Conflict and Conflict Resolution

Development of International Conflict Resolution

Resolving conflict and maintaining peace have been employed as long as there has been international conflict. However, international conflict resolution as an academic field of study and practice began to emerge only after World War I (1914–1918). The development of international conflict resolution has four phases. Phase one (1918–1945) is shaped by the experiences of World War I and World War II, traditional wars that were between nation-states or groups of nation-states. Much of this early work on international conflict resolution was done in the field of international relations, which was an emerging subject field in political science. After World War I, the focus was on ways to prevent another world war through security, disarmament, and international dispute resolution. It was during this period the first international body devoted to international peace was developed, the League of Nations, which was the precursor to the United Nations. With the emergence of World War II (1939–1945), and the subsequent collapse of the League of Nations (1946), it became apparent that there were problems with the early efforts of conflict resolution, and much of the work on conflict resolution came to a standstill.

Phase two (1945–1965) is marked by institutional growth of conflict resolution. Following World War II, the central concern of international conflict resolution was on how to ensure international peace and the protection of human rights within sovereign nation-states. As a result, 50 country representatives came together in 1945 to draw up the Charter of the United Nations, which laid the framework for the United Nations, an international organization with the explicit mandate to work for international peace.

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