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Before and after urban warfare: Conflict prevention and transitions in cities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2017

Antônio Sampaio
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Abstract

The rising pressures of urbanization in fragile and conflict-affected countries have increased concerns about the vulnerability of cities to armed threats. Changes in the character of armed conflict during the twenty-first century and its effects on cities in the developing world have exposed gaps in the planning and practice of peace and security, which retain a “nation-State bias” that circumvents local perspectives and agencies. Whereas full-scale use of military power in cities remains as destructive today as it has ever been, international organizations such as the United Nations have called for changed approaches to State tactics in urban areas. Mechanisms designed to prevent conflict or to help countries transition back to peace are particularly key if massive human and economic damages are to be avoided in a world of increasingly dense cities. Another key concern is the vulnerability of developing-world cities to low-intensity, if protracted, forms of violence by non-State actors, particularly in post-conflict contexts. Conflict prevention and peace transitions in cities (including mainstream international tools such as peacekeeping, stability and reconstruction aid) are affected by specifically urban pressures linked to rising populations, migration, ethnic tensions, institutional deterioration and the weakening of urban services. Therefore, the physical and social characteristics of cities interact with military and developmental policies in unique ways. An understanding of key local actors, services and institutions affecting urban drivers of armed conflict – an urban strategic environment – can help practitioners and strategists to craft comprehensive policies.

Keywords

urban conflicturban warfarecitiesconflict preventionpeacekeepingUNmultifunctional operationsstabilityresilience
Type
The problem
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 98 , Issue 901: War in cities , April 2016 , pp. 71 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2017 

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