冷戰結束後的第一個十年，國際關係當中的最主要特徵就是族群衝突的出現，不過卻顯然缺乏適當的理論可以解釋此一現象，更遑論其解決。雖然族群衝突並非嶄新現象，但是其發生頻率在整個90年代當中卻是最高，也因此衝擊到整個國際安全議程的設定，國際安全機構甚至主動介入其中，為族群衝突的解決找到了可能的方案。傳統國際關係當中的主流理論並無法適當地解釋這一現象，其他研究者所嘗試建構的族群衝突理論也多半將重心集中在分析衝突的起源，對於族群衝突的解決同樣無法提供有力的解釋。 有關族群衝突的起因或過程，已經存在許多的解釋，但是對於族群衝突解決的研究卻缺乏系統性的研究。本文主張，國際安全機構乃是可以用來解決族群衝突的一項良好的制度性工具。原因一方面在於國際安全機構本身就是國際社會成員為追求共同利益、降低交易成本所建構出來的制度產物，在其中必然涵蓋了解決衝突的規範和程序，特別是當族群衝突的發生已經影響到國際社會的共同利益，國際安全機構勢將依據制度啟動衝突解決。另一方面，族群衝突過程當中的暴力程度和缺乏互信狀態，也使得衝突各造難以自行尋找出可行的解決方案。根據衝突解決研究途徑來看，由擁有強制力量的國際安全機構出面改變衝突的結構，將因此為族群衝突的解決創造機會。換言之，以制度主義理論為經，解釋國際安全機構的動機；以衝突解決架構為緯，分析國際安全機構在解決族群衝突過程中的角色和功能，將能夠充分解釋國際安全機構介入並干預族群衝突這一現象。本文也將以發生在非洲和東歐的幾次重大族群衝突案例來進一步驗證此一論點。 / The main feature of international relations in the first decade after the Cold War is the burgeoning of ethnic conflicts. IR theorists soon find themselves uncomfortable while trying to explain the phenomenon, not even close to the ‘resolution’. Ethnic conflicts are apparently not new to this globe, but they happened everywhere and thereby dominated international security agenda-setting, especially in the 1990s. In the meantime, international security institutions actively intervened in those conflicts and settled some of them. This could not be explained by the traditional IR theories either. Those ethnic conflict theories focus most of the origins, are also incapable of offering good analysis. There is still in lack of systematic research about the resolution of ethnic conflicts. The thesis claim international security institutions are well-designed and institutionalized to settle ethnic conflicts for two reasons. Firstly, international security institutions are the product of international cooperation for common good and transaction-cost cutting. Conflict regulating mechanisms are always embedded in these institutions. These mechanisms will be automatically activated while regional (or international) security is seriously endangered. Secondly, bloody violence and antagonism makes the conflicting parties hard to find feasible solutions to end these conflicts. According to the conflict resolution approach, the ethnic conflicts could be settled when international security institutions taking initiative to change the structure of conflict. By taking both institutionalism theory and conflict resolution approach as an analytical scheme, the thesis will not only explain the motives for international security institutions’ intervention, but also analyze the roles that international security institutions can play during the conflict process. Four case studies followed will be further explored to testify this hypothesis.