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Introduction:
According to Frank Blechman, the biggest obstacles for conflict intervenors are cynicism and lack of hope. Parties in conflict who have been severely hostile towards one another are likely to be wary of collaborative solutions to their problems. Trust and communication is likely to be poor; and they may doubt their constituents will accept any new ideas.
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This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Obstacles for Intervenors
Frank Blechman
Private Consultant. Formerly at the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
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Q: What are the major obstacles to your work?
A: The nature of the complex public policy area that I practice in is that by time I get involved it
is pretty grid-locked and pretty messed up. People have been batting at it for a
while and they have driven themselves to grid-lock and that is the point where
they turn and say maybe we should get somebody who knows something about this or
could help us in some way. Often they have exhausted other experts, which is why
they turn to someone such as myself because they have exhausted the conventional
experts. Good news is that their expectations are fairly lowered already. The
bad new is they have genuinely created lots of obstacles for themselves. They
have dug themselves in deeply entrenched positions. They have already spent most
of the resources that they are going to need to solve the problem. The trust is
pretty low. Communication is pretty poor.
They have a pretty deeply grounded
belief that they know everything there is to know and what they know is bad. So
the notion that somehow there is something new to learn here; that belief is
pretty low. That's the biggest obstacle; is cynicism, lack of hope, lack of
belief that anything is possible. At the extreme end of that are the civil war
situations where people believe if I ever agree to anything I'll be murdered.
That's obviously sort of an impediment to settlement. But at the public policy level
within the United States it's the belief that even if something good were to be
found I am not sure I can sell it to my constituents, which is sort of the civil
equivalent of you'll be assassinated.
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| A peace that comes from fear and not from the heart is the opposite of peace. -- Gersonides |
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Featured Links
Organizations Making Noteworthy Contributions to Efforts to Promote More Constructive Conflict
Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Studies
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Other Resources from
Beyond Intractability
Conflict Transformation
Lederach's vision of of the key to ending destructive conflict. |
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Nobel Peace Prize Winners
Kim Dae-jung
Former President of South Korea, and 2000 Nobel Peace Laureate |
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