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\"Through the lens of readiness theory, this book focuses on elements that determine the success and failure in negotiating peace agreements in intractable ethno-national conflicts. Examining three cases of mediated negotiation in Aceh, Sudan and Sri Lanka, the book provides an analytical framework for studying the processes underlying the movement toward conflict resolution. By studying readiness theory's capacity to identify the factors that influence parties' readiness to reach an agreement, it constitutes another step in the development of readiness theory beyond the pre-negotiation stage. The work highlights the central role that third parties - mediators and the international community - play in the success or failure of peace processes, illuminating the mechanisms through which third parties affect the dynamics and outcome of the process. The systematic examination of readiness theory in these cases is instructive for researchers as well as for practitioners who seek to successfully mediate intractable conflicts and help adversaries achieve peace accords. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace studies, Asian politics, African politics and International Relations in general\"-- Provided by publisher.

The Trouble with the Congo suggests a new explanation for international peacebuilding failures in civil wars. Local rivalries motivated widespread violence during the Congolese transition from war to peace. However, a dominant peacebuilding culture shaped the intervention strategy in a way that precluded action on local conflicts.

Explores the evolution of peace in practice and in theory, exploring our modern assumptions about peace and the various different interpretations of its applications.

This book explores the meaning of local ownership in peacebuilding and examines the ways in which it has been, and could be, operationalized in post-conflict environments. In the context of post-conflict peacebuilding, the idea of local ownership is based upon the premise that no peace process is sustainable in the absence of a meaningful degree of local involvement. Despite growing recognition of the importance of local ownership, however, relatively little attention has been paid to specifying what precisely the concept means or how it might be implemented. This volume contributes to the ongoing debate on the future of liberal peacebuilding through a critical investigation of the notion of local ownership, and challenges conventional assumptions about who the relevant locals are and what they are expected to own. Drawing on case studies from Bosnia, Afghanistan and Haiti, the text argues that local ownership can only be fostered through a long-term consensus-building process, which involves all levels of the conflict-affected society. This book will be of great interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, development studies, security studies and IR.

A new history of Asian peace since 1979 that considers America's paradoxical role   After more than a century of recurring conflict, the countries of the Asia-Pacific region have managed something remarkable: avoiding war among nations. Since 1979, Asia has endured threats, near-miss crises, and nuclear proliferation but no interstate war. How fragile is this \"Asian peace,\" and what is America's role in it?   Van Jackson argues that because Washington takes for granted that the United States is a force for good, successive presidencies have failed to see how their statecraft impedes more durable forms of security and inadvertently embrittles peace. At times, the United States has been the region's bulwark against instability, but America has been a threat to Asian peace as much as it has been its guarantor. By grappling with how America fits into the Asian story, Jackson shows how regional stability has diminished because of U.S. choices, and why America's margin for geopolitical error is less now than ever before.

In November 2007 Adam Moore was conducting fieldwork in Mostar when the southern Bosnian city was rocked by two days of violent clashes between Croat and Bosniak youth. It was not the city's only experience of ethnic conflict in recent years. Indeed, Mostar's problems are often cited as emblematic of the failure of international efforts to overcome deep divisions that continue to stymie the postwar peace process in Bosnia. Yet not all of Bosnia has been plagued by such troubles. Mostar remains mired in distrust and division, but the Brčko District in the northeast corner of the country has become a model of what Bosnia could be. Its multiethnic institutions operate well compared to other municipalities, and are broadly supported by those who live there; it also boasts the only fully integrated school system in the country. What accounts for the striking divergence in postwar peacebuilding in these two towns? Moore argues that a conjunction of four factors explains the contrast in peacebuilding outcomes in Mostar and Brčko: The design of political institutions, the sequencing of political and economic reforms, local and regional legacies from the war, and the practice and organization of international peacebuilding efforts in the two towns. Differences in the latter, in particular, have profoundly shaped relations between local political elites and international officials. Through a grounded analysis of localized peacebuilding dynamics in these two cities Moore generates a powerful argument concerning the need to rethink how peacebuilding is done-that is, a shift in the habitus or culture that governs international peacebuilding activities and priorities today. In November 2007 Adam Moore was conducting fieldwork in Mostar when the southern Bosnian city was rocked by two days of violent clashes between Croat and Bosniak youth. It was not the city's only experience of ethnic conflict in recent years. Indeed, Mostar's problems are often cited as emblematic of the failure of international efforts to overcome deep divisions that continue to stymie the postwar peace process in Bosnia. Yet not all of Bosnia has been plagued by such troubles. Mostar remains mired in distrust and division, but the Brcko District in the northeast corner of the country has become a model of what Bosnia could be. Its multiethnic institutions operate well compared to other municipalities, and are broadly supported by those who live there; it also boasts the only fully integrated school system in the country. What accounts for the striking divergence in postwar peacebuilding in these two towns?Moore argues that a conjunction of four factors explains the contrast in outcomes in Mostar and Brcko: The design of political institutions, the sequencing of political and economic reforms, local and regional legacies from the war, and the practice and organization of international peacebuilding efforts in the two towns. Differences in the latter, in particular, have profoundly shaped relations between local political elites and international officials. Through a grounded analysis of localized peacebuilding dynamics in these two cities Moore generates a powerful argument concerning the need to rethink how peacebuilding is done-that is, a shift in the habitus or culture that governs international peacebuilding activities and priorities today.

This title presents post-peace agreement violence as a serious, yet predictable and manageable, political phenomenon. Negotiating an end to a civil war is extremely difficult, and many signed peace agreements subsequently unravel, ushering in renewed conflict. In response, important international actors have become increasingly involved in conflict mediation, peacekeeping, and post-conflict reconstruction around the globe. Policymakers and scholars alike have identified spoilers - violent actors who often rise up and attempt to challenge or derail the peace process - as one of the greatest threats to peace. Using a mixed-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative analyses of a newly created, global dataset of spoiling, Reiter demonstrates that this type of violence occurs in predictable circumstances and only represents a threat to peace under specific conditions.

A Liberal Peace? is a timely and much-needed critical volume that takes a fresh look at the often-polarised debate over the 'liberal peace' approach to international intervention. Using a multitude of case studies, from Afghanistan to Somalia and Sri Lanka to Kosovo, it examines contemporary peacebuilding and statebuilding practice, investigating the assumptions underlying it and interrogating the arguments critiquing it. In doing so, the collection provides new theoretical propositions for understanding current interventions. Written by some of the most prominent scholars in the field alongside several new scholars making cutting-edge contributions, this is an essential addition to a rapidly growing interdisciplinary area of study.