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Managing Africa's Violent Conflicts
Author(s) -
Jackson Richard
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
peace and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1468-0130
pISSN - 0149-0508
DOI - 10.1111/0149-0508.00151
Subject(s) - negotiation , mediation , conflict management , party directed mediation , political science , set (abstract data type) , public relations , law , alternative dispute resolution , computer science , programming language
Conflict management research has not often compared the effectiveness of different methods such as negotiation and mediation. Consequently, applying conflict management techniques to international disputes has sometimesbeen ad hoc and ineffectual. This article compares the effectiveness of negotiation and mediation in African conflict management in the period 1945 to 1995. Utilizing an original data set on cases of negotiation and mediation, the analysis indicates that, overall, bilateral negotiations are more successful than mediation. However, negotiation is difficult to initiate in cases of intense, intractable civil conflicts, and works best in cases of interstate disputes. Given that Africa’s worst conflicts are all intense, long‐running civil wars, improving the effectiveness of mediation in the region is a top priority.