Stopping Wars Defining The Obstacles To Cease-fire

The road from war to peace is a puzzling and uncertain one. To those who fight and die on it, it is seldom clear where the journey will end?and those responsible for finding the path are rarely more perceptive. Of the few signposts that exist, perhaps the most visible is the cease-fire. No war ends without one. Stopping Wars is the first attempt to

Introduction -- The Long and Winding Road to Peace -- Belligerents During War -- Power and the Willingness to Settle: "Why stop now?" -- The Avoidance of Weakness and the Search for Strength: "WE will look weak" -- Political and Cognitive Dissonance: "We'd never get away with it" -- Making the Decision to Stop Fighting: "WE didn't consider it; THEY wouldn't listen; WE couldn't agree" -- Unbridgeable Divides and Uncontrollable Armies -- the Inability to Cease Fire: "We can't give them what they want; We can't stop fighting" -- The Cease-Fire Proposal -- Construction, Acceptance, and Failure: "WE can't make/accept the offer; the agreement didn't work" -- Third Parties and War -- Mediator Impartiality and the "Two-Hat" Dilemma: "You are not objective" -- The Imposed Cease-fire: "YOU can't make us" -- Conclusions -- The Road Ahea

James D.D. Smith is assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary.