Editing Peace process (section)

==Definitions==
Prior to an armed conflict occurring, peace processes can include the prevention of an intrastate or inter-state dispute from escalating into military conflict. The [[United Nations Department of Peace Operations]] (UNDPO) terms the prevention of disputes from escalating into armed conflicts as ''conflict prevention''.<ref name="UN_peace_process_definitions" /> In 2007, the United Nations Secretary-General's Policy Committee classed both initial prevention of an armed conflict and prevention of the repeat of a solved conflict as [[peacebuilding]].<ref name="UNSecGenPolicyCommittee_2007" />

For peace processes to resolve an armed conflict, [[Izumi Wakugawa]], advisor to the Japan-based [[International Peace Cooperation Program]], suggests a definition of a peace process as "a mixture of politics, diplomacy, changing relationships, negotiation, mediation, and dialogue in both official and unofficial arenas", which he attributes to [[Harold H. Saunders]] of the [[United States Institute of Peace]] (USIP). Wakugawa categorises these processes into two stages: the ceasing of armed conflict and the processes of sociological reorganisation.<ref name="Wakugawa_defn_peace_process" />

===Ceasing of armed conflict===
Non-military processes for stopping an armed conflict stage are generally classed as [[peacemaking]]. Military methods by globally organised military forces of stopping a local armed conflict are typically classed as [[peace enforcement]].<ref name="UN_peace_process_definitions" />

===Reorganisation===
The prevention of the repeat of a solved conflict (as well as the preventing of an armed conflict from occurring at all) is usually classed as [[peacebuilding]].<ref name="UNSecGenPolicyCommittee_2007" /> UNDPO defines peacebuilding to include "measures [that] address core issues that effect the functioning of society and the State".<ref name="UN_peace_process_definitions" /> The use of neutral military forces to sustain ceasefires during this phase, typically by [[List of United Nations peacekeeping missions|United Nations peacekeeping forces]], can be referred to as [[peacekeeping]].<ref name="UN_peacekeeping" />

===Overlapping definitions===
The terms ''peacemaking'', ''peacekeeping'' and ''peacebuilding'' tend to be used broadly, with their meanings defined in terms of the phases of various peace process mechanisms blurring and overlapping in practice.<ref name="Wakugawa_defn_peace_process" /><ref name="UN_peace_process_definitions" />