Preventing War and Disorder: "Preventive Diplomacy" Emulates Public-Health Strategies

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"Preventive diplomacy" emulates public-health strategies.

Diplomacy, like health care, is focusing increasingly on prevention rather than treatment. The diplomats want to stop violent conflicts before they start.

The end of the Cold War may have encouraged ethnic uprisings, but it has also enabled the international community to act collectively, according to the contributors to a new book, Preventive Diplomacy, edited by Kevin M. Cahill, a physician and medical consultant to the United Nations. Preventive diplomacy seeks to address the root causes of conflicts rather than wait until violence erupts and peacekeepers need to be sent in.

The book, based on papers …