Opting Out of War: Strategies to Prevent Violent Conflict. Este artículo no está disponible.Opting Out of War: Strategies to Prevent Violent Conflict

How do ""ordinary"" people, neither pacifists nor peace activists, come to decide collectively to eschew violent conflict and then develop strategies for maintaining their region as a nonwar area despite myriad pressures to the contrary? Mary Anderson and Marshall Wallace analyse the experiences of thirteen ""nonwar"" communities that made conscious-and effective-choices not to engage in the fighting that surrounded them. Tracing the steps that these communities took, the strategies that evolved in each setting in response to local circumstances, the authors find lessons, as well, with broader relevance for international efforts to prevent violent conflict.

Mary B. Anderson is the author of Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace-or War and Rising from the Ashes: Development Strategies in Times of Disaster. She retired from her position as executive director of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects in 2009. Marshall Wallace is director of the Do No Harm Project at CDA Collaborative Learning Projects and also directed CDA's Steps Toward Conflict Prevention Project.