Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Harvard Negotiation Law Review
Publication Date
Spring 2020
First Page
213
Abstract
(Excerpt)
This Article reviews the status of selected contemporary peace processes in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and explores some of the initial effects that the pandemic has had on those processes. The Article first provides an overview of the 20th and 21st century trend toward internationalized peace processes. Then, it introduces several contemporary mediation efforts that were ongoing at the onset of the pandemic and examines the early impacts of COVID-19 on those peace processes. In so doing, the Article identifies instances where actors have exploited the pandemic and peace processes where momentum has shrunk under COVID-19. The Article also recognizes creative solutions that some actors have deployed in an attempt to counteract that shrinking, as well as contexts where pressure triggered by the pandemic seems to have facilitated progress in negotiations. The Article concludes by considering what the early impacts of COVID-19 on these peace processes may suggest for internationally mediated peace processes in the post-pandemic era. Of course, it must be mentioned that this Article has been drafted in what is likely to be the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is premature to draw definitive conclusions, and accordingly, this Article does not purport to do so.
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