The Use of Smart Pressure to Resolve Civil Wars

Author(s): Allard Duursma
Editor(s): John Thompson
Series Editor(s): John Thompson
Series: CSS Policy Perspectives
Volume: 6
Issue: 8
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich
Publication Year: 2018
Publication Place: Zurich

This CSS Policy Perspective contends that mediated peace agreements in civil wars often fail to bring about lasting peace, largely as a result of the use of pressure. To help address the problem, it recasts how we think about such pressure by introducing the notion of smart pressure, which recommends that 1) mediators should ensure that conflict parties largely own peace processes; 2) mediators should only apply pressure when the conflict parties can live with the endpoint of its use; and 3) chief mediators should coordinate and manage pressure from external third parties.

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