Suchergebnisse

Essay in a symposium on "The United Nations and Regional Challenges in Africa -- 50 Years After Dag Hammarskjold.". Adapted from the source document.

The pressing need to find new ways to settle social disputes and render them less destructive has led to a concern with the role that outsiders-or third parties-can play in the conflict resolution process. This book contributes to an increased understanding of the nature and activities of third parties in a wide range of conflict situations. Dr. Bercovitch first describes and interprets the major elements of the third-party intervention process, then provides an empirical examination of its structure and characteristics in settings as diverse as family struggles, labor-management problems, and international disputes. Throughout, he illustrates the dynamics of the process from the vantage point of the third parties themselves. Finally he points out the conditions most likely to strengthen this type of conflict management and discusses the means for determining the appropriate forms of intervention at different junctures of a dispute.

'Conflict Resolved? A Critical Assessment of Conflict Resolution' by Alan C. Tidwell is reviewed.

The nexus between peacebuilding and development is widely acknowledged, and yet the two fields continue to operate differently in diagnosing destructive intergroup conflicts, as demonstrated by conflict analysis methods versus conflict assessment frameworks. This article juxtaposes conflict analysis, as illustrated by a problem- solving workshop on the Cyprus conflict, with a specialised conflict assessment workshop on an intergroup conflict in India. A comparative analysis based on participant observation in each workshop revealed basic similarities, but these were outweighed by important differences primarily related to differing assumptions about conflict causation (relationships versus structures). The implications for greater cross-fertilisation and the improvement of practice in both fields are identified. Adapted from the source document.

A total of 103 armed conflicts has been recorded for the years 1989-97. Of these, 33 were active in 1997. Six interstate armed conflicts were recorded for the period, of which one was active in 1997. The period exhibits a decline in total number of conflicts per year; a decline is also found in all regions with the exception of Africa. All new conflicts in 1996 and 1997 took place in Africa. More than half of the conflicts was linked to conflicts in neighbouring states. Regional conflict complexes were found in all regions, but were particularly significant in Europe and in Africa, where they also reached high levels of intensity.