(Director of the School for a Culture of Peace, UAB)

It is a demonstrable fact that many conflicts in which peace processes are present experience in a standstill their negotiations. The years pass and the nature of the conflict remains the same without the mechanisms for dialogue producing any progress. This standstill is more obvious in conflicts where a ceasefire has been achieved and, therefore, there is no significant violence or confrontation, which raises the question as to whether it is precisely the absence of violence with its consequent loss of media news; that is the reason or one of the reasons for the standstill. In order to analyse this question I have concentrated on five conflicts with these characteristics: Western Sahara, Cyprus, Moldavia (Transdniestria), Armenia-Azerbaijan (Nagorno Karabakh) and Georgia (Abjasia), all of which are affected by territorial problems and four of which are seeking forms of self-government.