Doctorate Thesis Title, Chapters & Introduction

October 2014

University of Plymouth

Dartmouth Strategic and Security Studies Group

Stergiou Akrivos

Supervisor: Prof. Simon Murden

stergiou.akrivos@natoschool.nato.int

vakistergiou@gmail.com

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 THE TITLE

Assessing the planning processes of international organizations for

contemporary crisis and conflict resolution.
Development of the “Omicron approach”, a holistic planning process
based on the “cosmopolitan conflict resolution”.

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 THE TITLE

Assessing the planning processes of international organizations for contemporary crisis and
conflict resolution. Development of the “Omicron approach”, a holistic planning process
based on the “cosmopolitan conflict resolution”.

Chapters: (Draft)

1. Introduction

2. Crisis and conflict resolution holistic approaches within the International Organisations.

3. Analysis of the planning methods: UN, NATO, EU, AU, ICRC, OSCE, national

approaches, NGOs etc.

4. Recent cases of implementation of holistic approaches. Conflict databases & datasets.

Lessons learned.

5. Shortfalls of the holistic approaches (constraints, restraints, gaps in the application,

failures etc.). The planning gap.

6. The Cosmopolitan Conflict Resolution. Is a unified process for planning in the

cosmopolitan conflict resolution feasible?

7. The “Omicron” approach: development of a new concept and philosophy to unite the

effort and operationalize the cosmopolitan conflict resolution.

8. Case study / hypothetical example of the “Omicron” approach in a real world crisis

scenario.

9. Conclusions and Epilogue

The “Omicron era culture”. Towards a new generation of planning for crisis and conflict

resolution and a new cosmopolitan collective ownership of peace operations.

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 Introduction

The research study tries to identify and examine the realities behind the contemporary crisis
and conflict resolution. The various international global or regional organisations have developed
respective “holistic approaches” and have adopted policies and progresses in an attempt to unify the
effort through planning. However, although the strategic documents and formal communiqués of IOs
such as the UN, the EU, NATO and others adopt in theory holistic approaches to respond to
international or regional crises and conflicts, in practice, there is a significant gap when implementing
and operationalizing these approaches. The application of holistic approaches in actual crises is done
through planning processes and procedures, which are the focal point of this research. The final aim
of this study will be to develop a new planning process, which will integrate and operationalize the
“cosmopolitan conflict resolution” in the international arena.

The research is based on the fact that there is no agreed joint interagency methodology or
approach to unify the international effort. Although there are, usually bi-lateral, agreements between
some IOs, NGOs or nations to co-operate from the very beginning in a crisis and/or conflict urgent or
long-term response, the steps taken are too hesitant and insufficient. There is still no unique
international accessible platform on which the various international or regional actors in a crisis can
easily and openly contribute with their assessments - objections or contradictory positions to be
included and recorded, resources, capabilities and modus operandi.

Unquestionably, there is a common belief that during the past decades the way that the
international community responded to urgent crises or conflicts has been incoherent, inadequate,
uncoordinated and costly in resources and personnel. There was not unity of effort, fact that does not
undermine the huge contribution and willingness of the international community to respond to and
resolve crises or conflicts towards peace and human relief. One key example is the Bosnia-
Herzegovina war in the former Yugoslavia in the ‘90s. During that conflict, although various
organisations contributed with significant effort, resources and personnel to address critical issues of
the crisis, there was no co-ordination and coherence between the mandated actors in the field; the
overall effort did not have the desired effects in the conflict and in some cases failed to safeguard
civilian human lives. In fact, this conflict was the triggering experience for the international
community to start the first discussion on “holistic approaches”, introducing the term “comprehensive
approach”. The most disappointing conclusion in many cases of international interventions for
conflict resolution was that peace or long-term stabilisation was not reached or the situation even
deteriorated. The symptoms have been partially or sufficiently addressed but not the root causes. The
Kosovo, the Afghanistan and the Iraq conflicts are other examples where the international
intervention was again too hasty and incoherent; in those and other cases the response was unilateral,
without comprehending sufficiently all implicated actors’ status in the crises, the regional
environment, culture and dynamics.

As the study will focus on planning for contemporary crisis and conflict resolution and as the
title makes it clear, the subject of the thesis is positioned in the crisis and conflict resolution
discipline. A thorough examination of the way that the international effort is planned, will lead in
shortfalls. These shortfalls, combined with new ideas will lead this research paper to conclude in a
new approach of planning, the “Omicron” approach (“O”), the final and clear purpose of this

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research paper. The “O” approach will also drive the learning and understanding process from the
very beginning, as it is firstly attempting to unify the international planning processes into one. To
this end, the recommended new planning approach will have the “cosmopolitan conflict resolution” 1
concept as a starting point.

Commencing with two existing major planning processes, the UN and the NATO ones, we
observe that they are actually internal processes and do not truly integrate international interagency
effort. The UN has made a significant effort. It has developed and published a. Policy on Integrated
Assessment and Planning2 , b. INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING HANDBOOK, c.
the “Standard Operating Procedures for Countries Wishing to Adopt the “Delivering as one”
Approach, d. the Planning Toolkit 3 and other documents, to unify the effort of its own complex UN
system of various agencies, organisations, offices and ad hoc entities or units applied in the field. The
above publications and processes are really in the right direction and fill a planning gap of
synchronising short term and long term UN mandates, objectives and aims, all for the good of the
same people in the country or region of the crisis. However, the UN has also the responsibility to
integrate the non-UN international effort too with an analogous planning process or platform.
Although the above UN publications are also addressed to and intended to be used by any NGO 4, in
practice there are many complications to this end.

On the other hand, NATO has its own planning process, which is linking the strategic
political, strategic military, operational and tactical levels of the Alliance into a well co-ordinated
operation in response to a crisis or conflict, by its military forces. Again, this planning process,
although described in the “Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive”5 is again an internal
procedure that links the many levels and HQs of the Alliance. It starts from the political assessments
and decisions on responding to a crisis to the actual operation plan (OPLAN). It clearly states that it is
intended to integrate other actors embedding their liaisons into the planning groups in an ad hoc basis
but, again, like in the UN, it is not sufficient, not comprehensive.

1
The cosmopolitan conflict resolution can better be explained by the following extract. “We use the term cosmopolitan conflict
resolution to indicate the need for an approach that is not situated within any particular state, society or established site of power, but
rather promotes constructive means of handling conflict at local through to global levels in the interests of humanity. …the term
transformative cosmopolitanism to emphasize that it is not a covert name for imposing hegemonic interests under a subterfuge of
unexamined ‘universal values’, but a genuine and inclusive local-global effort to determine what contributes to human welfare in general
and to human emancipation worldwide……. ”. (Ramsbotham Oliver, 2011).

2
Approved by: Secretary-General on 9 April 2013, Following endorsement by the Integration Steering Group1 on 15 March 2013 and by
the United Nations Development Group on 13 March.
3
These DPKO-DFS guidelines on component level planning (henceforth the “Planning Toolkit”) provide practical guidance on how to
implement existing UN planning obligations in UN Field Missions led DPKO, with particular attention to the planning needs of rule of law
and security-related components (namely, police, justice, corrections, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), security sector
reform (SSR) and mine action components). The Planning Toolkit will facilitate compliance with existing UN planning obligations, and
improve the quality and impact of component plans in UN Field Missions. It is also intended for personnel in OROLSI in DPKO who
support planning in UN Field Missions, including the Office’s standing capacities.
4
“The Planning Toolkit is also of use to UN and non-UN partners at Headquarters and in the field who engage in integrated planning with
rule of law and security institutions components in UN Field Missions, including personnel in the Office of the Controller in charge of
reviewing Results-based Budget Frameworks in peacekeeping budgets.
5
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED POWERS EUROPE, BELGIUM, ALLIED COMMAND OPERATIONS
COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS PLANNING DIRECTIVE COPD INTERIM V2.0, 04 October 2013

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 In the analysis of this study, we will try to present the philosophy and culture of the above and
other existing planning processes. We will try to map the way that the international system is
structured by seeing how the decisions are taken and how the crises are addressed by the IOs from the
very beginning up to the implementation of the operations. The “O” approach will humbly contribute
in the overall international system transformation towards unified effort. In the analysis we will
challenge the existing processes in the way that they are conceived and structured. How can the IOs
be integrated and coordinated within the international community effort in a holistic and transparent
way? Does the use of the “End State” philosophy enhance the possibility of success in the purpose of
long term stability? Or is there another way to drive the international effort? Not by “imposing
hegemonic interests under a subterfuge of unexamined ‘universal values’, but” by “a genuine and
inclusive local-global effort to determine what contributes to human welfare in general and to human
emancipation worldwide, which is one articulation of the “Cosmopolitan Conflict Resolution
approach” that probably epitomizes the only genuinely holistic, comprehensive approach. It is
described in “Contemporary conflict resolution” by Ramsbotham Oliver, Woodhouse Tom & Miall
Huge (2011, Cambridge, Polity Press).

It also seems that in practice, most of the organisations, donors and other actors in the
international crisis arena have to act or react in a reluctant and bureaucratic comportment which
leaves not too much room for synchronising international effort with other actors being on the ground
of the crisis/conflict. A lot of co-ordination is done in the ground on ad hoc basis. Many and various
reasons exist for this inadequacy, like the differences in grand strategy or high policy, scope, interests,
duration of effort to meet the respective objectives and way of achieving them, legitimacy, principles
of modus operandi, jurisdiction, influence from or manipulation of the media etc. The transformation
of the international post-cold war community has not reached the point where cosmopolitan culture
can become practice. On the contrary, often there is antagonistic behaviour or misuse of a
crisis/conflict by the intervener, the “spoiler” or even the non-intervener.

The latter is true despite the struggles of hundreds of thousands of “internationals”, meaning
the soldiers, the international or national organizations’ workers and all the other various non-
governmental or governmental, regional or local personnel assisting with humanitarian and all sort of
meaningful aid; and despite the expressed urge for unified co-ordination effort by most organizations
and academics. Although there still is a long standing debate amongst the academia and the
practitioners on the major elements and issues of contemporary conflict and how the international
community should address it, the paper will adopt, not without robust causality, the aforementioned
“cosmopolitan conflict resolution”. The study, by recommending finally the new “O” approach tries
to make it available by the international community as a starting point and as a tool towards
addressing any crisis response or conflict resolution intervention.

The cosmopolitan conflict resolution can better be explained by the following extract. 6

“As states and societies become more than ever open to events outside their borders, and images, belief
systems, communications and ideas flow rapidly across societies divided by different ways of life and cultures, it
is not surprising that conflicts of interest and perceived conflicts are experienced not only at the intra-state and
interstate levels but also globally. A hybrid mixture of local, regional and global conflicts has emerged, which
we might call transnational conflict. Accompanying this change are uncertainties over how and where this form
6
Contemporary conflict resolution, Ramsbotham, 3rd edition, 2011, p. 265

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of conflict should be addressed. New doctrines of intervention and new understandings of ‘peace and security’
imply a redefinition of jurisdiction. If interests cut across states and communities, where does appropriate
jurisdiction lie? How is democratic accountability to be effective in a world of interdependent decisions? How
are the conflicts to be resolved when they cross borders and levels of analysis? In this post-Clausewitzean
order, conflict resolution is challenged to redefine its scope and its praxis.

We use the term cosmopolitan conflict resolution to indicate the need for an approach that is not
situated within any particular state, society or established site of power, but rather promotes constructive means
of handling conflict at local through to global levels in the interests of humanity. …the term transformative
cosmopolitanism to emphasize that it is not a covert name for imposing hegemonic interests under a subterfuge
of unexamined ‘universal values’, but a genuine and inclusive local-global effort to determine what
contributes to human welfare in general and to human emancipation worldwide……. ”.

The cosmopolitan enterprise is the latest development in conflict resolution theory and could
be an improved way of getting peoples’ lives out of the conflict trap and transforming the conflict
gradually into a non-violent ‘cosmopolitan democracy’, not necessarily the western type one. It does
that through the principles of inclusion, responsibility and impartiality. It should include short term
urgent respond, but also enhance and do no harm to the long term stabilisation reconstruction and
transition enterprise. Synchronising and combining international effort in a productive and coherent
way from the start during the planning of the intervention, is the main focus and challenge; indeed
although there is a great amount of lessons learned and a huge attempt for combined civil-military
exercises there is no agreed model to unite the international effort.

Some of the questions that have to be answered and that are expected to create a flow of
interest and will subsequently meet secondary objectives are:

Which are the main problems of the existing planning models and which ones are they? What
is the NATO planning model and which one is the UN one? How about national models? How are the
NGOs or other IOs plan? What does the newly revised (2013) “UN Integrated Assessment and
Planning” represent in the purpose of unifying international effort? The “UN integrated approach”
and the “UN cluster approach” in humanitarian situations are they still limited? Is the UN the
authority responsible to incorporate an NGO planning for the same or similar objectives with the
international community? Why are the planning models inadequate and what steps the international
community has taken forward? How are the main planning documents decided, processed and
populated by the IOs and what is their validity in jurisdiction, duration and appliance? Why do not all
organizations respond to conflict zones, how legitimate are they, what are their motives, principles
and interests and how do they take into account the local population to help them build their own
future? What is the “End State” as a term and how does it help the planning in a volatile and
unpredictable environment? Is the authority deciding on the “End State” taking into account the voice
of the people and the local actors? Will the “End State” approach cover the needs of the society
designed for at the time when the initially planned End State is reached? What does Cosmopolitan
Conflict Resolution means regarding planning? Is a unified process for planning in the cosmopolitan
conflict resolution feasible?

The “Omicron Approach” is developed and introduced incorporating new ideas and all the
conclusions of the existing models. By examining all those ‘models’, it will try to unite international,
regional or local actor, whether organisation, social or other group of individuals implicated somehow

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in the crisis or conflict; the overall ambition is to have one model which leaves ‘the door open for all’
to participate, including conflicting parties or the ones seen as the “spoilers” of the international
enterprise.

NATO in its planning process (see figure 1) depicts that an international common way of
planning in a crisis is not feasible, so the overall operations’ “algorithm” (design) is just a utopia and
is just a “Theoretical International Design”. Below figure 1 depicts the hypothetical (“theoretical”)
lines of operations, which would have to be conducted in coherence by the military, political,
economic and civil instrument of power.

The “Omicron Approach” is focusing on such shortfalls in order to merge the various
understandings of a crisis, the different “End States” and objectives to develop a visually depicted
methodology at the strategic level. It will also try to challenge various notions like the aforementioned
“End State” which has several drawbacks as a concept. The new concept has to be based on the
cosmopolitan approach and be more dynamic in or der to encapsulate quickly the various changes in a
continuously changing environment. The new aim of the international community led by the UN, is
named ‘Sustainable Eurhythmy’ is

a. continuous and dynamic (not an end),

b. more comprehensive,

c. more realistic and feasible, as it is integrating the transformation of the environment,

conflict or crisis and

d. transparent and easily accessible through the internet.

To this end and in order to link all the actors in a crisis an Internet based platform can be
built to ease the access. The legitimate aims of the operation the UN decisions should be publicised
openly. Any actor would then also publish its own aims in a way that in a unique design there would
be a coordination and unity of effort, without duplication or contradictory actions in the short and long
term. The whole concept will be depicted visually in a 360 degree scheme similar to the cluster UN
approach (see figure) but with different logic and dynamics.

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 Figure 2

One first raw depiction of the “O” Approach is seen below in figure 3. The “O” approach as a concept
and as a co-ordination high-policy tool should be accessible for editing on the internet, with specific
rights to be authorised to all implicated actors.

Figure 3

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Research Structure

In the second chapter the research will start to deal generically with the “Crisis and conflict
resolution holistic approaches”. Trying to find out the causality and the factors that led to the
various approaches in crisis and conflict resolution during the last three decades, the chapter will
describe the basic schools of thought. Examining basic academic literature ( (Bercovitch J., 1992),
(Aall P., 1996) (Cheldelin S., 2003) (Ramsbotham Oliver, 2011) (Deutsch, 1954) (Ronald, 1997)
(Jacoby, 2008) (Zartman & Rassmussen, Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods and
Techniques, 2007) (Zartman , Toward the resolution of international conflict, 1997) (Kriesberg, 1997)
(Mitchell & Banks, 1996) (Sandole , 1999) (Wallensteen, 2007) (Webel & Galtung J., 2007))7, the
chapter will try to show in a generic way the basic concepts of the Conflict Resolution Discipline and
how this has evaluated during the past decades, with the emphasis given in the post- cold war era.
Some first conclusions will be drawn on the evolution of the “holistic approaches” as they are
described by the academia literature.

Based on the above, the study then examines the way that major organisations, IOs or NGOs
and nations, express their policy concerning conflict resolution and crisis management. The published
strategic level documentation of the IOs is scrutinised, so that the causality of the respective
approaches are revealed. To this end, for the UN, the documentation is numerous: the Secretary
General’s reports, reports by UN country teams, bi-lateral agreements with the UN, guidance given by
the UN on the subject, reports and assessments on various conflicts, UN Security Council Resolutions
etc.

For NATO and the EU again the documentation is abundant and the focus will stay at the
political strategic level, which epitomizes the concept used and is giving guidance to the subordinate
levels on crisis management and conflict resolution. One of the conclusions drawn should be on the
co-operation with other actors and the capabilities prepared and in order to act holistically in a
complex crisis, where the military forces may be a minor component on the ground.

One NGO that draws the attention is the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross)
not only because of its extended experience memory but also because it has developed unique
principles for its modus operandi (neutrality, impartiality) and has managed to sign bi-lateral
agreements for co-operation in the field with other organisations which respect the ICRC’s caveats
and strict ethics.

The objective of the chapter is to comprehend the differences in their policy, to realise the
theoretical causality behind each holistic approach and to categorise them.8

The third chapter will go deeper into the most important approaches and will see how those
approaches are meant to implement through planning. The planning methods of the UN, NATO, EU,

7
(Bercovitch J., 1992), (Aall P., 1996) (Cheldelin S., 2003) (Ramsbotham Oliver, 2011) (Deutsch, 1954) (Ronald,
1997) (Jacoby, 2008) (Zartman & Rassmussen, Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods and Techniques,
2007) (Zartman , Toward the resolution of international conflict, 1997) (Kriesberg, 1997) (Mitchell & Banks,
1996) (Sandole , 1999) (Wallensteen, 2007) (Webel & Galtung J., 2007)
8
Main references regarding the IOs and NGOs will be their internet sites and publications.

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ICRC, OSCE, national approaches, NGOs etc., will be examined and analysed. The objective on these
planning methods will be to draw conclusions on:

-the various steps of the planning processes

-the basic philosophy expressed by the way the process unfolds and by the terminology of the
language used in a crisis

-the legitimacy of the decisions taken regarding the international law, including the authority
that orders and initiates the planning process.

-the way that the planning of the IO/NGO is described

-how the aims of the actions of the organization are planned to be achieved and how are they
assessed

Some more questions that have to be answered are:

-How holistic is the planning approach? Does personnel of other organizations participate in
the planning? How is the final aim synchronised with the aim of other organizations? How do they
take into account the local population to help them build their own future?

-What do the various organizations plan for? Conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peace
building, peace making, postwar reconstruction, reconciliation, humanitarian crisis etc.

-Why do not all organizations respond to conflict zones, how legitimate are they?

Expected conclusions of the planning processes’ gaps are due to the incoherence and lack of
“comprehensiveness” of the approach of the various organisations when the latter plan to act in a
specific crisis or conflict. In such a way, the chapter will also reveal the oxymoron between the
strategic political appetite and the political constraints that are directed to the operational levels, so
that comprehensiveness “stays”, in reality, “internally”.

The above will be supported by the fourth chapter which will try to describe some examples
of recent cases of implementation of holistic approaches. It will get information from conflict
databases & datasets and from lessons learned from international organisations to reach deeper into
the way the international community addressed the crisis and conflict zone. The Conflict databases &
datasets and published “lessons learned’ are examined in order to reach deeper into the way the
international community has recently addresses the crisis and conflict zone. What are the lessons
learned in various conflict cases from a planning perspective? Is the non-inclusion of various
international actors and regional factors a major reason for failures in cases of crisis areas
interventions? How does the structure of the international political system affect the planning process?
Which are the shortfalls of the holistic approaches (constraints, restraints, gaps in the application,
failures etc.)?

The objective of this chapter will is to draw specific conclusions per organisation but also
generic conclusions on issues that repeatedly create shortfalls. The methodology used during this

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analysis has to be qualitative and examine some basic factors that characterise each case. For example
the current (2014) Syria and Ukraine crises have led to limited international response and action on
the ground, probably due to their complexity, the increased risk but, mainly, due to the direct or
indirect involvement of a major actor and permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia.

The fifth chapter will show how the planning gap and the shortfalls of the holistic
approaches (constraints, restraints, gaps in the application, failures etc.) in the planning methodology
(Chapter 3) has led to the failures on the ground (Chapter 4).

This linkage will be the “raison d’être”of the thesis and the confirmation of the requirement
of a new way of planning. Having completed the various approaches, an overall assessment will be
presented with the focus on the shortfalls of the holistic approaches (constraints, restraints, gaps in the
application, failures etc.). In this way it will be shown that planning is the key for success. It will also
show that in case where unilateral decisions where taken by powers like the US 9 or NATO, the crisis
has led to either a deterioration of the situation, like the new developments in Iraq (and Syria) have
shown in 2013-14 or to a very measured improvement (Afghanistan). The chapter’s aim will be the
reasoning and proof for the need for co-ordinating from the planning phase with the maximum
possible overall inclusion among the various actors: when co-ordination and comprehensiveness
comes later on the field, then the results may be irreversible and dangerously harmful for the long
term enterprise. The planning gap will begin to reveal the need for long term practices, like the
conflict transformation towards peace building combined with response to urgent humanitarian
suffering. The gap of the existing models will then show how a new approach could improve the
existing practices.

The sixth chapter will describe the Cosmopolitan Conflict Resolution and a more thorough
argumentation on why and how it should be adopted and spread. The objective will be to answer the
question whether the principles of the cosmopolitan conflict resolution can be applied in a planning
process. What are the major obstacles to this end? How does it differ from the existing practices?
How can it meet the requirements of planning for conflict resolution in the international arena? The
critique of the cosmopolitan approach will not be based only in the findings of the previous chapters
regarding planning but also, by examining the existing literature and argumentation (Ramsbotham
Oliver, 2011) (Ramsbotham, 2010) (Richmond, 2008) (Woodhouse, 1999b)). In the second section of
this chapter the study will examine some basic factors that characterise a crisis which will reveal the
weaknesses and the strengths of the cosmopolitan conflict resolution. For example, how can the
cosmopolitan approach be applied better in cases with cultural variation? How can it enhance a
transparency mechanism for determining and establishing breaches of international law, fact which
gives credibility and legitimacy to the intervention forces?

In the following seventh chapter, the aforementioned “Omicron Approach”, a new

recommended unifying idea and vision will be developed; it will continue the theoretical basis and
argumentation of the previous chapters and will develop a unified process for planning based on the
conclusions of the critique of the cosmopolitan conflict resolution.

Is a unified process for planning in the cosmopolitan conflict resolution feasible? How can the
“Omicron” approach unite the efforts and operationalise the cosmopolitan conflict resolution? The
9
(Murden, 2009)

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“UN Integrated Approach” and the “UN cluster approach” are a very important but seem still to be
limited. What are the implications of changing the philosophy of the decision making process to the
actual traditional planning steps and concepts?

Introducing the “Omicron” approach various questions and issues will be covered and
clarified. Why an open end “Sustainable Eurhythmy” versus the “End State”? Who, what, how,
when? The “Omicron” approach, as explained will be depicting and mapping the crisis or conflict
resolution on the internet, in a transparent and all inclusive way.

In the eighth chapter a case study / hypothetical example of the “Omicron” approach in a
real world crisis scenario and a template will be mapped and detailed. Finally, the aspiration is that the
“Omicron” approach is the way ahead, so an effort should be made on how it should be introduced,
communicated, comprehended, accepted, adopted, and improved by the international community. A
case study “crash test” is expected to expose the “O” approach to the real world and reveal or
confirm the inadequacies and shortfalls, or the areas where it really advances the resolution of the
conflict / crisis response.

The last ninth chapter will draw the conclusions. It will include an epilogue on the
“Omicron approach culture”, towards a new generation of crisis and conflict resolution and a new
cosmopolitan collective ownership of peace operations.

The Cosmopolitan Conflict Resolution approach is already in line with our beliefs and
conclusions and it should have been widely adopted in the discipline of conflict resolution, in order to
have a multipolar, safer and more just world, although this may be rejected as utopia, e.g. by the
realists. There have already been minor or incomplete existing attempts to merge the various models
or to operationalize the “comprehensive” approach. However, creating a truly holistic model seems to
have been assessed as too problematic or too ambitious.

The discipline however is very vast, so the focus of the research will be on the multipolar,
multi-actor and multi-agency cosmopolitan crisis and conflict resolution approach and will conclude
with the recommendation of the “Omicron approach” in planning. Indeed, the key issue for successful
implementation of the overall crisis and conflict cosmopolitan approach, is a transparent, “Open for
all” model, which can integrate any actor, local, regional, international, governmental or non-
governmental: any actor willing to act decisively in resolving the crisis or conflict, or any of the
“spoilers” or any social or other group affected directly by the initial or actual conflict.

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