Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

International actors engage in a wide range of activities designed to prevent or mitigate violence and to assist combatants in the transition from war to peace. This panel presents four new papers that examine conflict prevention and peacebuilding using diverse methodological approaches. One paper examines whether and how regional organizations can contribute to the prevention of violent conflict. Two of the papers examine the process of reaching comprehensive peace agreements. The first of these examines the bargaining environment throughout the peace process and shows how changes in the bargaining environment can lead to outcomes such as breakdown leading to conflict recurrence, full implementation of peace agreements, and partial implementation of these agreements. The second of these papers examines how a set of international actors—Highly Structured Inter-Governmental Organizations—can contribute to combatants reaching comprehensive peace agreements following civil war. The final paper uses a survey experiment to examine how aid allocation decisions are made in response to changing dynamics in conflict-affected countries. Together, these four papers make a substantial contribution to academic understanding of conflict prevention and peacebuilding and have practical implications for how external actors can work to decrease violence in countries either emerging from or with the potential to experience civil wars.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 21: Conflict Processes

Individual Presentations

• Can Regional Organizations help Prevent Civil Wars? - David E. Cunningham, University of Maryland, College Park; Marjorie Breslawski, University of Maryland, College Park

• Implementation of Peace Agreements and Post-Conflict Outcomes - Deniz Cil, University of Maryland, College Park

• International Institutions and Comprehensive Peace Agreements - Johannes Karreth, Ursinus College; Jaroslav Tir, University of Colorado Boulder

• Agents of Aid: A Survey Experiment on Aid in Conflict-affected Countries - Susanna Campbell, American University

Chair

• David E. Cunningham University of Maryland, College Park

Discussants

• Govinda Clayton ETH Zurich

• Enzo Nussio ETH Zurich