International Organizations And Ethnic Conflict

From Rwanda to Somalia to the former Yugoslavia, one feature of the post-Cold War world has become dreadfully clear. Ethnic conflicts are escalating, and with them demands for international intervention. But legally most ethnic conflicts are "internal" matters. How are international organizations, their resources stretched woefully thin, to know when intervention is appropriate or possible? This volume addresses the changing nature of relations between war-torn multiethnic states and international organizations, particularly the United Nations and its agencies. Are the established norms that limit intervention in ethnic conflicts adequate to contemporary conditions? Can international organizations meet the increasing demand? If not, what are the consequences of the disparities between established norms, current capabilities, and expanding expectations—and how might these disparities be narrowed? The contributors explore the desirability and potential effectiveness of international interventions in ethnic conflicts. Detailed studies of two specific cases of severe and violent tensions, in Lebanon and Yugoslavia, complement the general discussion with particular insights into the risks and exigencies of international attempts to manage ethnic civil war. A deeply thoughtful overview of one of the most pressing and perplexing issues confronting the world today, this volume clarifies the changing role of international organizations in an increasingly fragmented world.

This title was first published in 2003. Meticulously documenting Intra-state violence and the responses to it from a global perspective, this volume deals with a core element of future global governance within its historical and sociological context. It provides a striking analysis of the prevention of violence and resolving conflict, elaborating on the role that key regional and international organizations (e.g. UN, OSCE, COE, OAU-AU and OSA) have or should have in the prevention of violence and terrorism, as well as in the protection of human and minority rights. The work is an invaluable addition to the collections of scholars and students in the fields of peace and conflict research, international relations, sociology, ethnic studies, international law and development research.

The breakup of the former Yugoslavia demonstrates the limitations of international law in the face of ethnic conflict. The contributors to this book examine the various roles international law and international institutions play in dealing with ethnic conflict. International Law and Ethnic Conflict first covers general philosophical, historical, and cultural issues arising from attempts to apply international law to ethnic conflict. The authors assess the legitimacy of demands based on group identity, the legal rights of ethnic groups, the validity of various entitlement claims, and the meaning of statehood. They then consider the institutional and policy responses of international organizations and states in their attempts to deal with ethnic conflict and analyze the extent to which various forms of intervention prove successful.

Published in 1999, this text examines domestic wars, looking at inter-state relations only in as far as they are directly relevant to understand such wars. The book aims to indicate how intra-state war differs from the inter-state war, and focuses primarily on such domestic armed conflicts that at least have significant ethnonational components. The book assesses how heterogeneous a category "ethnic conflict" is in terms of causes and consequences, and gauges the complex interplay between class, regionalism and ethnicity. It is not limited to description and causal analysis, but also attempts to assess suggestions as to what types of actors may contribute in what ways to avoiding ethnonational mobilization/polarization, avoiding militarization of manifest conflicts, and de-escalating militarized conflicts by looking for tenable generalizations on what types of approaches are fruitful in bringing about de-escalation, ceasefires, political compromises, peaceful division or peaceful integration, reconciliation.

Combining theoretical analyzes with case studies, this book increases understanding of the internationalization, diffusion and escalation of ethnic conflict. The essays stand at the nexus of comparative politics and international relations, examining the influence on ethnic conflict of the weakening of state institutional structures, the role of non-state regional and international actors, changes in the ethnic balance of power, and the degree of economic, social, and cultural integration within the regional or global system. The variety of approaches provides useful analytical tools for students, while the diversity of cases from different regions gives the reader a sense of the scope of such problems.

During the Cold War, most international relations theorists and strategic studies analysts paid little attention to ethnic and other forms of communal conflict. Disregard for the importance of ethnic and nationality issues in world affairs, always misguided so far as the developing world was concerned, has been overtaken, in stunning fashion, by recent events from Abkhazia to Zaire. The essays in this volume advance our understanding of the causes of ethnic and communal conflict, the regional and international implications of such conflicts, and what the international community can do to minimize the potential for instability and violence. Drawn from recent issues of Survival, they are organized along thematic rather than regional lines, and will be required reading for scholars, students, and policymakers alike. The contributors to the volume include Michael Brown on the causes and implications of ethnic conflict, Anthony Smith on the ethnic sources of nationalism, David Welsh on domestic politics and ethnic conflict, Renée de Nevers on democratization and ethnic conflict, and Pierre Hassner on nationalism and internationalism. Jack Snyder writes on nationalism and the crisis of the post-Soviet state, Barry Posen on the security dilemma and ethnic conflict, Kathleen Newland on ethnic conflict and refugees, Jenonne Walker on international mediation of ethnic conflicts, and Robert Cooper and Mats Berdal on outside intervention in ethnic conflicts, Adam Roberts discusses the U.N. and international security, and John Chipman explores managing the politics of parochialism.