Transnational Conflicts
We strive to understand the transformation of large-scale
destructive conflicts involving non-governmental
organizations as well as governments. We analyze and
assess conflict resolution applications by partisans and by
intermediaries at the many stages of a conflict's course.
This includes attention to Track Two diplomacy,
peacekeeping, transitions away from the use of violence,
processes of negotiation and mediation and the global
context of particular conflicts. We help formulate
practices and policies for various actors to help prevent,
limit, reduce, and recover from destructive conflicts.
Constructive Transformation: Studying
Cases of Political Incorporation
Civil war
and other kinds of violent internal strife often end only
when one side achieves victory over the other by use of
force. Often these victories, if they come at all, come only
after years of violence and bloodshed. Rarely do they result
in the kinds of integrated socio-economic systems that are
crucial to building lasting peace, especially where ethnic,
cultural, or other identity-based differences are at the
heart of the conflict. There are, however, instances where
the parties to such conflicts decide to constructively
engage with each other through negotiation, third party
mediation, or other kinds of de-escalatory techniques,
sometimes alone, sometimes together, and sometimes with the
help of an external third-party. In these instances, which
include the ANC’s rise to political power in South Africa,
the moderation of the Renamo rebel group in
Mozambique, and the incorporation
of the FMLN into the political process in El Salvador, the
groups that had challenged state actors through violent
means shifted their tactics toward less violent means of
waging their struggle.
The Program
on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts and the Moynihan
Institute of Global Affairs have initiated a project to
investigate these ‘constructive transformations.’ We are
interested in when, why, and how
violent opposition movements and those they are challenging,
take steps towards peaceful political incorporation. We are
particularly interested in mapping: 1) the processes
and dynamics that lead groups that are challenging existing
power structures to engage in violent struggle, 2) the
processes and dynamics that contribute to the de-escalation
of violent struggle and the participation of challengers in
peaceful political activities, 3) the dynamics that sustain
and nurture this transformation. To investigate these
processes and dynamics we have developed a comparative case
study methodology that can be applied to a cross section of
cases from the recent and not-so-recent past. The resulting
edited volume will provide a conceptual overview to the
process of constructive transformation, an empirical
framework for conducting analyses of this process, a set of
cases that are analyzed using the framework, and a review of
the lessons-learned from these cases. Our goal is to have a
completed manuscript ready for publication in early 2008.
PARC Faculty Research Associates in the Area of Transnational Conflicts
James
Bennett
Thomas
Boudreau
Stuart
Brown
Bruce
Dayton
Gavan
Duffy
Louis
Kriesberg
John
Mathiason
Terrell
Northrup
Deborah
Pellow
Robert
Rubinstein
Stuart
Thorson
PARC Ph.D.
Student Associates in the Area of Transnational Conflicts
Bertha Kadenyi Amisi,
Political Science
Jesse D. Lecy,
Social Science
Gearoid Millar,
Social Science
Hannah Allerdice,
Political Science
 |
2006.
Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to
Resolution. 3rd Edition.
By Louis Kriesberg. Kumarian Press. |
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