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Photo of Karin Aggestam

Karin Aggestam

Professor, Director, MECW Scientific Coordinator

Photo of Karin Aggestam

Conflict Prevention: Old Wine in New Bottles?

Author

  • Karin Aggestam

Summary, in English

This essay examines the extent to which scholarly work offers new insights into the problematique of conflict prevention and whether there are any significant alterations in the international management of conflict. The existing literature generally exhibits a number of methodological and theoretical weaknesses, which makes conflict prevention less useful as an analytical concept. In practice, states and IGOs tend to dominate conflict prevention, but NGOs are increasingly important actors since most contemporary conflicts concern unstable state-society relations. (Inter)governmental-NGO relations in conflict prevention are characterized by cost-benefit calculations, shared normative concerns as well as competing understandings of peace. As a way of bridging the gap between theory and practice, the author argues for a stronger emphasis by academics on diagnosis and cumulative knowledge of contemporary conflicts rather than endeavours to predict them

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2003

Language

English

Pages

12-23

Publication/Series

International Peacekeeping

Volume

10

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • Internationell politik

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1743-906X