Assessment and Evaluation

Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict

Assessment and Evaluation

	Conflict Assessment Conflict assessment is the first stage in the process of conflict management and resolution that begins by clarifying participants' interests, needs, positions, and issues and then engages stakeholders to find solutions.
	Conflict Mapping Conflict mapping is one approach to conflict assessment. Originally developed in the 1970s by Paul Wehr, it has been adapted and used by many scholars and practitioners since. Many others have developed their own conflict assessment "tools," with 100s of different categories. But Wehr's approach to complex mapping is one of the simpler and easier to use tools and is a good example of the kinds of things people should look at as they become engaged in or start to study a particular conflict.
	Early Warning Based on similar efforts to predict natural disasters and crop yields, many have attempted to construct models to predict where conflict will erupt. This essay explores the difficulties in creating such a system.
	Envisioning Envisioning is a process in which people try to see into the future--not only what they expect to happen, but what they would like to happen. In order to attain "peace," people must have an image of what "peace" would look like. Only then can they figure out what to do to attain it.
	Setting Goals Just as you cannot walk to a destination if you do not know where it is, you cannot achieve your goals if you do not know what they are. For this reason, goal setting is an important part of conflict management and resolution.
	Evaluation and Assessment of Interventions Winston Churchill said, "True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information." This essay explains how evaluation can make interventions into intractable conflict more effective.
	Evaluation as a Tool for Reflection This essay argues that evaluation and systematic reflection provides for the learning and knowledge necessary for effective dispute resolution processes. At the same time, it poses significant difficulties.
	Formative Evaluation Long-term conflicts are typically caused by many factors that are both interconnected and constantly changing. Formative evaluation can help practitioners adjust their interventions as the conflict changes.
	Action Evaluation Action Evaluation (AE), is an innovative method that uses social and computer technology to define, promote, and assess success in complex social interventions. It is a direct response to recurrent questions about the effectiveness of conflict-resolution.

A leader who does not hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader. -- Golda Meir

Featured Links
Organizations Making Noteworthy Contributions to Efforts to Promote More Constructive Conflict

InterAction

Other Resources from
Beyond Intractability

Reporting on Conflict
A guide for reporters showing how they can get the most out of Beyond Intractability. Includes a list of experts available for interviews.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
Former President of the USSR, and 1990 Nobel Peace Laureate

Beyond Intractability Version IV
Copyright © 2003-2007 The Beyond Intractability Project
Beyond Intractability is a Registered Trademark of the University of Colorado
Project Acknowledgements

The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors
c/o Conflict Information Consortium (Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado
Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154; Contact