ABSTRACT
It is tempting to believe that intermediaries are the deciding factor between violence and peace when it comes to intrastate conflicts. Indeed, the literature in conflict resolution and peacebuilding provides a number of dramatic anecdotal stories of intrastate conflicts that were transformed due to the skillful actions of an international mediator, the determination of a committed non-governmental organization (NGO), or the forceful intervention of an international organization. The case studies contained within this book tell a different story. Taken collectively, these cases show that intermediaries do play a critical role in peacebuilding by providing a forum in which adversaries can interact, pressuring stakeholders through coercion or inducements, helping to identify options for settlement, or strengthening democratic institutions once a settlement takes hold. However, the ability of intermediaries to drive peacemaking processes when the parties to the conflict are committed to violent forms of contention is limited. Intermediaries, in other words, are a useful and sometimes necessary component of intrastate peacebuilding, but rarely a sufficient one.
