Civilian-Military Cooperation in the Prevention of Deadly Conflict, Implementing Agreements in Bosnia and Beyond

摘要

As THE WORLD comes to grips with the realities of a new international system, the prevention of deadly conflict has become a focus of efforts to secure a peaceful, prosperous environment. Conflict prevention is a daunting and complex challenge, embracing operations to avert war, to contain a war once it has begun, and to suppress the renewal of war in the aftermath of a cease fire or a peace accord. The last of these cases the suppression of renewed conflict is particularly problematic, because operations are often carried out in an environment of overt hatreds and deep seated suspicions in the midst of economic and social ruin brought on by the war. Thus, a range of economic, political, military; and social issues must be addressed virtually simultaneously. Suppression of renewed conflict demands, at its most basic level, enlightened and imaginative implementation and coordination of both the civilian and the military aspects of the peace accords. Civilian military implementation thus becomes the sine qua non for sustaining the cease fire and for building an enduring peace. In this paper, we will present a set of principles for civilian military implementation of peace agreements, outline structural functional imperatives for integrating and coordinating the efforts of the international community, and suggest that the key to prevention of a renewal of deadly conflict lies in the establishment of an effective civilian military implementation staff (CMIS).