Realizing Peace

A Constructive Conflict Approach

Louis Kriesberg

Provides a long-term perspective for current foreign conflicts (1945 to the present)
Examines both American governmental and non-governmental foreign engagements
Presents and applies a well-grounded approach to assessing strategies to wage, intervene in, and mediate large-scale conflicts
Proposes alternative strategies for conducting, mediating, and intervening in foreign conflicts

Realizing Peace

A Constructive Conflict Approach

Louis Kriesberg

Description

Early work in conflict resolution and peace research focused on why wars broke out, why they persisted, and why peace agreements failed to endure. Later research has focused on what actions and circumstances have actually averted destructive escalations, stopped the perpetuation of destructive conduct, produced a relatively good conflict transformation, or resulted in an enduring and relatively equitable relationship among former adversaries. This later research, which began in the 1950s, recognizes that conflict is inevitable and is often waged in the name of rectifying injustice. Additionally, it argues that damages can be minimized and gains maximized for various stakeholders in waging and settling conflicts. This theory, which is known as the constructive conflict approach, looks at how conflicts can be waged and resolved so they are broadly beneficial rather than mutually destructive.

In this book, Louis Kriesberg, one of the major figures in the school of constructive conflict, looks at major foreign conflict episodes in which the United States has been involved since the onset of the Cold War to analyze when American involvement in foreign conflicts has been relatively effective and beneficial and when it has not. In doing so he analyzes whether the US took constructive approaches to conflict and whether the approach yielded better consequences than more traditional coercive approaches. Realizing Peace helps readers interested in engaging or learning about foreign policy to better understand what has happened in past American involvement in foreign conflicts, to think freshly about better alternatives, and to act in support of more constructive strategies in the future.

Realizing Peace

A Constructive Conflict Approach

Louis Kriesberg

Preface and Acknowledgements
Glossary
Chapter 1: Toward More Constructive Peacemaking
Chapter 2: Escalations and De-escalations in the Cold War, 1945 - 1968
Chapter 3: Transforming Conflicts, 1969 - 1988
Chapter 4: Cold War Ends, New Conflicts Arise, 1989 - 1992
Chapter 5: America in a Globalizing World, 1993 - 2000
Chapter 6: The War on Terrorism and Other Foreign Conflicts, 2001 - 2008
Chapter 7: Attempted Course Change after 2008
Chapter 8: Building the Conditions for Constructive Strategies
Index

Realizing Peace

A Constructive Conflict Approach

Louis Kriesberg

Author Information

Louis Kriesberg is Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Syracuse University.

Realizing Peace

A Constructive Conflict Approach

Louis Kriesberg

Reviews and Awards

"In his new book, Realizing Peace, Dr. Louis Kriesberg has crafted an epic account of the machinations of war and the practices of peacemaking utilized for US foreign policy from 1945 to the present." -- Journal of Peace Education

"The author succeeds admirably in the task of describing and analyzing the impact of US foreign policy over a tumultuous seventy years. The book is highly recommended to any student of international relations and peace studies." -- eace Research

"In essence, Realizing Peace presents a very different way of examining conflicts than the norm, repeatedly seeking to examine alternative paths. This is where Kriesberg s great strength lies the sheer extent of his knowledge and experience, demonstrated throughout this major work and by close to a thousand source notes." -- Political Studies Review

"[This] book is a lovely distillation of peace research truth and practice and should be required reading for all new recruits into the State Department or any other national diplomatic service. It is important because Kriesberg reminds us of the necessity for a positive vision of peacebuilding and provides us with a series of detailed and practical steps for getting there." -- Peace & Change

"I found Realizing Peace an extremely informative, encouraging volume. It captures the history of 70 years of global tension in which a wide variety of strategies were invoked to settle conflicts-ranging from outright coercion to various versions of negotiation to third-party intervention, with outcomes that ranged from disaster to the reinstatement of peaceful relations between former adversaries. There is much that was learned - both from successes and failures. The vital question that Kriesberg and other peace theorists and practitioners leave us with is have we learned how to capitalize on the successes and avoid the mistakes that led to disaster." -- Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

"A brilliant rendering of wisdom, Realizing Peace offers a concrete and unusual gift we could summarize in two short phrases. Dream big about peace. Take practical steps to get there. Louis Kriesberg brings together decades of engaged scholarship in this seminal work to offer specific approaches, based on empirical research, for how constructive transformation of conflict can reduce and prevent violence across the globe and improve the quality of relationships." -- John Paul Lederach, author of The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace

"In Realizing Peace Louis Kriesberg accomplishes what few peace researchers have dared. He applies peace theory, practice and findings directly to US foreign policy. His constructive conflict approach provides a realistic strategy for enhancing US security and global peace simultaneously. This book is essential reading for 21st century diplomats and citizens alike." -- George A. Lopez, Vice-President, United States Institute of Peace

"This book raises important questions about the US role in complex conflicts, the exercise of power in all its forms, and most importantly, the opportunities that exist to align the means we use more closely with the ends we seek to achieve. The book certainly will be valuable to students and practitioners of constructive conflict resolution. But, its real power will be in the hands of interested citizens who, in reading this, will ask more nuanced questions of ourselves and our elected leaders about what we are trying to achieve, what opportunities exist for constructive conflict resolution, and what choices we can make - as citizens and as a country - that best support those goals." -- Andrea Strimling Yodsampa, CEO of DEPLOY/US Climate Initiative and former Chair of the Board, Alliance for Peacebuilding

"This is an important volume by one of the giants in the field of conflict analysis. It deftly summarizes the author's pioneering work in the development of conceptual frameworks for understanding and mitigating armed conflict, providing a treasure trove of the most important sources in the field. Truly encyclopedic in scope." -- David Cortright, author of Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas

"Realizing Peace is an essential resource for peace and conflict studies, international relations and modern history. An invaluable learning tool for all teaching and working in the various fields of building knowledge and taking action for peace, it is a unique, hopeful and fundamentally practical work." -- Betty A. Reardon, Founding Director Emeritus, International Institute on Peace Education

"Written in an accessible style despite its considerable erudition, this book should be required reading for diplomats, politicians, students, and all who care about building a better and less violent-prone future."--Patrick G. Coy, Professor and Director, Center for Applied Conflict Management, Kent State University

"Realizing Peace carefully navigates the line between American engagement abroad as it was and as it could have been. The book dares you to jump into the void of exploring what history could have looked like, and, more importantly, it reminds you that America always has a choice in how it chooses to engage the world." --Foreign Policy in Focus