ABSTRACT
The principal, immediate challenge to international peace and security for nearly two decades following the crumbling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has been the scourge of mostly internal or civil wars. In these post-Cold War conflicts, millions have died, suffered injury, displacement, or forced removal, or been plunged into poverty by the economic tailspins that typically accompany civil wars. To add insult to injury, the principal characteristic of these modern civil wars is that they are essentially “unwinnable” struggles. Why? Because modern civil war often cannot be solved by military means alone, particularly when the putatively “weaker” rebel factions have access to valuable natural resources or, by propagating extremist beliefs, are willing and able to mobilize followers to perpetrate mass terrorism.1 In contrast to a determinative military victory, the most common outcome in contemporary civil wars is that the protagonists will end up, sooner or later, pursuing peace at the negotiation table, together with international mediators, thrashing out the messy terms of a negotiated settlement. For peace in contemporary civil wars, there exists an undeniable need to end wars at the peace table, not on the battlefield.
