Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 8/5/2007
Peacemaking and Mediation: Dynamics of a Changing Field
2007 March
Abstract
The study of peacemaking and mediation blossomed in the immediate post-Cold War years and into the new millennium.The 2001 terrorist attacks on the US and subsequent attacks in Indonesia, Spain, and the UK, marked a significant watershed in world politics, raising the question of whether war-fighting against this new adversary would eclipse peacemaking and conflict prevention.While the jury remains out on the extent of the paradigm shift signaled by September 11, 2001, there is no question that today’s environment features elements of both continuity and change for peacemakers. The threat to international security posed by certain forms of terrorism cannot be ignored. But the totality of challenges facing the international system today cannot be reduced to the terrorist threat, nor can the international community’s response be reduced to a “war on terrorism.”1 In this section of the paper, we will identify important areas of consensus about peacemaking that have carried over from the late 1980s and early 1990s to the present, take note of continuing debates in the broader field of conflict management and resolution that affect the way practitioners and scholars think about their activities, and discuss certain “new emphases” in this field that can affect the way peacemakers operate, whether as state-based or unofficial actors.
