The Cold War Era Has Been Characterised By Internal And Deep Seated Conflicts

A special research field in the mediation literature intends to shed light on the question, how influential the impact of mediator’s characteristics and motivations on the mediation process is. Concerning the state of research, the studies of this debate show a divergent picture. There are scientists who have queried the significance of mediator’s impartiality (Bercovitch/Houston 1996; Kydd 2003, Touval 1982; Zartmann/Touval 1996). Scholars like Saadia Touval have underpinned that mediators are often biased and can perform their tasks just as well if not better as impartial mediators. Additionally, Touval and Zartmann stated in their study that mediation is an exercise in power politics: “leverage is the ticket to mediation” (Touval/Zartmann 1989: 129). In 2003, Kydd finds that mediators use their leverage to one of the two conflicting parties and therefore constraint concessions. Thus, the mediator must be biased to be effective. This means that merely a mediator who is biased towards one side can credibility tell them that the opponent will not make peace without the concession. Carnevale and Arad (1996) also remarked the importance of bias. Nevertheless, they suggest that impartiality should not be underestimated and therefore be taken in to consideration.

Throughout this course thus far we have generically discussed the various models of mediation(in particular facilitative),skills and tasks needed by a mediator to conduct a successful mediation. The facilitative approach we have been studying, via theory and in-class exercises has afford us some great insight into mediating into a variety of domestic conflicts from family to business disputes.However,there is a whole other subfield in mediation ,which we have not discussed and that is international mediation. International mediation also has a variety of forms. Cases for mediation can range from a conflict between two states, an ethnic conflict that, has bought violence within a particular state, or perhaps a business dispute between

John Paul Lederach’s The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace goes could only have been written by someone who had spent many years in the field of conflict management. With its underlying focus of the essence of peacebuilding, it looks far beyond what one may learn in any textbook or seminar. While the first 8 chapters of the text are ripe with areas for further analysis, here I will focus only on theme, found in one chapter, in the interest of brevity. In chapter 2 of The Moral Imagination we are introduced to real life micro-case studies. The cases aim to help the reader understand how people experiencing violent conflict throughout the world have worked to “transcend the cycles of violence that bewitch our community,” building on Lederach’s statement on why the book was written. That being said, we can see that Lederach is operating under the assumption that current day peacebuilding and conflict management is not working as well as it should. It is clear that he thinks there is something more that needs to be involved in current strategies and models. He believes we must move from looking at actors in a conflict as separate involved parties and instead view parties as “a web of relationships which include our enemies.” This requires a shift in thinking for those in thefield of peacebuilding and for those involved in the conflict, but in making this shift, we can look at conflicts as existing within our communities rather than between our

The world experienced a war torn Europe in the wake of the 20th century that ended in technological advancements in warfare never seen before. Tanks were invented, along with machine guns, gas masks and submarines. The countries that possessed these gadgets "supposedly" assisted their chance of success against their enemy. Despite many people having access to them, the inventions would only exacerbate a war that would be deemed one of the bloodiest and costliest at the time. Subsequently, World War 2 came and incorporated the same unrestricted warfare which would easily cost the world trillions in todays money and around 65 million lives. The atomic bomb was no stranger to innovation and devastation. Little Boy and Fat Man, codename for the

Mediation is one area were an independent representative can assist people in reaching an understanding effectively. If applied successfully, mediation through conflict resolution allows transactional leaders (mediators) to reestablish workplace harmony while maintaining operational effectiveness.

In the post-cold war era, with the rise of globalisation and the interdependence of markets, one can observe the moribund decline of traditional inter-state conflicts and the rise of more complex intra-state conflicts. The reasons behind these conflicts are manifold but at the heart is arguably always a conflict of interest between two or more groups. The Uppsala Conflict Data Project (2016) defines armed

The Cold War is a time of political tension between the United States and the USSR following World War II and lasting decades. It was a clash of ideology- capitalism versus communism- and a fight for dominance, by utilizing every opportunity for expansion (Trueman 1). The results and lessons learned from the Cold War still remain as reminders and helpful guides for the future. With the War on Terror at hand, the United States could use the lessons learned from the Cold War as a guide. The Cold War will forever be a guide of lessons in aspects of foreign policy, communication, and importance of safety.

Violence and bloodshed within and among communities is perhaps the most salient and overarching problem to afflict the world since civilizations emerged. Academics and policy-makers have strove for stable peace amongst the world since the enlightenment, with little success. In order to curb the world’s rampant communal violence, agreeing upon the sources of conflict need is imperative. Many attribute today’s violence to economic forces, that unfairly dispersed economic gains have pitted the poor up against their richer counterparts. While economic factors might have used to be the main actors in fomenting conflict, their impact is being now being overshadowed by cultural factors. Two nations that exemplify the modern world’s main

Intra- and inter-community tensions and mistrust are currently at their worst. Additionally, there are marked divisions between and within armed groups, which are often the results of lack of leadership, poor organization, manipulations from national and international actors. Addressing these issues should be a major focus before the beginning of inclusive and transparent peace talks. Yet, it appears to me that tactics are more in favor of dividing to get a fragile control of the situation for shorter agenda than uniting and confronting with courage, objectivity and fairness the defies to move towards a possibly more difficult to reach and costly but sustainable

Over time, the percentage of wars that are intrastate conflicts and not conflicts between states has increased dramatically. The end of the Cold War brought about a rise in civil wars throughout the international system. “The spike of civil wars following the end of the Cold War ended the “euphoria of the early 1990s” and gave way to “frustration” and “disillusionment in the mid-1990s” (Brown 1996, 11); it also popularized the view that the new era spelled a “coming anarchy” through the eruption of “new wars” (Kaldor 1999; Kaplan 1994)” (International System and Technologies of Rebellion: How the End of the Cold War Shaped Internal Conflict STATHIS N. KALYVAS, LAIA BALCELLS, p. 3). As time has passed and technology has improved, the ability of rebel forces to be able to organize and fight has blossomed. By focusing “on technologies of rebellion has several advantages. It allows the study of civil wars as an evolving and dynamic historical phenomenon rather than one that remains constant over time” (International System and Technologies of Rebellion: How the End of the Cold War Shaped Internal Conflict STATHIS N. KALYVAS, LAIA BALCELLS, p. 2). The three types of technologies of civil war

The conventional political analysts gave two fold international relationship doctrine-war and peace. Pace has meant international peace, while war has referred to major interstate armed conflicts. The security within borders has been identical to national security. National security and national defense have become virtually synonymous, and emphasis has been put on the military aspects of security. The traditional arrangements for peace and security have been balance of power and collective security. However, the post-cold war era has brought to the fore the problem of internal and domestic conflict.

Brown (2001a, 2001b) identifies four main types of proximate causes of internal conflict. First, internal mass-level factors create bad domestic problems such as rapid economic development, modernization, patterns of political or economic discrimination, and internal migration like urbanization. Refugees or fighters from neighboring countries who cross the border often bring violence and turmoil with them. Second, radicalized politics can lead to contamination, diffusion, and spillover effects and create “bad neighborhoods”. For instance, the Hutu refugee camps in Zaire became prime recruitment zones for rebel forces. Third, internal elite-level aspects include power struggles by leaders of different groups, ideological contests over the way a country should be organized, and criminal assaults. Leaders have the ability to “play the ethnic card,” which can lead to increased tensions between ethnic groups. Milosevic’s policies in the former Yugoslavia are a good example. By using the national media, Milosevic fueled nationalist movements and hate toward non-Serbian groups, which led to ethnic cleansing and gross human rights violations committed during the wars in the 1990s.And finally, external, elite-level factors are the results of decisions by governments to trigger conflicts in weak neighboring states for political, economic, security, or ideological reasons; an example is Russian involvement in Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia). In addition, ethnic minorities in some cases decide to wage a violent struggle in the hope of political gains and international support. Ethnic groups assume the willingness of the international community to react and to provide a political forum to support negotiation, arbitration, and the settlement of disputes. The assumption of intervention by the

What causes two groups from the same nation to engage in a bloody and lengthy civil war? Although greed and grievances are commonplace explanations, they alone cannot account for the duration and recurrence of intrastate war over the last half century. To properly understand this phenomenon, one must perceive the cause of domestic armed conflict as an instance of bargaining failure. While all three proximate causes of bargaining failure in civil war are exactly the same as those in international war, their situations are distinguished by the fact that the cause of a civil war’s persistence is the same as it’s initiation. I will argue that problems with credible commitment are the most profound obstacle in the resolution of civil conflict and are largely responsible for their recurrence and duration. In support, this essay will discuss the logic behind multilateral peace building strategies such as the utilization of peacekeeping forces and third-party guarantees of ceasefire agreements.

The intractable conflicts or the protracted social conflicts have various unique components such as religious, cultural, or ethnic communal identities; they may be functioning of the fundamental needs of security, communal recognition, and

Over the course of history, society, economy, and political affiliations have all exhibited devastating impacts sought on by violence in conflict. As seen in the media, violence in all forms, whether it be direct violence or structural violence, have had reoccurring themes of halted or negative development and have been linked to psychological trauma in those who have personally witnessed or been a victim of violent acts. Although conflict is inevitable in a world with a variety of different cultural beliefs, political systems and resource availability, there are a variety of ways in which conflicts can be resolved without resorting to the use of violence. Within many fragile contexts, or "state structures that lack political will or capacity to provide the basic functions needed for poverty reduction, development and to safeguard the security and human rights of their population,” (OECD DAC, 2007), communities have maintained impressive resiliency qualities. Through the development of community-based peace building organizations, communities that exist within fragile contexts would have the tools to maintain resiliency and sustainability during violent conflicts.