Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific: Incidence, Consequences, and Resolution

Civil wars and internal conflicts pose the greatest threat to international peace and security in the twenty-first century. Nowhere is this problem more acute than in East Asia and the Pacific, which has far more of its share of such conflicts. Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific: Incidence, Consequences, and Resolution, edited by Jacob Bercovitch and Karl DeRouen, Jr., is a book of originally commissioned essays on civil wars which provide a compelling area of inquiry. Many of the Asia-Pacific region's wars are very long (such as in Myanmar), some tend to recur (also in Myanmar); some involve religion (Philippines, Thailand), and some (Aceh, Bougainville, East Timor) of the longest have ended in the last few years. In short, the region presents a variety of interesting dynamics that merit close attention in one volume. The aim of Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific is to provide an original look at these civil wars. The unique feature of the book is that it brings a variety of perspectives together into one volume. Bercovitch and DeRouen, Jr., do this in four sections: The first, titled "Security and Internal Conflicts in the Region," is an overview of conflict and conflict management in the region. Section Two is called "Features of Conflict in the Region." Here the authors cover conflict contours, including intractability, conflict resolution, recurrence, and Islam. Section Three, "External Involvement in Regional Conflicts," focuses on third party intervention in regional conflicts. The individual chapters cover mediation, peacekeeping, and other forms of third party involvement. The final section ties the chapters together. Unraveling Internal Conflicts in East Asia and the Pacific: Incidence, Consequences, and Resolution, edited by Jacob Bercovitch and Karl DeRouen, Jr., provides a fresh and comprehensive look at conflict in the part of the world where internal conflict is most prevalent.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 List of Figures Chapter 2 List of Tables Chapter 3 Preface and Acknowledgments Part 4 Section One: Security and Internal Conflicts in the Region Chapter 5 Chapter 1: Conflict Peace and Security in the Asia-Pacific Region Chapter 6 Chapter 2: The Nature of Conflict Management in the Asia-Pacific Region Chapter 7 Chapter 3: The Limits of Peace: Third Parties in Civil Wars in Southeast Asia, 1993–2004 Part 8 Section Two: Features of Conflict in the Region Chapter 9 Chapter 4: Old Conflicts in a New Era: The Reality of Intractable Conflicts in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Chapter 10 Chapter 5: Civil Wars in Southeast Asia and the Pacific: Conflict Resolution and the Problem of Recurrence Chapter 11 Chapter 6: The Employment of Islam in Southeast Asian Civil Conflicts Part 12 Section Three: External Involvement and Conflict Management in the Region Chapter 13 Chapter 7: Civil War Mediation Progression in South East Asia and the Pacific Chapter 14 Chapter 8: The World Bank in Regional Conflict in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Chapter 15 Chapter 9: Assessing the Conditions for Interventions in Internal Conflict in East Asia and the Pacific Region Chapter 16 Chapter 10: The Aceh Case: Track Two Mediation Activities towards Peace Chapter 17 Chapter 11: Evaluating Success of Peacekeeping Mission: Lessons from East Timor and Solomon Islands Chapter 18 Chapter 12:Internal Conflict, External Influence: The Case of Myanmar Part 19 Conclusion Chapter 20 Chapter 13: Practical Implications for NZ and Australia Regarding the Presence of Internal Conflicts in the Asia-Pacific Region Chapter 21 About the Contributors Chapter 22 Index

About the Author :
Jacob Bercovitch is professor of international relations at the University of Canterbury. Karl DeRouen, Jr. is professor of political science at the University of Alabama.

Review :
This edited volume makes an important contribution to our understanding of the causes of war—and peace—in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. It creatively combines case studies of individual conflicts with region-wide conflict trend data enabling a far richer and more comprehensive analysis than either approach on its own. Internal conflicts and civil war today pose the most serious challenge to the security of nation-states, particularly those that are weak and fragile. Such conflicts are often fought over competing ethnic, religious and ideological identities and beliefs. The Asia-Pacific region is particularly vulnerable as there are hardly any states in the region that are free from such conflicts. But although the problem of internal conflicts in the Asia-Pacific states is acute, systematic comparative and regional analysis of such conflicts have been lacking in the scholarly literature. Bercovitch and DeRouen Jr.'s edited volume plugs this gap in a major way. The book comprises of a collection of first class essays on the various aspects of internal conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region and ways to manage and resolve them. It should become standard reading for students, scholars and practitioners working in this area. This might be the 'Asian Century,' but this collection reminds us that the action is not all centered on China and Japan and that many of the challenges in the region are internal conflict struggles, not simply those of economics. Yet there are reasons for both optimism and caution on what international conflict management efforts can accomplish.