A peace process is the set of sociopolitical negotiations, agreements and actions that aim to solve a specific armed conflict.

Definitions

Prior to an armed conflict occurring, peace processes can include the prevention of an intra-state or inter-state dispute from escalating into military conflict. The United Nations Department of Peace Operations (UNDPO) terms the prevention of disputes from escalating into armed conflicts as ''conflict prevention''. In 2007, the United Nations Secretary-General's Policy Committee classed both initial prevention of an armed conflict and prevention of the repeat of a solved conflict as peacebuilding. For peace processes to resolve an armed conflict, Izumi Wakugawa, advisor to the Japan-based International Peace Cooperation Program, suggests a definition of a peace process as "a mixture of politics, diplomacy, changing relationships, negotiation, mediation, and dialogue in both official and unofficial arenas", which he attributes to Harold H. Saunders of the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other pea ...

(USIP). Wakugawa categorises these processes into two stages: the ceasing of armed conflict and the processes of sociological reorganisation.

Ceasing of armed conflict

Non-military processes for stopping an armed conflict stage are generally classed as

peacemaking Peacemaking is practical conflict transformation focused upon establishing equitable power relationships robust enough to forestall future conflict, often including the establishment of means of agreeing on ethical decisions within a community, ...

. Military methods by globally organised military forces of stopping a local armed conflict are typically classed as

peace enforcement Peace enforcement is the use of military force to compel peace in a conflict, generally against the will of combatants. To do this, it generally requires more military force than peacekeeping operations. The United Nations, through its Security Coun ...

Reorganisation

The prevention of the repeat of a solved conflict (as well as the preventing of an armed conflict from occurring at all) is usually classed as peacebuilding. UNDPO defines peacebuilding to include "measures

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

address core issues that effect the functioning of society and the State". The use of neutral military forces to sustain ceasefires during this phase, typically by

United Nations peacekeeping forces Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is distinguished ...

, can be referred to as peacekeeping.

Overlapping definitions

The terms ''peacemaking'', ''peacekeeping'' and ''peacebuilding'' tend to be used broadly, with their meanings defined in terms of the phases of various peace process mechanisms blurring and overlapping in practice.

Institutions

The construction of international institutions, especially during the twentieth century, has to a large degree been motivated by the desire to provide a broad global context of peacebuilding. That includes the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

and regional institutions such as the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. Institutions involved in encouraging or overseeing some of the steps in specific peace processes include the United Nations Department of Peace Operations.

Mechanisms

Many specific peace mechanisms comprise the elements of peace processes. The Peace Accords Matrix of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, lists some of them as amnesties;

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

s; arms embargoes,

truth and reconciliation commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

s; and reforms of the constitution, or of military, police, judicial or educational institutions or of the media. Other mechanisms include

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conventions Under the Geneva Conven ...

confidence-building measures Confidence-building measures (CBMs) or confidence- and security-building measures (CSBMs) are actions taken to reduce fear of attack by both (or more) parties in a situation of conflict. The term is most often used in the context of armed conflict, ...

humanitarian corridor A humanitarian corridor is a type of temporary demilitarized zone intended to allow the safe transit of humanitarian aid in, and/or refugees out of a crisis region. Such a corridor can also be associated with a no-fly zone or no-drive zone. Va ...

s, peace treaties and transitional justice.

Criticism

Edward Luttwak argues that conventional wars should not be interrupted before they could burn themselves out and the preconditions for a long-lasting peace are established. Stable peace settlement is possible only with the exhaustion of belligerents or the decisive victory of one side. "Hopes for military success must fade for accommodation to become more attractive than further combat," but premature ceasefires prevent belligerents from exhaustion and let them rearm their forces. That in turn prolongs war and leads to further killings and destruction.

Women's participation

Women's representation in major peace processes from 1992 to 2018

According to Neville Melvin Gertze of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, speaking at an October 2019 meeting of the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

, peace agreements that are the result of negotiations including women are 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years than those which are the result of men-only negotiations. At the same meeting, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated that women were excluded from peace processes, attacks against women human rights defenders had increased, and only a "tiny percentage" of funding for peacebuilding was given to

women's organisations This is a list of women's organizations ordered by geography. International * Alliance of Pan American Round Tables – founded 1916 to foster women's relationships throughout the Americas * Arab Feminist Union – founded 1945 * Associated Co ...

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , last1 =Wakugawa , first1 =Izumi , title= Peace Process: The First Step towards Realisation of Peace : @PKO No!w , trans-title = , website=

Cabinet Office (Japan) The (CAO) is an agency of the Cabinet of Japan. It is responsible for handling the day-to-day affairs of the Cabinet. The Cabinet Office is formally headed by the Prime Minister. Ministers History The Cabinet Office was established on 6 ...

, date =2012-08-10 , url = http://www.pko.go.jp/pko_e/organization/researcher/atpkonow/article015.html , access-date = 2019-11-08 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191108194025/http://www.pko.go.jp/pko_e/organization/researcher/atpkonow/article015.html , archive-date= 2019-11-08 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= Terminology , trans-title = , website=

United Nations peacekeeping Peacekeeping by the United Nations is a role held by the Department of Peace Operations as an "instrument developed by the organization as a way to help countries torn by conflict to create the conditions for lasting peace". It is distinguished ...

, url = https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/terminology , access-date = 2019-11-08 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191108201416/https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/terminology , archive-date= 2019-11-08 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= Peacebuilding & The United Nations , trans-title = , website=

, year = 2011 , url = http://www.un.org/en/peacebuilding/pbso/pbun.shtml , access-date = 2019-11-08 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111127031344/http://www.un.org/en/peacebuilding/pbso/pbun.shtml , archive-date= 2011-11-27 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= PAM collects implementation data on 51 different types of provisions. Click to see accords that contain a particular provision or scroll down for a list of definitions. , trans-title = , website= Peace Accords Matrix , year = 2019 , url = https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provisions , access-date = 2019-11-08 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191108213406/https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provisions , archive-date= 2019-11-08 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= What peacekeeping does , trans-title = , website=

, year= 2019 , url = https://peacekeeping.un.org/en , access-date = 2019-11-08 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191108200515/https://peacekeeping.un.org/en , archive-date= 2019-11-08 , url-status=live {{cite web , title= Security Council Urges Recommitment to Women, Peace, Security Agenda, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2492 (2019) , trans-title = , website=

, date =2019-10-29 , url = https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/sc13998.doc.htm , id = SC/13998 , access-date = 2019-11-04 , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191104225101/https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/sc13998.doc.htm , archive-date= 2019-11-04 , url-status=live