International action can reduce access by rebels to commodity markets. Economic opportunities can be improved both by appropriate government economic policies and by donor aid programs. Ethnic dominance can be made less alarming for minorities by constitutional safeguards and by guarantees by the international community. Because the risks of conflict renewal are highest in the early post-conflict years, there is a role for temporary intervention by the international community, both military and financial, to invest in subsequently sustainable peace. Finally, because diasporas so drastically increase the risk of conflict, post-conflict governments should focus on persuading their diasporas of the benefits of peace, while the international community should police diaspora organizations to prevent them from funding renewed rebellion.
Civil war is obviously a terrible experience.
Tragically, most societies which experience a civil war and restore peace, collapse into further conflict. I have tried to show how policy interventions by post-conflict governments and the international community could reduce the risk of conflict repetition. No one policy is the key, but cumulatively, better policy offers considerable scope for making conflict repetition an exceptional event instead of the normal pattern which it has been to date. Click here for full PDF version of the paper. This site is sponsored by the Development Research Group of the World Bank.