Conflict Prevention, What Does It Really Mean?

This chapter establishes the conceptual foundation for the chapters in this handbook. It conducts a critical assessment of the concept of “organized violence,” which is the focus of this volume's prevention efforts and explores some of its alternatives. The chapter then categorizes conflict prevention into three levels of action. The starting point is the management and prevention of conflict behaviour that can be deterred or contained. This section introduces the neoliberal institutionalist concept of norm enforcement. The chapter then delves deeper into conflict prevention by examining how conflicts can be averted through addressing the disputes that motivate conflict behaviour. This section introduces concepts related to conflict resolution. Finally, the chapter introduces the concept of conflict transformation, which deals with the structures that give rise to deadly disputes. These levels of conflict prevention concepts then serve as the foundational framework that different chapters subsequently reference, occasionally offering critiques and deviations.