Unit 9: Preventing Violent Conflict

CJ219: Peacekeeping Operations

Unit 9 Assignments

Reading: Chapter 13 and Conclusion Graded Work:

-- Discussion Board (15 pts)-- Seminar (20 pts)-- Paper (100 pts)

135 Points Total

Unit 9 Paper (100 points)

Civilian Police International (CIVPOL) Write a 3 to 5 page research paper (excluding cover page and

references page) on the following topic: Construct a detailed summary of the mission, structure and

operational strategies of Civilian Police International (CIVPOL) that explains CIVPOL’s role in peacekeeping operations, or, more specifically, law enforcement capacity building operations. Ensure that you illustrate the challenges for American law enforcement professionals who engage in capacity building operations.

Unit 9 Paper—cont’d

Topics to include in your paper: Present strategies for overcoming contemporary challenges in peacekeeping operations Explain the organization of CIVPOLAnalyze CIVPOL's stated mission and provide examples of the organization’s efforts in carrying out its stated missionExamine CVIVPOL's operational strategies and illustrate those strategies with contemporary examplesIllustrate CIVPOLS's role in contemporary international peacekeeping operations and provide examples of CIVPOL's current involvement in international peacekeeping operations

Unit 9 Paper-cont’d

Instructions Grading Rubric Tips & Clues

Preventing Conflict

As we’ve seen throughout the term, peacekeeping has developed as a series of ad hoc responses to specific conflicts. As a result, less attention has been paid to preventing deadly conflicts in the first place.

Tonight we are going to examine theory and techniques for preventing deadly conflicts.

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Identify the three primary considerations that define the theory of conflict prevention.

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Understanding the causes of violent conflict

Developing “early warning” indicators for identifying specific states or regions likely to fall into conflict

Techniques for preventing conflict

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What do you think causes violent conflict?

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Are there different types of war?

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Yes In broadest terms, there are wars

between states; and there are wars within states (the “new wars”).

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One theory on the cause of war is presented by Kenneth Waltz who argued that three “images” (or factors) come together to explain the cause of war:

(1) human nature (we are instinctively drawn to conflict)

(2) the nature of the state (dictatorship, democracy, etc.)

(3) the sovereign state system (each nation acts in its own interest, creating anarchy, where wars happen because nothing can prevent them)

– The third image weighs the heaviest the balance (war results from perpetual international anarchy) but the first and second images are the immediate causes of war, with interplay among the three.

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Do you agree with this theory?

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This theory best explains wars between states but doesn’t explain conflicts within states, such as civil wars.

The idea that states act only in their own interest is outmoded

States are equally drawn toward alliances (Rome, the Concert of Europe, LON, UN, NATO, EU), and alliances themselves are often the cause of war (e.g., First World War).

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Other theories on the cause of war focus on embedded social grievances within societies.

Identify some of the common grievances.

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identity clashes between social groups (e.g., Hutu vs. Tutsi in Rwanda) competition for resources between social groups long-term deprivation of human needs (security, recognition,

acceptance, fair access to political institutions, and economic participation)

a state’s ability to shape and deliver human needs (withholding resources, limiting access to government to only certain groups)

international links (international economic and military relations) discrimination the state not an neutral or impartial arbiter of disputes (bias courts and

executive enforcement) political entrepreneurs using excessive nationalist rhetoric

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Do these factors better explain conflicts between or within states (i.e., the “new wars”)?

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Apply best to conflicts within states (i.e., in the context of the “New Wars”)

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Let’s look at “early warning” indicators of war.

Identify some symptoms of impending war.

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Demographic: sudden demographic changes; displacement/people movement

Economic: changes in the economy of a county or region; increase in poverty or inequality; rise in unemployment; financial crisis

Governance: deliberate acts of oppression targets at specific groups; destruction or discretion of religious sites; legislation that actively discriminates between groups; potentially destabilizing elections or referendums; use of security forces against political opponents

Social factors: a rise in societal intolerance, prejudice, or overt racism; widespread demonstrations

External: intervention or support of particular group by foreign parties; regional spread of ideology, ethnic, or other form of conflict; influx of refugees from neighboring states

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The readings identify two techniques for preventing conflicts: thin and thick.

What is “thin” conflict prevention?

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Thin prevention involves short term techniques for averting violent conflict, without addressing the root causes of the problem.

Examples include such techniques as early warning systems, preventive diplomacy, economic sanctions, aid conditionally, and deployment of peacekeepers.

Thin techniques are the most common.

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What is “thick” conflict prevention?

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Thick prevention involves long-term techniques for averting violence by dealing directly with the root causes of the conflict

The Goal: build or encourage liberal societies who can resolve their problems with resorting to armed violence

Examples include Third World Debt Relief, more effective regulation of the global arms trade; promoting “good governance”, human rights, and democratization; improving local infrastructures; supporting local production and employment initiatives; promoting long-term cooperation between ethnic groups.

Thick prevention is less common, as it requires large-scale coordination and commitment of resources (political, economic, and legal).

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The readings suggest that there are three factors for successfully preventing conflict.

Identify the three factors.

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Domestic and international actors identify the “early warnings” of violent conflict;

The same actors having the “political will” to invest material and generate ideas for preventing conflicts (i.e., the capacity to analyze and disseminate the early warning information)—Consider Rhwanda

A web of international organizations so where one group is unable to prevent a conflict another can fill the role (e.g., where the UN fails, either NATO, the EU, or the OSCE can step up to prevent the conflict).

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Who’s better? – Hendrix– Clapton– Page