Resources

Faced with the problem of how to respond to the challenges of intra-state armed conflict, international policymakers often turn to incentives, sanctions and conditionality in the hope that these tools can alter the conflict dynamics and influence the protagonists' behaviour. Drawing on case studies from around the world, Accord issue 19 suggests that while these instruments have in some cases helped tip the balance towards settlement, in many others they been ineffective, incoherent or subsumed into the dynamics of the conflict.

The peace agreement signed in 2001 on the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (PNG), ended the most violent conflict in the South Pacific since World War II. Weaving consensus: the Papua New Guinea - Bougainville peace process (Accord issue 12, 2002) outlines an extraordinary array of creative initiatives and interventions that succeeded not only in ending the organised violence but brought together Bougainvillean society within a national framework. The process defined a negotiated settlement acceptable to all.