Research Projects
Project on Spoilers of Peace (SOP)
A Research Initiative on Intra-state Conflict and the Dilemmas of Peacemaking- Project Leaders: Bruce Dayton, Associate Director, Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs and Miriam F. Elman, Associate Professor, Political Science.
The successful de-escalation of violent intrastate conflicts often requires efforts to accommodate, defeat, sideline, or undermine those that adopt ‘spoiling’ tactics during the course of peacebuilding initiatives. Spoiling behavior includes the use of coercive tactics in an effort to strengthen the hand of hardliners on each side of the conflict. By staging spectacular attacks, assassinations, or other forms of violent expression, spoilers often succeed in outraging citizens, sidelining moderates, and further exacerbating the insecurity, fear, and hatred felt on both sides of the conflict. Leaders that succumb to spoiling behavior often hold the representative of the group they are negotiating with responsible for the actions of its violent affiliates. Alternately, spoiling tactics may also include the use nonviolent methods- such as pulling out of, or refusing to join, a government coalition committed to peacemaking, thereby prolonging conflict even when the majority of the population prefers peace. This research project uses a structured-focused comparative case study methodology to examine cases of spoiling activity. In addition, the project sponsored a visiting speaker series across the 2009-10 academic year.
In 2009-2010, faculty and graduate student researchers met monthly to discuss specific readings on spoiler-related topics. Each student in the group submitted a case study on an instance of spoiling behavior that has occurred during a specific phase of a particular peace process. In writing their case studies, students used a structure-focused comparison template to facilitate cross-case comparison. The current bank of case studies can be found here. The project also funded a visiting speaker series across the academic year bringing three external speakers to campus. Each visitor gave a public talk and interacted with students and faculty in the group about spoiling dynamics.
On Thursday, October 15, 2009 Marie-Joëlle Zahar, Associate Professor of Political Science Research Director, Francophone Peace Operations Network Centre for International Research and Studies for International Research and Studies Université de Montréal gave a lecture titled, “Intervening to Build Peace? Peacebuilding Strategies and Violence in War-to-Peace Transitions.” Click here to view this presentation.
On Monday, October 26, 2009 Veronica Dudouet, Senior Researcher at Berghof Conflict Research gave a lecture titled: "Roles and Perspectives of Non-State Armed Groups in Post-War Security Transition." This lecture was funded and co-sponsored by the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.
On Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Caroline A. Hartzell, Professor of Political Science at Gettysburg College presented a lecture titled: "Negotiate or ‘Let it Burn’? Deconstructing Arguments Regarding the ‘Best’ Way to End Civil Wars." To view this lecture click here.
In 2010-2011, the project directors met with Judith Burdin Asuni of USIP to discuss possibilities for external funding and an application for funding was submitted to the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies in April 2011. The directors worked over the summer with student cohorts and the revised case studies have been placed on the E-PARCC website. The project also sponsored a visiting speaker in February 2011.
On Thursday, February 10, 2011 Daniel Bar-Tal, the Branco Weiss Professor of Research in Child Development and Education at Tel Aviv University presented a lecture titled: "Involvement and Institutionalization of a Culture of Conflict." Professor Bar-Tal also met individually with the Spoilers of Peace work program during his visit.
The project continues to work on revising student case studies to be published on the E-PARCC website. The directors also plan to work on a co-authored review essay of the literature on spoiling and peacemaking.
Links:
Spoilers Project Bibliography
Student produced Case Studies
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.
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.
PARCC, in association with The Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs are involved in 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. Our efforts have resulted in the edited volume, “Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding: Moving from Violence to Sustainable Peace,” which was co-authored by Bruce W. Dayton and Louis Kriesberg and published by Routledge in 2009. The book provides 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.
Memories of Violence and the Rhetoric of Commemoration at Ground Zero
The purpose of this research is to analyze various public debates and conflicts over how best to design memorial structures and revitalize communal space in the wake of September 11, 2001.
Research, including interviews with officials and observations of rebuilding progress were conducted at the site of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan for the purpose of studying how communities and institutions commemorate the past in order to overcome periods of violence and conflict. In addition, textual data relating to the rebuilding efforts (such as publicity materials pertaining to construction and urban design) were analyzed. The study’s results will be presented in the monograph-length for publication in an interdisciplinary journal that features work on the politics of community memory and historical conflict (such as Memory Studies).
Bradford Vivian, Communication and Rhetorical Studies