Global Governance and Conflict Prevention

Abstract

Conflict prevention is an intrinsic feature of good governance in well-ordered societies. Legitimate institutions and accepted procedures allow contests over resources, values and authority to be settled through political channels, instead of through violence. Within states, common governance can be a preventor of conflict, especially when it is linked to a sense of political community and provision of public goods. Between states, common institutions and co-operation can help to overcome the conflicts of interest and security dilemmas that are inherent in anarchical systems. Ever since the Brundtland Commission published its report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), it has been argued that there is a pressing need for sound and legitimate global governance, to anticipate the conflicts of interest that are developing in a rapidly globalising system, to address poverty and to deal with global environmental change (Falk, 1995; Tickell, 1998; Pogge, 2002). Conflict prevention would be a key element in such a system.