The Politics of International Intervention

1
The Politics of International Intervention

• Overview
• Definitions
• Conflict Management
• Conflict Settlement
• Conflict Prevention
• The Need for International Intervention
• Approaches to International Intervention
• Variables of Intervention
• Hard and Soft Realism vs. the Good Governance
  Approach vs. Social-psychological Approaches
• Classification Models of International
  Intervention
• By Intervening Actor
• By Type of Conflict
• By Type and Instrument
• By Timing and Timeframe
• By Policy Objective

2
Definitions

• Conflict Management
• Aims at containing, limiting or otherwise
  directing the effects of an ongoing conflict
• Strategy that is adopted either when conflict
  settlement is not possible or when it is
  undesirable for at least one conflict party or a
  third party
• Not always a benign attempt of containing or
  limiting negative consequences, but can also be a
  strategy of (temporary) manipulation, conflict
  perpetuation and/or intensification

3
Definitions

• Conflict Settlement
• Seeks to establish an institutional framework in
  which the conflicting interests of conflict
  parties can be accommodated to such an extent
  that incentives for cooperation and the
  non-violent pursuit of conflict of interest
  outweigh any potential benefits expected from
  continuation of conflict
• Ideally achieves the accommodation of all claims
  of all partiesin reality, total accommodation is
  impossible thus claims will have to be subject
  to compromise, withdrawal or postponement
• Implies negotiated, accepted and implemented
  institutional structures

4
Definitions

• Conflict Prevention
• Set of strategies adopted at an early stage of
  the conflict prior to violent escalation or after
  ceasefire/settlement has been negotiated to
  prevent resumption of violence
• Involves attitudinal change and usually occurs in
  multiple sectors of society
• Aims at channelling conflict into non-violent
  behaviour by providing incentives for peaceful
  accommodation and/or raising the costs of violent
  escalation for conflict parties
• Short-term crisis management
• Long-term structural prevention

5
The Need for International Intervention

• Local capacities
• Political, economic, human resources and
  capacities often diminished as a consequence of
  conflict
• Lack of capable leaders to prevent violent
  escalation or lead transition from violence to
  peace
• Lack of strong institutions and/or local capacity
  to operate such institutions
• Lack of economic resources to provide incentives
  against violent escalation or perpetuation of
  violence
• Security guarantees
• Security dilemma, potential information failures
  and credible commitment problems require external
  security guarantees to make conflict parties
  comfortable within an agreed settlement

6
Approaches to Intervention

• Variables of Intervention
• Different sets of actors
• Using different instruments and techniques
• In distinct types of societies
• At various points in the conflict cycle
• Spectrum of intervention options depends on
• Stage of the conflict (e.g., pre- or post violent
  escalation)
• Character of society in which intervention occurs
• Nature of conflict parties and their
  decision-making systems
• Character of third parties (especially
  capabilities, leverage, links to conflict
  parties, level and type of interest,
  sustainability of intervention)

7
Approaches to Intervention

• Hard realism
• Default position no intervention unless vital
  security interests are concerned
• Options available partition, containment, change
  of power balances between local conflict parties
  by transfers of military and other resources or
  by boycotts and sanctions
• Soft realism
• Default position conflict and instability are
  security threats regardless of where they occur
  intervention is therefore a necessary foreign
  policy tool
• Options available mediation and coercive
  diplomacy, peacemaking and confidence-building
  measures that decrease incentives to defect from
  negotiated settlements, power-sharing and
  political accommodation, isolation and
  containment of spoilers

8
Approaches to Intervention

• The Good Governance Approach
• Default position conflict can be prevented
  and/or settled if basic standards of good
  governance are observed which can be created
  and/or strengthened through international
  intervention
• Options available restoration of rule of law,
  elections, democratic institution building,
  powersharing and participatory governance
  arrangements, restoration of civil society
• Social-psychological Approaches
• Default position conflict is a result of
  social-psychological effects which need to be
  addressed through impartial third-party
  intervention
• Options available perpetrators must accept
  responsibility, forgiveness and reconciliation,
  problem-solving workshops, training in
  (non-violent) dispute resolution

9
Classification Models of International
Intervention

• By intervening actor
• States neighbouring, regional or great powers,
  states involved in similar conflicts elsewhere,
  riparian states, economically, ethnically and/or
  socially linked states, states with a
  humanitarian agenda or historical colonial links
• Inter-state alliances
• International organisations with/without
  host-state and/or kin-state membership regional,
  supranational, international
• International humanitarian NGOs assistance (with
  delivery capacity), charitable (funding of
  projects), missionary/religious, advocacy
• Other public groups, corporations and networks

10
Classification Models of International
Intervention

• By type of conflict
• Conflicts in which intervention occurs at the
  request of local conflict parties
• Conflicts in which intervention occurs against
  the resistance of local conflict parties
• By types of international intervention
• Political/diplomatic
• Economic
• Humanitarian
• Military

11
Classification Models of International
Intervention

• By instruments of international intervention
• Cooperative instruments
• Humanitarian assistance
• Fact-finding
• Mediation
• Confidence-building measures
• Traditional (separation of combatants) and
  multifunctional (post-conflict reconstruction)
  peacekeeping operations
• Military and economic technical assistance
• Coercive instruments
• Arms embargoes and economic sanctions
• Judicial enforcement measures
• Military force

12
Classification Models of International
Intervention

• By timing
• Early-stage prevention
• Mid-stage management, settlement
• Late-stage settlement
• Post-conflict implementation, prevention
• By time frame
• Short-term crisis management
• Mid-term facilitate conflict settlements assist
  parties in negotiations, implementation and
  operation of settlements
• Long-term structural prevention efforts
  (reduction of security concerns promotion of
  political, social and economic justice, human and
  minority rights elimination of patterns of
  discrimination establishment of standards of
  good governance)

13
Classification Models of International
Intervention

• By policy objective
• Stability (local, regional)
• National interests (security, territory, regional
  standing/influence)
• Alliances (local, regional, global)
• Social and economic/commercial interests
• Serving domestic constituencies
• Maintaining/developing international norms