Spoilers in Peace Processes: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Peacemaking is a risky business, in which the greatest source of risk comes from spoilers. In today’s world, spoilers and their behaviours are an urgent matter and an increasingly relevant topic, as political leaders are concerned about the potential costs and losses of conflicts and public opinion has developed major awareness of the negative consequences of violent clashes. Spoilers bring along several issues for mediators in the conflict resolution’s phases. Effectively identifying spoilers is of crucial importance to deal with them. The present research focuses on how scholars define the concept of spoiler, the strong relationships between spoilers, politics, leaders and third parties, the types of spoilers and the strategies that mediators and peaceamakers can adopt in order to manage spoilers and limit their spoiling activities. The thesis highlights the different conceptualizations and the complexity of the issue, which are primarily based on a lack of an unambiguous definition and on the dissimilarities with whom scholars propose a correct diagnosis of spoilers and their effects on a positive conclusion of violent conflicts. In a later stage, through the lenses of the gathered knowledge, three cases of study are contemplated. The cases critically analyse how spoilers acted and how they were managed during the course of conflicts in Cambodia, Northern Ireland and Middle East.