Conflict Transformation

processes for social change

Lecture 11
Monday March 21 2011

PEACE ST 1A03: Introduction to Peace Studies

Dr Colin Salter, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

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The United States fired 110 [Tomahawk] missiles
[March 19], which adds up to a cost of around $81
million. That's twice the size of the annual budget of
USIP, which the House of Representatives wants to de-
fund, and is about 33 times the amount of money
National Public Radio receives in grants each year from
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which the
House of Representatives also wants to de-fund in the
name of austerity measures.
Abu Muqawama (2001)

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 Outline

• conflict as positive
• complex, not complicated
• sustained and respectful dialogue
• means and ends

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In a conflict there is, somewhere, a contradiction. And
in contradiction there is, somewhere, dynamism.

Johan Galtung (1996)

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 Conflict Transformation

A generic, comprehensive term referring to actions and

processes which seek to alter the various
characteristics and manifestations of conflict by
addressing the root causes of a particular conflict over
the long term.

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 Conflict Transformation

It aims to transform negative destructive conflict into

positive constructive conflict and deals with structural,
behavioural and attitudinal aspects of conflict. The term
refers to both the process and the completion of the
process.

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 Conflict Transformation

As such, it incorporates the activities of processes such

as Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution and goes
farther than Conflict Settlement or Conflict
Management.

Berghof-Handbook for Conflict Transformation (2004)

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Conflict transformation is... a process of engaging with
and transforming the relationships, interests, discourses
and, if necessary, the very constitution of society that
supports the continuation of violent conflict.
Hugh Miall (2004)

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...a positive approach to conflict (give the conflict a
positive emphasis, see it as an opportunity to meet an
opponent, as an opportunity to transform society and
as an opportunity to transform the self).
Thomas Weber (2001)

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...conflicts most often occur when basic human needs,
such as the need for physical security and well-being;
communal or cultural recognition, participation, and
control; and distributive justice are repeatedly denied,
threatened or frustrated, especially over long periods of
time.
Connie Peck (1998)

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 Aims and approaches

• Brings parties together

• Transform relationships

• Seeks positive outcomes

• Conflict transformation is Peacebuilding

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Encounter Point
Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha
(2006)

For 2 years, the Just Vision

crew followed the stories of
ordinary people who feel
driven to work for an end to
bloodshed and occupation in
favor of peace

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Robi Damelin
Instead of channeling it into revenge, the people in our
group have chosen another direction for their pain. The
pain breaks down barriers very quickly between
Palestinians and Israelis in the group. There's a sense of
trust. It's not hummus and hugs—it's much deeper than
that...

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 CT is not about

• management

• resolution

• identifying win-win outcomes

• imposing solutions

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...there is a great deal more to analysing conflicts than
identifying the key components: the parties and their
positions, relationships and so on.

Fisher et al (2000)

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Few of us recognise our own prejudices, and normally
we deny them, giving them what we deem valid reasons
for our feelings and behaviour.

Fisher et al (2000)

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[in a room in a large midwestern university] ‘There were two pictures on
the wall. One was a University baseball team from many years ago—22
white men wearing their team uniforms. The other a picture was of a
science lab class—14 students, 13 white men and 1 white women…

In total I had 35 white men and 1 white women on the walls of my room.

“This clearly tells me who’s in charge at this university,” I said to myself,

and it would probably send a message to many people of color and
white women who stayed in that room that they could expect to be
excluded from the culture of power in this institution.’
Paul Kivel (2002)

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...a positive approach to conflict (give the conflict a
positive emphasis, see it as an opportunity to meet an
opponent, as an opportunity to transform society and
as an opportunity to transform the self).
Thomas Weber (2001)

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How might we reconceptualize our conflict so that we
view ourselves as in it together and therefore getting
out of it together?
Jay Rothman (1996)

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The antagonist should be separated from the
antagonisms.

Thomas Weber (2001)

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 BabaKiueria

• Don Featherstone (1986)

• Satirical 30 minute film

• 1987 United Nations

Media Peace Prize

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 Summary

• Conflict as positive • Transforming

relationships
• Complex not
complicated • Mutual openness
• Dialogue as key

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 Exam

• 7pm Friday, April 15

• Buildings T28 & T29
• Multiple choice, short, and longer answer questions

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 Citations & further reading
Abu Muqawama (2011) ‘Fun Fact of the Day:Your Tax Dollars At Work’, Centre for a
New American Security, March 20.
http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/2011/03/fun-fact-day-your-tax-dollars-
work.html

Simon Fisher, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi, Jawed Ludin, Richard Smith, Steve Williams and
Sue Williams (2000) Working With Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action, New York:
Zed Books.

Paul Kivel (2002) Uprooting Racism—how white people can work for racial justice, New
Society Publishers.

Hugh Miall (2004) Conflict Transformation: a multi-dimensional task, Berghoff Research

Centre for Constructive Conflict Management. PDF available online at http://
www.berghof-handbook.net/uploads/download/miall_handbook.pdf

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 Citations & further reading
Connie Peck (1998) Sustainable Peace:The Role of the UN and Regional Organizations in
Preventing Conflict, New York: Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflicts.

Jay Rothman (1996) ‘Reflexive Dialogue as Transformation’, Mediation Quarterly,Vo

13, No 4: 345-352.

Various (2004) Berghof-Handbook for Conflict Transformation, Berghof Conflict

Research, available online at — http://www.berghof-handbook.net/ Various (2004)
Berghof-Handbook for Conflict Transformation, Berghof Conflict Research, available
online at — http://www.berghof-handbook.net/

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 Image sources
Peace flag, original source unknown.

Marc Riboud. Jan Rose Kasmir, protest against the Vietnam War outside the Pentagon, Arlington County,
Virginia, Saturday, 21 October, 1967 — http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Rose_Kasmir

Elisa Iannacone. As leaders of the G20 nations gathered in Toronto, Canada, protesters took to the streets
[caption]. ‘G20 summit protests in Toronto :Your pictures’, BBC News, 27 June 2010 — http:// www.bbc.co.uk/
news/10427404

‘The U.S. vs. John Lennon’ reproduced from Jürgen Fauth’s Muckworld — http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/02/14/the-
us-vs-john-lennon/

Emblem of the United Nations — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emblem_of_the_United_Nations.svg

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 Video sources
Teresa MacInnes (2003) Teaching Peace in a Time of War [trailer], National Film board of
Canada. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfiIT3QwJt4

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