworth, Robert Lyle, and Nye, Joseph S.. 1972. Conflict management by international organizations. Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press.Google Scholar
Holsti, Kalevi J. 1966. Resolving international disputes: A taxonomy of behavior and some figures on procedures. Journal of Conflict Resolution 10:272–96.Google Scholar
Holsti, Kelevi J.. 1991. Peace and war: Armed conflicts and international order 1648–1989. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, Alan. 1990. Peacekeeping in international politics. New York: St. Martin's.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jervis, Robert. 1991. The future of world politics: Will it resemble the past? International Security 16:39–73.Google Scholar
Kegley, Charles W. Jr, and Raymond, Gregory A.. 1992. Must we fear a post–cold war multipolar system? Journal of Conflict Resolution 36:573–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kegley, Charles W. Jr, and Wittkopf, Eugene R.. 1995. World politics: Trend and transformation. 5th ed.New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Kelman, Herbert C. 1979. An international approach to conflict resolution and its application to Israeli–Palestinian relations. International Interactions 6:99–122.Google Scholar
Louis, Kreisberg, and Thorson, Stuart J., eds. 1991. Timing the de-escalation of international conflicts. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Leng, Russell J. 1993. Reciprocating influence strategies in interstate crisis bargaining. Journal of Conflict Resolution 37:3–41.Google Scholar
Mearshiemer, John J. 1990. Back to the future: Instability in Europe after the cold war. International Security 15:5–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miall, Hugh. 1992. The peacemakers: Peaceful settlement of disputes since 1945. New York: St. Martin's.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nye, Joseph S. 1971. Peace inparts. Boston: Little Brown.Google Scholar
Princen, Thomas. 1992. Intermediaries in international conflict. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rubin, Jeffery Z. 1991. The timing of ripeness and the ripeness of timing. In Timing the de-escalation of international conflicts, edited by Kreisberg, Louis and Thorson, Stuart J.. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Ryan, Stephen. 1992. The United Nations and ethnic conflict. In Early warning and conflict resolution, edited by Rupesinghe, Kumar and Kuroda, Michiko. New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Sherman, Frank L. 1994. SHERFACS: A cross-paradigm, hierarchical, and contextually sensitive conflict dataset. International Interactions 20:79–100.Google Scholar
Sherman, Frank L., and Neak, Laura. 1993. Imagining the possibilities: The prospects for isolating the genome of international conflict from the SHERFACS dataset. In International event-data developments, edited by Meritt, Richard L., Muncaster, Robert G., and Zinnes, Dina A.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Skjelsbaek, Kjell. 1986. Peaceful settlement of disputes by the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies. Cooperation and Conflict 21:139–54.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1992. Handbook on the peaceful settlement of disputes between states. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Vasquez, John A. 1993. The war puzzle. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Jenonne. 1993. International mediation of ethnic conflicts. In Ethnic conflict and international security, edited by Brown, Michael E.. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1988. The origins of war in international theory. Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18:615–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1993. The emerging structure of international politics. International Security 18:44–79.Google Scholar
Wilkenfeld, Jonathan, and Brecher, Michael. 1984. International crises, 1945–1975: The UN dimension. International Studies Quarterly 28:45–671.Google Scholar
Zartman, I. William, ed. 1991. Resolving regional conflicts: International perspectives. The Annals 518 (11): 1–200.Google Scholar