Peacemaking from Above, Peace from Below

In Peacemaking from Above, Peace from Below, Norrin M. Ripsman explains how regional rivals make peace and how outside actors can encourage regional peacemaking.

Norrin M. Ripsman is Professor of Political Science at Concordia University Montreal. He is the author of Peacemaking by Democracies, coauthor of Globalization and the National Security State and Economic Statecraft and Foreign Policy, and coeditor of four books, including The Challenge of Grand Strategy and The Political Economy of Regional Peacemaking.

In this groundbreaking book, Ripsman argues that successful peacemaking requires both approaches. Initial breakthroughs rely on governments' negotiating formal peace settlements, often over the objections of their publics.

Benny Miller, University of Haifa:

Norrin M. Ripsman introduces a pathbreaking contribution to the study of peacemaking. Addressing the realist-liberal/constructivist debate on the sources of peace, the author shows convincingly that while the transition to peace is determined by states' and regimes' power interests, the stability of the peace depends on its acceptance by the respective societies as a result of the use of liberal and constructivist mechanisms. This is a novel contribution highly relevant to both IR theory and policymaking. Peacemaking from Above, Peace from Below is a must-read for both scholars of peace and conflict and practitioners and activists engaged in promoting peace.

Patrick James, School of International Relations, University of Southern California:

Peacemaking from Above, Peace from Below is an outstanding work of scholarship with great relevance to contemporary policy debates. Norrin M. Ripsman explains the processes of making and sustaining peace in stages that depend, respectively, on interstate factors and societal reinforcement. Authoritative case studies on regional rivals—France and Germany, Egypt and Israel, and Jordan and Israel—strongly confirm the framework developed by Ripsman. Exploration of a wider range of regional rivalries offers further encouragement to a research program based on Ripsman's stage-based model. This well-written book is essential reading for scholars and students concerned with conflict management and resolution, along with those who have more general interests in the field of international relations. Ripsman's book will set the standard and the agenda for research on making and sustaining peace for many years to come.