International Intervention, Ethnic Conflict and Theory

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, international intervention in ethnic conflict has gained increasing attention. The dramatic failures of the international community to respond effectively to genocide and violence in the Balkans, Rwanda and many other cases have led to criticisms of international actors for poor management and for failing to prevent conflict (Tonra, 2007). However, detailed accounts of international organizations’ policy-making processes in conflict resolution are relatively rare. This book focuses on the role of bureaucracies in two international organizations, the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), in dealing with conflict and compares these organizations’ policy-making processes to determine how far they differ and why they differ from each other.