Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

Editor’S Reflections: Peacemaking Among Helping Parties, Honggang Yang

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

I would like to take this opportunity to initiate a dialogue over some issues of conflict management among ourselves as third parties or helping professionals. The challenges of managing interpersonal conflicts or performing internal peacemaking are as real and relevant as the challenges of our professional undertaking in handling “outside” disputes. While recognizing there are no ready formulae to address these challenges, I invite you to join in the open-minded dialogues to examine expectations and premises often assumed among helping professionals in the fields.

The Prospect Of Multi-Level Voting In Post-Peace Accord Northern Ireland, Roger Mac Ginty

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article reviews the possibility of multi-level voting in Northern Ireland in the wake of the 1998 peace accord. Post-peace accord elections can act as powerful indicators of the fate of a peace. Using Reif and Schmitt’s framework of second-order elections, it finds some evidence of varying electoral behaviour according to the electoral arena. The article also uses original data from a major opinion survey to assess public attitudes towards the suite of governing institutions with powers in or over a devolved Northern Ireland. The evidence of multi-level voting is limited and does not extend to electors abandoning ethnic voting …

Volume 10, Number 2 (Fall 2003), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Artistic Processes In Peace-Building In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Craig Zelizer

Peace and Conflict Studies

Throughout the world, community arts-based processes have become an essential component of peacebuilding work in societies experiencing severe conflicts. Both during a conflict and in post-conflict peacebuilding efforts, community based arts processes can be an especially effective tool to bring together identity groups through sharing common cultural experiences, raising awareness about past suffering, and engaging communities in creative projects. In this research project, the author spent fourteen months in Bosnia-Herzegovina researching the use of community arts-based peacebuilding efforts both during the war and in the post-conflict stage. This paper provides an overview of the research and offers several conclusions on …

Back Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Public Affairs Television And Third Party Roles: The Nightline Debates In South Africa (1985) And Israel (1988), Johannes Botes

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper examines the strategies, tactics and tasks of a media moderator during television debates regarding deep-rooted conflicts, as well as the overall intended and unintended roles and effects of these broadcasts. Two case studies—the Nightline (ABC-TV) broadcasts from South Africa (1985) and Israel (1988)—are examined by comparing the actions of a public affairs television moderator to conventional third party intervenors, as defined in conflict resolution literature. In the process the paper presents research regarding the manifest tactics and latent roles demonstrated by a television moderator and the manner in which these activities can be compared to the tasks of …

Policy-Making And Connections To Violence: A Case Study Of India, Marie Olson Lounsbery, Frederic S. Pearson

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper explores the role of identity-based, or discriminatory, policy in facilitating the outbreak of ethnopolitical violence in India. A discriminatory policy is the merging of communal group identity with the state apparatus. It is argued that as the Indian government enacts policies beneficial or discriminatory to particular identity groups within the country, other groups feel threatened. Groups who feel disadvantaged by the policy may begin to fear for their own security and political interests motivating them to rebel. When focusing on Indian policy and ethnopolitical violence during the period 1945 to 2000, the authors find that, although there are …

10th Anniversary Compendium Of Peace And Conflict Studies Authors And Topics, Joshia Osamba

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Call To Action To Elders Worldwide: The Need To Highlight Their Abilities, Wisdom, And Compassion As Citizen Diplomats, And Leaders For Social Change, Florence Ross

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

Kofi Annan (1999), the Secretary-General of the United Nations, noted that, “A Society for All Ages is one that sees elders as both agents and beneficiaries of development. It honors traditional elders in their leadership and consultative role in communities throughout the world.” Older persons are among the world resources most often unseen and overlooked. It therefore becomes necessary to raise the consciousness of older people to their changing role in American and global societies to ensure fulfillment in their eldering years. Prior prejudice against elders has prevented inclusion of their enormous potential, of their accumulated experience and wisdom. …

Virulent Ethnocentrism And Conflict Intractability: Puzzles And Challenges For 3rd Party Intervenors, Dennis J. D. Sandole

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article addresses complex identity-based conflicts, such as those associated with the ending of the Cold War (e.g., Bosnia). It suggests that in many identity-based conflicts, historical memories of outrage and victimhood ("chosen traumas") have persevered across centuries, thereby keeping the conflicting parties "in history." The paper examines the role of virulent ethnocentrism in such intractable conflicts. It also examines the role of "nature" and "nurture" in embedding the universal tendency for humans to divide their species into "them" and "us" within a highly charged emotional context. The paper argues that the complexity of these conflicts has at least four …

The Religion Of War And Peace: Better Understanding Of International Conflict, Armand Abecassis

Peace and Conflict Studies

PEACE: Is peace the cessation of war? The Binary Logic, The History: War is organized and collective, War is a balance of strengths. Can politics alone create a foundation of peace? Is peace only security? WAR: Is the difference the cause of violence? War is linked to living together as a social group. War: Is the hidden threat in the differences between the nations? War:”Is the midwife of societies”.The problem of terrorism: Is peace the obliteration of the differences? THE MEADING OF CONFLICTS: The conflict is permanent and necessary. Peace is not a cessation of conflict. Peace exists only with, …

Intergroup Conflict Reduction Through Identity Affirmation: Overcoming The Image Of The Ethnic Or Enemy “Other”, Thomas Boudreau

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper first argues that a conflict between groups can be lessened by the explicit affirmation by one group of the other group’s identity, including its past pain, defeats and collective losses, when appropriate. A model of group affirmation is then proposed, consisting of: Leadership, Recognition, Validation and the Transparency of Future Time. The groups involved can be ethnic or national in scope. This model is defined in terms of another possible ARIA model to be added to the one already proposed, though quite different in content, by Jay Rothman (1997). Limitations concerning the use of this model are discussed …

Back Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Volume 10, Number 1 (Spring 2003), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Conflict Resolution: Matching Problems And Solutions, Andrea Talentino

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper addresses international conflict resolution and the disparity between the number of attempts at resolution and the number of successes. It argues that one flaw in efforts thus far has been a lack of understanding of local actors and motivations, leading to ineffective strategies for resolution. In regions where conflict crosses borders, contributes to the trend of politics, and involves mercenary sub-state actors, traditional methods of resolution may be ineffective. Purveyors of violence have little interest in the power-sharing and consensual politics that international actors often try to promote. They also have significant and negative effects on regional stability. …

Reframing Involuntary Population Displacement And Resettlement—The Case Of The Palestinian Refugees: Causes, Consequences, And Prospects For An Impoverishment Process Reversal, Ariella Vraneski

Peace and Conflict Studies

The Palestinian refugees issue is at the core of the Arab-Israeli multi-faceted conflict. This paper relies on a study which investigated the multi-level complexity of the Palestinian refugees case to identify the causes and consequences, and some prospects for its resolution. The study analyzed and compared frames and narratives used by the different parties at several stages of the investigated case, and also integrated lessons from two kinds of involuntary migration. During the Israeli/ Arab peace process, a transformation from exclusionary narratives and one dimensional “either/ or” solutions into a multi-optional synergistic environment was evident. The parties’ frames changed again …

The Prevention Of Armed Conflicts As An Emerging Norm In International Conflict Management: The Osce And The Un As Norm Leaders, Alice Ackermann

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article explores the emergence of conflict prevention as an emerging norm in international conflict management. In particular, it examines the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations as primary actors in the construction and promotion of conflict prevention as an international norm. The article describes some of the major instruments that both organizations have already developed to implement the prevention of armed conflict on a more consistent rather than ad hoc basis. The article traces the emergent norm of conflict prevention through three stages—the awarenessraising and advocacy stage; the acceptance and …

Front Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Volume 9, Number 2 (December 2002), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Back Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

The Determinants Of Lebanese Attitudes Toward Palestinian Resettlement: An Analysis Of Survey Data, Simon Haddad

Peace and Conflict Studies

A principal goal of this study has been to assess the impact of social distance on attitudes towards Palestinian resettlement using comprehensive cross-cultural survey research. The results are clear and consistent for all Lebanese sub-groups. Social distance is a significant predictor of attitudes toward resettlement for all six sub-groups examined. Specifically, social distance is inversely and consistently associated with unfavorable attitudes toward the prospect of the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. These findings indicate on one hand, that the majority of Sunnis and Druze respondents endorse communal ties with Palestinians and approve their permanent economic, social and political …

Constructive Storytelling: A Peace Process, Jessica Senehi

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

These lines were written by Robert Desnos, a leading poet of the French surrealist movement. Surrealism was an artistic movement of 1924−1936 which valued the imagination, plumbing the wisdom of the unconscious, and a creativity unfettered by reason and convention. Desnos was known for his agile imagination and his experimental style. He was also a journalist, produced radio shows, and wrote advertising jingles.

The Emperor Needs New Clothes: Securitizing Threats In The Twenty-First Century, Volker Franke

Peace and Conflict Studies

The terrorist attacks of September 11 brought to a head change that had been underway since the end of the Cold War in how we think about security: (1) there is no longer consensus about who or what constitutes the “enemy”; (2) Realism as the dominating paradigm for studying international relations is collapsing; (3) domestic factors are gaining importance for devising security policies; and (4) with increasing globalization these domestic factors attain impact beyond national borders. In this article, I examine the nature of these developments and illustrate that the concept of security is often misapplied for political gain and/or …

Exploring The Relevance And Contribution Of Mediation To Peace-Building, Jacob Bercovitch, Ayse Kadayifci

Peace and Conflict Studies

The paper considers the nature and characteristics of peace-building as an approach to conflict. It suggests that mediation should be seen as a particularly important aspect of peace-building efforts, and one that may be used at different phases of a conflict. The paper develops a framework for analyzing the circumstances under which mediation may contribute to peace-building. The framework lays emphasis on contextual and perceptual dimensions. The paper argues that mediation, properly utilized, can achieve not just a settlement of a conflict, but facilitate, in the longer run, a full transformation of relations. Any successful program of peace-building requires some …

Environmental Work And Peace Work: The Palestinian-Israeli Case, Julia Chaitin, Fida Obeidi, Sami Adwan, Dan Bar-On

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper, based on a larger study that was carried out by a joint Palestinian – Israeli research team before and during the Al Aqsa Intifada, examines Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have worked on joint environmental projects. We focus here on three jointly run Palestinian – Israeli NGOs, 16 Israeli organizations and 12 Palestinian organizations that engaged in cooperative work, looking at the kind of work they did, their perceptions of the causes of environmental damage and its connection to the conflict, their perceptions of the roles of NGOs within their societies, and obstacles encountered in cooperative …

Front Matter, Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

A Journey Into The Future: Imagining A Nonviolent World, Elise Boulding

Peace and Conflict Studies

The inspiration for this essay came to me after a daylong workshop on Imagining a Nonviolent World which I offered for prisoners at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk on a wintry Saturday morning. This type of imaging workshop first evolved in the late 1970s, as I began to realize that we peace activists, working to bring about a nonviolent world without war, really had no idea how a world in which armies had disappeared would function. How could we work to bring about something we could not even see in our imaginations? Stepping back into the 1950s in my …

The Role Of Faith In Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution, Abdul Aziz Said, Nathan C. Funk

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

When we speak of the role of faith in cross-cultural conflict resolution, our challenge is to honor the diversity of the world’s humanistic and spiritual traditions while seeking common ground among them. What we aspire towards, in other words, is an agenda for research, dialogue and activism that is global in conception and responsive to common challenges of peacemaking and coexistence within and among the world’s many traditions. It is no longer sufficient for transnational peace agendas to be defined primarily by the cultural experiences and perceived security threats of a particular nation or culture. We need new frameworks …

Beyond Resolution: What Does Conflict Transformation Actually Transform?, Christopher Mitchell

Peace and Conflict Studies

The paper considers the concept of ‘conflict transformation’ in relation to earlier ideas concerning the ‘resolution’ of conflict and seeks to differentiate between the two approaches. Writers and writings from the conflict transformation ‘school’ are surveyed and an effort is made to delineate the core characteristics of the approach, viewed either as a process or an end state. Questions are raised about transformation on a personal, group or conflict system level, all of which seem to be encompassed by various adherents of the transformation school, and the unifying concept that emerges is that of the relationship between adversaries being transformed …