CHAPTER 2

Conflict Resolution: Origins, Foundations and

Developrnent of the Field

In th e first issue of th e Journal of Conflict Resolution (1957), Kenn eth Boulding

ga ve the ra tio na le for th e new ve n tu re:
The reaso ns w hic h have led us to this en ter prise may be su m med u p in tw o propositions.

Th o first is th a t by fa r th e most pract ical probl em facing th e wo rl d today is th at o fi n te r­

na tio na l re la t ions - m o re sp ecifica lly the pr event ion of g loba l wa r. The second is t hat if

intelle ctual progress is 1O be m ad e in this ar ea , th e st udy of" in ternat ional relation s m ust

be m ad e a n interdisciplin a ry e nterprise , drawing its discourse from all th e social sciences

and even fur the r.

Twenty yea rs later th e remit for the journal h ad wide n ed co ns ide rab ly:
The threat of n uclea r ho loca ust remains wi t h us and may well co n tin ue to do so for

centuries , but other prob lem s are com pe ting wit h det e rr en ce and d isa rm am ent stud ies

for our a tte nt ion . Th e j ournal must also attend to in te rnation al con flict over j us tice,

eq ua lity and human di gni ty ; pro blem s of conflict reso lu tion for eco logi cal bal an ce and

con t rol are wi th in ou r p roper scope a nd especially su ited for int erd isciplin a ry a tte nt ion.

(1973, 27(1): 5)

These two ex tracts g ive a go od idea of th e way in which conflict resolution,

con stituted as a di stinct fiel d of st ud y th rou gh the sett ing up of form al cen­
tre s in academ ic instituti ons and the pu bli cation of profession al j ournals,
first defined itself and th en expanded its remit during wh at we are calling
its foun da tion al period, in th e 1950s and 1960s , and its p eriod offu r the r con­
stru ct ion a n d expansi on , in th e 19 70s and 1980 s. In th is chap te r we describe
th e hi st orical evolution of the field , some of whose cla ssic conce pts we ha ve
already ou tlin ed in cha pter 1. We present co nflic t re solution as progr essin g
th rough five stages of inte rgeneration al devel opm ent and p racti ce. The fir st ,
second a nd third gen erati ons are dealt with in this chapter, looking a t th e
ide as of th e precursors up to 1945, the founders between 1945 an d 1965, and
th e con solidators between 1965 and 1985. Th e work of th e fourth ge ne ra tion
of reconst ru ctors, between 1985 and 2005, wh o h ad to accommoda te th e field
to the post-Cold War world , is a major th eme in th e rest of th e book but is also
selectively introduced here.
Clearl y, these tempor al ge n eration al catego ries are n ot watertight and
people a n d ideas move acr oss them. Many of the founders of th e field (johan
Caltu ng , for example). a n d th ose who foll ow ed as 'second-gene rati on ' con­
solidator s. co n tin ue to work a n d their ideas are st ill evolving to the present
day. Therefore these ca tego ries ca n also be regarded as temporal-int ell ectual :
35
36 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

those in the first and seco nd ge n era tio ns esse n tially tar get ed a state-centric
approach to conflict re solution; tho se in the third ge nera tion developed
an a p proa ch which looked to civil society and used a less state-centric len s;
and those in the fourth generation then att em p ted to constru ct a complex
and com ple m entary architec ture, which linked level s from civil soc iety to
the sta te a n d beyond to the region al and in terna ti ona l level s. Fina lly, at the
end of the book we look ahead to th e pos sible ta sk of th e ne xt gene ra tion of
confl ict resolver s - th e fift h ge n eratio n - whose era is just dawning. The fifth
gen er ation re prese n ts a new wave of confl ict resol u tion theory and action ,
which faces the ch alle ng e of con tin u ing to innovate and refine th e field so
that it is re sponsive to twenty-first-century conflict. Thi s is a them e that will
be developed in Part II, where what we call cos m opolita n conflict resolution ,
drawing on the work of the first four generations, is tested in the light of
current critiques. Th e ar gument is presented that it still offers the best hope
for shaping a context-sensitive global competence that draws on a gen ui ne
ern ancipatory e th ic in order to resolve conflict and sus ta in peace non-violently
in the long-term in ter est of all human bei ngs and generations, not jus t th a t
of pr esent power-holders.
Despite the apparen t div ersity of activity th roughout th e period covered
in this chapter, in what am ounted to a wide-ranging pursui t to defin e both
the method s and the co n cepts of co n flict resolut ion, tw o ma in concerns pre­
domi nated . The first was the effort to iden tify the cond itions for a new world
orde r ba sed on co n flic t analysis, co nflict preventi on an d problem-solving. The
sec ond wa s the effor t to mobilize and inspi re ever widen ing and inclu sive con­
st it uencies based on the pro m otion of th e valu es of non-violent pea cemaking.
Putting these tw o dim en sions of activity to gethe r, confli ct re solution eme rge d
as an en te rprise th a t wa s normatively as sociated with the promotion of peace
at three levels: first, through a radical reformation of world political syste ms;
second, through the promotion of an inclu sive anti-war and pro-pea ce politi cs;
and, third , through the fashi oning of m ethodologies and processes that pr o­
vided th e opportunity to move through the politics of protest towards a proac­
tive peacemaking project. Thi s proactive peacemaking proj ect wa s conce rne d
to address the behavioural , attitudinal and structural/objective cle me n ts of
Caltung's conflict triangle (figure 1 .1, p. 10). It also aligned conflict resolution
n ot only with th e negati ve pea ce go als of preventing war and containing vio­
lent con flic t but, cru cially, with the even more challen ging ta sk of bu ilding a
positive emancipatory peace, in which ind ividu als and groups would , so far as
is po ssible given inevi table on going conflict , be able to pursu e their life-goals
non-violently in ways of their own choosing.

Precursors: The First Generation, 1918-1945

Th e failure of th e variety of pe ace , socialis t and liberal intern ationali st move­
m ents to preve nt t he outbreak of the First World War motivated many people
 Fo undations and Development 37

in the yea rs th a t followed to de velop a 'scie nce' of peace wh ich wou ld provide
a fir m er basis for preve n ting future wa rs than wh a t were, in some qu arters,
seen as the frequ ently sen tim en ta l a nd sim p listica lly moral responses or
pa cifism .

The study of peace and the quest for world order

Although the insti tu tion al ization of peace research di d n ot begin u n til the
years a fter 1945 , a rela ted dev elopm ent took p lace after 1918 - th e estab lish­
m e nt of in ternati on al rela tion s (IR) as a di st in ct aca de mic di sci pline. The first
chair in in tern a tion al rela tions was en dowed a t the Uni vers ity College of
Wales, Aberys twy th, in 19 19. The spo nso r of this cha ir was th e Welsh indus­
trial ist a nd Liberal MP David Davies, who conceived th e in itiative, spru ng
from th e sa me a nt i-wa r sentimen t tha t inspired th e early advoca tes or peace
resea rc h , as a mem orial to st uden ts of th e co lleg e w ho we re killed in th e Grea t
War. Durin g th e period 1920- 45, international re la tio ns co urs es and inst irurcs
we re estab lis h ed th rou gh out the UK, Europe an d Nor th Ame rica, m an y of
the m m otivated init iall y by the id eal ist aspira tion to pro m ote peace by study
a n d research into t he dy na mi cs of internatio na l rela tio ns (van den Dungcn,
1996 : 7). One of th e sub-th em es in th is boo k is th e way in w hic h IR subse­
qu e n tly came to be dom ina ted by realis t thinki ng , pe r haps in reacti on to the
ina deq uacies of th e League of Nati on s a nd what were see n as fail ed attem pts a t
appeasing aggression in the 1930s, th us vaca ti ng the in tellectu al grou nd tha t
woul d be occ upied by con flict re solution after th e Second Wo rld War.
As d escribed by van de n Du ngen (1996) , a variety of proposals a nd in itia tives
emerged in Europe betwee n 1919 and 1939 which for esha dowed th e later
ins titutiona liza tion and developm ent of con flict resolu tion. Some of these
enter prises were associat ed with an ai r of opti m ism su rrou n ding the ea rly
years of the Leagu e of Nat ions , suc h as a n Intern ati on al Univ ers ity fede ration
for the League of Nations form ed a t Prag ue in 1924. Ano ther sou rce of influ­
ence wa s fro m th e activities of American in ternationalis ts asso cia ted wi th
th e Carnegie End owm ent for In ternation al Peace. In 193 0 a Germa n Peace
Acad em y was founde d , a n d in 19 31 perha ps the first ch a ir of peace research
(for th e stu dy of in terna tiona l ins ti tutions for th e orga nizatio n or peac e) was
created in Fra nce at t he Unive rs ity of Lyons. Ma ny of t he se in iti atives found­
ered in th e rising tid e of interna tiona l vio le nce in the 19305, and arc easy to
di sm iss as ove rly idea listic a t th e ti me . Bu t pow erful ideas en dure and pro ve
ca pa ble of inspiring fu ture gene rat ions when cond it ion s for th eir impleme n­
ta tion are mo re prop itious. Some of th e ea rly advoca tes iden tified by va n de n
Dungen were natu ral scien tists, who we re aware a nd cri tica l of t he greater
co ntrib utio ns ma de by scien ce and scien tists to th e ca uses or war rather
th an to th e ca uses of peace . Others were medical profess ion als who h ad an
und erst a nding of th e p hys ical and men ta l costs of war and were struck by the
medica l ana logy : if war was like a d isea se, th en knowledge of symp tom s an d
38 Co ntemporary Conflict Resolution

aetio logy shou ld precede d iag nosis a nd thera py or cure. Ma ny pr op onents of

pe ace researc h als o shared th e view that th e causes of war a nd the problems
of cr eating a dura ble peace wer e so com plex that only a mul tidi sciplinary
app ro ach wo u ld be adequa te an d th at aca dem ic lea rn ing needed to spring
from broade r h um an istic a n d idea lis tic m otivations. Th ese ideas wo u ld be
d raw n on in the foun da tio n of t he future field of co n flic t resolution .
Meanw hi le, alt ho ug h not kn own to m a ny of th ose calli ng for a new scie nce
of peace, o ther im po rta n t pion eering wo rk was bein g don e wh ich wo uld
late r enrich co nflic t reso lu tion . Promine n t h ere was th e thi nk ing of Mary
Par ker Folle tt (19 42) in th e field of orga n iza tion al beh aviour and labour­
managem e nt re la tions. Advocating a 'mutual gains' a pproa ch to negotiation
asso ciated wi th what would be ca lled ' in tegrative ba rgai ning' , as aga ins t th e
trad iti on al co ncession/ converge nce approach assoc ia ted with 'dis tribu tive
bargaining' , she a n ticipate d mu ch o f t he later probl em -solving agenda as
ou tlined in chapter 1. Whereas di stributive bar gainin g ass umes concea lme n t,
infla ted in itia l dem and s and ze ro-su m con texts , th e integr at ive bargain ing
advoca ted in th e mutu al gai ns approach tries to re define th e negotiatio n as a
sh a red prob lem to be resolved. Pool in g knowledge and resources and looking
to m aximi ze m ut ua l gain is see n to yie ld grea te r pay-offs to all parties .
Initiati ves in three other field s would also prove of im porta nce to the
future interd isci plin ary study of confl ict reso lu tion - psyc ho logy , po lit ics a nd
in terna tiona l st ud ies. For exam ple , in th e field of psycho logy , frus t ration­
aggr ession theories of human co n flict (Dolla rd et al. , 19 39) a nd work on the
socia l psych ology of grou p co n flict co nd uc ted by Kurt Lewin (1948) wo uld
be influe nti al. Simi la rly, in th e field of political st u dies , Cra ne Brinto n' s
approach to the ana lysis of pol it ical revol u tion (1938) - th at revol utio n takes
place when th e ga p between di stributed soc ial power a nd d istri but ed politi­
cal power reac hes a critical poi nt - can be ta ke n as exem plary of w hat was to
prove another sig ni fica n t strand (ca rriecl forwa rd lat er by Dahre ndorf( 1957),
Gu rr (1970) and Tilly (1978)). In inte rn at ion al stu die s. David Mitrany's (1943 )
fun ct ion al ist a pproach to overcomi ng the w in-lose dyn am ic in he re nt in rea l­
ist a na lyses o f co mpe ti tive interst ate re la tio ns via a pro gr essively d en ser net­
work of coopera tive cro ss-bord er fra m eworks m ad e ne cessary by th e adva nce
of tech nol ogy - seen by some to h ave previsaged th e evolu tion of the Euro pea n
Union - wo ul d ins pire similar ideas for sustai n ing peace th rou gh cross-border
institution-bu ilding in future co nfl ict reso lu tion circles (com ple men ted by
Karl Deutsch 's (1957) analysi s of th e deve lopment of 'p oli tical com muni ty' in
th e Nor th Atlan tic area) . Of centra l sign ifica nce in all this, a nd perha ps th e
critica l ca ta lyst in th e late r emerge nce of the co n flic t resolu tion field , were
the ea rly em pi rica l s tud ies of wa r a nd co nflict co n duc ted in th e in ter wa r years
by th e Russian Pitirirn Soro ki n , th e Englis h ma n Lewis f ry Richa rdso n a nd a n
American , Quin cy Wri ght. ' Here at last was a proper sta tistical fou ndation
upon which to base a nalysis - so th ough t th e founders of th e con flict resolu ­
tion field wh en th ey ca m e across th is work in the 1950s.
 Foundations a nd Develojlment 39

Table 2.1 The evolut ion of attempts to crea te a peaceful postw a r inte rnat ional
order
·. .
Governance Yes Yes Yes No* Yes
Legitimacy Yes No Yes No Yes
Assimilation Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Deterrence Yes No Yes No No**
Conflict resolution No No Yes Yes Yes
War as problem No No No Yes Yes
Peaceful change No No No No No
Future issues No No No No No
Conditions satisfied 4/8 2/8 5/8 2/8 5/8

Source : Holsti, 1991: ch.13

* short-lived governance mechanism in League of Nations
** failure to develop deterrent capacity such as proposed Military Staff Committee or
UN Standing Forces

Against this background of intellectual research and d evelopm ent, a nd

in the context of the failure to prev ent the second m aj or world war of the
cen tu ry, the m ost sig ni fic a n t in stitutio n al development in th is period o f first­
ge ne ra tio n activi ty ca me right at th e e n d of the period - with the formati on
of th e United Na t io ns . Representative s of fifty countries m et in Sa n Fran cisco
at the United Nat ions Conferen ce on Internation al Organi zation to draw up
a nd agree the Cha rte r of the United Nations. The organization offic ially ca me
in to existence o n 24 October 1945.
Alth ou gh it w as its elf the outcome of the plans of the g re a t powers for a
post-Second World War o rd e r , a n d parti cula rly the powe rs w h ich we re th e vic­
tors in that wa r, the UN w as n ot mer ely the creature of those powers, a nd it s
form a tio n m arked a s ig ni ficant, even if im pe r fec t , d evelopm ent hi storically
in the evoluti on of w orld order. Hol sti (1 9 91) has lo oked a t peace ag ree me n ts
an d security a rc h i tec t u res that h av e shaped the growth of th e intern ational
system between 1648 a n d 1945 with sig n ifica n t m ilestones afte r the Thi rty
Years ' Wa r (Westp ha lia 1648), Lou is XIV's w ars (Utrecht 171 3), th e Na poleo nic
Wars (Vienna 1815) , the Fir st Wo rl d War (Paris 1919) a n d the Second World
War (San Francisco 19 45 ) (see table 2.1).
Looking a t t hese epoch -m aking p hases of war and peacemaking, Holsri
isolates what h e ca lls eig h t prerequisites for peace. Th ese a re related to:

• governance (some sys te m of re sponsibility for regul a ti n g b ehaviour in term s

of the co ndit io ns of a n ag ree men t):
• legitimacy (a new orde r fo llowing wa r cannot be ba sed o n percei ved
40 Con temporary Conflict Resolution

inju stic e or rep ression, a nd princi ples of justice h ave to be em bod ied in
th e postwar settle men t);
• assimilation (linked to legi timacy: the gai ns of livin g wit hin a syste m are
grea ter than th e po ten tia l adva n tages of seek ing to destr oy it );
• a deterrent system (victors sho u ld crea te a coa litio n strong eno ug h to det er
de fec tion, by for ce if necessa ry, to pro tect settle me n t norms or to cha nge
them by peacefu l mean s);
• conflict resolving procedures and institutions (the syste m of gove rna nce shou ld
in clude provision an d ca pac ity for identifying , mo ni to ri ng, m an aging a nd
resol vin g maj or conflict between me m be rs of the syste m , a nd th e no r m s of
th e syste m woul d includ e w illingness to u se su ch ins ti tu tio ns);
• consensus on war (a recogn ition th at war is th e fun dame n ta l p rob le m ,
acknow ledgeme nt of the n eed to develop a nd fost e r stro ng norm s ag ains t
use of force a nd clea r gu iding prin ci pl es for t he legit im a te USl' of force);
• proceduresjorpeaceju l change (the n eed to review an d ada pt w he n ag ree me n ts
no lon ger rela te to the reality of pa rt icu la r sit uat ions : peace agreemen ts
ne ed to have buil t-in m echani sm s for rev iew a nd adapta tion); a nd
• anticipation ojjuture issues (peac emakers n eed to inc o rporat e so me ability to
a n ticipa te what m ay con stitute con flict ca uses in th e future: institution s
a nd system norms sho uld inc lu de provisio n for ident ifyin g. m on itoring
an d hand ling not just the pro blems that cr eat ed th e last confl ict bu t fut ure
con flic ts as well ).

Hol sti 's co ncl us ion fro m thi s su rvey is in stru cti ve. Th e lea st suc cess has
come aro u nd develop ing m et hods of peaceful ch a nge an d ant icip ation of
co nflict-genera ting fu tu re iss ues . In ge ne ral, the m ore cr iteria that we re m et
in ea ch ag ree me nt, the m ore sta ble a n d peaceful was th e e nsui ng period . The
San Fran cisco m eeting whi ch es tablis he d the UN did a grea t deal to stabili ze
in terstate relatio ns an d pr ovides one ex pla na tio n at least Ior t he de cline of
inte rs tate co n flict . However, it d id not a n tici pa te th e forces th a t wo u ld gcne r­
ate future co n flicts , which, as we have see n , were civil wars with high levels of
civilia n cas ua lt ies ; nor did it pu t in place th e m ech an ism s for peaceful system
cha nge. A co ns ta nt failu re of those w ho have been war lead ers h as bee n a fail­
ure to 'enl arge th e sh adow of th e fut u re' in st ead of rem aining in th e shadow
of the past. As Holst i p u ts it :
it may be as king- too m uc h for wa rt ime leader s to cast their m in ds more to t he fu tu re ,
The im m ed iate war se trlc rnc n ts are diff icul t e no ugh. Bu t in sofar as the pcaccm nkc rs were
in volved no t j ust in se ttling J past wa r but also in cons t ructing the' foundati ons ola new
interna tiona l order , fore sig ht is m an d a to ry. The peac e system m ust no t o n ly resolve' the
old issu es th a t gavl' rise to pr evious wars : it mu st unt icipat e new issue s, new ac to rs, a nd
ne w pr oblems an d it m us t d esign insti tu tions , norm s and procedures rh ut ,11"1: a ppro p ri­
a te to them . (Holsti, 1991: 347 )

In th is book we identify cosmopoli tan conflict resol u tion w ith th e fu ll ra ng e

of factors ide n tified by Holsti for pr even ting fut ure wars, including clem ents
'm issing ' in 1945 su c h as th e 'an tici pa tion of fu tu re issu es' a n d th e 'ca pacity to
 Foundations and Development 41

man ag e pea ceful ch ang e'. This is a ce n t ral th eme thro ugh out what follows , to
be su mmed up in ch a pter 20. Some wh at along th ese line s, the Uni ted Natio ns
Intell ectu al Hist ory Project was esta blishe d a t th e Ralph Bun ch e In stitute for
In te rn a tiona l St udies, at th e Un iversity of New York, to explore the ro le of th e
wo rld organ iza tio n , n ot as a bu reau cratized ins titu tion but as crea tor an d
di ssemin ator of idea s - for example, a ro u nd the co nce p t of human secur ity,
whi ch, at the level of international org a n iza tions , pr ovides a distinctiv e no r­
mat ive framework to gu ide fut ure confl ict res olu tio n interve nt ions (its first
publicati on wa s Em rne rij e r al. 2001).

Non-violence, pacifism and conflict resolution

At this point it is wo rth cla rifying that, de spite the te ns ions between pea ce
resear ch ers an d pea ce activists noted above, the develo pme n t of conflict reso­
lution as a di stinct field of acade m ic e nq u iry w ith a stro ng pr axis also owes
mu ch to n on-violen ce and pacifist trad itions and to t he th inkers whose ideas
nou ris hed it , alth ou gh, as di scussed in Chap ter 14, ma ny of th ose in the con­
flict resolution field ar e not pacifist s in the s trict se nse of th e term.
The work of n on-vi ole n ce theori sts su ch as Gene Sharp (1973), an d th e per­
sistence of h ist orica l traditio ns and practices of pacifism suc h as those con­
tained in the beliefs of Qua kers a nd Mennonites or in the idea s of Ga nd h i, have
cross-fertilized with ac ade m ic en te r prise to en ha nce understanding of violent
politic al co n flict an d alternatives to it. The obj ec tives of Gand h i's satyagraha
('struggle for truth' ) we re to ma ke latent confli ct manifest by challe nging
social struc t ures th at wer e h armful becau se they were highly in equitabl e,
but to do th is without setting off a sp iral of violen ce - th e com p leme n ta ry
value was non-violence (ahimsa). In th e Gandhian m odel of conflict , wh ich
contai ns within it bu ilt-in inh ibi tors of violence, th e obj ective is not to wi n
but, th rough wh at Bon d ur ant call ed the Gandh ian d ialecti c, 't o ac h ieve a
fresh level of socia l truth and a h ealthier relati on sh ip between antagonists'
(Weh r, 1979: 64 ). In t he tea ch in gs of th e Buddha (the Dh amma ), on th e other
hand, McConnell (199 5) ha s sh ow n h ow th e doct rin e of th e middle way a nd
th e four noble truth s locate th e deep est ro ots of con flic t in th e perceptions,
values an d attitudes of coriflict an ts. While t his does not ignore wh at Gandh i
would have seen as oppres sive structu res , it does d irec t th e pea cem ak er to
focus on cha nge s in self-awa re ness a nd the development of self-knowledge.
Weber (1999, 2001 ) has m ade a strong case for see ing Gandhi an ideas in
particul ar as inte gra l to the n ormat ive fram ewo rk later adop ted withi n con­
flict resolu tion . Stro ng ech oes of satyagraha ca n be di scerned, for exam ple, in
Burton 's an alysis of con flic t as rooted in the denial of on tological human needs
and in the uses of th e prob lem-solving m et hod by Bu rto n , Kelman , Mitch ell
and othe rs to ac h ieve mutu all y accep tab le a nd self-sustain ing ou tcomes as
described . The ra d ical an d socially tran sforrnative obj ectiv es of Gandhian
social th eory ar e also echoed in th e conflict t ra n sfor mation mo dels associated
42 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

with pe ace bu ild ing from be low , wh ich we de al with in chap te r 9 (Wood house,
19 86). Wi thin the 'ernanci patory discourse ' of a Gan dhian framewo rk, confli ct
resolu tion tech n iq ues a re see n as ' too ls fo r transformation ' (Cu rle , 1990), and
the field is loca ted wi thi n a w id er contin uum , w hich incl ude s wo rld ord er,
hum an security a n d non-violent peacem aki n g (Wood hou se, 1991).
Th ere is a lso a measure of creative tension between co n flict reso lu tion
a nd n on-violen t direc t action , howeve r. For exa m ple, as we h ave seen , some
argu e tha t conflict resol u ti on is problematic in situa tio ns of hi gh asymme­
try between adversaries, where m o re co mm itted strategi es associated wit h
non-viol ent direct ac tio n ca n bette r ra ise awareness and m a ke asymmetrical
relatio ns more ba la nced, at which poi n t med ia tion a n d othe r fo rm s of third­
pa r ty interve ntion be come bo th more leg itimate an d mo re effective (Clark,
2000; Du dou e t, 2005) . Co nve rse ly, so me ac tivis ts a nd advocates or no n-violent
di rect action h ave reco gnized th at the re are 'spaces' in th e h ourglass mod el
of co nfli ct (fig ure 1.3, p. 14), where non-violence (inter preted here as th e non­
use of mili tary fo rce) m ay be stra tegica lly in a ppr opriate, d ifficult or cou nter­
prod uctive (Ra n d le, 20 02: 1 1-50).

Foundations: The Second Generation. 1945-1965

The sus ta in ed deve lopment of peace an d co nfli c t research in th e form
of inst it u tiona l growth had to wai t unti l th e post-1945 wo rld, w he n th e
adde d th reat of n uclea r we a po ns added a new urgency . The first in stit utions
of peace a n d conflict re sea rch a ppe ared in th e tw enty-year peri od between
194 5 a n d 196 5. The Pea ce Resea rch Labo ra tory was fo u nded by The odo re F.
Len tz a t St Lou is, Missouri, after th e bo mbi ng of Hiros h im a a n d Nagasaki in
1945. Scie nc e, according to Lentz, 'did inc rease ph ysical power but science did
not in crease physical har m on y .. . th e power- ha rm ony imbala nc e h as bee n
bro ug h t abo u t by scien ce in mi so rder ' (Len tz , 1955: 52-3). Len tz argue d not
o n ly that peo ple ha d a capacity to live in h ar m ony, bu t t hat ' h u m a triotis ru'
was a val ue whi ch would emerge fro m rigo ro us research int o hum a n attit udes
a n d perso na lity. One of th e firs t a tte mpts to foll ow up th is lead wa s taken by
a g ro u p of pionee rs of th e new co nflict resolu tio n field a t the Un iversity of
Michiga n.

Kenn eth Bouldi ng, Michigan and the Journ al of Con flict
Resolution
Ken neth Bouldi ng was bo rn in Liverpool in th e north of England in 19 10.
Motivated persona lly and spiritua lly as a member of the Society of f riends
(Qu a ke rs) a n d professionally as a n econ omi st, h e moved to Ameri ca in 1937,
married Elise Bj orn-Han se n in 1941 , a nd bega n wi th h er a partne rsh ip th at
was to make a sem ina l co ntribu t io n to th e fo rm a tio n of peace and con­
flict research . Afte r th e war he was ap poi n ted as professo r of econo m ics at
 Foundations and Develupment 43

the Un ive rs ity of Michigan . Here, w ith a sm a ll gro up of academic s, wh ich

included the mathematician-biologist An at ol Rapoport, th e soci al psycholo­
gist Herbert Kelm an and th e sociologist Rober t Cooley Angell, he initi ated the
Journal of Conflict Resolution UCR) in 195 7, a n d set up th e Cen ter for Research on
Conflict Resolution in 1959. Inspirational to wh at Boulding called the 'Ea rly
Chu rch ' of th e peace resear ch movement (Kerm an , 19 74 : 48) wa s the wor k of
Lewis Richardson , brought over on microfilm by hi s son Stephen , an d not yet
publi shed at th at time. In thi s work Boul d in g was building on th e in iti ative of
th e Ce n te r for Adva nced Study in the Behavioral Scien ces (CASBS) at Sta nfo rd
Unive rsity.
Bou ld ing 's publications foc used firml y on the issu e of pr even tin g war ,
bec au se, partly as a result of th e fail ures of th e di scip lin e of intern at ional
rela tions, ' th e inte rn a tiona l sys te m is by far the m ost pathological a nd costly
segmen t of th e to tal socia l system ' (Kerm an , 19 74: 83). Conflict and Defense
advanc ed the th esis of the decl ine or ob solescence of the nation-sl a te, wh ile
Perspectives on the Economics of Peace ar gued that con vention al prescr iption s
from internati on al re la t ions we re un ab le even to recogni ze, le t alo ne a na lyse,
the consequ ences of this obso lescen ce. If wa r w as the o utcom e of in h erent
ch ar acte ristics in the sovereign state system, then it m ight be prevent ed, in
Bouldi ng's view , by a reform of internati on al organ ization , an d by the devel­
opmen t of a research and info rm a tio n ca pa b ili ty. From thi s cap ability, data
collectio n and pro cess ing co u ld ena ble th e adva nce of scien tific knowledge
about the build-up of confl ict s, to replace th e inad equ ate in sights available
throug h stand ard diplomacy. In the fir st issue of the JCR in Mar ch 1957,
W rig h t ha d a n a rticle pro po sing a ' proj ect on a world intelli gen ce cen tre',
w hic h showed the influe nce of Richa rdso n fro m th e pas t, wh ile an ti cipa ti ng
wha t has more re cen tly co m e to be call ed ea rly warni ng a nd conflict p reven ­
tion (see chapter 5). l-or Boul ding, in th ese form ative years of co nfl ict th eory,
con flict resol ution m ea nt the develo pment of a kn ow ledge ba se in w hich
'soc ia l data stations' wo uld em e rge, form in g a system a na logous to a net wo rk
of we a the r statio ns , w h ich wou ld gathe r a range of social, political an d eco­
nom ic data to p rod u ce indicators 'to ident ify social temperature a nd pressure
and pr edict cold or wa rm fron ts' (ibid .: 82).

johan Galtung and conflict resolut ion in Northern Europe

Whil e th e devel opm ents at Mich iga n a nd the interest of the Boul dings in
peace as well as co nflict research provid ed o ne polar point for the e me rge nce
of peac e rese ar ch, its ma in ela bor ation was to be defined in de velopments in
Europe. Lawler (1995 ) makes a di stincti on between th e ruorc limi ted age nda
of co nflict re sear ch (seeking to re du ce th e incidence an d exte n t of wa r) and
the em ergen ce of peace re search , whose o rigi ns we re not in Nort h America
bu t in Sca nd inavia , a nd m ost remar ka bly in the work ofjo ha n Galt ung. We
have already in tr od uced Galtu ng 's conce pt of the co nflic t triangle , a nd his
44 Co ntemporary Conflict Resolution

distinction between direct violence, structural violence and cultural violence

(figure 1.1), and have commented on his further distinction between negative
and positive peace - the former characterized by the absence of direct vio­
lence, the latter by the overcoming of structural and cultural violence as well.
Negative pe ace can be associated with the more limited but better defined
'm inimalist ' conflict re solution agenda of preventing war, and in particular
nucl ear war, as advocated by what might be called th e North America n prag­
matist school. Positive peace encompasses th e broader but vag ue r 'maximal­
ist ' agend a of conflict resolution insisted upon by the Eu ropea n str uct ur alists.
These two pol es a re reflected in the two quotations from th e Journal oJConflict
Resolution given at the beginning ofthis chapter.
The medical an alogy, which seems to have occurred to so many of the peace
science pion eers, was also at work in Galtung's background. His father was a
physician , a n d Galtung absorbed the ethic, transforming it into the notion
of the pe ace researcher as a 'social physician ' guid ed by a body of scientific
knowledge . He st udied philosophy, sociology and mathematics. In 1958 he
became visit in g professor of sociology at Columbia Un iversity, returning to
Oslo in 1960 to help found a unit for re search into conflict and peace (th e
p recursor to PRIO, the International Peace Research In stitute Oslo), based
within th e In stitute for Socia l Research at the Un ivers ity of Oslo . The further
de velopment of peace research institutions in Europe in th e 1960s was vigor­
ou s: thus, in 1962 th e Polemological Institut e was formed in Croningcn, th e
Netherl and s; in 1966 the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI) was opened to commemorate Swed en 's 150 yea rs of peac e; and in 1969
the Tampere Peace Research Institute was formed in Finland. Galtung was
also the foundin g editor of the JOtlrnal oj Peace Research, which wa s launched
in 1964.
This is not the pl ace to attempt a summary of Caltu ngs work. His output
since th e earl y 19 60s has been phenomenal and hi s in flue nce on th e in sti­
tutionali zation a n d idea s of peace re search seminal. He saw th e ran ge of
peace resear ch reaching out far beyond th e e n te r prise o f war pr evention
to encompa ss stu dy of the conditions for peac eful relations between th e
domin ant a nd the ex ploited, rulers and ruled, m en and women, west ern and
non-we stern cu lt u res , humankind and nature. Ce n tral here was the sear ch
for positive peace in the form of human empathy, solid arity and community,
the prio rity of add ressi ng 's tr uc tu ral violence' in peace research by unveiling
and tran sform in g str uctu res of im perialism and oppression, and th e impor­
tance of sea rc h ing for alterna tive values in non-western cosmologies su ch as
Buddhism.'
The struggl e between European structuralists and North American prag­
matists to define the peace research and conflict resolution agenda was at
times hard-hittin g. In an a rt icle in the Journal oJ Peace Research in 1968, for
example, Herm an Sch mi d cas tiga ted many of those working in the field for
failing to engage cr it icall y wit h issu es of social justice. Absence of war on it s
 FOllJuJaiions and Development 45

own (negative peace) can obscure deep injustices which make a mockery of
peace, and, if unaddressed, contain the seeds of future violent conflict. On
th e o th er hand , as Lawler's co nclusion to his study of Caltungs ideas sug­
gests, although the constant expansion of the peace research and conflict
resolution agenda may be seen as a sign of its dynamism , 'it m ay also be seen
as acquiring the qualities of an intellectual black hole wherein something
vital, a praxeological edge or purpose, is lost'. This was a criticism mack,
among others, by Boulding in his 'friendly quarrels' with Gaitung (Boulding,
1977; Galtung, 1987). In our view, the central core of the conflict resolution
approach described in this book does represent the 'praxeological ed ge or
purpose' of peace research. As both an analytic and normative field, confl ict
resolution takes violent or destructive conflict as its topic and aims to ga in an
accurate understanding of its nature and aetiology in order to lea rn how it
can best be overcome. This implies not only the tr eatment of symp to ms but
work on conflict causes as well.
While we have organized this account of the history of p eace and co nflict
research into chronologies based on generations, the devic e is, as n oted above,
artificial. Most of the key thinkers and activists remain act ive across the
'generations', none more so than Caltung. Th e 'Ca ltu ngia n proj ect' for peace
research and action has matured into third-generat ion act ivity, es pec ia lly in
the TRANSCEND approach formed in 1993 as a leaching, training a nd research
organization to pursue these ideas. In Searchingjor Peace. Caltu ng a nd his col­
leagues define the philosophy and methodologies ofTRANSCFND and presen t
an exploration of the case for a new 'forum to address underlying structures
and cultures ofviolence, and the need for new langu age, dialogu e and perspec­
tives such as might offer more creative and viable alternatives for the twenty
first century' (Gaitung and Jacobsen, 2000: 47: Gal tung, 2004).

John Burton and a new paradigm in international studies

At this point we can review the contribution of our third 'founder fi gu rc 'i john
Burton. Burton was born in Australia in 1915. He stud ied at the Londo n School
of Economics from 1938, gained a master's degree and, in 1942, a doctorat e.
He joined the Australian civil service, attended the fou nd ation co nfere nce of
th e Un ited Nations in San Francisco, served in th e Aust ral ian Dep a rt ment of
External Affairs and as high commissioner in Ceylon. He wa s ap po in ted to a
post at University College London in 1963, following a pe riod on a resear ch tel­
lowship at the Australian National University in Canberra. His appointment
coincided with the formation of the Conflict Resea rc h Society in Lon do n , of
which he became the first honorary secretary. An ea rly product of th is init ia­
tive was the publication ofConjliet in Society (de Rcu ck a nd Knight, 1966 ), with
contributions from Boulding, Rapoport and Burton. Following soo n aft er the
appearance of other im portant studies of social co n flic t as a generic ph enome­
non, whether at community, industrial or other levels (Coser, 195 6; Coleman,
46 Contempormy Confl ict Resoluti on

1957). and co inciding wi th a redi scovery of Georg Simmel' s pioneering work

(1902). this represented a significant step in the dr awing togeth er of mul ti­
d isciplin a ry in sights for the stu dy of confli ct a t the international level from a
much broader perspective than wa s cu r ren t in th e formal internation al rela­
tions field . As see n in chapter 1. whereas some earlier soc ial scie n tists . suc h
as the Chicag o Sch ool. regarded con flict as dysfun cti onal and the job of th e
sociologist to re m ove it, most a nal ys ts in the confli ct resolution tradition . fol­
lowing Morton Deutsch, saw con flict as intrinsic in hum an relationsh ips so
that the tas k became one of ha ndling it better.
Th is wa s linked to attempts to coo rd ina te internati on al st udy through th e
formati on of a n International Peace Research Associ ation (IPRA), wh ich held
its fir st co nfe re nce at Croni ngen in th e Netherl and s in 1965 . Thi s buil t on
the work of Waltel' Isards for ma tion of the Pea ce Science Society in 1963. At
the same tim e, during 1965 and 19 66, Burton organized th e meetings whi ch
were to re sul t in the use of controll ed co m m u n ica tio n. or th e problem-solvin g
method , in in tern ational confl ict . to be ou tlin ed fu rther in th e next sec tio n.
Th ese me etin gs were su fficien tly impressive for both the pr ovost ofU niver sity
Colleg e London a nd the Briti sh Social Scie nce Resea rch Cou nc il to sup po rt and
de velop th e th eoretical and applied techniqu es, w hic h Bur ton a nd hi s gro up
were pion eeri ng. Th e result wa s the formation in 1966 of th e Cen tre for the
Analysis of Con flict, established under the d irec torsh ip of Burton and based
at Universi ty Colleg e London .
Burto n spen t a pe riod in th e m id-198 0s a t the Un ivers ity of Maly ian d. wh ere
he assi st ed Edwa rd Aza r with the formati on of th e Cen te r for In ternati on al
Developm ent and Conflict Managem ent a nd w or ked on the co nce p t of pro­
tracted soc ia l conflict. This bec ame a n important part of a n eme rging over all
theory of intern ational confli ct, co m bin ing both dom estic-social and in terna­
tional dimen sion s an d focused at a hybrid level between inte rst at e war and
purely domest ic u nrest. Th is mo de l, describ ed more fu lly th rou gh a n ou tline
of Azars ana lysis in ch a pte r 4. in ou r view ant icipated mu ch of th e revalu at ion
of internation al relati ons thinking th at ha s take n place since the en d of th e
Cold War. Burton himself did n ot ho ld back from ma kin g extravaga n t clai ms
fo r thi s new a pproach in con flict a n alysis a nd con flic t resoluti on . descri bi ng
it as a deci sive par adigm shift.
Burton fini shed his formal academic career as a professor at th e Institute for
Conflict An alysis and Resolution at Geo rge Mason Un ivers ity in Virgin ia a nd
as a fell ow at th e United States In stitute for Peace in th e lat e 19805. Her e he
produced fou r volumes of the Con flict Seri es (1990), whi ch offe r a goo d su m­
m ation of his own work and th at of co lleagues . associat es a nd o the rs working
with him in the field.
Early influence s on Burton's intell ectu al journey aw ay from th e conven ­
tional wi sd om of in tern a tion al relation s tradition s were syste ms th eory, as a
n ew vocabula ry a n d set of expl a n ati ons for the cooperative a nd compet itive
behaviour of soc ial org a n isms , an d gam es theory. as a m ean s of analysin g th e
 Fo undatiuns and Development 47

varie ty of options a nd orien tations available to the conflict parries. The work
of Sche llin g (1960) on irrationality in competitive strategies and Rapoport
(Rapopo rt and Cha m ma h, 196 5) on the self-defea tin g logic of wi n-l ose
ap proache s were infl uential here. As Rap oport pu t it: ' th e illu sion th at in creas­
ing losses fo r th e othe r side is eq u iva len t to w in ning is the reason th at th e
st ruggles are so prolo nged and th e co n flictin g parties play the game to a lose!
lose en d ' (1967: 441). We have int roduced some of th ese id eas in cha p te r 1.
Ano th er source of in spiration for Bur ton w as in sight drawn from ind us­
trial rel ations, orga n iza tio nal th eory a nd client-centred soc ial work. Her e th e
legacy of Mary Parke r Foll ett's ' m u t ua l g ai ns ' approach wa s bein g vigoro usly
carr ied forwa rd (B lake et al., 1963; Wal ton and McKe rsie, 1965) a nd a pplied
furthe r afield in fa m ily conciliation work, community medi ation , an d the
rapidly expa n ding ar en a of alternati ve dispute reso lution (ADR) in general,
wh ic h so ug h t less cos tly alt ernatives to form al liti gation (Floye r Acla nd,
1995 ). The Willia m a nd Flora Hewl e tt Fou nda tion provided cr uc ial fin an cial
enco uragem e nt and sup port h ere (Kovick 2005), a n exa m p le of th e remark­
ab le potential to bu ild critical capacity in a new field th at e nligh te ne d fu nd ers
ca n provide.
Much of th is lite ra tu re, a nd related literatu res on , for example, race a nd
et h n ic re la tio ns, was based on stu dies in soci a l psych ology and socia l iden tity
theory, wh ich exa mined th e dy nam ics of in te rgro u p coo pe ra tion a nd co n flict
th rou gh field-ba sed su rveys and sma ll gro u p experime n ta tion . The work of
Ku rt Lew in was furth er developed to sho w how gro u p affiliat ion a nd pressure
to ga in dis tinc tiveness by comp arison w ith othe r groups can lea d to in ter­
gro u p co n flict, and how positi ve relation s ca n be rest ored or new re la tions h ips
negotiated betw een grou ps in con flict . Morton Deutsch wa s am o ng th e firs t to
app ly this kind of resea rch expli citl y to conflict reso lut ion (1949, 1973). Usefu l
surveys of a wid e field include Fisher (1990) and Larse n (1993). Thi s resear ch
has explo red both the n egative a nd posit ive as pec ts. Negatively, it has co nce n­
trated on processes of se lec tive perception th rou gh forms of tunn el vision,
prej ud ice and ste reotyp ing, on m ali gn perception s of th e 'other', on dehu­
ma nizat ion and th e forma tion of ene my images, a n d on th e displacement of
feelings of fear and h ostility through su pp ress ion a nd proj ecti on . Posit ively,
it ha s focu sed on cha ng ing attitudes, on develop in g mutual under st an ding
and trus t, on th e deve lopm en t of co m mon or 'su perord inate goa ls', a nd on
the ge nera l id entification of cond itio ns w h ich prom ot e positive intergro u p
contact (Sher if, 1966; Deu tsch , 19 73). These insigh ts we re at th e same time
applied to intern ati on al conflict, as later summed u p in Mitchell (1981'1).
Li nked to this were st udies ofperception an d mi sp crceprion' amo ng decision­
makers in in ternationa l polit ics, to bo r row Jervi s's 19 76 title. Burton d rew on
th is materia l in a series of books publish ed in th e late 1960s a nd early 1970s,
includi ng Systems, States, Diplomacy and Rules (1968), Conflict and Commun ication
(1969) a n d World Society (1972 ).
What m ade it possible to unlock these in tractable co n flic ts for Burton was
48 COlltemporary Conflict Resolution

ab ove all the a ppli cation of need s th eory (Maslow, 19 54; Sites, 1990) through
a 'controlled co m m u nica tio n ' or pro ble m-solving ap p roach . As already in di­
ca ted in ch apter 1 (fig ure 1.7, p. 22), th e positing of a un iver sal dri ve to satisfy
basic needs such as security, identity an d recognit ion provided Burt on wi th
the lin k betwee n causal ana lysis and modes of resolution prec isely beca use of
the differences betwee n inte res ts a nd need s. Interest s, bein g prim arily abo ut
m aterial 'goods ', ca n be traded , bargained over a nd negotia ted. Needs, being
non-m aterial, ca n n ot be tr aded or sa tisfied by power ba rgain in g. Howeve r,
cr uciall y, n on-m at erial h uman n eed s a re n ot sca rce rcsou rces (like territory or
oil or m in erals m ight be) and a re not necessa rily in sho rt su pply. Wi th prope r
unde rst andi ng , th erefore, co nflicts base d on un satisf ied n eeds can be resol ved.
It is poss ible (in theory) to me et th e needs ofboth pa rties to a conflict. becau se
' the mo re sec u rity a nd recogn itio n one pa rty to a relation ship ex pe rie nces,
th e more oth er s a re lik ely to exper ience' (B u rto n , 1990a: 242). For exa m ple,
althou gh the qu estion of sovereignty in Nor th e rn Irela nd or Jerusalem m ay
a ppear to be in tract abl e, if th e co n flic t ca n be translated in to th e underl ying
basic needs of the conflic t pa rties for sec urity, rccognition a nd deve lop me nt,
a sp ace is opened up for th e possib ili ty of res olution.
But t he prob le m-solving appro ach was seen as m ore t han a co n flict resolu­
tion tec h n iq ue by Burton. It was to beco me a ce n tra l co ncep t in h is idea of the
paradigm shift in thinki ng abou t beh aviour and conflic t in gen e ral that he
believed was esse nti al if h u m a nkind was to avo id fu ture d isast er. He was aga in
influenced by some o f th e co ncep ts in ge nera l sys te ms th eory here, a nd in
pa rticul ar th e idea of firs t-orde r an d seco n d-ord er learn in g. In syste ms theory,
atte ntion is given to the role of soci al learning an d cu lture in th e way in wh ich
social sys te ms cha nge . The t he ory hold s th at, altho ugh social syste ms ' lea rn '
th ro ugh th eir members , w ho in d ividually adj us t th ei r worldviews accord ing
to experience, soc io-cu ltu ra l systems also hav e u nd erlyin g ass um pt ions wh ich
m ake the system as a w ho le mo re resis tan t to cha nge th an th eir ind ividu al
m embe rs. Th ese underlying ass umptions are defi ne d by Rap opo rt as 'd efault
valu es', which, bec a use th ey are so com mo n ly used , becom e rega rde d as
im mutable, and ac tors in the system tend to forg et th at th ey ca n exercise
cho ices in order to a ttai n goa ls. When p ro blems occ ur, th ey are ad dressed by
referen ce to th e 'defa ult va lues' , and thi s kind of reac tion is termed first-order
lea rning. Orderly and cr ea tive tr ansformation of socia l syste ms, however,
de pe nds up on a capacity for secon d-order learn in g, w h ich requ ires a will ing­
n ess an d capacity for cha llenging ass um ptio ns . Ideo logica l orie n ta tions to
social cha nge are regarded as the an tithesis of seco n d-order learn ing , because
ideologies are claims to u ltim at e truth achieved w ith a predefined set of ends
and means, th e cha llenging of which is seen as h er etical. For systems th eorists
such as Rapoport, 't h e criti cal issue of peace and th e n eed to conver t co nflict
to co-operation deman d incorporation of second order lea rning in social
systems. and the m ost effecti ve way to prod uce soc ial lea rnin g is th rou gh a
participative design process' (Rapoport, 1960: 442).
 Foundations and lJeveiopment 49

This id ea of seco nd-o rd e r learning, or seco nd-o rde r change , is further devel­
oped by Burton and Dukes in the third volume of the Conflict Series (1990),
wh ere it is seen to be essential for human su rviva l. Burton was influenced
here by Norbert Wien er's early us e of systems theory to invent th e new science
of cybernetics, which we comment on further in chapter 17 (Wien er, 194 8).
The problem-solving appro ach, given philosophical depth through Charles
Sanders Peirce 's ' log ic of abduction ' (1958), is the means of overcoming block­
ages to second-order learning, thereby becoming a central element in what
Burton saw as a new political philosophy, which moves beyond epi sodic con­
flict resolution to a new order marked by 'p revention' (a neologism that h as
not been widely adopted) :
con flict prevention means deducing from an ad eq u ate exp la nat ion of the ph en om en on
of con flict, incl ud ing its hum an dimension s, not m er ely the co nd it io ns th at create an
enviro nm en t of confl ict, an d the structura l changes required to rem ove it, but more
im po rt a ntly, th e pr om oti on of con ditions th at crea te coo pe ra tive re latio nships. (Burt on
arid Duk es , 1990R: 2)

It con no tes , in other words, a proactive ca pability within societies to predict

and avoid dest ructive conflict by the spread of the problem-sol vin g method
and philosophy throughout all relevant institutions, dis courses and pr actices,
In sum, we can see h ow far the Burtonian concept of problem-solving and con­
flict resolution is from the wa y it is so metim es ca ricatu red in transform ation­
ist critiq ue s, where it is wrongly equ a ted with Robert Cox's different use of th e
term (1981 ). Indeed, in our view , Burtonian problem-solving, seen as paradigm
shi ft rather than wo rkshop technique, is itself firmly at th e trunsformationist
end of th e co nflict resolution spectrum (see chapter 1).

Consolidation: The Third Generation. 1965-1985

By the late 196 0s and early 19 70s, co nflict re solution, drawing from a wid e
ran ge of disciplines a n d with a reas onably sou nd institutional base, had
defined its specific su bject a re a in relation to the three gr eat projects of avoid­
ing nuclear war, removing glaring inequaliti es and inju stices in th e globa l
syste m, and achi eving ecolog ical balance and control. It was attempting to
formulate a theoretical und erstanding of destructive conflict at three levels ,
with a view to refin ing the mo st appropriate pr actical responses.
First, there wa s the in ters ta te level, where th e ma in effort went into transl at­
ing det ente between the superpowers into formal win-win agreements. Here
th e processes which produ ced the 1963 Limited Tes t Ban Tr ea ty, and lat er
Stra tegic Arm s Limitation Tal ks a n d Non-Proliferation Trea ty ne gotiations,
were seen to vindicate Osgood's 'graduated and reciprocated initiatives in ten­
sion reduction ' (GRIT) approach (1962) and to exem plify Axelrod 's analysis of
the 'evolu tion of cooperation' described in ch apter 1 (table 1.2, p. 19). Sim ila r
work went into the formulati on of'a lte r n ative defence' stra teg ies in the early
1980s. The expansion of th e European Econom ic Communi ty and of th e North
50 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

Atlantic securi ty a rea was seen as furthe r con firm ation of th e ideas ofMitrany
an d Karl Deuts ch .
Secon d , at t he level of dom estic pol itics, a gr eat de al of con flict resolution
work , particul arly in th e Un ited States, we n t in to th e building up of ex pe rt ise
in fa mi ly co nc ilia tio n , lab our and co m m u n ity m edi ation , a nd alte rna tive
d ispute reso lution (ADR). An im port ant ne w initiati ve h er e was in public
po licy disputes in ge neral (Susskind , 1987). Here the sub-field of public conflict
reso lu tion aims to increase participation in democratic decision-making a t all
levels (Ba rbe r, 1984; Dukes, 1996).
Th ird , betwee n th e two , and for this book the mo st sign ifican t development
in th e 19 70s a nd 1980s, wa s the definiti on, an alysis and p resc rip tive thin kin g
a bo u t wh at were var ious ly de scribed as 'd eep-rooted conflicts ' (Burto n , 1987),
' in tractable confl ict s' (Kriesberg et al., 1989) or ' pro trac te d social conflicts'
(Aza r, 1990), in wh ich the distincti on between internation al a nd domesti c­
level causes was seen to be elided. Here the empha sis was on defining the
ele m en ts of 'good gov ern an ce' at co n stit utiona l leve l an d of int er group rela­
tio ns a t com mun ity level. Since we will be ou tlin ing Edwa rd Azar's th in king
about protract ed socia l co n flict in chapter 4, we will not elaborate these
con cep ts h ere. They seem to us to h ave co ns titu ted a sign ifican t adva n ce in
th in kin g abou t wh at h as sin ce bec ome the pr evailing pattern of la rge-scale
co n te m por a ry confli ct. These levels of an alysis were brough t toge the r from
a conflict resolution perspective in st ud ies suc h as Kriesber g 's The Sociology of
Social Co nflicts (197 3) a nd Mitchell's T1~ e Structure of Internat ional Conflict (198 1).
In wh a t foll ows we select for attention bo th the first syste m atic a ttem pts to
ap ply the problem -solvin g a ppro ac h to real co n flicts and th e m ajor adva nces
in the analysis of th e n egoti ation an d m edi ation processes, wh ich took place
in th is period. We en d the section by noting the con com it ant expa nsion of
th e con flict resoluti on in stitutional ba se worldwide and pay tri bute to the
rol e of Elise Bou lding, both in encou raging it a nd in a rt icu la ting its wid er
sign ifican ce.

The Ha rv ard School: problem-solvi ng and principled negoti ati on

On e of the most sus tain ed attempts to wed the ory to practi ce was th e att em pt
to se t up 'probl em-solvin g worksho ps' to tack le the mo re int ractabl e con­
flict s of the da y. Initiall y referred to as 'controll ed communicati on ', the first
a tt e m pt to apply the pr obl em-solvin g m ethod was in tw o worksh ops in 196 5
a n d 1966, wh ich we re designed to addre ss asp ect s of th e co n fl ict between
Mal aysia, Sin ga pore an d ln dones ia an d th at between the Greek an d Turkish
communities in Cyp ru s. The London Group, among whose m embe rs were
Michael Banks, Anthony de Reuck, Chris Mitch ell and Mich ael Nicholson as
we ll as Burton, w ere j oined for the seco n d worksho p in 19 66 by Herb Kelman
and Cha d Alger from America . Kel m an , who formed at Harvard th e Program
on Internation al Confli ct Anal ysis a nd Resolution, an d wh o had already been
 Foundations and Development 51

a sign ifica n t in flue nce in th e emergence of co n flict resol ution research in

th e pion eering initiatives a t th e Un ive rs ity of Mic higan, wen t on to beco me
pe rhaps th e leading practitione r-sch olar of the prob le m-solvin g m ethod over
the followi ng thi rty years , specializing in th e Israel i- Palestin ian co nflic t
(Doob, 1970 ; Kelma n , 1996). To anticipate events in the 1990s, Kelman' s
longst a nd in g 'pren egotiatiori' Arab-Israeli interactive proble m-solving work­
sho ps (197 4-9 1), followe d by the 'para-negotiation' worksh ops (199 1-3) an d
(after 1993) 'pos t-nego tia tion ' workshops (fifty-four worksh ops in all so far),
invol ved m any of th e ch ief ne gotiators of the 1993 agreement on both sides.
Part icipants wer e in fluen tia l, bu t non-official, figures; m eetin gs we re held in
pr ivat e aca de mic env ironments, en couraged by thi rd -pa rty facil itat ion , but
only in an enabl ing capacity inasmu ch as ground ru les were ex pla ine d and
a prob le m-solving agenda follo wed . In forma tion wa s sha red and pa rticipa n ts
we re enco urage d to list en without j udg ing eac h other's needs, co nce rns a nd
persp ect ives; th ere was th en join t ex plora tio n of optio ns . j oint a na lysis of
likely co ns trai n ts a nd a j oint search for ways of overco mi ng t hose con str aints.
These were see n as non-binding, non -official mi cro-processes. whic h. it was
hoped , wo uld con tribu te to m acr o-level nego tiati ons but in no way su bstitute
for the m. One of th e chi ef ways in w h ich they mi ght do thi s was thro ugh the
buildi ng of new re la tio ns hips .
As experie nce deve lop ed amo ng a growing circle of scholar-practitioners
in th e 1970s a nd 1980 s, proble m-solving workshops w ere used to purs ue a
variety of goa ls - for exa mp le, in some cases they perform ed a research a nd
education al or tr ai ning ro le - a nd it became clear th at each worksh op ha d
to be designed with so me reference to the spe cific charact eristics of th e par­
ticu lar co n flict. A u ni ver sal model for the ideal probl em-solvin g process did
no t emerge . Nevert he less. th er e now ex ists a whole clus te r of approaches ­
know n va rio us ly as in te ractive co n flict reso lu tio n, th ird -party co ns u ltat ion.
process-pro motin g workshops. faci lita ted d ialogu es - w h ich use m an y of th e
esse n tia l characteris tics of th e probl em-solvin g a pproach (Fisher. 1997). This
is we ll ex plained a nd illustra ted in Mitchell a nd Ban ks's Handbook of Conjlict
Resolution:The Analytical Problem-Solving Approach (1996). The di fficul t ques tio ns
of m eth od ology a nd eva luation h ave be en much d iscusse d (Mitche ll, 1993),
with a view to e nha ncing th e process of hypoth esis ge nerat ion, theory tes ting
and th eory use.
By th e 19805 the study of ne got iati on in international co n flict h ad also
taken on th e win -win, proble m-solving an d mutual gain vocabul a ry of co nflict
resolu tion, par ticu la rly th rou gh th e work of Roger Fisher and William Ury a t
the Harvard Pro gram on Nego tia tion , popu la rized through th ei r best-sell ing
title Getting to Yes (198 1) a nd, more recently, through the quarterly Negotiation
Journal. We no ted in chap ter 1 (figure 1.7) th e di st inction between pos it ions
an d in te rests, wh ich is ce n tra l in th e 'p rin cipl ed nego tiatio n' approach . As
orig in ally prese n ted . th is interest-based negotiation app roa ch is encaps u lated in
a number of m axim s for negotiators:
52 Contemporary Conj1ict Resolution

• se pa rate the people from the problem and try to build goo d worki ng
relati on ships;
• facilitate communication and build trust by listening to eac h oth er rather
th an by telling eac h other what to do;
• focu s on underlyin g interests and core concerns, not demand s a nd super­
ficial posit ions : th is in clu des concealed interests as well as th ose ye t to be
realized;
• avoi d zero-sum t raps by br ai nstorming and exploring creative op tions
w ith out comm it m en t to see if legiti mate in te rests on both or all sides ca n
be accommodated ;
• use obj ec tive crite ria for eva lua ting a nd pr ioritizing options in terms of
effec tive ness a nd fairn ess;
• a n tici pate possibl e obstac les ;
• wo rk ou t how to ove rco me the obs tacles, including th e dr afting of clear an d
a t ta ina ble co m mitments .

The aim is to defi ne , and if possibl e to ex pa nd , th e zo ne of possi ble ag reem ent ,

and to increase its attracti on in com pa rison w ith th e best alte rnatives to a
nego tia ted ag reemen t as perceived by the negoti at in g partne rs ind ividually.
It also means ass essi ng th e li kelihood of the worst altern at ives materiali zin g
if no ag ree men t is reach ed . A recent reworking of this pro cess lays st ress on
'usi ng emo tions as yo u n egotiate' (Fisher and Shapiro, 2005) . Bui lding on th e
Ha rvard a pproa ch , Willi am Ury has also developed his typology of 't h ird side
ro les' (2000) (see figu re 1.14, p. 28, and chapter 14).
The Harv ard Pr ogr am involves a consortium of academic centres an d, in
a uthe n tic co n flict reso lu tion vein , draws from a rang e of disciplin es, in clu d­
in g polit ics, psych ology, anth ropology, sociology and intern at ion al re la tions,
as well as lab our relati ons, commun ity nego tiat ions a nd publ ic plan ning.
A n u m ber of systematic analyses and compara tive stud ies of successfu l a nd
u nsuccessfu l nego tiation a pp roaches an d sty les are n ow avai lable, amo ng
them Dru ckm a n (1977), Zartma n (1978), Pruitt (198 1), Rai ffa (1982), Hall
(1993), Pru itt a nd Carneva le (1993), Za rt m a n and Ru bin (1996), Bercov itch and
Gartn er (200 6) a nd Kydd (2006). This is looked at furth er in cha pter 7.

Adam Curle: the theory and pra ctice of m ediation

The practice of m ed ia ti on h as a long h istory, t ra ceable to Greek and Rom an

tim es in the West . By 1945 there wer e cr itica l stud ies of sta te-level diplo­
macy an d in te rna tiona l m edi ation to compleme n t the day-to-day ex perience
acquired by professiona l di plom a ts a nd negotiators (Mitchell and Web b,
1988) . The at tem p t by th e in ternation al community to convert this into a
mo re formal ins ti t u tionalized prac tice following the call in Chapter VI of th e
Uni ted Nat ion s Charter fo r agreed m echanisms for the peaceful settlement of
di sp utes insp ired st ud ies suc h as th at by Oran Young (1967), which included
 Foundations and Development 53

an assessme n t of th e role of th e Uni te d Na tio ns and its age nci es . Nevert h eless,
a numbe r of sch o la rs in the conflict resolution tr adition in th e ea rly 1980s
agree d with Dean Pru itt that there was a d eficit in criti cal stu d ies of m ed ia­
tion , w hich sti ll lacked sys tem a tic a n a lysis (Pruitt a n d Rubin , 1986 : 237). Since
th en much of the d eficit h as been ma de up. In ad d iti o n to Mit chell a nd Webb ,
the literature n ow in cl u d es To uva l and Za r t m a n (1985 ) and Bcrcovi tch and
Ru bin (1992), a s well as Kres se ll a n d Pruitt (198 9), Bercovitc h (199 6), Bohrnclt
(2010), Toft (20 10) a n d a host of individual stu d ies of particular m ed ia tions
in spe cific co nfl icts. Thi s w ill a lso be d evel o ped in chapter 7. Qu ite so p h isti­
cated comp a risons a re now be ing mad e of di fferent types of m ed ia ti on , with
or witho ut ' m uscl e', by di ffe re n t ty pe s of med ia to r (offi cial and unofficial ,
fro m th e UN to in d ivid u a l go vern m e n ts, in sider-partial or ou tsid e r-n eu tra l)
and in d ifferent types of conflict si t u a tio n . A sp ecial issue of th e Jou rnal of
Peace Research pu blished in Febru ary 1991 e nco u raged cr itical co mparison of
the effica cy of n ew p arad ig m a p p roaches (non-co erc ive a nd based b ro ad ly o n
pr ob lem- solving) in rela tion to powe r-coe rcion-rew a rd model s.
As a co m p le me n t to th e e m p h asis o n Track I m ed ia ti on in m a ny of th e s tud­
ies noted above , w e take Ada m Curle as ou r exe m p la r fin ' th e development of
'soft' med ia tio n in th e con flic t resolution field , particul arly w h a t Macfro na ld
an d Ben da hrn ane (1987 ) christen ed Tra ck II m ed iatio n . Co m ing from an
acade mic ba ckgro u nd in a n th ropo logy , psych ol ogy a n d d evel opment ed uc a­
tion , Curle m oved fro m Harvard to tak e up the fir st chair o f peace s tu d ies a t
the Univ ersi ty of Bradfo rd, which, toget her wi t h th e Richard son In st itut e fo r
Confl ict and Peac e Researc h a t th e Un iversity of Lan cast er a n d th e Cen tre till'
th e Ana lysis of Con flict a t th e Uni vers ity of Kent (a rel ocati o n of the origi na l
1966 centre based a t Un ivers ity College Lond on) , was to becom e a fo cal po int
for co nflict re so lu t io n in t he UK.
Curle' s acade m ic in te re st in pe ace w as a p roduct of fro n t-li ne experie n ces
of con flic t in Paki sta n a n d in Africa, w h e re h e n ot o n ly witnessed th e threats
to developmen t from th e e ruptio n of vio le n t conflict s b u t wa s inc reasin gly
draw n into the practi ce o f p eacem a kin g , es peci ally as a m edia to r . Most impor­
tantly, du ring th e in te n sive and sea r ing ex pe rie n ces of the Biafra n War he felt
a com pe ll in g need to u nderstand m o re ab out why th ese con flicts h appened
(Curle, 1971 ,1 986 ; Yarrow, 19 78). Vio le nce , co n flict, pr ocesses o f soc ia l ch a nge
and th e goals of d evelop m e n t beg an to be seen as linked th emes. Making Peace
(1971) d efines peace and con flict as a set of p eace ful a n d un peaccful rela­
tion ships, so that ' th e p rocess of peace makin g co nsists in m a ki ng ch a nges
to relati onshi ps so that they may be brought to a point where d evelo pm ent
can occur'. Given h is ac ade mic backg round , it wa s n at ural tha t Cu rle shou ld
see pea ce b ro adl y in te rms of h uman de vel op m ent, ruther th an as a ser of
'peace-enforcing ' rules and o rg aniz a tio ns . An d the pu rp ose of s tu dying soci al
stru ctures was to id en ti fy th ose th at enhanced ra t he r th a n res tra ined or even
su ppre ssed human potenti a l.
In theMiddl e (19 86) points to th e impo rtance of media tio n a n d reco n ci lia tion
54 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

th em es in peace resea rch a nd prac tice in th e con flic t-ridde n world of the late
tw en tieth century . Curle identified four elements to his mediation process:
the media tor acts , fir st, to build, m aintain an d im prove communicati ons;
second , to provide in form ation to and betw een th e con flict parties; third , to
'befriend ' the co n flict parties; and, fourt h , to e nco urage what h e refers to as
active media tio n - tha t is to say, to cu ltiva te a w illi ngness to en gage in coo per­
at ive nego tiation. His philosophy of me dia tio n is esse n tia lly a blend of values
a n d experiences fro m Qu aker pr act ice.' w ith th e kn owl ed ge of human istic
psych ology absorbed in h is early p rofessional ca reer, both of these in flue nce s
being tem pe red a nd m odified by hi s expe rie nce s in the field.
Cu rle 's wo rk is a n illus t ra tion bot h of the a pp lied n a ture of co nflict resolu­
tion a nd its stress on the cru cial link between academ ic theory and practice.
It also provi des one exa m p le of an app roach to Track II or citizens' diplomacy
(wh at Dia m ond an d MacDonald (1996 ) call m ultitrack d iplom acy because they
includ e bus iness co n ta cts, the churches, etc .), a nd a number of studies h ave
contributed to a fu ller understand in g of the methods a n d ap p roaches of m cdi­
a tiori and th ird-par ty in terven tion in conflic ts at bo th official-gover n me n ta l
and u nofficial-cit izens' diplo macy leve l ac tivi ty (Berman a nd Johnson , 1977 ;
MacDon ald a nd Benda h rna ne . 1987; Berri dg e, 1995; Aall, 1996 ; Ande rso n,
1996 b; Davies a nd Kaufma n, 2002) . However, it is im po rtan t to recogn ize
th at Cu rle's th inki ng and pract ice d id n ot stay fixed at th e point of Track II
med ia tion . During the wars in for mer Yugo slavia h e broa dened hi s concept
and p ractice of peacemaki ng to incl ud e th e em powerme n t of individuals and
civil society gro u ps in a wide varie ty of ro les and develop ed . along wi th Joh n
Paul Lederach and ot h ers, new appro ach es to peacebuilding from below,
based primari ly on his work with and suppo rt for the Osijek Cen t re for Peace,
Non viol en ce a nd Hu m an Rights, wh ich we exa m ine more fully in chapter 9
(Curle, 1994,1995,1999) .

Elise Boulding: new voices in conflict resolution

Durin g th e 1970s a nd 1980s the n urn ber of peace res ea rc hers a n d con flict reso­
lu tion specialists worldw ide con tinu ed to grow, fro m a few hundred to per­
h a ps tho usa nds, and the in stitutional b ases for co n flict resolut ion expa nded
acco rdingly, main ly in Western Europe, Nort h America a n d Jap an , but also
increasingly in other parts of the world (ECCP websi te; see ch ap te r 3). Notable
cent res were established in areas of pro tracted co nfl ict, suc h as Sou th Africa ,
Nor thern Irelan d, the Spa nis h Basq ue country a nd Sri Lan ka . In thi s sec tio n we
h ave taken the work of Elise Bould in g as exe mplary of th is process of expan­
sion a nd of the develo pmen t of th in kin g t ha t h as accom pa n ied it .
Elise Bou ldi ng trai ne d as a soc io logis t a n d was in volved in the early work
of th e Michigan Cen te r o u tline d above, serving as sec re tary-gene ra l of th e
Intern ation al Peace Resea rch Assoc iation (IPRA) fro m 1964 an d pr eside n t
of th e Women's In terna tional Leagu e for Peace and Free do m . of wh ich she
 F(llInda tiollS and Development S5

was subsequently international chair. With the help of UNESCO , the IPRA
Newsletter, started by Boulding, de veloped the network, which facilitat ed th e
formulation of th e ass ociation , and sh e continu ed to serve as its editor for
a numbe r of years. In order to encourage wid er participation in peace and
conflict resolution processes, she introd uced the idea of ,imaging the future '
as a pow erful way of ena bli ng people to b re ak out of the defen sive pri vat e
shells into which they retreated, oft en out of fear of what wa s happening in
the public world, and en co u raging them to participate in th e construction of
a peac eful and tolerant global culture. The use of social imagination and th e
idea of im aging the future wa s placed within th e context of what she called
th e '2 00-yea r pre sent' - that is, the idea that we mu st und er stand that we
live in a socia l space which reaches into the pa st and into th e futu re: 'it is our
space, one that we can move around directly in our own lives and indirectl y
by tou ching th e lives of the young and old around us' (Boulding, 1990: 4). She
was also a n early exp onent of the idea of civil society, of op ening up ne w pos­
sib ilities for a g lobal civic culture which was receptive to the voices of peopl e
who were not part of th e traditional di scourses of nation-s tate politics, and in
thi s she anticip ated many of th e preoccupations of co nflict resolution workers
today. Women and children were ob viously excl ude d groups, but sh e add ed to
the se th e idea that globalism and global civic culture needed to accommodate
th e many culture communities which wer e not h eard in the existing interna­
tional ord er. For Elise Boulding. the n ext half of our '200-year present' - that
is, th e n ext on e h und red yea rs from the 1980s - contains within it the ba sis for
a world civic culture and pea ceful p roblem-solving amon g nation s, but also
the possibility of Armageddon . She saw the development of indigenou s and
internati onal citiz en s' n etworks as one way of en suring th at the former pre­
vailed. For h er , pe acema king demand s specific 'craft an d sk ills ', a peace pra xis
encompassing 'all those activities in which conflict is dealt wi th in an integra­
tive mode - as choice s th at lie at the h eart of all human int er act ion' (ibid .: 140).
In the intersubjective relationships which make up social and political life, as
also in the st ru ctures and inst itu tions within wh ich th ey ar e embedd ed. the
success with which this is inculcated an d encouraged will determine wh ether.
in the end, we are pe acemakers or warrna ker s.

Reconstruction: The Fourth Generation, 1985-2005

During this period the Cold War came to an en d, and , as noted in chapter 1.
conflict res olu tion found itself both more central to atte m pts to red efine a
'new world ord er' a nd at th e same time confron te d by th e new ch all en ges that
followed from th e passing of the old ord er. We will be brief an d se lective here,
because th e work of the fourth gen eration forms th e su bsta n ce of the pre sent
state of affai rs a nd is thus cen t ral to the chapters that foll ow . In assessin g the
task for the up co ming fifth generation , th is bool< tak es it s sta n d on an evalu­
at ion of the achievements (as well as th e failures) of th e fourth generation.
56 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

In a single pa rag raph ou tline we wo u ld n ot e the increas ingly sop his tica ted
efforts of th ose wo rki ng in the con flict resolution fiel d d u ring th is per iod
to co mbi ne t he ra nge of app roa che s in response to new cha lle nges throu gh
ap plica t ion of the pr inciples of ,co n tingency' (th e nature of th e cha lle ng e) an d
' com plem en ta r ity ' (the appro pria te in terco n nec tion of resp ons es). The argu­
men t is t ha t softe r forms of in te rvention a re m ore a ppro pria te w h en m iscom­
mu nication an d m istru st is hi gh (whe n the su bjecti ve e lemen ts ar e strong) ,
wherea s h a rder forms of interven tion are more su ccessfu l w he n su bstan tive
in teres ts are a t th e fo refron t. Th is invo lves a clearer and m o re n ua nced und er­
st an di n g of how differe n t in ter loc king instr ume n ts no w co m bine to co n ta in,
settle and, w here possib le, tra nsfo rm co n flic t at d ifferen t level s (intergro up,
in terstate, regiona l and globa l), in di fferen t sectors (psyc hologica l, socia l,
economic, po li tic a l), using different a pproaches (pr evention, peacemaki ng ,
peacekeeping, peaceb uild in g ), in d iffe re n t histo rico-cu lt ura l se tting s, and at
di fferent st ages of conflic t escala tion and de -esca la tio n. The conflic t resolu­
tio n field sh a res with others a particu lar co ncern wit h wh a t can be do ne' to
cou nter th e drivers of destructive confl ic t and th e ir worst conseque nc es in
th e poores t socie ties and mos t 'fragi le' co un tries . Grea ter awareness of 'real­
ist' a nd 'critica l' critiq ues , as al so of gender a nd cul ture cri tiq ues , have been
an d ar e being responded to . Mo re professiona l q ua n titative an d q uali tative
methodo logies for conflict an a lysis and in te rp retatio n have bee n developed,
inclu d ing th ose for measuring 'emergent conflict a nd peacefu l change ', as
Hu gh Mia ll (2007) pu ts it. And cr ite ri a for evalu a ting ou tcomes an d wa ys
of measu r ing them are improving. As a res u lt of all th is. th e emphas is in
me th odo logy is on wh a t Da n iel Dr uckm an describes as 'd oing con flict resolu­
tion th ro ug h a m ul ti-me thod len s' (200 9), as ech oed in the ca ll to in tegra te
'm ultiple path s to knowledge' in co nflict ma nage ment an d con flic t resolution
(Sto ll, 200 4; Maoz et aI., 20 04). Th is reflects the ea r ly emphas is in the field on
mu ltidisci plinarity, bu t now ex tend s it to newer fie lds , such as the develop­
ment of compu ter-aided me thod s in in tern ation al co n flict resol uti on (Trappl,
2006) . Th is is exem plifie d and d iscu ssed in the followi ng ch ap ters in relat ion
to w hat Tom Woodho use ca lls cosmopolita n con flic t reso lu t ion (Woodh ouse
an d Rarnsb o th arn , 2005) .
The exp losion of interest in conflict resolu tion world w ide h as also led to a
remarkable increase in NGO activity duri ng thi s period (Ahmed a nd Potter,
20 06). Despite se tbacks in so me areas , as noted bel ow, th is incl ud es NGOs
which, in the j udge ment of Andrea Barto li (2009) , h ave the req u isit e repu ta­
tion , tru st (confiden tia lity) , leg itimacy in th e eye s of state ac tors , and capa city
to become succes sfu lly invo lve d direct ly in m a jor 'Track I' peace processes ­
suc h as the Commu nity of Sa n t' Eg id io in Mozamb iq ue. t he Carter Ce nte r in
Ven ezu el a, th e Cen t er for Hu ma n itaria n Dial ogu e in brokeri ng hu m anitari an
cea sefires in Darfur, th e Crisis Management Ini tia tive in Aceh and Sus tai ned
Dia log ue in Tajikistan . Beyond this 'there are tho usa nds of o th er global NGOs
eng ag ed in excelle n t wo rk, pa r ticula rly a t the societ al level' (Barto li mentio ns
 Fl CS i IiI):
Foundations and Development S7

Box 2.1 Dialogue versus debate: a version of David Bohm's

analysis

o Dialogue is collaborative : tw o or mo re sides wor k together tow ards common understanding .

Debate IS oppositiona l: tw o sides oppose each other and attempt to prove each o ther

wr ong.

o In dialog ue fin ding com mon ground is the goa l. In debate w inning IS the goal.
o In dialogue on e listens to the othe r side in order to und erstand, find meaning, and find

agreement. In debate one listens to th e other side in orde r to find flaw s and to counter its

arguments.

o Dialogue enlarges and possibly chang es a part icipant's point of view . Debate aff irms a

participant' s ow n point of view .

o Dialogue reveals assumptions fo r re-evaluation . Debate defe nds assum pt ions as truth .
o Dialogue causes int rospection Int o one's own position . Debate causes crit ique of the othe r's

position.

o Dialogue opens the possibility o f reaching a better solutio n than any of the original solu tions.

Debate defend s one's ow n positions as th e best solu tion and excludes oth er solutions.

o Dialogue creates an open-mind ed att itude - an op enness to being wro ng and an openness

to change. Debate creates a closed-minde d att itude, a deter mination to be right.

o Dialogue calls for temporarily suspending one' s beliefs and assumptions. Debate calls for

investing wholehearted ly in on e's belief s.

o In dialogu e one searches fo r basic agreement s. In debate one searches fo r diff erences.
o Dialogue involves a real concern for th e other person/s and seeks neith er to alienate nor to

offe nd. Debate involves a cou ntering o f the o the r position w ithout focusing on feelings or

relationship and oft en belitt les or deprecates th e oth er person .

o Dialogue assumes that many people have pieces o f the answer and that together they can

put them into a wo rkable solution. Debate assumes that there is a righ t answe r and that

someone has it.

Source: developed fro m Bohm, 1996, by Frank Boulto n

Search for Comm on Ground, Internat ional Alert, the West Afri can Network
for Peacebu ilding , th e Africa n Centre for th e Co n struc t ive Resolu tio n of
Dispu tes, th e Par tners h ip for th e Preven ti on of Arm ed Co n flic t, th e Euro pean
Cen tre for Con flic t Preventio n , and th e bridging wo rk of th e Internati on al
Crisis Grou p).
Here we se lect for e m phasis th e resp onse of th e co nflict resolution field to
four con temporary con flic t ch all enges: systemic complexity, asymmetry, cultural
diversity a nd intractability. In each ca se we ill ustra te m ainly with reference to
the commu n icative an d d ia log ic as pect of conflict resolu tio n (Boh m , 19 96;
Yanke lovich, 1999; Sau nders, 2009) (see box 2.1).

Conflict complexity
The foun ders of th e co nfl ict re so lu tion field wer e we ll aw a re th a t th ey were
dealing with comp lex conflict systems . Th is largely de term in ed th e na ture
of the new study area in com parison , fo r exam ple, wi th in te rna t ional rela­
tions at the tim e. Bu t in the post-Cold Wa r world th e qu es tio n of system ic
complexity ha s become even more prom ine n t as a varie ty of ' new wars' pro­
lifera ted wi thin a ra pid ly glo ba lizing wo rld , In h is book Solving rough Problems
58 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

(2007), Adam Kah a n e ident ifies t hree types of co mplex ity , each of w h ich
req u ires a di ffe ren t re medy. Dyn am ic com p lexity refers to the fact th at links
between ca use an d effec t are non-linear a n d are individu all y unpredictable .
Thi s requires a sys tem ic approach . Socia l co m plex ity refe rs to the fact th at
there are co nfl icti ng views abo u t the problem. Thi s req u ires a particip ative
approach. Gene ra tive complexity refers to the fact that fo rm er solutions are
no longer succ eed ing . This requi res a crea t ive approa ch.
The an alysis of con tem pora ry co nflic ts as complex syste ms ha s recently
bee n grea t ly enriched by an influ x of method ologies fro m dif ferent d isci­
plines, d riven particularly by th e work of aid and development workers a nx­
iou s at least to 'do no harm ' a n d a t best to 'do some go od ' (Hend rick, 200 9).
Peter Colem an h as been prominent in the conflict resolut ion field for hi s
developm ent a nd a pplica t io n of system ic conflict an alysis (Coleman, 200 3;
Coleman et al., 2007). We will loo k furth er at this work at th e end of ch ap te r 4.
A complex ada ptive system is defined as a g rou p of interrelated eleme nts
th at exhibit no n-lin ear re la t io ns . The more clements and interrelations , the
h igher th e level of co m plex ity in the sys te m . In particular, six fea tu res are seen
to dri ve cha nge w ithin a complex sys tem (Mo ty Cri stal a nd Or it Gal, worksh op
presenta ti on , Hai fa, 2010):

• connectivity a nd interdependence of ele m en ts;

• emergence a nd self-or gan iza tio n - th e system comes out of the acc um u­
lated choices of a ll th e individu al s opera t ing within it;
• ch ao s - in the techni cal sense th at sim p le known ch ange s pr oduce very
different a nd th erefore uncertain results:
• sys temic me mory an d path dep enden cy - today's dyn amics are channelled
by ye st erd ay's constru ctio ns;
• feedback effect s - negative feedback dampens or sta bilizes the system,
while po sit ive feedback amplifi es the sys tem ;
• evo lu ti on an d ad a pta tion - the sys te m as a wh ole re sp ond s to a con tin ually
ch a nging env iro n m e n t.

In terms of resp on se , Norbert Rop ers at th e Bcrgh of Research Cen ter for
Constructive Con flict has taken a le ad in developing the conce pt of 'syste mic
co nflic t transform ati on' (Korppen et al., 2008 ). Rather than solvin g a problem
in linear style , as in traditional strat egic th inking, th e aim is to under st and
a com plex ecology a nd to learn how to o pera te su ccess ful ly wit hi n it. In th e
co mmu nicative sp he re, for ex ample, Ro pers h as applied th e Buddhist ' tet ra­
lemma ' ('t etra' is th e Gree k fo r 'four') to th e lingui sti c dimension of the
Sin ha lafTa m il co nflict in Sri Lanka by juxtap osing the tw o ' eith er- o r' m ental
models of t he m a in a n tago n ists with the 'both - an d ' and 'neith er-nor' alter­
n atives (there is also the fifth possibili ty : 'n on e of these '): th e tetral emrna is 'a
tool which ha s the potential to overco me th e binary logi c of th ese three sets
of attitudes an d fears' (Ro pers, 2008 a : 17).
John Paul Lederac h is also severe ly cri tica l of redu cti ve eith er-or fra mes
 f Ollndatio ns lind [)~vel0P 1l1 r: 1I 1 59

of refer ence . He is stro ngly in favour of ackno wl edgi ng th e comp lex webs of
in te rac tio ns th at m ake u p the real (lived) world a nd of nurturing what he
calls ' th e moral im agin ation' in learning how to n avigate and t rans fo rm them
(2005 : 172- 3):
wli en w e e m brace dil emmas and paradoxes , th er e is th e po ssibility th at in co n flict we
are no t deal in g with o u trig h t incompat ibilit ies. Rat her . we are face d wi th recognizi ng
an d re sp ond in g to differe n t but interdepen dent aspects o f a co m p lex situa tion . We a re
not able to handle com plexity well if we und erst a nd ou r cho ices in rigid either/or or
co n t rad ic to ry te rms . Com ple xity re q ui re s th at we d evelo p th e capacity to id enti ty the key
ene rgies in a situatio n and h old the m up toget h er as interdependent goals . . . The capaci ty
to live wit h a p pa re n t co n t rad ictio ns a n d par adoxes lies a t the hea rt of" co n flict t r.m sfor­
m a tio n. (Lede rac h . 2003: 51-3)

Conflict asymmetry

It is in str ug gling wi th asym m etric confl ict s th at so m e of the m ost sign ificant
recent adva nc es h ave been made in the confli ct resoluti on field in th e com m u­
nicative sp here. Asym me tric conflicts art' those in whi ch co n flict: parti es are
un equ al in pow er , ei th er quantitatively (e.g. strong vs. w ea k sta tes) o r q ua li­
tati vely (e.g. st at e vs. non-state actors) or bo th. In th ese circu ms ta nces critics
have seen tr ad itio nal negotiation/mediati on, dial ogu e an d problem-solving
app roac h es as in ad equ ate , if not counter-produ ct ive, ins ofa r as th ey assu me
equivale nce between th e co n flict par ties (Kut tab , 19 88 ; Rouhana an d Ka rpel'.
1996; Jones, 1999). The result is see n to be to reinforce th e rela tive power of
the hegemon :
The re is still a m ilit a ry occ u pa tio n, peopl e are st ill bein g killed. im pri son ed a nd den ied
their rig h ts on a da ily basis. The mai n pr erogat ivex for lIS Arabs a nd Pa lestini a ns arc
ther efor e cl ear. One: we mu st str uggle to e nd th e occup a tio n. Two : we m u st stru ggle
even ha rde r to d eve lo p o u r ow n indep ende n t ins tit u tio ns a nd o rga n izat io ns u n til we ar e
on a rel a tively eq ua l footing w ith th e Isra eli s. Th en we ca n beg in to tal k serio us ly ab ou t
coop erat ion . In th e m ean tim e coo pe ra t io n ca n a ll too vasi l)' sha de in to co llabo ra tion wit h
Isr ael i policy . (Sai d , 199 5: 3 7)

In thes e circu m sta nces some in the conflict resolution field , influ enced
by theorist s su ch as Andrew Linklater (1998 ), h ave tu rned to critical theo ry
in ge nera l, a nd to Ji.irgen Hab errnas's dis course et h ics in parti cul ar. for a
tra nsfo rrna t ive a pproac h ca pable of addressing asym me tr y (Hoffma n . 1987;
Rothma n , 1992: 72 -3) . The re sult has been th e devel opment ofdiscursive conJlict
transformation, w h ich begins fro m the premi se that acti on s a nd in stitutio nal
arr ange me n ts ca n be sa id to be legitimate only wh en th ey result fro m a proc­
ess of uncon st rained di scourse in w h ich all affect ed pa rties participat e freely.
For Hab errn as, co m m u n ica tive ac tio n of th is kind a p pea ls to th e theory of
argu me ntatio n itself - the very process of ma kin g an d red eeming validi ty
claims - to ground its m et hodology. It is the fo rm a l-prag m a t ic nature ofargu­
menta tio n tha t dictates wh y th is must be co m m u n ica tio n free fro m coe rcio n.
Othe rw ise it is not arg u me n t, but merely st rategic m ani pul ation or resort to
60 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

forc e. Th e ' ide a l speec h situa tio n ' is defined as su ch th ro ug h the very natu re
of what is thereby appealed to (see Habermas, 1984). Thi s is well exempli­
fied in the wo rk of Vivien n e Jabri (1996), w ho draws on Hab ermas to offer a
cr it ique of ' disco u rses of vio len ce' an d to con str uc t a th eoretical grou nding
for 'discours es of peace' on this basis . We return to this them e in ch apter 19.

Cultural diversity

In this period, con trov ersy abo ut ' religio us wars ', 'g lobal jihad' , the 'global
war on terror ', and so on, h ave fed controversy about a 'clash of civili zations'
(Hun tin gton , 1996) a nd ha ve stim u la ted efforts to di spel. exp ose or over come it.
An idea of th e wide spe c trum of dialogi c techniques for h andling conflict
and effecting non-violent social change in conflict resoluti on can be fo und in
the Pioneers ofCh a nge Associ ates 200 6 su rvey Mapping Dialogue (www.pioneer­
sofch ange.net) (th e survey covers approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry,
Ch a nge Lab , Deep Democracy. Fu tu re Sea rch, Open Space, Scenario Planning,
Sust ained Dialogu e, World Cafe, Bohrnian Dialogu e. Learning Journeys. etc.).
In response to the sp ecific challenge of managing conflicts between and across
cul tural and religi ou s di vid es, many in th e con flict re solution field have been
influ enced by the p h ilosophy of Han s-Georg Gadamer and it s appli cation to
inte rcultura l d ia log ue (Malpas et a l., 2002 ). The Cadarnerian app roach ulti­
m ately sees dialogu e as a 'fu sion of horizons' ac ross cu ltu ral and hi storical
differences . It is call ed 'hermeneuti c dialogue' be cause it draws a parall el
between a co nversa t io n and th e interpretation of te xts . For Cadarner . in ter­
pre ting an ini tiall y un fa mi lia r text is seen as a form of conversation between
object an d in terpreter. In co n flict resolu t io n it works the o th er way. A dia­
logue or co n versa tio n is seen as a mutual interpretation of texts. Thi s m eans a
move away from the idea of dialogue as mutual sympathy (getting into each
o the r's sh oes: Rogers, 1980: 142) and toward s th e ide a of'relati on al empathy'
in w h ich a m ore dyn amic an d produ ct ive process is envisaged, w h er eby , in
intense interperson al excha ng e that is as mu ch affective as cog n itive, partici­
pan ts tog ether gen erate s ha red. ne w m eaning , so m e tim es referred to as a ' th ird
cui ture ' (Broome, 19 93). This app ro ac h refl ects Gad. am er 's in sistence in Truth
and Method th at, in the field of interpretation , it is 'a hermen eutical necessity
always to go beyon d mere reconstruction ' in reaching underst and in g:

Thi s placing of ourselves is not th e em pat hy of one indi vidu al for a no ther, nor is it the
a pplica t ion to a not he r person of ou r ow n cr iteria, but it always invo lves th e atta inm ent
of a high e r universali ty that ove rco mes , not onl y o ur own pa rt icularity, but also th at of
the ot h er. (Cada rncr. [19601197 5: 272)

The se 'dialogic attitud es' are seen as integral to the con flict resolution enter­
prise by Benj amin Broo m e:

Th e th ird cu ltu re ca n on ly develop th rough inte ract ion in w hich pa rt icipan ts are willing
to o pen th emselve s to new me anings, to enga ge in ge n uine di alogu e, and to consta ntly
 Foundati ons and Development 61

respond to th e new d emands e ma nati n g fro m the sit uat ion. Th e emerge nce o f this thi rd
cultu re is the essence of rela tion a l e m pa thy a nd is essen t ia l for successful con flict resolu­
tion . (Broome. 1993: 104)

Heavy de m a n ds a re thereby m ade on participants, wh o are expec ted to be

able to recogn ize t hat th ey ca n nev er escape the un iversal reach of th eir own
prej udice and th at the attemp ted 'fu sion of hori zons' or rel a tional em pa thy
will al ways be th e cre a tio n of som et h ing t hat d id n ot exis t before (a third
cul ture) a n d a n on going proj ect, never a co m ple ted pr ogramme. They a re
asked to 'decen tre' th eir ow n identit ies to th e point whe re - in th e wo rds of
Stewart a n d Thom as - in stead of see king 'certain ty, clo sure and con tro l' , th ey
welco me th e tens ion be tw een 'i rreco nc ileab le horizon s' a nd ado p t a ' playful­
ness' and op en-rnind edn ess appropri at e to encou nter with new expe rience or
the ultimately un absorbabl e 'oth er' (Stewa rt a nd Thomas, 2006 : 198). Th is is
looked at fur th er in ch a p te r 15 .

Confli ct intractability

Finally in the communicative sph ere, th ere is the issu e of intract abili ty.
Intract a ble co n flicts a re tho se that co n tinue to defy all effo rts at settle­
men t and tr ansform ation - oft en for years (Kricsbe rg e i al ., 1989 ; Crocker
et aI., 2005). Con fron ted wit h th e failure of tradition al co n flict reso lution
effo r ts, Guy a n d Heid i Bur gess h ave developed their 'con stru cti ve con fro nta­
tion ' m ethod ology (1996,1 997). The ir we bsite 'Beyon d Intractabili ty: A f ree
Kn owledge Base on More Constru ctive Ap proa ches to Destructi ve Con flict' is
an exce lle n t resource for deep er und er s tand in g of intrac ta bility and what ca n
be done abou t it (http://www.beyondin tractability.or g). Berna rd Mayer (2009)
advis es th at, in stubbo rn a nd e nd u ri ng co n flic ts, what is needed is to 's tay
with the conflic t' - he di stingu ishes co n tin u ing 'conflict engageme nt ' from
both co n flic t resolution a nd conflict tran sformation . Faced with in tr act abl e
conflict such as tha t betwee n th e' Israelis and the Pal estin ians in the afte rma th
of the fai lu re of the 'Oslo process ', Oliver Ram sb oth am (2010) traces the roo ts
of linguistic intractability to the phen ome n on of 'radical di sagr eement' . He
suggests tha t, in these ci rc u mstances, in st ead of tryin g to transform radical
disagree ment fro m the ou tset as is usual in conflict re solut ion , it ma y be
best to take it se riously in it s ow n rig ht by begin ning wi th an exp lor a ti on of
th e 'ago ni stic dialog ue' (di alogue between en emies) it sel f. Th is is de veloped
fur th er in ch a pter 18.

Conclusion
In thi s cha p ter we hav e noted the diverse na t ure of the co nflic t resolution
tradition , rooted in different di sciplines and enco m passing th e 'subjectivist'
con tro lled commun icati on a nd pro blem -solving a ppro ach , the 'objec tivist'
rat ional nego tiation/medi ation app roach, a nd the 'structuralist' soc ial j us tice
62 Contemporary Conflict Resolution

approach. We h ave tentatively suggested that these corr espo nd to att empts to
address the 'attitude' , 'behaviour' and 'contradiction' vertices of the conflict
triangle. Neverthel ess, de spite this diver sity, quite a simple cen tra l commit­
ment prevails. Having grown in a number of centres through th e pion eering
work of a sm all gro up of individuals, the enterprise of conflict res olution is
now co nduc ted across an international network where scholar s and practi­
tioners from m any co u n tries share in th e common objective of formulating,
applying and testing structures a nd practices for preventing, m anaging,
ending a nd transforming violen t a nd destructive con flict. Conflic t resolu tion
does not prescribe spe cific solu tiori s or end goals for societ y, beyond a commit­
m ent to th e core assumption - challenged by m any re ali st s - that agg ress ive
w in - lose styles of en gagement in viole n t conflict usually in cur cos ts th at arc
u n acceptably hi gh not only for th e co n flict parties bu t also for world soc iety
in gen er al. Th is doe s not mean endorsing the sta tus qu o, since unjus t and
oppressive system s are seen as som e of the ch ief sou rces of viole nce an d war.
Nor does it mea n imposing conflict resolution categori es on othe rs. Con flict
re solu ti on learn s here fr om cr itical and po st-stru ctural approach es. What it
do es entail , as the previou s cha p ter sugges ts. is a sea rch tor ways oft ra nsfor m­
in g actually or potentially viol ent con flict into peac eful processes of political
a nd social cha ng e. The rest of the book look s a t th e work of the contem po rary
fourth ge ne ra tio n of conflict resolvers, which ha s had to adapt to the ch anged
internation al scene since the e nd of the Cold Wa r. In th e next two cha pte rs we
tu rn to an exam ina tion of th e nature a nd sources of contemporary conflict.
This w ill se rve as an a nalytic foundation for the chapters th at follow.

Recommended reading

Dunn (19 9 5); Kriesbe rg (1997) ; Kriesberg (2009) ; Lawler (1995 ); Ram sb otharn (2010:

ch. 3); Vayrynen (1991).