International Conflict Resolution After the Cold War (2000)

Summary: In the early 1990s many observers had begun to wonder to what extent the conventional wisdom about international conflict resolution, developed from practice and scholarship over many decades, was still valid after the passing of the Cold War and global bipolarity. Some had argued that previously underutilized techniques and strategies—such as the promotion of democracy in divided countries and the establishment of truth commissions—were particularly well suited for dealing with the conflicts that were occurring during the early years of the post-Cold War period. Practitioners felt the need for an assessment of such claims, and the committee aimed to help fill this need with respect to selected conflict resolution techniques. The Committee on International Conflict Resolution invited a series of chapter-length studies focused on particular approaches to conflict resolution. Each study was to address pressing concerns of conflict management practitioners and also to be intellectually rigorous in drawing conclusions.