25 Years of Stabilisation Discourse
Since the violent break-up of Yugoslavia and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, stabilisation has been a prominent paradigm in international conflict management. In a new ZIF study, which has been supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Andreas Wittkowsky and Sebastian Breuer trace the development of the stabilisation discourse.
The study finds that stabilisation is increasingly geared towards an intermediate goal of conflict management: the promotion of a political arrangement that enables further, non-violent conflict resolution.
In pursuing this goal, stabilisation actors define objectives and means much more narrowly than 25 years ago and underline the importance of setting clear priorities. In any case, stabilisation requires a combination of diplomatic, development and security policy instruments.