Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

Conclusion, Frank O. Blechman

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

We, the editors of this Issue, began by saying that both the concept of conflict resolution and social justice are used in multiple ways. We noted that some forms or definitions of each seemed to exclude the other.

Exploring Deeper Wisdoms Of Mediation: Notes From The Edge, Margaret S. Herrman

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

Mediation draws many people into the field of conflict resolution with a promise of rewards like an income stream added to an existing professional practice or agreements pulled from the fires of bitterness and frustration. But for Jim Laue there was more. As a consummate mediator, Jim was equally comfortable mediating technically complex regional disputes, potentially explosive community disputes, and emotionally charged interpersonal disputes. His career began years before a well defined field existed. He came to this work as did others of his and the next generation, determined to address issues of social justice. His mediations during the …

On Advancing Truth And Morality In Conflict Resolution, Louis Kriesberg

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The editors of this special issue have articulated many dilemmas facing workers in the fields of conflict analysis and resolution. One way they characterize the difficulties, described by Arthur Koestler , is balancing between spiritually-directed, but socially ineffective activism like that of a Yogi or acting like a Commissar disregarding the means used in order to achieve desirable socioeconomic transformations. This matter is often argued . Some people assert that a wellmeaning person's actions often result in undesired effects, while the person ready to act brutally provides widespread benefits. On the other hand, others argue that acting harshly in …

Cultural Pluralism, Social Justice, Peter W. Black, Kevin Avruch

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

Jim Laue was a major figure in conflict resolution and he is sorely missed. His absence is particularly regretted because his was a strong voice in discussions over the ethical dimension of conflict resolution, arguing eloquently and passionately in favor of a self-consciously ethical theory and practice of conflict resolution. Sometime colleagues of Laue, our work over the last decade has argued equally passionately (if not as eloquently) in behalf of a self-consciously cultural theory and practice of conflict resolution, (see Avruch and Black 1987, 1991, 1993; Black and Avruch 1989, 1993).

History Held Hostage: Learned Lesson From The Conflict Over The Smithsonian Institute Enola Gay Exhibit, Brian Polkinghorn

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

This paper presents findings from a two year field research project focusing on the public conflict that erupted over the Enola Gay exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). This conflict did not end with people reaching consensus, ceremoniously signing documents, shaking hands and piling accolades upon one another for solving a serious problem. It can more accurately be described as a stalemate and ultimately a lose-lose proposition even in light of the many opportunities that arose that could have produced at least a partial if not total agreement. The reason for studying this "failed" public conflict …

A Comprehensive Mapping Of Conflict And Conflict Resolution: A Three Pillar Approach, Dennis J. D. Sandole

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

As I contemplate the rise worldwide in intrastate (in contrast to interstate) conflicts (see, e.g., van Creveld, 1991 and K. Holsti, 1996), leading to Yugoslavian and Rwandan-type situations, I sense the need to do something about them. As Rousseau has said, "wars occur because there is nothing to prevent them" (cited in Waltz, 1959, p. 232). And quite frankly, there are few, if any, mechanisms worldwide relevant to staving off a future Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and the like (see Lund, 1996): witness the unfolding of the violent Albanian-Serbian conflict in Kosovo into a possible, wider Balkan war (see, e.g., …

Conflict, Intervention And The Decline Of The Developing State, Earl Conteh-Morgan

Peace and Conflict Studies

The contemporary international system is characterized by change and continuity in fundamental socio-political processes and economic relationships that constitute the foundation on which state and non-state interactions unfold. In particular, post-Cold War fin de siècle international politics, rather than producing a new era of global peace, economic prosperity, and symmetrical interdependence, is instead characterized by a widening scope and intensity of geopolitical fluidity and socio-economic effervescence which tend either to (1) undermine state sovereignty, (2) assail human rights practices, or (3) impel the key actors (great powers and major international organizations) of the international system to adopt a foreign policy …

Group Identity And Individual Autonomy Within Liberal Democracies: In Search Of Guidelines, Marlies Galenkamp

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

As a result of the arrival of migrants and refugees over the last few years, most Western European societies have become multicultural societies. The conceptions of the good and the ways of life of ethnic minorities are sometimes at odds with the dominant ones, for example the so-called hijab-affair or the discussion within the Netherlands on the admissibility of female circumcision. Recently there has been significant coverage in the Dutch media concerning two other issues: the wearing of a turban by a Sikh in the Amstelhotel in Amsterdam in pursuance of his job as a cleaner and the …

Can There Be A Just Resolution Of Conflict?, Dov Ronen

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

I may have first thought about "just resolution of conflict" when I was a student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem many years ago. Those days I often heard on the radio--there was no TV in Israel at the time--and read about King Hussein's repeated calls for a "just and lasting Peace" in the Middle East. I have also noticed over the years that the same slogan has been repeated, not only by King Hussein, but also by other prominent and less prominent leaders in regard to other conflicts.⁽¹⁾ The notion of just resolution of conflict has attracted …

Global Environment Conflict In The Postcold War Era: Linkage To An Extended Paradigm, Michelle Zebich-Knos

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The end of the Cold War era has opened a Pandora's Box of environmental concerns that, heretofore, took a back seat to superpower struggles. Today, conflict is no longer played out within a Cold War conceptual framework. Imperfect, and at times, inconsistent as the Cold War framework was, it nevertheless provided decision makers with a recipe for action--or inaction. Since conflict is no longer structured within this framework, the two former superpowers --the United States and Russia--no longer possess clear yardsticks for action. With superpower interference in "proxy" conflict(s) no longer the definitive factor in the international arena, I …

Aggressivity And Violence: An Alternative Theory Of Human Nature, Mary E. Clark

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

I open by clarifying the term "aggression" which is used in many contexts besides the one I am discussing (e.g. "the aggressive treatment of disease," or "the aggression of a predatory hunter," etc.). I restrict it to "intentional acts of violence meant to hurt one another, physically or psychologically."

Facilitation And Mediation In South Africa: Three Case Studies, Hendrik W. Van Der Merwe

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

In this paper I discuss three case studies of facilitation and mediation in South Africa: 1) facilitation between the South African apartheid establishment and the African National Congress in exile from 1963 to 1989; 2) facilitation that eventually led to mediation between Inkatha and the United Democratic Front in Natal over 10 months from 1985 to 1986; and 3)mediation between the African National Congress and the Afrikaner Freedom Foundation (Afrikaner Vryheidstigting, also known as Avstig) over 18 months from 1991 to 1993.

Mediation And Multicultural Reality, Michelle Lebaron

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

Mediation and multiculturalism arise from separate histories and serve different ends. Mediation is a collaborative alternative to the legal system for resolving all kinds of conflicts. Multiculturalism is the philosophy and practice of honouring cultural difference through developing systems that institutionalize pluralism (Roberts and Clifton, 1990). While each of these ideas have animated programs and literatures, little attention was given to the connections between them until the early nineties.¹ Since that time, conflict resolution systems and processes have been scrutinized for embedded cultural values and implications for who is included and excluded. Training programs in mediation have progressed …

Conflict Resolution: Towards Problem Solving, John W. Burton

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

From earliest times human societies, like those which proceeded them, have been subject to rule by the relatively strong. In contemporary legal terms there have been "those who have a right to rule, and others who have an obligation to obey." Feudal societies, then industrial societies, had structures that reflected these we-they relationships based on relative power.

Ethnic Boundaries And The Margins Of The Margin, Bent D. Jφrgenson

Peace and Conflict Studies

The theme of this paper is on one of the most elementary questions in the study of ethnicity and nationalism, namely how to approach and assess ethnic boundaries'. Should we perceive them as an advantageous or a pernicious tool in politics? To answer that question, we need a reference point; advantageous or pernicious in relation to whom? I will here use those people(-s) who are so marginalized that their voices are practically silenced, and the way in which the political reconstruction, conversion, or deconstruction of ethnic boundaries is favorable or not to them; the margins of the margin. Do ethnic …

Peacemaking Through Nonviolence, Michael N. Nagler

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

Somalia, Rwanda and what was once Yugoslavia reveal the shocking inadequacies of the 'security regime' of our post-cold-war world. One response to these disasters has been to field more UN Peacekeeping operations; more operations were mounted in the four years between 1988-1992 than the previous forty. Yet, as we all know, this development was far from adequate, and in the end has brought the whole idea of UN peacekeeping into question. NATO head John Shalikashvili said early in 1992, "the days of pristine peacekeeping as we have understood it for years are probably over" (Shalikashvili, 1993). His solution was …

Transitions To Democratic Constitutions In Ethnic Conflicts, Tore Nyhamar

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

This article discusses the preconditions for settling ethnic conflict through a constitutional compromise: democracy. The focus is on the conditions for transition to democracy amidst intense ethnic strife. What factors facilitate transition to democracy and what factors are obstacles? It is assumed that the attitude of social groups to democracy is determined by their leaders' rational calculations of the prospects of social, economical and political benefits. In other words, social groups have the capacity to formulate collective interests and act strategically to further them, and their leaders choose the alternative path of action with the highest expected benefits among …

Securitised Ethnic Identities And Communal Conflicts, Tarja Väyrynen

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The paper is inspired by Ernesto Laclau's (1996, p. 46) observation of the terrain into which history has thrown us. The terrain is characterised by: [...] the multiplication of new--and not so new--identities as a result of the collapse of the places from which the universal subject spoke--explosion of ethnic and national identities in Eastern Europe and in the territories of the former USSR, struggles of immigrant groups in Western Europe, new forms of multicultural protest and self-assertion in the U.S., to which we have to add the gamut of forms of contestation associated with the new social movements.

The Two Faces Of Peace Building, Michael Harbottle, Eirwen Harbottle

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

Terminology, if not precisely defined, can lead to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. This has been the case in the way in which the United Nations has been using peacemaking, peacekeeping and, more recently, peacebuilding. Agenda for Peace, produced by the UN Secretary General in 1992 suffers from some ambiguity in this respect. For example, it refers to the military performing a peacemaking role. The military cannot make peace, that is the role of the diplomat or politician. All that the military can do is to allay, defuse and help to end the manifest violence so that the peacemaking process can …

Field Diplomacy: A New Conflict Prevention Paradigm?, Luc Reychler

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

One of the most important challenges facing the global community in the next decade, is the prevention of destructive conflicts. Listening to the discourse in the United Nations and other governmental and non governmental organizations this may sound like kicking in wide open doors (Bauwens and Reychler, 1994). But the failure of conflict prevention and the high number of conflict zones, indicates that we still have a long way to go. A global survey of contemporary conflicts counts 22 high-intensity and 39 lowerintensity conflicts, and 40 serious disputes (PIOOM, 1995). In 1995 five groups were victims of genocides or …

Peace Building And Conflict Transformation, Kevin Clements

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The world clearly needs some new ways of thinking about old problems and new ways of acting if we are going to survive into the 21st century. It is vital, therefore, that students of peace and conflict work out ways of harnessing the creative imagination of everyone so that all peoples can envisage a positive future and ways of realizing that future. This imagining cannot be narrow. It has to be broad, inclusive, interdisciplinary and systemic but it has to begin if we are to have a viable future.

Nonviolent Interposition In Armed Conflicts, Alberto L'Abate

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

In 1931 Gandhi spoke of the possibility of overcoming violent conflicts with "a living wall of men and women" who would interpose themselves between conflicting parties without any other weapons than themselves (Weber, 1988). Some students of nonviolent intervention have written histories of interpositionary experiences from Gandhi's first idea until recent years (Keyes, 1978; Weber, 1988; Walker, 1981; L'Abate, 1993a). Maybe it is time to try an evaluation of these types of interventions.1

Introduction, Elise Boulding

Peace and Conflict Studies

Excerpt

The papers brought together here represent a part of the work of the IPRA (International Peace Research Association) Commission on Conflict Resolution and Peace Building that met during the 1994 Conference of the International Peace Research Association at Malta to address the issues of peace building in crisis areas. The focus here is particularly on new approaches to peace building, including United Nations reform and civil society innovation. After fifty years of UN peace building efforts, it is clear that the UN cannot function effectively without the involvement of civil society in each conflict region. How the UN, member …

Social Cubism: Six Social Forces Of Ethnoterritorial Politics In Northern Ireland And Quebec, Sean Byrne, Neal Carter

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Towards A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, Ramesh Thakur

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Un Military Demands And Non-Offensive Defensive Security Humanitarian Intervention And Peace Operations, Bjφrn Mφller

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Conflict-Mitigation In Reconstruction And Development, Jan Øberg

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Reasons For Illegalization Of Nuclear Weapons, Takashi Hiraoka

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Reasons For Illegalization Of Nuclear Weapons, Takashi Hiraoka

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

The United Nations At Fiftysomething: Challenges And Dilemmas In The Post-Cold War Era, Martin Martin Rochester

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.