The Rise Of Ethnic Conflict After The Cold War And The Intervention Of International Organizations: Experiences And Lessons

This paper analyzes the background, characters and influences of the national/ethnic conflicts after the Cold War firstly. Then we examine the tools and effects of the intervention taken by the international organizations. Finally we draw out the experiences and lessen. This is the framework of this paper.Firstly, we examine three issues of the national/ethnic conflicts after the Cold War. One is the causes of national/ethnic conflicts after the Cold War which lies in three levels. In national /ethnic level, the old identity and prejudice is the radical cause. In nation-state level, single- nation country's failing in reconstructing nation-state and losing control of the society is an important factor. In international level, colonialism and hegemony are the historical cause. Unbalanced international strategic power due to the collapse of USSR and bipolar system is another factor. The second is the characters of the national/ethnic conflicts after the Cold War which contains: the first one is that these conflicts are based on identity and culture, take nationalism as ideology and is imbued with feelings. The second issue is that although the root of the national conflicts is within the boundary, they often "spill over" after the national conflicts broke out, because there are many nations/ethnics in several states and they often aid to the same nation/ethnic, and the neighbor-states often aid to one side according to its own interest The third is that people prefer force in these conflicts, and cheap, mass-produced, small-caliber weapons have killed far more people than the heavier more traditional battlefield weaponry, and more civilian casualties. The third issue is the main influences of the national/ethnic conflicts after the Cold War contain two: first, it became a threat to the regional stability and world peace because its spill; second, national/ethnic conflicts within a state can lead to serious humanitarian problem because the domestic foundations which are important to people's every-day life, such as lack of food and medicine.Secondly, the paper emphasizes on the tools and their effects of the intervention actions taken by the international organizations. We can divide the intervention actions into two kinds:one is direct-intervention, which contains conflict-prevention, conflict-mediation and conflict-solution. In the cold-war age, most intervention actions taken by the international organizations were focusing on conflict-mediation, while after the cold war they extended to conflict-prevention, and conflict-solution. The other is indirect-intervention, which contains humanitarian rescue and criminal trials after the conflicts. Humanitarian rescue is one of the most important components of the intervention actions after the cold war, which not only because that the national/ethnic conflicts can lead to humanitarian problem, but also because more and more NGOs appears and their force become more and more strong. But because of the complexity of the national conflict, the humanitarian rescuers usually confront danger.Thirdly, we discuss some problems in the intervention actions of the international organizations, and draw out the experiences and lessen, which include the relation of the intervention and sovereignty principle, the relation of the intervention and nation determination principle, and the legalization, partiality and efficiency in the intervention. The intervention conflicts with the sovereignty principle.