Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2019 |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/11144/4394 |
Resumo: | Conflict prevention has become an important doctrine within conflict management policies in international and regional organizations, especially since the end of the Cold War. There has been an evolution in the last three decades in the context of peace and security that has made conflict prevention gains relevance. In the current context, with the arrival of António Guterres to the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), conflict prevention doctrine could be encouraged, since he has pointed out that it should be the priority of the organization. Conflict prevention offers several advantages to face crisis contexts, since it works on avoiding violence situations escalating towards armed conflicts and helping to control the spread of security threats. By using preventive measures, the structural causes of conflicts can be dealt with in the most durable and efficient manner since the final goal of preventive actions is to transform actually or potentially violent conflict into non-violent processes of social and political change. While conflict prevention has gained greater importance, another trend has been promoted; security regionalization. Since the mid-nineties, there has been a transition in international peacekeeping missions, aimed to warrant peace and security all over the world that has focused on regional actors. This practice has been particularly welcomed in Africa. Both trends –conflict prevention and security regionalization– will be the object of study in this article, using as a practical scenario the region of West Africa. It is a geographic area where a series of cross-border threats are concentrated, hence becoming a zone of international concern. Moreover, the experience on conflict prevention of the regional organization, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is interesting. Indeed, ECOWAS has carried out a significant activity regarding preventive diplomacy and mediation in conflicts. Thus, the objectives of this research are: (1) to study the evolution of conflict prevention doctrine; (2) to assess the link between conflict prevention policies and security regionalization; and (3) to use the case of ECOWAS as an illustration, since the organization is at the forefront of conflict prevention iniciatives in the African continent. |
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Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS)Oportunidades de prevenção de conflitos. Lições da comunidade económica dos Estados Da África Ocidental (Cedeao)Conflict preventiondiplomacyregionalization of securityWest AfricaECOWASPrevenção de conflitosdiplomaciaregionalização da segurançaÁfrica OcidentalCEDEAOConflict prevention has become an important doctrine within conflict management policies in international and regional organizations, especially since the end of the Cold War. There has been an evolution in the last three decades in the context of peace and security that has made conflict prevention gains relevance. In the current context, with the arrival of António Guterres to the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), conflict prevention doctrine could be encouraged, since he has pointed out that it should be the priority of the organization. Conflict prevention offers several advantages to face crisis contexts, since it works on avoiding violence situations escalating towards armed conflicts and helping to control the spread of security threats. By using preventive measures, the structural causes of conflicts can be dealt with in the most durable and efficient manner since the final goal of preventive actions is to transform actually or potentially violent conflict into non-violent processes of social and political change. While conflict prevention has gained greater importance, another trend has been promoted; security regionalization. Since the mid-nineties, there has been a transition in international peacekeeping missions, aimed to warrant peace and security all over the world that has focused on regional actors. This practice has been particularly welcomed in Africa. Both trends –conflict prevention and security regionalization– will be the object of study in this article, using as a practical scenario the region of West Africa. It is a geographic area where a series of cross-border threats are concentrated, hence becoming a zone of international concern. Moreover, the experience on conflict prevention of the regional organization, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is interesting. Indeed, ECOWAS has carried out a significant activity regarding preventive diplomacy and mediation in conflicts. Thus, the objectives of this research are: (1) to study the evolution of conflict prevention doctrine; (2) to assess the link between conflict prevention policies and security regionalization; and (3) to use the case of ECOWAS as an illustration, since the organization is at the forefront of conflict prevention iniciatives in the African continent.OBSERVARE. Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa2019-11-12T10:39:13Z2019-11-01T00:00:00Z2019-11info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11144/4394eng1647-7251https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.10.2.2Cuadrado, Jarainfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-01-11T02:20:08Zoai:repositorio.ual.pt:11144/4394Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T01:33:57.467726Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) Oportunidades de prevenção de conflitos. Lições da comunidade económica dos Estados Da África Ocidental (Cedeao) |
title |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) |
spellingShingle |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) Cuadrado, Jara Conflict prevention diplomacy regionalization of security West Africa ECOWAS Prevenção de conflitos diplomacia regionalização da segurança África Ocidental CEDEAO |
title_short |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) |
title_full |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) |
title_fullStr |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) |
title_sort |
Opportunities for conflict prevention. Lessons from the economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) |
author |
Cuadrado, Jara |
author_facet |
Cuadrado, Jara |
author_role |
author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Cuadrado, Jara |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Conflict prevention diplomacy regionalization of security West Africa ECOWAS Prevenção de conflitos diplomacia regionalização da segurança África Ocidental CEDEAO |
topic |
Conflict prevention diplomacy regionalization of security West Africa ECOWAS Prevenção de conflitos diplomacia regionalização da segurança África Ocidental CEDEAO |
description |
Conflict prevention has become an important doctrine within conflict management policies in international and regional organizations, especially since the end of the Cold War. There has been an evolution in the last three decades in the context of peace and security that has made conflict prevention gains relevance. In the current context, with the arrival of António Guterres to the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), conflict prevention doctrine could be encouraged, since he has pointed out that it should be the priority of the organization. Conflict prevention offers several advantages to face crisis contexts, since it works on avoiding violence situations escalating towards armed conflicts and helping to control the spread of security threats. By using preventive measures, the structural causes of conflicts can be dealt with in the most durable and efficient manner since the final goal of preventive actions is to transform actually or potentially violent conflict into non-violent processes of social and political change. While conflict prevention has gained greater importance, another trend has been promoted; security regionalization. Since the mid-nineties, there has been a transition in international peacekeeping missions, aimed to warrant peace and security all over the world that has focused on regional actors. This practice has been particularly welcomed in Africa. Both trends –conflict prevention and security regionalization– will be the object of study in this article, using as a practical scenario the region of West Africa. It is a geographic area where a series of cross-border threats are concentrated, hence becoming a zone of international concern. Moreover, the experience on conflict prevention of the regional organization, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is interesting. Indeed, ECOWAS has carried out a significant activity regarding preventive diplomacy and mediation in conflicts. Thus, the objectives of this research are: (1) to study the evolution of conflict prevention doctrine; (2) to assess the link between conflict prevention policies and security regionalization; and (3) to use the case of ECOWAS as an illustration, since the organization is at the forefront of conflict prevention iniciatives in the African continent. |
publishDate |
2019 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2019-11-12T10:39:13Z 2019-11-01T00:00:00Z 2019-11 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/11144/4394 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11144/4394 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
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1647-7251 https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.10.2.2 |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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openAccess |
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application/pdf application/pdf |
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OBSERVARE. Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
OBSERVARE. Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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