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Third-party techniques for preventing conflict escalation and promoting peaceful settlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

William J. Dixon
William J. Dixon
Affiliation:
Professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
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Abstract

Although agents employ a wide range of conflict management techniques in practice, scholars have evaluated only a few of these. A more complete empirical analysis of the spectrum of third-party procedures used to manage international crises reveals that two techniques in particular are most effective: mediation efforts and third-party activities to open or maintain lines of communication. The endpoints of preventing escalation and promoting peaceful settlement take into account the notion of conflict as a dynamic evolutionary process, consisting of several phases, which in turn affect the outcome of third-party management. Crisis management methods that have proved successful in a bipolar world may be similarly successful in the post-cold war environment, an issue future work must address.

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Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1996 , pp. 653 - 681
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1996

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