3. Discourage natural resource conflict

1. 3. Discourage natural resource conflict • Reduce sale of weapons • Mineral and oil resources finance armed conflicts • Make it expensive to acquire weapons • Make the suppliers check the source of money paying for the weapons • Certification • July 5, 2000: UN labeled uncertified diamonds from Sierra Leone as “conflict diamond” and buyers stopped buying • Certification for “hardwood” will reduce the destruction of tropical forests from Papua New Guinea to Brazil

2. Setting proper norms • Ensure that developing countries are treated well by extractive industries • Develop auction procedures that give developing countries larger share • Limit environmental damage • Make companies pay for environmental damage resulting from their actions • International environmental damage monitoring agency is necessary • Developed countries should guarantee that any environmental damage done by their companies will be fully repaired

3. 4. Engage in trade with neighbors • Polachek 1980 paper • 10 year data from 30 countries • Ceteris paribus, countries with greatest levels of trade engage in least hostility • Natural peace • Created by interdependencies • Countries with most mutual international trade exhibit least conflict • Greater the trade, higher the cost of conflict • If level of trade doubles between such countries, chance of these countries engaging in conflict decreases by 20% • China and US engaging in war has a very low chance • India and Nepal

4. 5. Democratize government • William Dixon 1993 paper • Despite significant differences, militarized conflicts between democracies are very rare • India and Pakistan keep fighting verbally, but continued war is rare • Democratic governments maintain more conciliatory norms of dispute resolution • More interested in resolving conflict than extending • More accepting of third party mediation • Democratic governments are more likely to engage in conflict management, thus more likely to stop an ongoing conflict • Democratic governments are less likely to engage in conflict instigation, thus less likely to start a conflict

5. 6. Identify the moment for resolution • William Zartman 1991 paper • No matter how much the desire for conflict resolution, the right moment has to arrive for action • Two kinds of leaders • One prefers victory as the only resolution of conflict • Another prefers mutually satisfactory resolution • The first engages in zero-sum game (win-lose) • The second engages in positive-sum game (win-win) • A shopkeeper should not negotiate with a warrior • Avoid mediation when the first leader is in charge. Wait for a more receptive leader. • Positive-sum game has to be promoted and propagated before a zero-sum leader becomes in charge • Don’t wait until escalation plays out in all its destructive potentialities