The limits of conflict prevention and the mediterranean case

Conflict prevention is gaining importance in the field of international relations theory and decision making processes. Multilateral organizations and states usually respond to existing conflicts too late. In their responses, they try to manage conflicts and reduce the level of violence, but generally they do not address the roots of the problem. This approach is fading in conflicts that have profound structural roots especially where the problems are a mix of economic, ethnic and religious factors. The outcome after a short period of pacification is the re‐emergence of hostilities. There is an increasing tendency and consensus on the need to understand the roots of modern wars in order to adopt appropriate policies before, during and after the conflicts. ‘Understanding (the) structural components can contribute to the development of more realistic strategies to dealing with civil wars. External agents are unlikely to have a great deal of influence over the elements of irrationality and contested values and identities that underlie many protracted conflicts'[King, 1997: 7].