Opting out of war : strategies to prevent violent conflict (original) (raw)

2013

Abstract

OPTING OUT OF WAR: STRATEGIES TO PREVENT VIOLENT CONFLICT Mary B. Anderson and Marshall Wallace Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012 193 pages, paper, $19.95Don't be misled by this book's title. Opting Out of War: Strategies to Prevent Violent Conflictos not just another dry international relations tome presenting ponderous scholarly theories about how states can prevent war, nor is it an orderly how-to manual for peacebuilders. Instead, authors Mary B. Anderson and Marshall Wallace of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects tackle a strikingly original topic, examining thirteen communities that successfully "opted out of war" by refusing to participate in bloody struggles that raged around them. Given the topic, some of the locations are startling. How could entire communities remain apart from the devastating wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, or Rwanda? Interestingly, Anderson and Wallace argue that rather than following a charismatic leader or inventing bold new ways of organizing, in each case these communities relied on preexisting capacities, making nonideological and pragmatic strategic choices that enabled them to avoid armed conflict.The book is divided into three sections and thirteen chapters. After an introduction to the topic and to the authors' methodology, Part One uses evidence from thirteen case studies produced as part of CDA Collaborative Learning's Steps Toward Conflict Prevention Project (STEPS) to identify common choices, strategies, and steps taken in each situation that allowed "nonwarring communities" to successfully opt out of the conflicts that surrounded them. The section concludes with a chapter in which the authors theorize a general strategy for opting out of war, derived from the patterns observed in the case studies. In Part Two Anderson and Wallace illustrate their theory by presenting brief summaries of five of the STEPS case studies. In Part Three the authors present their conclusions, describing how nonwarring communities are able to opt out of violent struggles and why it matters that they do. The book ends with an appendix listing all thirteen of the original case studies, along with the address of a website where readers who want to know more can find the full report on each case. The layout of the book is clear and easy to follow. Chapters begin with succinct overviews and conclude with concise summaries, making it easy for the reader to identify and retain key points of the overall argument.In the first chapter the authors point out that efforts to prevent violent conflict usually ignore existing skills and capacities of the groups involved, focusing instead on the search for new and innovative approaches. The communities studied here, on the other hand, are notable first for having recognized that they had a choice about participating in war, and second for using the leadership, institutions, and customs already available to them to refuse participation in large-scale, brutal, even genocidal community violence. The chapter titles used in Part One name the common steps these diverse communities took to avoid joining in fighting: "Maintaining Community Cohesion"; "Leadership, Consultation, and Communication"; "Engaging with Armed Groups"; and "International Involvement and Influence." Anderson and Wallace report their major findings in the final chapter of this section, outlining key elements for a successful generic "opting out" strategy. …

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