| dc.description.abstract | The management of conflicts through peaceful means is
a basic human aspiration. Given that conflicts pennanentIy recur within and between s tates, societies have, throughout history, been concerned with aspectsof conflict reduction throuyh a variety of mechanisms.In the contemporary world particularly, there has been a growing concern with conflict management. and this has become an important. t.opic in int.ernational rplat.ions.
This study examines, analyzes and explains a method of conflict management that apparently suffers from scholarly neglect. This is the use of informal biLateral and multilateral summitry conflict management.The informal Eastern African Summitry SY3tem is our case study and the central focus is on its concern with the promotion of sub-regional security
and economic co' operation as a means of conflict
reduc
As a background to the study, we analyse conflict
management l.h r o u q h the frameworks of t.he informal mu l i.i La teral congress and conference systems of the
'Concel~l Europe' a r. d the formal institutional arrangements such as the League of Nations, the United Nations Organization and the Organization of African
Unity. Our findings emphasize that the coexistence of states and their interdependence create common desires for peace, security and general co-operation as core values of common interest to all. hence the creation of continental and global informal as well as formal multilateral arrangements and organizations. Among the basic objectives of these arrangements and organizations are the pacific settlement of inter-state conflicts.
The central focus of this study is on the concern wi th the promotion of sub-regional security and economic co-operation as a means of conflict management through informal summitry. The study traces the origins of this informal practice; examines its aims and objectives; analyses the causes and nature of sub-
regional conflicts and explains the processes and
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dynamics of the Summitr)" _S. y4s..tem in the management of
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inter-state conflicts.
Among the basic findings of the study are that first. the perceived shortcomings of the formal institutional continental body (the OAU) in conflict management partly explains states' resort to informal subregional arrangements. Second. the perceptions of common security and economic interests in
interdependence create desires for informal summitry to manage interstate relations. Third, different types of conflict require different means of mana gemen t • Finally, although conflicts still exist in Eastern Africa, the Eastern African Summitry System has, through its informal conflict management mechanism significantly contributed to conflict reduction. Through the system, there has been a constant emphasis
on the desire for a comprehensive subregional peace,
stability and tranquility as well as broad economic cooperation. The system has also served as a political confidence-building process that has helped in reorienting participating states to new relations in which cooperation in various fields is emphasized | en |
