Preventing Contemporary Intergroup Violence.

In this introductory essay to the Carnegie Corporation's 1993 report, David A. Hamburg urges nations, during this time of increased ethnic violence, to cooperate in developing effective international systems of nonviolent conflict resolution. Promoting genuinely free civil societies within a democratic framework will resolve the current epidemic of civil and intranational conflict. There should be mutual accommodation through nonviolent agreed secession, peaceful border revisions, and a respected, cultural pluralism. Solutions must satisfy the reasonable claims of most citizens and allow diverse groups to sort out their differences. Established democracies, the United Nations, organizations of the international community, and scientists must all work together with a sense of urgency to address these divisive ethnic conflicts. Countries should move away from a world model based on power balances and coercion toward one that is more complex and in which mutually beneficial political and economic relations are of growing importance. The paper lists specific ways that an international approach may prevent and resolve intergroup conflict and he lists the benefits such a plan would derive. The world of the next century will differ profoundly from any that has ever been known; everyone must work to achieve decent, fair, and peaceful relations among diverse groups. (RJM)