DWA 402 United Nations and Conflict Prevention: Actors and Architecture

The importance of conflict prevention and conflict resolution policies has long been recognized at the United Nations. The debate was originally focused on the effectiveness of peace-keeping operations and traditional diplomatic measures. Its parameters have been broadened considerably and now encompass longer term efforts to assist developing countries in enhancing durable structures conducive to peace and democratic stability and the targeted use of development cooperation. Combining theoretical/conceptual and practical concerns, and drawing from case studies of recent conflicts, the ultimate objective of the course is to identify feasible short term and long term conflict prevention strategies and tools and to develop practical suggestions to move from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. More specifically, the course will deal with: (1) the evolving meaning of prevention as it was understood in the Charter of the United Nations and subsequently shaped by the changing causes and nature of conflicts; (2) the main actors in conflict prevention against the backdrop of UN institutions; (3) the tools and practice of "operational" prevention (i.e. early warning, mediation, sanctions, peace operations, peace enforcement, and the role of regional organizations); (4) the tools and practice of "structural" prevention (good governance and democracy, mainstreaming human rights and gender, meeting post conflict reconstruction, and addressing the root causes of conflict); and (5) the significance of the emerging norm of the "responsibility to protect".