ABSTRACT
The role of a third party is of a neutral and/or impartial mediator with no vested interest in particular outcome of conflict. In the words of Galtung, such interveners may direct antagonists towards the mutual acceptance of some point in the compatibility region. The task is not to decide on that point, only to indicate it, and serve as debate regulator so as to make the contestants better aware of the structure of the goal-space. In the field of resolution of ethnic conflicts, the credible commitment theory is applied to the majority-minority settings in the target countries and to the third parties acting as external guarantors of peace in civil wars. Key components to success of interventions fear and trust of the belligerents to the outside actions are inherent parts of the credible commitment theory of third party interventions, which originates from the "agent-principal" theories of economics.
