Conflict is an everlasting theme in international relations. The history of human civilization can arguably be perceived as a history of wars, disputes, and clashes in which political actors strive to maximize their utilities. The consequences of political violence are devastating. From Plato to Machiavelli, from Clausewitz to Schelling, social scientists conduct extensive research on conflict management approaches. Deterrence, signalling, issue linkage, economic interdependence, for example, are widely acknowledged as often-used solutions in conflict mitigation. Unfortunately, despite the large body of scholarly literature, global peace is still a wish than reality in contemporary politics. The Arab Winter during the 2010s, the Russian-Ukraine Crisis from 2022, the Israel-Hamas War in 2023 all reveal that the world today remains fragile as high-level confrontations are frequent. What is urgently in need, therefore, are novel views and perspectives regarding the politics of international conflict and the process to peace.
The primary goal of this collection is to advance our understanding on the causes, continuation, and management of conflict. While its primary focus is on violent conflicts such as war, transnational terrorism, mass resistance groups, this Research Topic also welcomes a variety of contributions related to non-violent competitions and confrontations among communal, civil, transnational, and interstate actors. The latter encompasses religious and partisan animosity, arms races, trade disputes, and many others. This collection is committed to methodological pluralism. Thus, both formal and informal theories, both quantitative and qualitative empirical works are solicited. Notably, contributions to this Research Topic should not only contribute to the scholarly discourse on conflict process, but should also have implications to policy practitioners and other audiences outside of academia.
We are particularly interested in original research papers, reviews and policy reports that explore the following topics:
• When, why and how do conflicts start?
• Why do some peacemaking efforts succeed in preventing the escalation of interstate violence while some other attempts unintentionally lead to intensifying confrontation between rival parties?
• What are the pivotal factors influencing the chance of mediation success?
• How to resolve strategic disagreements, disputes, and bias through peaceful mechanisms?
Conflict is an everlasting theme in international relations. The history of human civilization can arguably be perceived as a history of wars, disputes, and clashes in which political actors strive to maximize their utilities. The consequences of political violence are devastating. From Plato to Machiavelli, from Clausewitz to Schelling, social scientists conduct extensive research on conflict management approaches. Deterrence, signalling, issue linkage, economic interdependence, for example, are widely acknowledged as often-used solutions in conflict mitigation. Unfortunately, despite the large body of scholarly literature, global peace is still a wish than reality in contemporary politics. The Arab Winter during the 2010s, the Russian-Ukraine Crisis from 2022, the Israel-Hamas War in 2023 all reveal that the world today remains fragile as high-level confrontations are frequent. What is urgently in need, therefore, are novel views and perspectives regarding the politics of international conflict and the process to peace.
The primary goal of this collection is to advance our understanding on the causes, continuation, and management of conflict. While its primary focus is on violent conflicts such as war, transnational terrorism, mass resistance groups, this Research Topic also welcomes a variety of contributions related to non-violent competitions and confrontations among communal, civil, transnational, and interstate actors. The latter encompasses religious and partisan animosity, arms races, trade disputes, and many others. This collection is committed to methodological pluralism. Thus, both formal and informal theories, both quantitative and qualitative empirical works are solicited. Notably, contributions to this Research Topic should not only contribute to the scholarly discourse on conflict process, but should also have implications to policy practitioners and other audiences outside of academia.
We are particularly interested in original research papers, reviews and policy reports that explore the following topics:
• When, why and how do conflicts start?
• Why do some peacemaking efforts succeed in preventing the escalation of interstate violence while some other attempts unintentionally lead to intensifying confrontation between rival parties?
• What are the pivotal factors influencing the chance of mediation success?
• How to resolve strategic disagreements, disputes, and bias through peaceful mechanisms?