Book Review: Third Generation Early Warning

I’ve been invited by the Foundation for Co-Existence (FCE) to review their new book entitled “Third Generation Early Warning,” edited by Kumar Rupesinghe. I gladly accepted and thought I’d blog my review chapter by chapter as each is filled with rich content.

Overall, this book is a very much-needed contribution to the field of conflict early warning and I fully congratulate the editor along with the authors for having produced the first book on third generation early warning systems. Thank you. Your addition to the discourse and literature on conflict early warning is simply invaluable. Many thanks as well for your reference to my work and this blog in particular.

What follows then is meant as constructive criticism. Rupesinghe and colleagues have done the hard work; criticizing is always the easy. To this end, my comments on the individual chapters below are meant to invite further conversation and thus maintain the important momentum established by the publication of this book. Note that links below will be added in sequence as I work through my review

• Introduction

• Chapter 1: The Background of the Conflict and the Role of FCE

• Chapter 2: Three Generations of Early Warning: Challenges and Future Directions

• Chapter 3: An Overview of Early Warning and Its Three Generations

• Chapter 4: FCE’s Early Warning and Early Response System

• Chapter 5: Theoretical Justifications for FCE’s Early Warning and Early Response System

• Chapter 6: Dynamics of Social Identities, Relationships for Conflict Prevention

• Chapter 7: A Case Study: Ethnic Violence in Kattankudy and Eravoor 2008

• Chapter 8: Foundation for Co-Existence’s Human Security Program

• Chapter 9: FCE’s Early Warning System and Its Applicability to Other Countries