Review: Cold War Inheritances: Ending Civil Wars
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300112 |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
COLD
WAR
war
between
states.
According
to
INHERITANCES
one
calculation
King
cites,
wars
Reviews
by
J.H.
Taylor
between states
in
this
century
have
lasted
on
average
about
20
months,
ENDING
CIVIL
WARS
whereas
civil
wars have
dragged
on
Charles
King
for
120
months
or
more.
Why
London: Oxford
University
Press
for
should
this
be
so?
King examines
the International
Institute
for
Strategic
some
of
the
traditional
explana-
Studies, 1997,
Adelphi
Paper
308,
tions. For
example,
civil
wars
are
94
pp, US$25.00
more
often
fuelled
by
blind
senti-
ment
than
by
calculation.
A
negoti-
C
anadians
who
believe
that
their
ated
peace
can
hardly
be
expected
to
country
has
a
vocation
for
emerge
when the
parties
to
the
peacekeeping
will
profit
from
read-
quarrel
hold
passionately to
mutual-
ing
this
book.
In
it
Charles
King,
ly
exclusive
goals
and
are
utterly
who
teaches in
the
School
of
For-
unwilling
to
contemplate
the
sort
of
eign
Service
at
Georgetown
Univer-
compromises
essential
to
a
success-
sity,
analyzes
the
phenomenon
of
ful
negotiation.
King
allows
that
contemporary
civil
wars
and
how
this
line
of
explanation
is
to
some
they
end. Most
of
the
world's
wars degree
valid.
But
he
pursues
the
are
now
civil
wars.
Allowing for
analysis
further, maintaining
that
problems
of
definition,
King claims
there
are
structural
elements
in
civil
that
since
1945
at
least
90
armed
wars
-
that
is,
incentives
to
contin-
conflicts
might
be
classed
as
'civil
ued
violence
and
disincentives
to
wars.'
Thus
most
of
the dilemmas
of
compromise
-
which help
explain
peacekeeping
arise
nowadays
from why
civil
wars
go
on
being fought
wars
within,
rather
than
between,
far
past
the
point
where
the interests
states. Civil
wars
have
characteris-
of
belligerents
are
served
by
the
tics
they
do
not
share
with
wars
fighting.
Among
these,
King
points
between
states.
If
our
vocation
is
to
the
all-or-nothing
spirit
in
which
indeed
to
be
peacekeeping,
there
is,
civil
wars
are
pursued.
This
makes
therefore,
a
special relevance
to
factional
leaders
fight
on
blindly
in
studying
civil
wars
and,
in
particu-
the
hope
of
victory,
even
if that
lar,
what
is
involved
in
bringing
hope
be
slight,
rather
than
face
a
them
to
an
end.
negotiated
outcome
which would
Civil
wars
are
notoriously bitter.
be
disastrous
for
them.
To
arrange
a
negotiated outcome
Sheer
practical
difficulties
of
often
presents greater
problems
command and
control
in
faction-
than
to
negotiate
a
settlement
of
a
ridden
and
loosely
organized
insur-
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Winter
1997-8
179
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