Author: Rebecca Walters

By Kyrstie Lane, Managing Editor, Reflections

Communities play a key role in resolving conflicts. In this field, we can accomplish very little alone, and we are always at our most effective when we unite with those who care about the same issues and devote themselves to the same work. Our ties with fellow conflict resolvers, with those who dedicate themselves to work on the same challenges that we do, are often central to our success. Technology and growing global connections have made our communities much larger and have given us the opportunity to work with those on the other side of the globe; yet there is something irreplaceable about our own physical community, close to home. Each of the articles in this quarter’s Reflections come from scholars, practitioners, and others working in the local community of the Center, and their ideas, experiences, and personal reflections give us a great deal of hope about the impact of our community.

Sonja Koehler, a social change consultant who has worked on diverse projects across the world, asks why humans are drawn to collaborate and what we can gain from people coming together, from all walks of life, to tackle a problem. Through her personal experiences and lessons learned from working in collaborations, she shares how collaborations can be made most effective. Ed Laurance, a professor at the Monterey Institute and an expert in the subject of small arms and light weapons, tells us about the development of his field: how disillusioning the work of the last decades has been, and yet the progress that has been made to pave the way for further advances in this area. Julie Reynolds, a research fellow at CCS and journalist with the Monterey Herald, provides an interesting take on the struggles of prison inmates to explore their identities: what are the deeper implications of profiling prisoners as members of dangerous prison gangs based on what they read and study?

In our quarterly column “Pedagogy of Conflict”, Dr. Pushpa Iyer addresses the frustration often faced by conflict resolvers, especially students, when they discover that they cannot overhaul the system. Change, she says, is small: we cannot aim to change the entire structure, rather, we must focus on changing it piece by piece, over time.

This quarter’s cover photo and story comes from local artist Jim Needham, whose simple yet compelling rock formations have a powerful meaning for peace. Finally, our Picks of the Quarter touch upon the continuing violence and humanitarian crisis in Mali, burgeoning tensions over water along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia, and the New York City police’s new tactic of using social media to prevent gang violence.

Every Step Counts

By Pushpa Iyer

The common and oft-repeated critique that the field of conflict studies is weak on literature and in the practice of resolving conflicts is most exemplified when discussing structural conflicts. Root causes of conflicts are almost always rooted in the system and therefore in order to resolve a conflict, one is almost always required to deal with the challenge of having to transform imbalanced and oppressive structures. Not only does it sound daunting but it also raises questions of where to begin, how to begin, and when to begin.

It is not unusual for newcomers to the field to seek answers to questions that have plagued them for years. How does one go about resolving conflicts if one cannot remove the root or the source of the problem? After all, as a field of study and practice, conflict resolution needed to have more concrete, tried and tested, and defined ways of resolving structural conflicts. But instead, potential conflict resolvers are introduced to a field that still has a long way to go in providing those solutions for conflicts that arise from structures and systems. Larissa Fast, in her article ‘Frayed Edges: Exploring the Boundaries of Conflict Resolution’ published in 2002, laments the fact that the intersection of theory, research, and practice in the field has led to very little movement from the analysis of conflicts to the resolution of structural conflicts. A decade later, these problems still remain in the field.

It is not that practice has not provided for stronger theories on the nature and scope of structural violence. It has. We have practitioner-scholars like John Paul Lederach who have elaborated the process of dealing with structural violence. Theories on the many different aspects and levels of structural violence provide a great deal of insights into the complexity of the problem facing conflict resolvers. Equally, these theories have stressed the fact that dealing with structural conflicts demands a long-term commitment on the part of the conflict resolvers.

The discomfort in making the long-term commitment stems mostly from an obvious lack of quick-fix solutions. For future practitioners of the field the complexity of the conflict, the long draw, and unclear process of resolution is both disconcerting and disappointing.

The field is clear that just as analysis of conflicts needs to be holistic, the approach towards resolving them also needs to be holistic. This means you tackle the issue from all possible angles, and that any change you bring to the structures will therefore happen only incrementally. It is not possible to find that one method that will dramatically alter structures that have for time eternal been discriminatory. Instead, by making small changes to all aspects of the structural change, one can see the change slowly happening with the structures.

Yes, it is difficult to see this slow process through when transformation is imperative for bettering the lives of all those who are suffering now because of this imbalanced structure. But seeking the tool to make this change happen is as unlikely as hoping for a magic wand that will grant your every wish.

Every step that conflict resolvers take, at whichever level – policy, institutional, or grassroots – moves them closer towards the core of the structure. Along the way they will have a face off with all those who guard the structure, and even if it means taking a few steps back to move forward on a slightly different path, the courage, determination, and resilience to continue moving forward emerge as distinguishing characteristics of the conflict resolver.

In the absence of a clear path to tread, and as someone comfortable working in the grey zones of conflict while committed to staying in the process of resolution for as a long as it takes, I find structural violence daunting but not frustrating.

It is not that practice, theory, and research in the field have not found the tool for changing structural conflicts but that practice, theory, and research have stressed that every step counts. Taking the nested model developed by Maire Dugan as a tool, it is clear that every issue is nested within the broader relationships of the conflict parties, which in turn are nested within the sub-systems and structures in place. For the same reason, it seems as if resolution too is complexly nested in those layers of conflict. Tackling one layer does not resolve the conflict in another layer.

I do now believe that the critique against the field is misplaced. Maybe it is tempering our desire to be the kind of resolvers that can rush into a situation and dramatically change centuries old deeply embedded structures that is the problem; not the field, which is both cautious and creative in providing solutions for structural change.

The conflicts that gain the most attention and media coverage tend to be those that are most sensational and violent. But there are many other conflicts we do not hear about, and those living through them must struggle to make their voices heard. This column seeks to bring attention to serious events, issues, and conflicts that receive little coverage but deserve our attention, our acknowledgement, and our best efforts in resolving them.

Mali

Mali, once considered one of the more stable democracies in Africa, has suffered from a violent conflict between ethnic Tauregs led by armed groups, some of them Islamists, and the government since January 2012. A military coup felled the government in March 2012, citing the government’s failure to politically check the Tauregs who held vast areas of northern Mali. Some of the areas in the North have declared independence, but have received no recognition from the regional or broader international community. In the aftermath of the coup, around 200,000 people (according to the UN) fled their homes. Many have fled the country while about 93,000 remain internally displaced. To add to its woes, Mali has suffered from acute food shortages for over a year caused primarily by drought and erratic rainfall. After the coup, the African Union suspended Mali. As coup leaders deny regional forces the chance to intervene and bring stability to Mali, African and Western leaders have been urging the UN to intervene militarily. However, aid organizations have cautioned the UN that any military intervention will cause a greater humanitarian crisis than what already exists. The presence of Al-Qaeda in the one of the armed groups, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has drawn the attention of western powers and therefore created a growing interest in intervening in Mali. One only hopes the needs and security of the ordinary people of Mali are equally considered.

Southeast Asia

Conflict over water continues to be a topic that is ignored by many. The thought seems to be that since there is no large monetary value associated with water in most developed countries, how could water serve as a source of conflict in less developed countries? But when over 60 million people depend on one river for a variety of purposes, it is easy to understand how water has been the source of increased tension among nations. The Mekong River, which originates in China and runs throughout Southeast Asia, has become a controversial issue in the region. The Mekong is the world’s 13th largest river and is shared by six countries through which it flows. The abundant resources provided by the river have already been strained due to several dams China has built in order to meet its ever-increasing energy needs, with more planned for the future. In addition to the dams built by China, Laos is currently building a $3.5 billion dam near Xayaburi without regard for the negative environmental impact it will have on the river. There are ten more dams planned for the future in the lower Mekong delta. According to the Mekong River Commission, these dams would turn over half of the river into reservoirs, having a hugely negative effect on the area’s fishing industry (which feeds about 60 million people) and agricultural industry (with losses estimated at $500 million per year) and displacing many living in the region. The countries involved must engage in multi-lateral efforts to solve their mutual dependence on the Mekong River. The governments of these countries need to take into account the effects these dams will have not only on their citizens but on the 17 million inhabitants of the entire region. Should they continue to ignore these obligations, it is likely that conflict will erupt – between countries as well as between groups living alongside the river – to the detriment of all. The increased tension over this river demonstrates how, if this issue is left unaddressed, water may become a significant source of conflict in the future.

United States

Gang violence has long been a problem in many cities across the United States. In New York City, law enforcement has turned to new methods in an effort to prevent gang activity as well as violence. Police are now using social media to track the trash talk that occurs between members of two gangs in particular, the Very Crispy Gangsters and the Rockstarz, as they utilize social media to share both their successes and to issue taunts and threats to their enemies, which usually result in violence. Until recently, the tracking was mostly done through public profiles, but the police are stepping up their tactics through the creation of internet aliases in an effort to “friend” gang members and build a legal case against them based on their social media activity. Addressing gang violence is an important function of law enforcement. But the real problems in these communities lie in the causes of gang violence. Gangs thrive due to poverty, a lack of opportunity, a lack of suitable schools, and a void of appropriate adult role models. Should law enforcement and city governments be focusing on solving these problems rather than spending their resources on tracking activity through social media? It is important to prevent violence, however, the gang violence resulting from social media activity in New York will continue until the root causes of the problems are addressed.