KEY DRIVERS BEHIND CIVIL CONFLICTS
The ease to which civil conflicts can occur has grown tremendously. The world has recently experienced an extreme information revolution. People anywhere around the world have access to news reports, web logs, and other more sinister forms of propaganda with which they can use to manipulate and stir up heated debates on a range of issues. With the use of cell phones, instant messaging, and social shareware, groups can easily and quickly produce a mob to form at any place, at any time, and for any reason. This puts a strain on security forces and leaves them inadequate to handle all of the emerging situations.
Civil conflicts in general take place to right a perceived wrong in society. People tend to view government as inequitable, favoring those who have money and political power. The world has also become more polarized and the growing in identity politics. Certain ethnic groups run roughshod over others and leave the receiver with little hope. By nature, people want to control their own destiny. The end of the Cold War leaves room for people to make other choices rather than siding with the United States or the Soviet Union. The breakup of empires also allows populations to determine how they want to live.
CONFLICT PREVENTION MECHANISMS
The current world system has several mechanisms to prevent conflicts, most of them fairly weak. One is international adjudication through the International Court of Justice, an offshoot of the United Nations. This court has two main functions: to settle in accordance with international law the legal disputes submitted to it by States, and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized international organs and agencies. Also present is the International Criminal Court. This body is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as defined by several international agreements.
Diplomacy is usually the best way to prevent conflict. This can be accomplished through good offices, mediation, or arbitration. The term good offices, refers to the weight and authority of a position and the organization or nation it represents. Mediation is defined as a process of alternative dispute resolution in which a (generally) neutral third party, the mediator, using appropriate techniques, assists two or more parties to help them negotiate an agreement, with concrete effects, on a matter of common interest. Arbitration is a form of mediation or conciliation, where the mediating party is given power by the disputant parties to settle the dispute by making a finding. Another possibility is the use of economic measures to force reconciliation. These measures include sanctions, major aid programs, and dispute settlement mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization.
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