There is nothing inevitable about the current high level of small-scale conflict. It can be cut back. The international community already has the resources and the knowledge to decrease the frequency of armed conflict both between countries and inside national borders if these measures of preventive security are applied systematically. We must pay for this security insurance. If this is not done, we will pay much more later.
Serious prevention costs money.
The U.S. should end its no-growth position on budgets for the UN, which has actually meant an annual decrease in these budgets owing to the effects of inflation. Another billion dollar shortfall is now in the making for peacekeeping. One way of doing this would be to create a Joint Select Committee on International Organizations that would work to create a consensus between branches prior to the Executive making U.S. foreign policy commitments. This force could be sent immediately for preventive deployment in trouble spots like East Timor and Kosovo, avoiding the need for larger and more costly deployments of peacekeepers drawn from the armed forces. Establishing a Conflict Prevention Center in the UN Secretariat.