These factors include the actions of foreign powers, the current balance of power and potential for change, the leader's goals and opportunities, and access to appropriate military hardware. So-called ethnic conflicts are precipitated by a number of other factors also. Nations undergoing repression or violent upheaval should be encouraged to pursue negotiated alternatives. Arranging a face-saving exit for soon to be deposed leaders can also be an effective way of preventing further violence. Generally, preemptive intervention should focus on those conditions which shape and spark ethnic conflicts.
Militarized conflicts are more complex and more costly to deal with.
The goal then is to intervene preemptively to prevent political conflicts from becoming militarized. Crocker describes three examples of such preemptive intervention. First, nations may seek to avoid premature and possibly polarizing elections. Second, nations should be more vigorous in their attempts to disarm and reintegrate former combatants into civil society. Third, Crocker argues that simple secession is unlikely to put an end to internal conflicts.