CONFLICT PREVENTION POLICIES
Publisher: Gökçen YAVAŞ
Volume: 26 pages, pdf
Description:
During the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, the European Union (EU) lacked effective mechanisms to resolve these conflicts, and was divided over the region. However, since the end of the Kosovo War of 1999, the EU has taken concrete steps to secure a unified position in this context, and assert a stronger securitizing role in the region. For this reason, it has developed a wide variety of “conflict prevention" mechanisms especially for the Western Balkans, the part that was the most affected by the conflicts. This article aims at analyzing the incentives for and nature of the EU’s conflict prevention policies that can be categorized into two categories: “structural prevention" (including economic and political reconstruction) and "operational prevention” (including civilian and military tools).