The world has gone through a major transformation in the last two decades. The end of the Cold War in Europe has led to a massive increase in private capital flow and has also brought an information and telecommunication revolution. In this new interdependent and interconnected world, international trade and investment has overtaken the importance of national economies. Globalization has created new opportunities as well as many risks and challenges. While globalization creates new wealth and encourages technological innovations, it has also failed to support and promote sustainable human development and thus can be accused of generating anguish and deprivation. This has already resulted in growing civil unrest and, in some cases, contributed to armed conflicts in the developing world. However, peace and conflict research has hitherto somehow overlooked the influence of increasing globalization on the formation and management of such emerging conflicts. The study of globalization also tends to overlook a proven fact that the management of conflicts in the South has been invariably influenced by the global powers and their strategic politics. This impressive edited volume makes an attempt to assess the concrete that measures exist which can be effective in addressing the causes of conflict and building peace in an increasingly interdependent world.

Ashok Swain is Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University and Coordinator, Swedish Network of Peace, Conflict and Development Research.

Ramses Amer is Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Umeå University.

Joakim Öjendal is Professor of Peace and Development Research, Gothenburg University.

Anthem Studies in Peace, Conflict and Development

Acknowledgements; List of Contributors; Building Peace in the Era of Three Waves; The Problem of Peace: Understanding the ‘Liberal Peace’; Pre-emptive Self-Defence New Legal Principle or Political Action?; Beyond Criminal Justice: Promoting the Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Societies; Peace by Pact: Data on the Implementation of Peace Agreements; Refugee Repatriation as a Necessary Condition for Peace; Catapulting Conflicts or Propelling Peace: Diasporas and Civil Wars; UN Peace Operations as Norm Entrepreneurs: The Challenge of Achieving Communicative Action on Human Rights; To Practice What They Preach: International Transitional Administrations and the Paradox of Norm Promotion; Re-examining the Roots of War in West Africa in a Globalizing World; The African Union (AU) and Its Commitment to Non-Indifference: Can the AU be an Actor for the Promotion of Human Security?; Hamas Between Sharia Rule and Demo-Islam; Environmental Scarcity and Intrastate Conflicts: The Case of Nepal; Narcotics: The New Security Threat for China; References; Bibliography