Using Force to Prevent Ethnic Violence - (Praeger Studies on Ethnic and National Identities in Politic) by David Carment & Frank Harvey (Hardcover)

About the Book

More than ever before, ethnic struggle finds expression in the growing incidence and scale of displaced persons and refugee flows, as well as in exacerbated levels of ethnic minority abuse and involuntary assimilation. Demographic and political sources of instability in multi-ethnic societies assure the continuing significance of ethnic strife and the potential for intrastate ethnic violence far into the next millennium. While not all disagreements between ethnic groups can be expected to escalate into violence, more than a few have produced intractable and destructive conflicts, and one or more of these conflicts could ultimately reach levels that overwhelm international resources and capabilities.

Carment and Harvey examine how regional and international security organizations can prevent destructive ethnic conflict and manage cases in which violence already is at hand. First they develop a conceptual framework for advancing basic research on the prevention and management of intrastate ethnic violence. They evaluate theoretical knowledge about the nature of ethnic conflict, using case material and quantitative assessments, and they apply these assumptions against recent instances of conflict management through an in-depth study of NATO's involvement in Kosovo and Bosnia. This book serves as an important research tool for students, scholars, and policy makers involved with ethnic conflict and international relations.

Book Synopsis

More than ever before, ethnic struggle finds expression in the growing incidence and scale of displaced persons and refugee flows, as well as in exacerbated levels of ethnic minority abuse and involuntary assimilation. Demographic and political sources of instability in multi-ethnic societies assure the continuing significance of ethnic strife and the potential for intrastate ethnic violence far into the next millennium. While not all disagreements between ethnic groups can be expected to escalate into violence, more than a few have produced intractable and destructive conflicts, and one or more of these conflicts could ultimately reach levels that overwhelm international resources and capabilities.

Carment and Harvey examine how regional and international security organizations can prevent destructive ethnic conflict and manage cases in which violence already is at hand. First they develop a conceptual framework for advancing basic research on the prevention and management of intrastate ethnic violence. They evaluate theoretical knowledge about the nature of ethnic conflict, using case material and quantitative assessments, and they apply these assumptions against recent instances of conflict management through an in-depth study of NATO's involvement in Kosovo and Bosnia. This book serves as an important research tool for students, scholars, and policy makers involved with ethnic conflict and international relations.

Review Quotes

.,."will be welcomed by students of international relations and of ethnic politics. and by practitioners in national and international agencies."-Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

?...will be welcomed by students of international relations and of ethnic politics. and by practitioners in national and international agencies.?-Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

..."will be welcomed by students of international relations and of ethnic politics. and by practitioners in national and international agencies."-Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

About the Author

DAVID CARMENT is a NATO Fellow and Associate Professor of International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Professor Carment has published extensively in the field of ethnic conflict and conflict prevention. His latest books are Peace in the Midst of Wars and Wars in the Midst of Peace, with Patrick James.

FRANK HARVEY is a NATO Fellow and Associate Professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University and the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, Halifax, Canada. His books include The Future's Back and Conflict in World Politics, with Ben Mor.