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Conflict prevention and the european response to states in crisis
01/03/2007 By Ivan Briscoe
Western governments have expressed their preference for prevention over post-conflict resolution and reconstruction for over a decade, citing the humanitarian cost of intrastate war (whose victims are primarily civilians), the relaxation of nation-states’ sovereignty entitlements, and the supreme cost-effectiveness of nipping armed conflict in the bud (amply manifested by the EU’s diplomatic failures in the Balkans).
But close examination of the EU’s record on conflict prevention suggests it has yet to achieve any sort of broad institutional acceptance within the bloc for its policies, while its participation in “deep”, transformational peace-building is being profoundly affected by the global security concerns connected with “state failure”.
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Keywords
Conflict prevention Congo EU Foreign Policy European Union Fragile state Haiti Latin America & Caribbean Sub-Saharan Africa TerrorismRelated publications
- Recovering from armed conflict: lessons learned and next steps for improved international assistance
Bio author: Ivan Briscoe
Former senior researcher in Peace, Security and Human Rights at FRIDE.
