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Ho-Won Jeong (ed.); Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY, 2002. 216 pp.; $65.00 hardcover
The field of conflict resolution has expanded in the past decade as scholars have become more aware of the complex nature of conflicts. Intrastate conflicts have replaced interstate wars as the chief area of focus, with a corresponding emphasis on the differential nature of internal ethnic, religious, and social strife. As such, conflict studies increasingly straddle the line between international relations and comparative politics.
With this expansion of the field has come an expanded view of the role of outside involvement in conflict resolution. The earlier emphasis on peacekeeping between states has given way to the study of 'peacebuilding', which emphasizes the much broader political, social, psychological, and economic tasks of remaking societies torn asunder by war. It is this area to which this edited volume speaks.
The primary task which Approaches to Peacebuilding sets for itself is conceptual. In the Introduction, Jeong points out that '[r]esearch on peacebuilding is mostly based on single or comparative case studies' (p. 9). In a traditional theoretical call to arms, Jeong argues that his 'edited volume aims to fill the gap created by the insufficiency in conceptual knowledge and a demand for more sophisticated policy' (pp. 8-9). In this, the book assumes a well-defined role as bringer of theoretical clarity and builder of...