CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Fall 1998
"When All Else Fails: Ethnic Population Transfers and Partitions in the Twentieth Century"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 2, volume 23
Recognizing that the permanent separation of warring ethnic groups is highly controversial, the author recommends that separation should be implemented in only the most extreme cases.
August 31, 1998
Why Russia's Meltdown Matters
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
For Americans watching the deepening economic crisis in Russia, the most important question is why it matters to us. Given modest levels of U.S. investment and trade and muffled impacts on American markets, Russia's crisis would be important, but no more so than earlier crises in Korea and Indonesia.
August, 1998
Terrorism and America: A Commonsense Strategy for a Democratic Society
Book
The bombings of the World Trade Center and the Oklahoma City federal building have shown that terrorist attacks can happen anywhere in the United States. Around the globe, massacres, hijackings, and bombings of airliners are frequent reminders of the threat of terrorism. The use of poison gas in the Tokyo subway has raised the specter of even more horrible forms of terror -- including the use of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
June 22, 1998
Burma: Prospects for a Democratic Future
Book
By Robert Rotberg, Director, Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution
"It is no exaggeration to say that Burma is one of the most troubled countries in the world today. In Burma: Prospects for a Democratic Future, an extraordinarily accomplished group of scholars and analysts examines the full range of political, military, economic, and public policy problems the country faces..." ---Michael E. Brown, Harvard University
February 1998
"No Peace, No War in the Caucasus: Secessionist Conflicts in Chechnya, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh"
Occasional Paper
This monograph offers a current analysis of the three most important secessionist conflicts in the Caucasus: Chechnya, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In Chechnya, after the outbreak of war in 1994, the ferocious resistance of the Chechens, the collapse of the Russian military, and a popular backlash in Moscow against the war resulted in a tentative peace treaty in August 1996. Since then, neither Russia nor Chechnya has been able to find a creative middle ground that can reconcile the Chechen desire for independence with Russian fears of a "domino effect" and the rupture of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. In Nagorno-Karabakh, a cease-fire has held since May 1994. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have gradually been moved toward a compromise solution by the OSCE, but the Karabakh Armenians are holding out for the ultimate ruling of the political status of the territory. In February 1998, just after Dr. Walker completed his paper, domestic disagreement in Armenia over prospect of a compromise solution for Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in the resignation of President Levon Ter-Petrossian. In Georgia, civil war and military collapse forced Tbilisi to end its assault on Abkhazia in 1993, but neither Moscow nor a United Nations mission has since been able to bring the two sides together. In their state of "no peace, no war," the three conflicts continue to pose the most serious obstacle to the long-term stability and development of the Caucasus region.
October 19, 1997
Nuclear Dangers: Fear Increases of Terrorists Getting Hands on 'Loose' Warheads as Security Slips
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
The box-office hit film "The Peacemaker" is a pulse-pounding spellbinder in which terrorists hijack nuclear weapons from Russia, smuggle one into the United States, and target New York City. Unfortunately, that make-believe scenario is a real-life worry.
October 1997
Government Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and the Pacific
Book
By Michael E. Brown, Editorial Board Member and Former Co-Editor, Quarterly Journal: International Security and Sumit Ganguly, Editorial Board Member, Quarterly Journal: International Security
Ethnic conflict, one of the most serious and widespread problems in the world today, can undermine efforts to promote political and economic development, as well as political, economic, and social justice. It can also lead to violence and open warfare, producing horrifying levels of death and destruction. Although government policies on ethnic issues often have profound effects on a country, the subject has been neglected by most scholars and analysts.
September 26, 1997
New Study Warns of Dangers of U.S.-European Discord on Greater Middle East; Recommends Cooperative Policy Agenda
Press Release
August, 1997
Paths to Peace: Is Democracy the Answer?
Book
By Miriam Elman, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1999-2001
Many political scientists have hailed the apparent existence of Democratic Peace--the absence of wars between democracies--as proof that a world of democracies would be a world without war. This idea challenges traditional approaches to international politics, which focus on the balance of power between states regardless of their political systems. It also has important implications for world politics, especially as President Clinton has made the promotion of democracy a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy on the grounds that democracies never fight each other.
