ABSTRACT
The collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War opened the way to rapid and unprecedented gains for democracy. If the approaches are to contribute to democratic consolidation, then more attention has to be given to the multifaceted nature of internal conflict, and its transformation than has been the case in the conflict management literature. The prevention of conflict in democratizing states involves a range of challenges, depending on the extent of the political transition. The high cost of managing complex humanitarian emergencies, coupled with deep reductions in foreign aid, defense and intelligence budgets in many countries have converged to thrust the early warning and prevention of conflicts onto the international agenda. Early conflict prevention affords opportunities to strengthen existing institutional capacities in society to manage internal conflict, and help political leaders, as well as leaders from civil society search for solutions to specific problems.
