Making Disorder More Manageable: The Short-term Effectiveness of Local Mediation in Darfur

Author(s): Allard Duursma
Journal Title: Journal of Peace Research
Publisher(s): SAGE Journals
Publication Year: 2020

Much of the quantitative conflict resolution literature focuses on mediation between states or on efforts to end a civil war through a comprehensive peace agreement that brings peace to the entire country. In contrast, this article analyses the effectiveness of mediation between a wide range of armed actors on a subnational level. Using unique data on Darfur covering the January 2008–August 2009 period, this article finds that mediation efforts following armed clashes in a given area significantly prolong local lulls in fighting in this area. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence from sites of armed conflict beyond Darfur suggest that the findings from this study might also hold in other armed conflicts.

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