Comparative Peace Processes

Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015 The term 'peace process' is now widely used to describeattempts to manage and resolve conflict. As the nature of conflicthas changed, so the range of available tools for producing peacehas grown. Alongside a plethora of political actions, there is nowa greater international awareness of how peace can be brokered andpoliced. As a result, peace processes now extend well beyond theactuality of ceasefires and an absence of war to cover legacyissues of victims, truth and reconciliation. This book expertly examines the practical application of solutionsto conflict. The first part analyses various political means ofconflict management, including consociational power-sharing,partition, federalism and devolution. The second explores theextent to which these political formulas have been applied - orignored - in a wide range of conflicts includingBosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Israel-Palestine, Lebanon,the Basque Region and Sri Lanka. Comparative Peace Processes combines optimism with a realistapproach to conflict management, acknowledging that the propensityof dominant states to engage in political experimentation isconditioned by the state of conflict. It will be a valuableresource for anyone interested in general theories of politicalpossibilities in peace processes and the practical deployment ofpolitical ideas in conflict zones.