Conflict-The type of conflict referred to here is violent civil conflict. Since the end of the Second World War, civil war has become far more common than international war, causing the breakdown and break up of many states. The "state" is the basic building block of the international system. States have many common characteristics, including a defined territory, a government, and a population. A "nation" is a state which has a population with a common history, a common culture and language, and, generally, uniform values. While all nations are states, not all states have the internal cohesion (bonds among the various communities that make up the population) to form nations.

Peaceful Coexistence-is a term that was used to define the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union from the early to mid-1970’s. Peaceful coexistence does not connote friendship but the recognition of each party’s respective interests and right to compete under controlled conditions. An objective of a program of national reconciliation is to create an environment in which competition between communities can be managed in a peaceful fashion so as to prevent a cycle of violence.

Peacekeeping and Dispute Resolution Mechanisms-are means of separating combatants and managing cease fires. The theory behind peacekeeping is that conflict can be minimized when neutral forces are introduced. Peacekeeping has generally been the kind of job done by the United Nations. The UN has participated in numerous missions all over the world. A more contemporary method of promoting peace is peace enforcement that entails introducing well-armed neutral troops into an area with the objective of enforcing peace and civil order. An example of peace enforcement is the role that NATO troops have played in Bosnia and, more recently, in Kosovo. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a transatlantic military alliance involving the United States and 18 other states. The object of peacekeeping and peace enforcement is to halt hostilities long enough to allow for diplomatic negotiation. Other dispute resolution mechanisms include mediation by neutral parties and arbitration, in which a tribunal is set up by agreement to resolve a specific dispute.

Repentance-is a term connoting the process by which an individual admits his wrongdoing and bears witness to his crime. Religious themes such as repentance have significantly influenced South Africa’s approach to national reconciliation.

Breakdown-is exemplified by the collapse of civil order in Somalia in the early 1990’s. Somalia’s government stopped functioning. The result was that the civilian population was no longer protected from physical attack. Basic services, e.g. providing electricity and water, fell into the hands of warlords representing narrow factions within the population.

Break up-is exemplified by the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia that broke up into several independent states: Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising the provinces of Serbia and Montenegro.

Human Rights Abuses-refers to acts committed by governments that violate the rights of individuals under the state’s own laws and/or under international law. Human Rights has been defined under numerous international conventions. The Bill of Human Rights is comprised of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1967) and the Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (1967). Human Rights Conventions have proscribed genocide, torture, apartheid, and several forms of discrimination.

Military Rule-is defined as political rule by the military. By their very nature military governments rule outside of a democratic process and impose their rule by decree, enforced through military courts.

Subpoena-is a directive from a court or other judicial body for an individual to appear to give testimony and/or provide documents respecting an issue subject to inquiry.

International Crimes-The Nuremberg trials defined four specific categories of international crimes: (1) Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions (War Crimes), (2) Crimes Against Humanity, (3) Genocide and (4) Crimes against Peace. Over the last generation, numerous international human rights conventions have helped to define each of these crimes more specifically. While murder is universally considered a crime under state law, it does not rise to the level of an international crime unless it meets certain criteria.

Bosnia- is a region of the former Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia known as Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result of atrocities committed against civilians in the Bosnian War from 1991-1995, the United Nation’s Security Council in 1993 established the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, an ad hoc international tribunal to prosecuted individuals who committed international crimes during the war.

Rwanda-is a nation in Central Africa. As a result of atrocities committed during the Tutsi Genocide of 1994, the Security Council established in that year the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, an ad hoc tribunal to try individuals accused of genocide and other international crimes.

United Nations- is an international organization created by the world community in 1945, following the Second World War, to promote human rights and the peaceful resolution of disputes. The UN Charter, the treaty that created the UN, has been signed by nearly all states. Every member of the UN has a seat in the General Assembly, a body that reflects world opinion and can make recommendations to the policy making organs, the Office of the Secretary General and the UN Security Council. UN Security Council resolutions are considered binding on UN member states and rank among the sources of international law.

Apartheid-from the Afrikaans word meaning "separateness" was a policy pursued by the white minority government of South Africa from 1948 through the early 1990’s. South Africa became the Union of South Africa in 1910 after being granted independence from Great Britain. The purpose behind the apartheid policy was to provide the white minority a basis for maintaining political and military control over a far more numerous black population. Apartheid involved implementing a legal regime that enforced a policy of segregation, restricted the rights of blacks to travel, and prohibited the participation of non-whites in the political process. International conventions have defined apartheid as an international crime committed against an entire community.

Interned- means forcibly held in restricted areas. Americans of Japanese decent were forced to live in camps during the Second World War to minimize what was thought to be a high risk for treason and espionage. Reparations were provided to Japanese-American interned during the War under the 1988 Civil Liberties Act.

Reconstruction-refers to the period of U.S. history following the Civil War during which the former confederate states were compelled through a process of reintegration with the Union. The hallmark of reconstruction was the abolition of slavery. Reconstruction, however, was unsuccessful in abolishing state practices that discriminated against blacks and segregated them from the white population.

Legal Framework-denotes the basic institutions for making and enforcing the laws. Legislatures and courts are thought to provide avenues to address grievances, minimizing the need to resort to violence. The 13^th, 14^th and 15^th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the subsequent passage of the 1964 Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts created the legal framework for addressing violations of individual rights on the basis of their race, ethnicity or religion.

Tutsi Genocide-Following the death of Rwanda’s President in 1994, the Hutu population, with government support, systematically killed, over a 3 month period, more than 500,000 members of the Tutsi minority. The scale of the violence shocked the international community, precipitating the establishment by the United Nations of the Adhoc War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda. The Rwandan prosecutions are noted for the first conviction of a person for the crime of genocide. The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as various acts "committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. . ." The Convention was concluded in reaction to Nazi atrocities against specific ethnic and religious groups, particularly the Holocaust in which six million persons of Jewish descent were systematically murdered.

International Community-refers to the member states of the United Nations. International opinion reflects the resolutions and other pronouncements of the General Assembly.

National Conciliation-refers to the process of creating a peaceful-coexistence between hostile groups. The UN recommended to the Belgian authorities that a conciliation process be introduced to minimize hostilities between Hutus and Tutsis so that decolonization of Central Africa would not give rise to civil war.

The Congo War-with the death in 1997 of Mobuto Seso-Seko, President of Zaire for more than 30 years, the country has become the center of a conflict which has drawn in several African nations, including Angola, Zimbabwe, Chad, Uganda, Rwanda and Namibia. At the core of the conflict has been Rwanda’s effort to secure its border against Hutu rebels that have been using the Congo territory as the launching point for attacks on Rwandan citizens. The intervention of Rwanda and Uganda caused other nations to come in on the side of the new government of the former Zaire (renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo) ostensibly to uphold the principle of non-intervention.

Racialist-means racist, pertaining to racism.

NATO- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is comprised of the United States and 18 other states. NATO was established as an alliance to discourage a military advance into Western Europe by the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc allies (the Warsaw Pact Countries). Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has attempted to re-shape itself into a security organization that would also promote democracy and western values. Russia is not a member of NATO. In 1998, NATO expanded to include as members, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.

Political and Cultural Rights-refers to the rights defined under the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Social, Economic and Cultural Rights. Signatories of the covenants are obligated to enact domestic legislation, subject to diplomatic reservations, designed to implement the various rights described in the covenants.

Co-opted- to co-opt is a method of including a particular group in support of a particular policy and/or political arrangement, often by affording it economic and political advantages. In Rwanda, the Tutsi were afforded advantages over the Hutu majority in exchange for their support for Belgian rule.

Bosnian Conflict-refers to the Bosnian War that began in 1991 and ended pursuant to the signing of the Dayton Accords in 1995. The Bosnian conflict involved a war principally between Bosnian Serbs who sought to secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina to join a greater Serbia against the Bosnian - Muslims who dominated the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian War also involved hostilities between Croatia and the Bosnian-Serbs over territory that had been part of Croatia.

Ethnic Cleansing-was a policy implemented by the Bosnian-Serbs to eliminate Muslim communities that lived in predominately Serbian areas, or areas under Bosnian Serb political control. The policy of ethnic cleansing involved committing atrocities against civilians including massacres and mass-rape to compel their flight. Ethnic cleansing has come to describe a general policy of promoting the flight of civilians of a particular ethnic group out of a region.

Supplant-substitute for.

Political Ideology-refers to a theory of political development. During the Cold War, there were principally two competing ideologies. One ideology, promoted by the United States, advocated the development of democratic states that would protect private property, and give individuals autonomy to pursue their economic interests in an environment that supported individual rights. The other ideology, supported by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), advocated the abolition of private property in favor of collective control of the means of production and political control by an elite group of citizens.

Marxist-refers to Marxism, a political-economic ideology based on the belief that capitalism needs a large class of workers—the Proletariat—to labor at no more than subsistence wages. According to Karl Marx, a 19^th century political philosopher, this Proletariat class is subjugated by a class of capitalists who control the means of production (society’s wealth producing assets) and, accordingly, dominate society’s political institutions.

Catharsis-is a term in psychology which describes the process of psychological release that is experienced by an individual who is able to confront a negative personal experience that has given rise to a trauma. The basis for promoting a catharsis is engaging an individual in an examination of his or her past.

Contact Group-refers to a group of six nations—the U.S., France, Britain, Italy, Germany and Russia that have been principally involved in negotiating resolutions of the various Balkan conflicts. The Contact Group has been a source of regional policy making. Its members have acted as mediators between and among the Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian factions.

Nuremberg Trials-were a series of trials following the end of the Second World War designed to prosecute Nazi leaders for international crimes. Taking place under the auspices of the International Military Tribunal, the trials were an important source of international criminal law. Of particular significance was the Nuremberg principle that military personnel could not shield themselves from individual criminal responsibility by invoking superior orders (that they were directed by a superior to commit a particular crime).

Security Requirements-refers to the requirements that the Palestinian Authority take steps to apprehend and turn over to Israel individuals wanted for crimes of terrorism. The Israelis have also required the Authority to take steps to disarm terrorist factions and to quell anti-Israeli demonstrations.