Chapter 5 Preventing violent conflict

Question 1

what has been the central purpose of conflict resolution?

Answer 1

To seek to prevent violent conflicts.

Question 2

In order to prevent conflict what needs to be done?

Answer 2

The potential sources of conflict need to be identified and analysed with a view to their early resolution, and concrete steps must be taken to forestall armed confrontation.

Question 3

What is conflict prevention defined as in the Agenda for peace by the UN-secretary general?

Answer 3

The avoidance of new armed conflicts, containment of existing armed conflicts and non-recurrence of ended armed conflicts.

Question 4

What does the Influential Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict identify as the main aims of conflict prevention?

Answer 4

To prevent the emergence of violent conflict, to prevent ongoing conflicts from spreading, and to prevent the re-emerging of violence.

Question 5

What is the aim of conflict prevention when it is not to avoid conflict altogether?

Answer 5

To avert violent conflicts, conflicts pursued constructively are creative and form a necessary means of bringing about change.

Question 6

What is Kriesberg’s definition of constructive conflict?

Answer 6

Conflict outcomes are constructive insofar as the parties regard them as mutually acceptable. Moreover, they are constructive insofar as they provide a basis for an ongoing relationship in which future conflicts tend to be waged constructively.

Question 7

What is one of the aims of the conflict resolution endeavour?

Answer 7

To increase the range of situations where violence is not a possibility, to create conditions where there are stable expectations of peaceful change.

Question 8

How do new conflict formations emerge?

Answer 8

social change creates a basis for conflict, in response to such changes people collectively define their interests formulate goals and act together to mobilize in order to pursue their goals. If the goals are incompatible with those of other groups a conflict forms. if the incompatibility is so severe that they can no longer go on violence becomes possible.

Question 9

What is the main method by which parties try to resolve conflicts peacefully?

Answer 9

By negotiations

Question 10

What shapes the process of negotiations?

Answer 10

The approach of the parties and of the negotiations, the range of options, the cultural setting and the context

Question 11

What are options for preventing and managing conflicts in ethnic conflicts according to the book?

Answer 11

Minority rights, autonomy, voting systems and legislative assemblies that give incentives to ethnic groups to work together, various types of power-sharing and consociational systems, confederal and federal systems and inter-ethnic associations.

Question 12

What can parties opt for if negotiations fail?

Answer 12

Pursuing conflict but limiting their behaviour to avoid violence.

Question 13

What do Chenoweth and Cunningham say about unarmed civilians?

Answer 13

Routinely prosecute conflicts without resorting to arms, and they do so extremely forcefully and to great effects at times.

Question 14

How do non-violent campaigns derive their effectiveness?

Answer 14

From mass participation.

Question 15

What are ways to avoid violent conflicts that place a premium on actors to use peaceful means?

Answer 15

Constructive conflict, peaceful change and non-violence

Question 16

What do we need to prevent wars according to Taylor?

Answer 16

General conditions that reduce the likelihood of conflict and look at specific interventions that may prevent a conflict from turning to war.

Question 17

What addresses structural or deep preventions?

Answer 17

Aims to address the root causes of conflict such as economic grievances, political exclusion and group discrimination.

Question 18

What addresses Direct or light prevention?

Answer 18

Aims to prevent an existing conflict from becoming violent eg. through mediation, confidence-building measures and crisis management.

Question 19

What are the two tasks involved in the developing of a conflict early warning system?

Answer 19

1. Identification of the type and location of the conflicts that could become violent.
2. Monitoring and assessing their progress with a view to assessing how close to violence they are.

Question 20

Which three factors affect the proneness of a communal group to rebel according to the Minorites at Risk data?

Answer 20

Collective incentives, capacity for joint action and external opportunities

Question 21

What does qualitative conflict monitoring consist of?

Answer 21

the mass of reports, news stories, academic analyses and general information that is available about particular situations. In the public domain, it includes the reports of humanitarian agencies and analyses of conflict and countries at risk.

Question 22

What is the key issue if not in fact providing early warning?

Answer 22

Mustering the political resources to make an appropriate early response when a warning has been issued.

Question 23

In structural prevention violent conflict is likely to be avoided when?

Answer 23

When there is an agreed and legitimate basis for a political community and the community provides public goods and secures the accepted values of its members.

Question 24

What do Keohane and Nye state on structural prevention at the international level?

Answer 24

Complex bonds of interdependence tend to create a set of interlocking issue areas in which security concerns are not necessarily privileged over others.

Question 25

What do Russet and Oneal state about structural prevention at the international level?

Answer 25

Involvement in international organisations reduces the risk of war.

Question 26

What contributes to liberal peace?

Answer 26

Common trade, common democracy, development and participation in international organisations and security communities.

Question 27

What is abuse of human rights recognized as?

Answer 27

Widely recognized as an early warning indicator of incipient conflict. Human rights violations are both a trigger for escalation and a result of protracted fighting.

Question 28

Which structural preventers address Azar’s preconditions for social conflict?

Answer 28

Adequate political institutions and good governance, cohesive social structures. opportunities for groups to develop economically and culturally and the presence of accepted legal or social norms capable of accommodating and peacefully transforming these formations.

Question 29

Which policy options are available for direct prevention?

Answer 29

Official diplomacy. non-official diplomacy, to peacemaking efforts by local actors. in some cases exploratory talks and trust-building by respected mediators are crucial. In others, positive and negative inducements by relevant states are crucial.

Question 30

Who take significant steps to address conflict?

Answer 30

Non-Governmental organisations. development agencies and social actors also take significant steps to address conflict and attempt to prevent violence at an early stage.

Question 31

Where do development agencies play a significant role in conflict prevention?

Answer 31

In the poorest countries most vulnerable to the ‘conflict trap’

Question 32

For what is direct prevention relevant?

Answer 32

To avert armed conflict before they occur and in preventing further escalation after violence has started.

Question 33

What is the main factor in conflict recurrence according to Call?

Answer 33

Political exclusion and coversely that inclusive settlements form the main way of avoiding recurrence.

Question 34

What are considered to be mass atrocities?

Answer 34

Episodes in which at least 5.000 civilians are killed intentionally.

Question 35

What steps can be taken to prevent mass atrocities?

Answer 35

Early warning system, structural prevention and efforts to reduce the level of political exclusiveness to improve governance to reduce discrimination and to protect security and human rights.

Question 36

What are direct preventions in the prevention of mass atrocities?

Answer 36

Measures such as fact-finding missions, envoys, support for indigenous conflict resolution efforts.

Question 37

What are two of the key perquisites for international peace and security?

Answer 37

Mechanisms for peaceful change and systems for anticipation of future issues.

Question 38

What do policymakers focus on in practice in regards to conflict prevention?

Answer 38

Short -term crisis management.

Question 39

What did the European Council declare at the Gothenburg summit?

Answer 39

Conflict prevention calls for a cooperative approach to facilitate peaceful solutions to disputes and implies addressing the root causes of conflicts the EU underlines its political commitment to pursue conflict prevention as one of the main objectives of the EU’s external relations. it resolves to continue to improve its capacity to prevent violent conflicts and to contribute to a global culture of prevention.

Question 40

What was the assumption about self-determination?

Answer 40

The principle of self-determination would remove a major cause of future war. But because of the endless proliferation and scattered distribution of the constituent peoples on whom the new system was to be imposed, putting this into practice proved highly challenging.

Question 41

What are the two lessons from history drawn from a western perspective?

Answer 41

1. based on an analogy with the first world war, argues that the danger is sleepwalking into a catastrophic confrontation and that the west must not be provocative.
2. Based on analogy with the second world war, argues that appeasement does not work with aggressors and that the best way to prevent escalation is by vigorous demonstration of the costs of proceeding with the aggression.