Main Categories

 Understanding Conflicts: Core Concepts | Causes | Costs and Benefits | Dynamics | Complexity
People | Development and Conflict | Power | Culture and Conflict | Relationships | Facts | Framing

Intervention Processes and Outcomes: Options and Strategies | Assessment and Evaluation 
Communication | Negotiation | Mediation and Facilitation | Arbitration and Adjudication
Peace Processes | Peacebuilding | Outcomes of Intervention | Peace Agreements

Sorted with Descriptions

• Understanding Conflict
  
  • Core Concepts
    
    • Intractable Conflicts Defined
      
      • What Are Intractable Conflicts? -- Intractability refers to conflicts that seem to be stuck in an increasingly destructive spiral. Examples range from the Iraq War to a difficult divorce. These conflicts consume time, money and energy and at their worst, result in millions of deaths.
      • Nature of Intractability -- It can be difficult to decide whether a conflict is, in fact, intractable. This essay explains why the term, "intractable," is so controversial.
      • Characteristics Of Intractable Conflicts -- Intractable conflicts are ones that go on and on, are frequently very destructive, and seem to resist any attempts at resolution. Though international conflicts, such as Israel-Palestine quickly come to mind, domestic issues such as the abortion controversy, and even some marital relations are quite intractable as well.
      • Conflicts and Disputes -- Conflict scholars make a critical distinction between short-term disputes and deep-rooted, long-term conflicts. Learn why conflicts are so much harder to resolve than disputes.
    • Alternative Goals
      
      • Interests, Positions, Needs, and Values -- Interests are people's desires--the things they want to achieve in a conflict or dispute. In their best-selling book, Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher and William Ury assert that almost all adversaries have negotiable interests, it is only when the conflict becomes about rights, values, or power that it become intractable.
      • Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) -- BATNA is a term invented by Roger Fisher and William Ury which stands for "best alternative to a negotiated agreement." Any negotiator should determine his or her BATNA before agreeing to any negotiated settlement.
      • Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) -- The ZOPA is the common ground between two disputing parties. The ZOPA is critical to the successful outcome of negotiation, but it may take some time to determine whether a ZOPA exists.
      • Ripeness -- A conflict is said to be ripe once both parties realize they cannot win, and the conflict is costing them too much to continue. This tends to be a good time to open negotiations.
      • Settlement, Resolution, Management, and Transformation: An Explanation of Terms -- This essay refers to four different goals for a conflict intervention. It defines the four terms and explains how their meanings have evolved over time.
      • Tolerance -- William Ury explained, "tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person."
      • Coexistence -- In a state of coexistence, the parties agree to respect each other's differences and resolve their conflicts nonviolently.
      • Legitimacy -- It is important to take legitimacy into consideration in the formation of any conflict resolution process. Otherwise, any agreement reached, no matter how visionary, is unlikely to hold. Leaders, too, must have legitimacy; otherwise their power is tenuous.
      • Security -- Security, or sense of safety, is one of several "fundamental human needs" that must be met if conflict resolution is to be successful according to human-needs theorists.
      • Stable Peace -- This essay introduces the idea of a stable peace, or "a situation in which the probability of war is so small that it does not really enter into the calculations of any of the people involved.
      • Toward Better Concepts of Peace -- "Peace," in some circles, is a bad word: it is thought of as "giving up." Others only define it as the absence of something -- such as conflict or war. But peace is also positive, and positive peace is a much more nuanced and valuable idea than the other two conceptions. This article examines the many different theoretical interpretations of the concept of "peace."
    • Justice
      
      • Principles of Justice and Fairness -- It's common sense that justice is central to any well-functioning society. However, the question of what justice is and how to achieve it are more difficult matters. This essay begins to explore the conundrum.
      • Types of Justice -- Different spheres of society approach justice differently. This essay breaks justice down into four types: distributive, procedural, retributive, and restorative and explains the meaning of each.
      • Restorative Justice -- Restorative justice is justice that is not designed to punish the wrong-doer, but rather to restore the victim and the relationship to the way they were before the offense. Thus, restorative justice requires an apology from the offender, restitution for the victim, and forgiveness of the offender by the victim.
      • Retributive Justice -- Retributive justice promises punishment or "retribution" for wrongdoing.
      • Procedural Justice -- Procedural justice describes approaches that define justice not by a fair outcome but by a fair process.
      • Distributive Justice -- When people believe that their situation is not equal to that of other people like them, they feel a sense of injustice. Distributive justice is the attempt to create a fair and equal division of society's wealth and status.
      • Governance Challenges in Promoting Environmental Justice -- Creating the conditions that promote environmental justice requires looking at environmental inequalities and asking why they came about. This essay examines the global distribution of hazardous waste disposal as an example of "toxic imperialism." After examining the problem, the author considers alternative solutions.
    • International Law
      
      • International Law -- International law is the attempt to manage conflict between countries. Though enforcement is difficult, international norms are strong enough to exact compliance in most (but far from all) cases.
      • Rule of Law -- Particularly since the end of the Cold War, the rule of law has increasingly been recognized as an important aspect of international conflict resolution and post-conflict peace building. Similarly, the absence of the rule of law is often implicated as a source of violence, human rights violations, and intractability.
      • Jus ad Bellum -- Jus ad Bellum, or Just War Theory, is a set of principles used to justify the use of violence.
      • Jus in Bello -- The rules of Jus in Bello (or justice in war) serve as guidelines for fighting well once war has begun.
      • Rights -- The spread of international human rights has helped fulfill basic human needs and reduce suffering. However, framing disputes in terms of absolute rights that cannot be compromised can contribute to a conflict's intractability.
      • Sovereignty -- However, sovereignty is also one of the most misunderstood concepts in international relations, in part because its definition is changing and the political and conflict resolution implications are significant.
  • Causes
    
    • Causes of Intractable Conflicts -- Intractable conflicts such as between Israel and Palestine are rarely just about surface issues such as land or religion. At the core of most intractable conflicts is a tangle of issues threatening the most vital interests of the parties. This essay describes some of the common causes underlying many intractable conflicts.
    • Identity Issues
      
      • Identity Issues -- Israelis and Palestinians, Protestants and Catholics, whites and blacks, labor and management...these are all examples of identities that have resulted in conflicts. This essay discusses the importance of identity in intractable conflicts.
      • Nationalism -- Nationalism is an extension of identity group conflicts in which feelings of identity coincide with loyalty to one's nation-state or national group, even when a formal nation-state does not exist (as with the Palestinians.)
      • Religion and Conflict -- Religion is both a cause and a solution to many intractable conflicts. This essay discusses the role that religion plays in the creation and support of intractable conflicts. The essay on Religion and Peace looks at the role that religious actors and religion per se has and can play in the transformation or resolution of such conflicts.
      • Scapegoating -- The term scapegoat refers to people who are forced to bear responsibility for the mistakes of others. Scapegoating can prolong conflict and lead to intense violence.
    • Oppression and Conflict
      
      • Oppression and Conflict: Introduction -- Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world today. This very short essay introduces the concept of oppression.
      • The Nature and Origins of Oppression -- The beginning of oppression can be traced back to the invention of agriculture. This essay outlines the history of oppression.
      • Forms of Oppression -- This essay defines five types of injustice that leads to oppression: distributive injustice, procedural injustice, retributive injustice, moral exclusion, and cultural imperialism.
      • Maintaining Oppression -- In this essay, the author considers factors that keep oppression in place including power, the social production of meaning, self-fulfilling prophecies and distorted relationships.
      • Overcoming Oppression: Awakening the Sense of Injustice -- Awareness of injustice is a precondition for overcoming it. This essay discusses why people often aren't aware of their own and others' oppression.
      • Overcoming Oppression through Persuasion -- This essay examines how low power groups can appeal to the oppressive group's moral values, self interests, and self realization to convince them to change their relationship with the other group(s).
      • Overcoming Oppression with Power -- Thomas Hobbes wrote, "Cities and kingdoms, for their own security, undertake invasions out of fear of being invaded and seek to weaken or destroy neighbors as a way of reducing foreign threats." Security guarantees are one way out of this destructive cycle.
    • High-Stakes Distributional Issues
      
      • High-Stakes Distributional Issues -- These are distributional conflicts that really matter: over jobs, land, a parent's love. Since the stakes are high, the willingness to compromise or lose may be low, making resolution more difficult
      • Rich / Poor Conflicts -- The gap between high and low income countries is widening, risking even more conflict caused by this disparity in the future.
      • Social Status -- Social status is intrinsically linked with ideas of power, humiliation, dignity and hierarchy. In many societies, there is a perpetual struggle between those at the top and those at the bottom, with equality a very elusive goal.
    • Globalization -- Globalization has both positive and negative effects for people in both the developed and the developing world. This essay examines the many benefits and costs of globalization, and considers how it might be directed to maximize benefits while minimizing costs.
    • Moral or Value Conflicts -- Intractable moral conflicts tend to arise when one group views the beliefs and actions of another group as being so fundamentally evil that they exceed the bounds of tolerance. The abortion debate in the United States is an example of a moral conflict.
    • Unmet Human Needs -- Human essentials go beyond just food, water, and shelter. They include all those things humans are innately driven to attain, such as love, dignity and safety. Some theorists argue that most intractable conflicts are caused by the drive to satisfy unmet needs.
    • Justice Conflicts -- Perceived injustice is a frequent source of conflict. It is usually characterized by the denial of fundamental rights. This is an introductory essay to the justice section of the website.
    • Human Rights Violations -- Abuse of human rights often leads to conflict, and conflict typically results in human rights violations. Thus, human rights abuses are often at the center of wars and protection of human rights is central to conflict resolution.
    • Effects of Colonization -- Many of today's ethnic conflicts were caused, at least to some degree, by artificial boundaries, identities, and role relationships that were established by colonizing powers decades or even centuries before. Though the colonial power has most often left the scene, the social and political landscape that was left behind is fraught with tensions, often leading to intractable violent conflicts. This essay explores the link between colonization and later ethnic tension and violence.
    • Small Arms Trade -- During the Cold War, nuclear disarmament was a focus; now many policy makers are focusing on weapons of mass destruction. But small arms are actually doing much more harm in current conflicts, and efforts to control the small arms trade deserve priority attention as well.
  • Costs and Benefits
    
    • Costs and Benefits of Intractable Conflict -- The costs of conflict can be very high: death, destruction, humiliation, anger, fear, illness, depression, absenteeism... the list goes on and on. However, conflict, if conducted constructively, can also have benefits.
    • Costs of Conflict
      
      • Costs of Intractable Conflict -- The twentieth century was the deadliest in all of human history. With eight million Jews murdered and one million Rwandans, it was named "the age of genocide." However, human casualties merely scratch the surface of the true cost of conflict. This essay discusses the human, economic, social, and political costs of intractable conflict.
      • The Cost of Conflict: Understanding the Ramifications of Internal Warfare This is the first and foundational article of this four part series on "Directory Oriented Peacebuilding." This article synthesizes existing academic knowledge to more fully understand the far-reaching impacts of civil conflict on societies, which in turn informs our understanding of the peacebuilding process
      • Damaged or Destroyed Relationships -- People on opposite sides of a long-running conflict tend to distrust or even hate each other. This takes an emotional toll on both parties and prevents them from working together in the future.
      • Decision-Making Delay -- Often parties get so stuck in their conflicts that they cannot even agree on a decision making process. The result is long-delayed decisions, leaving everyone with continuation of the default, business-as-usual option even when there better options are available.
      • Violence -- Overview -- This article examines the nature of political violence and what can be done to stop it.
      • Interpersonal Conflict and Violence -- Interpersonal violence is the use of physical force to harm another person. It can also take the form of emotional abuse where language or behavior, not physical harm causes emotional damage. This essay explores how interpersonal violence is both a cause and a consequence of intractable conflict.
      • War -- War has been a common feature of the human experience since the dawn of civilization. However, this essay questions whether it is an effective or efficient way to solve problems and suggests things people can do to stop wars from happening.
      • Terrorism -- Terrorism fundamentally involves extreme acts of political violence, targeting civilians, and intended to arouse fear as much as or more than the actual damage the violence causes directly.
      • Terrorism Defined -- The term "terrorism" means different things to different people. Mitchell's article explores the many different definitions of the word -- both official and unofficial -- and the implications that those definitions have on policy and action.
      • Suicide Bombers -- It is easy to assume that suicide bombers are "evil." However, terrorism is not a simple phenomenon with easy explanations. Usually, a number of factors motivate someone to take both their own and others' lives.
      • War Crimes -- Although inhuman acts have been committed in wars throughout history, the concept of war crimes is relatively new. It was only with the Holocaust and other atrocities of World War II that people began to think of some of the horrors of war as crimes for which perpetrators could be held legally accountable.
      • Genocide -- In recent years, genocide, or attempts to completely erase adversaries--either through death or exile, have become increasingly common. These resources describe the special problems posed by genocide and other war crimes.
      • Refugees -- Conflict can cause people to flee an area, either because of intolerable living conditions or forceful expulsion. Such situations can lead to more conflict when refugees try to return home.
      • Victimhood -- In the early 1930s, millions of Ukranians died under Stalin's violent policy of forced collectivization. The depth of pain, fear, and hatred that continued to characterize the Ukrainian attitude toward Russians is typical of all victimized people. This essay examines the causes and consequences of a sense of victimhood.
      • Humiliation -- Humiliation is reducing to lowliness or submission. It is theorized to be a major cause of violent and intractable conflicts. The humiliation of the German people after World War I, for example, is frequently seen as a cause of World War II.
    • Benefits of Intractable Conflict -- Conflict is change. Without it, attitudes, behavior, and relationships stay the same, regardless of whether they are fair. Although conflict is often understood as something negative, this essay explores its many benefits.
  • Dynamics
    
    • Factors Shaping the Course of Intractable Conflict -- The parties, issues, setting, and history are among the factors that shape the course of conflicts.
    • Conflict Stages
      
      • Conflict Stages -- Most conflicts go through a series of stages, which may or may not occur in order. They start as latent conflict. They then emerge, escalate, de-escalate and are resolved--sometimes permanently, sometimes temporarily until they emerge or escalate again.
      • Latent Conflict Stage -- The first stage of conflict is latent conflict. At this stage, there are deep value differences or significant injustice, which will potentially lead to an active conflict.
      • Conflict Emergence Stage -- It is common for significant tensions or grievances to persist over long periods of time without resulting in a noticeable conflict. This essay explores the factors that transform such tensions into an active conflict.
      • Escalation and Institutionalization Stages -- When a conflict reaches the escalation phase, it intensifies quickly. Escalating conflicts can turn into a spiral with each side continually provoking each other to raise the stakes, making the conflict more and more destructive.
      • Failed Peacemaking Efforts Stage -- The repeated failure to negotiate an end to a conflict confirms its intractability. Often these failures discourage new attempts and create a burden of mistrust to be overcome. Consequently, the struggle continues.
      • Hurting Stalemate Stage -- Once conflicts escalate for awhile, the parties often reach a stalemate, neither party can win, but neither party wants to back down. At this stage the parties have two options, continue to bleed each other dry or look towards resolution.
      • De-escalation Stage -- Conflicts do not escalate indefinitely. Eventually, they reverse direction, decreasing in intensity until they are forgotten or resolved.
      • Negotiation Stage -- In the negotiation stage, parties search for mutually- beneficial ways of resolving their conflict. This stage must be timed and executed very carefully in order to avoid a return to the escalation stage.
      • Settlement Stage -- The settlement stage marks the end of the active conflict. With the waning of apartheid in South Africa, for example, the South African identity began to incorporate all the people of South Africa instead of just black or white. This was a sign that the settlement stage of the conflict was successful.
      • Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Stage -- In long-running inter-group conflicts, after successful negotiation, peacebuilding and reconciliation is necessary to prevent a return to the conflict. In this stage, disputants begin to heal and to rebuild relationships, slowly putting their society back together.
    • Social Psychological Dynamics of Conflict
      
      • Social Psychological Dimensions of Conflict -- These dimensions include emotions (fear, distrust, hostility) as well as processes such as framing, stereotyping, and scapegoating. These factors significantly influence the way a conflict is perceived and responded to.
      • Psychological Dynamics
        
        • Psychological Dynamics of Intractable Conflicts -- In intractable conflicts, it is possible for entire societies to get tangled up in negative psychological dynamics. If these dynamics are not recognized and addressed it will become difficult or impossible to resolve the conflict.
        • Limits of Rationality -- Negotiation theory often assumes that people in conflict behave rationally, making their decisions on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis. While rational assessment is sometimes one part of the disputants' decision making rubric, other factors usually play a significant role as well, often overriding what would be seen to be the "rational" response.
        • Ethos of Conflict -- A community's ethos is its shared beliefs, goals and identity. Communities in an intractable conflict expand that ethos to explain their approach to the conflict. A community's ethos strongly affects how destructive the conflict becomes.
        • Siege Mentality -- Many societies believe that other societies have negative intentions towards them. But with the "siege mentality," the situation is far more extreme. They believe that the entire world is hostile toward them.
        • Delegitimization -- Delegitimization refers to the negative stereotypes used to describe an adversary. Delegitimization is one of the major forces that feeds violence and prevents a peaceful resolution.
        • Dehumanization -- Dehumanization has the power to justify society's most violent and terrible impulses. If outsiders such as the Jews in Germany or the Tutsis in Rwanda are seen as less than human, then this clears the way to commit atrocities against them.
        • Victimhood -- In the early 1930s, millions of Ukranians died under Stalin's violent policy of forced collectivization. The depth of pain, fear, and hatred that continued to characterize the Ukrainian attitude toward Russians is typical of all victimized people. This essay examines the causes and consequences of a sense of victimhood.
        • Cognitive Dissonance -- People tend to ignore or "explain away" new information that conflicts with the way they currently think. Such "cognitive dissonance" can have both constructive and destructive effects on conflict.
        • Game Theory -- Simple mathematical models can provide insight into complex societal relationships. This essay explore some of these models, especially the prisoner's dilemma.
      • Frames, Framing, and Reframing
        
        • Frames, Framing and Reframing -- Frames are the way we see things and define what we see. Similar to the way a new frame can entirely change the way we view a photograph, reframing can change the way disputing parties understand and pursue their conflict.
        • Interests, Rights, Power and Needs Frames -- The way parties view or "frame" their own interests, needs, rights and power can determine whether a conflict becomes intractable or not.
        • Cultural and Worldview Frames -- People from different cultures often have such radically different worldviews that what seems like common sense to one side, is anything but sensible to the other.
        • Process Frames -- To a hammer, all the world is a nail. People tend to apply their own skills to working out a conflict, i.e. someone in the military pursues military solutions, diplomats pursue diplomatic solutions, and mediators pursue mediation. While this is usually a sensible division of labor, it can also distort choices if people from one procedural frame dominate the process and other options are not considered.
        • Competitive and Cooperative Approaches to Conflict -- This set of materials explores these two different approaches to conflict and the results of pursuing one or the other.
        • Identity Frames -- Identity frames include ideas about who one is, what characteristics they share with their group(s) and how they do and should related to others. These frames are frequently sources of conflict.
        • Stereotypes / Characterization Frames -- Stereotypes are simplified, and often highly inaccurate, images of the motivations and behaviors of others. When in error, they can lead to and escalate conflicts.
        • Enemy Images -- In Rwanda, the Tutsis were referred to as the enemy, cockroaches and rats. These extreme enemy images paved the way for the atrocities of the Rwandan genocide.
        • Prejudice -- Harry Bridges wrote, "No man has ever been born a Negro hater, a Jew hater, or any other kind of hater. Nature refused to be involved in such suicidal practices." This essay discusses how prejudice develops, what its effects are, and what can be done to change it.
        • Into-the-Sea Framing -- When a conflict becomes intractable, many people hope that their enemy will simply disappear. They pursue overwhelming victory without ever really considering the fact that they will still have to live with their enemies after the conflict.
        • Fact Frames -- Facts do not speak for themselves. The same information from different sources, or received by different people, can lead to very different conclusions. One's "fact frames" determine what is believed and how that determines one's choices about what to do.
        • Worst-Case/Loss-Oriented Frames -- When confronted with change, it is common for people to look first, and often exclusively, at the risks and potential downsides, while simultaneously under-rating potential benefits.
        • Reframing -- Bernard Mayer wrote, "The art of reframing is to maintain the conflict in all its richness but to help people look at it in a more open-minded and hopeful way."
        • Back to Basics: Making Sense of Current Events —Can Framing Help? -- Better framing can contribute to depolarization, mutual understanding, and productive dialogue.  Why don't we work on that?
      • Emotions
        
        • Emotions -- Negotiation theory often assumes that people in conflict behave rationally, but emotional factors also play a large role in people's attitudes and behaviors. This essay examines the importance of these emotional factors in both conflict assessment and response.
        • Anger -- Anger can be constructive, but is more often destructive. This essay examines the interplay between anger and conflict and discusses when and how anger should be managed.
        • Fear -- Fear is both a cause and a consequence of violent and some nonviolent conflicts. It certainly makes conflict resolution more difficult.
        • Distrust -- Distrust can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy, where every move another person makes is interpreted as evidence to distrust him/her. When the other person reciprocates this sentiment, there is mutual distrust that further fuels the escalation of conflict.
        • Guilt and Shame -- We feel guilty for what we do. We feel shame for what we are. Both lead to and are caused by conflict.
        • Humiliation -- Humiliation is reducing to lowliness or submission. It is theorized to be a major cause of violent and intractable conflicts. The humiliation of the German people after World War I, for example, is frequently seen as a cause of World War II.
        • Face -- From the correspondence between Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis, it is clear that they were trying to end the conflict while retaining their honor or "saving face." Understanding the concept of face is vital to resolving intractable conflict.
    • Escalation/De-Escalation
      
      • Escalation and Related Processes -- This introductory essay explains the various types of escalation and related processes with details following in individual essays.
      • Destructive Escalation -- Escalation is an increase in the intensity of a conflict. The number of parties and issues tends to increase, tactics become heavier, malevolence increases, and overall destructiveness generally increases as well.
      • Constructive Escalation -- Despite the dangers of escalation, disputants often intentionally escalate conflicts. Parties generally do this when they feel their needs are being ignored. This essay examines the risks and benefits of tactical escalation and offers suggestions on how the risks can be minimized.
      • Polarization -- Polarization of a conflict occurs as a conflict rises in intensity (that is, escalates). Often as escalation occurs, more and more people get involved, and take strong positions either on one side or the other. "Polarization" refers to the process in which people move toward extreme positions ("poles"), leaving fewer and fewer people "in the middle."
      • Entrapment -- In intense, intractable conflicts, leaders commonly ask their supporters to make great sacrifices. In the most extreme cases, supporters are asked to sacrifice their lives. Once these sacrifices have been made, it becomes very difficult for leaders to publicly admit that it was all for nothing.
      • Limiting Escalation / De-escalation -- De-escalation tends to proceed slowly and requires a lot of effort. This essay describes some key strategies available for slowing escalation and then de-escalating a conflict.
  • Complexity
    
    • Complexity -- Complexity refers to the numbers and interrelationships of factors involved in a conflict: the numbers of parties, issues, technical facts, etc. Complex systems are even more difficult to understand and deal with than "complicated systems" from which they must be distinguished. This essay describes the differences between complex and complicated systems and explains how both make transformation or resolution a challenge.
    • Complex Adaptive Systems -- Beyond complex, societal-level conflicts can be considered to be "complex adaptive systems," similar in some sense to weather, ant colonies, or jazz ensembles. The study of these systems requires us to challenge assumptions deeply embedded in the North American/European understandings of conflict intervention.
    • Systems Modeling - One of the central challenges of deciding how to address intractable conflict is to understand how to respond to their dynamics and complexity. Systems modeling is one tool to help you do that.  This article explains systems modeling and gives several examples of how it can be used to design effective interventions in intractable conflicts.
  • People
    
    • Parties to Intractable Conflict
      
      • Parties to Intractable Conflict -- This essay gives a brief introduction into the roles people involved in an intractable conflict can play.
      • Disputants (Stakeholders or First Parties) -- Disputants are the people primarily involved in a dispute. They are the ones most affected by the outcome of the conflict and the ones who are pursuing it.
      • Leaders and Leadership -- James MacGregor Burns, observed, "Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth." These resources examine the dynamics between a group and their leader.
      • Stakeholder Representatives -- When a conflict has spread to a large group such as a nation or a religious group, not everyone can participate directly in the conflict resolution process. They must choose a representative to act on their behalf. This is a demanding and risky position.
      • Intermediaries
        
        • Intermediaries -- One of the principal insights of the conflict resolution field is that intermediaries who attempt to approach conflict from an independent, fair, and neutral perspective can help parties work through their difficulties in ways that would be impossible for them to do alone.
        • Formal Intermediaries -- Formal intermediaries are ones who act as professional third parties: mediators, arbitrators, facilitators and judges. They are contrasted with informal intermediaries who play the same roles on an informal basis.
        • Informal Intermediaries -- It is not necessary to be formally trained to have a positive effect on conflict. Ordinary people can act as facilitators, mediators, or even arbitrators (ask parents!) to help resolve disputes.
      • Bystanders -- Bystanders are the ones caught in the cross fire of a conflict. This essay argues that although the bystander role is often that of a victim, it is also a potentially powerful role.
    • Within-Party Differences
      
      • Within-Party Differences -- It is common to assume that the views of a few outspoken members of a group reflect the views of the entire group, i.e. all Christians think the same. However members of the same group often have drastically different opinions.
      • Moderates -- Most interest groups include a substantial number of moderates -- people who, while they may feel passionately about an issue, are also open to hearing the other side and exploring opportunities for compromise. Moderates have a special ability to transform destructive conflicts.
      • Conflict Profiteers -- Conflict profiteers are people who benefit from the continuation of a conflict. These benefits may be financial, political or social.
      • Extremists and Spoilers
        
        • Extremists and Spoilers -- Extremists are people who take extreme views--those which are much stronger, and often more fixed than other people's views of the same situation. In escalated conflicts, extremists may advocate violent responses, while more moderate disputants will advocate less extreme measures.
        • Dealing with Extremists -- In large-scale conflicts there are often individuals who take militant, non-compromising, and often violent approaches to the problem. They are committed to driving the escalation spiral until total victory is attained. Although they are often seen as heroes, extremists can prevent the de-escalation of a conflict.
        • Humanization of Extremists -- Extremists can be dealt with in humane ways. This essay illustrates what this means.
        • Mediating Evil, War, and Terrorism: The Politics of Conflict -- This essay discusses alternative ways that political systems, individual peacebuilders, and "regular" people can address violence and evil, suggesting that some approaches perpetuate or even escalate the evil, while other approaches disarm it and render it an ineffective mode of action.
      • External Supporters -- External supporters play a critical role in many conflicts. They range from sympathizers to people with more selfish agendas.
    • Third Siders
      
      • Third Siders -- Third siders act in a community threatened with destructive conflict as an immune system acts in a body threatened by disease. Average citizens such as teachers, journalists, artists and police officers can play key roles in preventing, de-escalating and resolving conflict. Bill Ury has labeled these people "third siders."
      • Bridge Builders -- A relationship operates like savings in the bank; whenever an issue arises, the parties can dip into their account of goodwill to help deal with it. Bridge building, or the act of building relationships, takes place all around us, sometimes without us even perceiving it.
      • Facilitators -- Facilitators are neutrals who help a group work together more effectively. They have no decision-making authority, nor do they contribute to the substance of the discussion. Good facilitators can help groups stay on task and be more creative, efficient, and productive
      • Mediators -- Mediators get involved in a dispute in order to help the parties resolve it. Unlike arbitrators or judges, mediators have no power to define or enforce an agreement, but they can help the parties to voluntarily reach agreement.
      • Arbitrators -- Arbitrators listen to the arguments of both sides in a dispute and issue a final and binding decision. Arbitration is used for cases that either cannot be negotiated, or where negotiation has failed.
      • Educators -- Educators play a critical role in preventing or de-escalating conflict. Teaching tolerance and critical thinking and helping to break down stereotypes can help disputants manage their own conflicts more constructively.
      • Witnesses -- In Bloomington, Indiana, a group called "Moms on Patrol" walks the streets with cell phones, looking out for dangerous gang activity, and reporting it to the police. By watching carefully, witnesses like Moms on Patrol can prevent escalation of conflict and even save lives. This essay describes what witnesses can do and how they can do it.
      • Peacekeepers -- When violence breaks out, the community needs to employ measures to stop harmful conflict in its tracks. The police and UN peacekeepers can act as peacekeepers, but it is a community function too. Parents, teachers, co-workers all can be peacekeepers in their own domains, as is described in this essay.
      • Healers -- Conflict often leaves deep wounds. Even if a conflict appears resolved, the wounds may remain and, with them, the danger that the conflict could recur. The role of the healer is to restore injured relationships.
      • Equalizers -- Stronger parties often refuse to negotiate with weaker parties. This is where the equalizer comes in. Each of us is capable of empowering the weak and the unrepresented. This essay discusses the role of the equalizer in intractable conflicts.
      • Referees -- If and when people do fight, it is important to reduce the harm. Referees set limits on fighting.
      • Providers -- Conflict usually arises in the first place from frustrated needs, like safety, identity, love and respect. Providers are those who help others attain such needs.
    • Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) -- In 1945 there were around 3,000 international NGOs; by 1990 that number had increased to more than 13,000. This essay discusses both the positive and the negative effects NGO's have on conflict.
    • Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) -- IGO activities are actions taken by international governmental organizations (IGO's) to transform, resolve, or manage conflicts. Activities of the UN and regional IGOs are described in this essay.
  • Development and Conflict
    
    • Development and Conflict -- This section of the website explores the link between development and conflict, a link which is frequently overlooked by development workers and conflict practitioners.
    • Development and Conflict Theory -- Societies are always changing. Some improve, while others fail. Development theory aims at explaining both processes. This essay explores how development theory can be used to deepen our understanding of intractable conflict.
    • Development Interventions and Conflict -- This essay explains the three levels of development interventions: structural, governmental and grassroots. These parallel the three levels of conflict intervention as well. The intersection of the two: development and conflict interventions are explored here.
    • Development and Conflict In Practice: People Interviewed -- This essay gives brief biographies for the eight people interviewed for this series on development and conflict.
    • Development, Poverty and Conflict -- Alleviating poverty is the first step to aiding developing nations. This essay explains how conflict theory can contribute to this goal.
    • Development, Education and Conflict -- A recent poll found that 67% of Brazilians were functionally illiterate--they could read, but could not comprehend the full meaning of what they read. This essay explores the connections between conflict and lack of education.
    • Development, Gender and Conflict -- Gender inequality is often a "hidden problem" in developing countries. It both hinders development and can exacerbate intractable conflict.
    • Development, Health and Conflict -- HIV/AIDS, malaria, child mortality and poor maternal health are major health problems facing the developing world. Until these problems are dealt with, they will hinder development and breed intractable conflict.
    • Development, the Environment and Conflict -- Ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the Millennium Development Goals.
    • Global Partnerships and Development -- This essay argues that if one country is very poor, it negatively affects not only its own population but also the international community. Therefore, it is imperative that all countries should help each other to develop.
  • Power
    
    • Power -- If power were one-dimensional, we could agree who has more and who has less. However, we are often surprised when a seemingly less powerful party holds a more powerful party at bay. This essay discusses both potential and actual power, the forms power can take, and its role in causing and solving intractable conflicts.
    • Coercive Power
      
      • Coercive Power -- Huey Newton wrote, "Politics is war without bloodshed. War is politics with bloodshed." Though not all politics is coercive, it is certainly one way to force people to do what you want. This essay discusses the pros and cons of coercive power--violent, nonviolent, political, military, and more.
      • Aggression -- This essay explores the debate over aggression, asking whether it is an instinct, a reaction or a learned response.
      • Revenge and the Backlash Effect -- Most people hate to be forced to do things against their will. Using threats often produces such a large backlash that they cause more problems than they solve, as this essay explains.
      • Sanctions: Diplomatic Tool, or Warfare by Other Means? -- Sanctions are punishments that are used to try to influence other groups or nation-states' behaviors. Examples are embargoes and prohibitions from attending international events. This essay describes the pluses and minuses of using sanctions to influence another's behavior.
      • Nonviolence and Nonviolent Direct Action -- Nonviolent direct action is action, usually undertaken by a group of people, to persuade someone else to change their behavior. Examples include strikes, boycotts, marches, and demonstrations--social, economic, or political acts that are intended to convince the opponent to change their behavior without using violent force.
    • Exchange Power
      
      • Exchange Power -- Simply, exchange power means that I do something for you in order to get you to do something for me. However, this simple concept has formed the basis for very complex human interactions, for example our economic system.
      • Incentives -- Incentives (also known as bribes) involve rewarding another party for changing their behavior. Although incentives have been frequently associated with weakness or indecisiveness, they can be an effective approach for resolving conflicts.
    • Integrative Power
      
      • Integrative Power -- Integrative power is the power that binds humans together. Kenneth Boulding calls it "love" or, "if that is too strong," he said, "call it respect." Though seldom studied or discussed, Boulding argues that it is the strongest form of power, especially because the other two forms (exchange and coercive power) cannot operate without integrative power too.
      • Persuasion -- Persuasion is the ability to change people's attitudes largely through the skillful use of language. Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham Jail is a classic example of persuasion.
      • Nonviolence and Nonviolent Direct Action -- Nonviolent direct action is action, usually undertaken by a group of people, to persuade someone else to change their behavior. Examples include strikes, boycotts, marches, and demonstrations--social, economic, or political acts that are intended to convince the opponent to change their behavior without using violent force.
    • Power Inequities -- Plutarch wrote, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." This essay deals with the power inequities that have existed in almost all human societies.
    • Empowerment -- Saul Alinsky wrote, "I tell people to hell with charity, the only thing you'll get is what you're strong enough to get." This essay discusses what empowerment is, how it can be accomplished, who should do it, when, and what the outcomes might be.
    • Voice -- Those whose voices are most often silenced include women, children, minority groups, indigenous peoples, and the poor. This article explains the importance of having a voice, whether it is through voting, holding office, or having a seat at the negotiating table.
    • Capacity Building -- In order to negotiate effectively, parties sometimes need to build their own or others' capacity to respond to their situation effectively by building knowledge, providing resources, or both.
    • Networking -- This essay describes how networking can be used to build relationships and empower individuals and groups to confront difficult conflicts more effectively.
    • Coalition Building -- Coalition building is the making of alliances or coalitions between individuals, groups, or countries who cooperatively work together to reach a common goal.
    • Activism -- This essay discusses ways that disputants can (and do) address intractable conflicts in constructive ways through activism.
    • Social Movements -- Social movements are groups of individuals who come together around an issue to bring about (or resist) change.
  • Culture and Conflict
    
    • Culture and Conflict -- People from different cultures often have such radically different worldviews that what seems like common sense to one side, is anything but sensible to the other. Different cultures and worldviews can lead to completely different understandings or frames of a conflict, making resolution a challenge.
    • Culture-Based Negotiation Styles -- In Asian, Canadian, and U.S. cultures, touching outside of intimate situations is discouraged. But, Mediterranean, Arab, and Latin American cultures allow more touching. Cultural differences like this can cause problems in cross-cultural negotiations. Such differences are explored in this essay.
    • Rituals and Conflict Transformation: An Anthropological Analysis of the Ceremonial Dimensions of Dispute Processing -- This article describes the importance of rituals in conflict resolution -- both in traditional societies and also in modern societies, such as that of the U.S. Rituals are a way of expressing and dealing with strong emotions and values; they provide security and a familiar, comfortable way of dealing with difficult conflicts or disputes.
    • Cross-Cultural Communication -- Even with all the good will in the world, miscommunication is likely to happen, especially when there are significant cultural differences between communicators. Miscommunication may lead to conflict, or aggravate conflict that already exists.
    • Communication Tools for Understanding Cultural Differences -- Edward T. Hall writes that for us to understand each other may mean, "reorganizing [our] thinking...and few people are willing to risk such a radical move." This essay offers strategies for improving cross-cultural communication.
    • Mediation and Multiculturalism: Domestic and International Challenges -- In this essay, the author discusses his experiences with multicultural mediation and suggests ways that mediators can avoid misunderstandings.
    • Special Affinities and Conflict Resolution: West African Social Institutions and Mediation -- This essay describes a particular kind of interpersonal relationship common in West Africa called "joking kinship." This relationship has importance for conflict resolution and transformation in that region and has further implications for the way trainers and intervenors work in cultures different from the ones they are familiar with.
    • Cultural and Worldview Frames -- People from different cultures often have such radically different worldviews that what seems like common sense to one side, is anything but sensible to the other.
    • Women and Intractable Conflict -- Women tend to be victimized more and gain less from intractable conflict than do men. Thus, women may be in a particularly strong position to work for peace.
    • Inclusion of Women in the Peacebuilding Process -- This article looks at the difficulties, but also the benefits of including women in peacebuilding, with a particular focus on Sudan and Darfur.
  • Relationships
    
    • Relationship Problems
      
      • Damaged or Destroyed Relationships -- People on opposite sides of a long-running conflict tend to distrust or even hate each other. This takes an emotional toll on both parties and prevents them from working together in the future.
      • Identity Issues -- Israelis and Palestinians, Protestants and Catholics, whites and blacks, labor and management...these are all examples of identities that have resulted in conflicts. This essay discusses the importance of identity in intractable conflicts.
      • Face -- From the correspondence between Kennedy and Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis, it is clear that they were trying to end the conflict while retaining their honor or "saving face." Understanding the concept of face is vital to resolving intractable conflict.
    • Improving Relationships
      
      • Establishment of Personal Relationships -- While strong personal relationships alone cannot bring about conflict resolution, they can help to transform the conflict and make it easier to resolve. Relationships between the opposing sides help to build trust, improve communication, and increase tolerance.
      • Networking -- This essay describes how networking can be used to build relationships and empower individuals and groups to confront difficult conflicts more effectively.
      • Cooling-Off Periods -- Escalation can sometimes be slowed or stopped by calling for a short-term "cooling-off" period during which time all the parties stop engaging and step back to look at the situation and how they might be able to proceed more constructively.
      • De-escalating Gestures -- A de-escalating gesture could be an act of kindness or an attempt to compromise. Although risky and difficult to pull-off, these gestures are necessary for de-escalating a conflict.
      • Confidence-Building Measures -- Limiting or reducing the level of fear among parties in conflict is essential for building confidence and a sense of security. Confidence-building measures aim to lessen anxiety and suspicion by making the parties' behavior more predictable.
      • Managing Interpersonal Trust and Distrust -- Trust has often been praised as the "glue" that holds relationships together and enables individuals to pool their resources with others. Unfortunately, when conflict escalates to a dysfunctional level, trust is often one of the first casualties.
      • Trust and Trust Building -- Trust comes from the understanding that humans are interdependent, that they need each other to survive. Third parties can attempt to use this insight to promote trust between disputing parties.
      • Respect -- Treating people with respect is key to conflict transformation. When they are denied respect, people tend to react negatively, creating conflicts or escalating existing ones.
    • Conflict Transformation
      
      • Conflict Transformation -- Many people believe that conflict happens for a reason and that it brings much-needed change. Therefore, to eliminate conflict would also be to eliminate conflict's dynamic power. In transformation, a conflict is changed into something constructive, rather being eliminated altogether.
      • Relational-Cultural Theory: Fostering Healthy Coexistence Through a Relational Lens -- Relational-Cultural Theory brings relationships to the forefront of human psychology, focusing particularly on the concepts of connection and disconnection, and the causes of such. This essay applies this theoretical approach to the theory and practice of conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
      • Deep Pluralism: A Practical Approach to Religious Particularism in Conflict Transformation Processes - This essay examines the disconnect between peacebuilders' liberal peace paradigm and local belief systems.  The author focuses in on local religious beliefs and utilizes Charles Taylor’s "third sense of secularism," and William Connolly’s idea of "multidimensional pluralism" to suggest more effective methods of peacebuilding. 
      • Reconciliation Part 1: What Is Reconciliation?   -- Reconciliation is seen as the ultimate goal of peacebuilding, in which parties re-establish relationships and attempt to move beyond the past.
      • Reconciliation Part 2: Making Reconciliation Happen - Pursuing truth, accountability, apology, and structural and policy changes all contribute to reconciliation.   
      • Reconciliation Between the Justice System and the Wrongfully Convicted - Those who played a part in a  wrongful conviction should take part in reconciliatory practices. One cannot undo the past, steps can be taken  towards mending relationships and righting wrongs.
      • Apology and Forgiveness -- These are two sides of the mutli-faceted "diamond" of reconciliation. Both are necessary for true reconciliation to take place.
    • Communication
      
      • Interpersonal / Small-Scale Communication -- Robert Quillen wrote, "Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of emotion." These resources explain why interpersonal communication breaks down and how to make it more effective.
      • Channels of Communication -- In escalated conflicts, parties often cease communicating altogether, or they ignore each other, assuming the other is biased or simply wrong. Opening channels of communication is an important first step in conflict management or resolution.
      • Misunderstandings -- Normal conversations almost always involve miscommunication, but conflict seems to worsen the problem. Even if the misunderstandings do not cause conflict, they can escalate it rapidly once it starts.
      • In-Depth Communication - This is a very short introduction to the essay section on effective conflict communication.  As its name is meant to imply, such communication is not just superficial or fleeting, but it goes deep to look into issues and relationships, and often lasts a considerable period of time. 
      • Creating Safe Spaces for Communication -- Constructive communication between parties is often facilitated by creating a "safe space" for such communication. This essay describes what such spaces are, how they are useful, and how they can be established.
      • Dialogue -- In dialogue, the intention is not to advocate but to inquire; not to argue but to explore; not to convince but to discover. This essay introduces the concept of dialogue, discusses why it is needed, and suggests ways to do it effectively.
      • Comparison of Dialogue Practices -- An examination of dialogue practices in Rwanda and Uganda, in the wake of their mass violence, introducing the novel strategy of Photovoice.
      • Narratives and Story-Telling -- Stories have been vital to all cultures throughout history. Recently, they have been purposefully employed as tools to promote empathy between adversaries and to help people heal from past trauma.
      • Conversation as a Tool of Conflict Transformation -- This essay examines the power of interpersonal conversation in helping people develop positive relationships and transform their conflicts. It discusses the general theory of conversation, while the companion case study on Zimbabwe explores how the ideas discussed in this essay have been applied to a real-world situation.
      • The Intersections of Civil Discourse and Privilege - This essay explores how privilege shapes our modes of civil discourse, but such discourse can also influence the understanding of privilege.
      • Empathic Listening -- Richard Salem writes, "I spent long hours learning to read and write and even had classroom training in public speaking, but I never had a lesson in listening or thought of listening as a learnable skill until I entered the world of mediation as an adult."
      • I-Messages and You-Messages -- I-messages can be a useful tool for defusing interpersonal conflict. This essay describes how they can be used, their benefits, and their problems.
      • Escalation-Limiting Language -- A wrong word or misunderstanding during a conflict is like gasoline on a fire. De-escalating arguments requires awareness and self-control.
      • Communication Tools for Understanding Cultural Differences -- Edward T. Hall writes that for us to understand each other may mean, "reorganizing [our] thinking...and few people are willing to risk such a radical move." This essay offers strategies for improving cross-cultural communication.
      • Cross-Cultural Communication -- Even with all the good will in the world, miscommunication is likely to happen, especially when there are significant cultural differences between communicators. Miscommunication may lead to conflict, or aggravate conflict that already exists.
      • Metaphors -- Metaphors represent a way of communicating that brings ideas to life and often crosses cultural boundaries to communicate complex ideas in clear and easily understandable ways. Metaphors also lead to new ways of thinking about problems that might not have been seen with a more literal description.
      • Rumor Control -- Rumors spread quickly in escalated conflicts. Here are strategies to slow or stop this process.
      • Media
        
        • Large-Scale Communication -- This essay discusses ways to communicate to large groups and even whole societies. While the media is the most traditional way of doing this, other approaches are also sometimes utilized, such as community dialogues or even "national conversations."
        • Mass Media -- Mass media is necessary for large-scale communication, but it is also capable of seriously escalating conflict. This resource explores how media can both hurt--and help--conflicts and their resolution.
        • Media Strategies -- The media can be used for good or bad in conflict processes. This set of materials examines how the media can be used to help deal with conflicts constructively.
        • Political Communication -- Political communication is a broad term that incorporates everything from election campaigns to propaganda to influencing the morale of battlefield opponents.
        • Public Diplomacy -- Public diplomacy provides a means of influencing foreign publics without the use of force. This brief article describes its history, discusses how it has been used by the U.S. in the "War on Terror," and gives a list of "best practices."
        • Propaganda -- Propaganda involves the obscuring, manipulating, or misconstruing of information for political gain. It may involve efforts to garner support amongst followers or to dampen the spirits of one's opponents.
        • The Role of International Publicity Some NGOs try to utilize the threat of negative international publicity to prevent war crimes and other violations of human rights. This essay examines the methods of three NGOs who use this approach: Christian Peacemaker Teams, Peace Brigades International, and Witness for Peace. It examines their "theories of change" and the extent to which those theories lead to effective practice.
  • Facts
    
    • Theories of Knowledge -- Conflict resolution knowledge includes not only scholarly or scientific fact, but also "folk knowledge" and the experiences of practitioners and "regular people" who engage in conflictual behavior every day. The interaction between these two types of knowledge is part of what makes the conflict resolution field as rich as it is.
    • Factual Disputes
      
      • Factual Disputes -- Many conflicts involve disagreements over facts. This essay discusses the nature of factual disputes and how to deal with them.
      • Technical Facts -- Many scientific and technical conflicts involve technical facts that are difficult, if not impossible, for the public or even political decision makers to understand. This essay discusses this problem and give examples of how decision makers can find useful facts.
      • Historical Facts -- The saying, "history is written by the victor," refers to the fact that historical facts are often biased or inaccurate. Yet long-running conflicts are often based on these controversial "facts." This essay explores the impact of history on current conflicts.
      • Legal Facts -- Legal facts are the information on which lawyers base their arguments, in order to win cases in courts of law.
      • Land and Property Rights in the Peace Process -- Land and property rights disputes can be very difficult to resolve, especially in transitional societies where land ownership is murky. Often two (or more people) say they own a particular piece of land, and all the evidence of ownership has been destroyed. Systems must be established to resolve competing claims that are seen to be fair and effective.
    • Fact Finding
      
      • Fact-Finding -- If conflict is fueled by suspicion, assumptions and misunderstandings, then one of the simplest ways to defuse it is to find out the facts of the situation. Every conflict resolution process needs a solid base of facts to stand on, however it is often difficult to obtain accurate facts.
      • Distinguishing Facts from Values -- Facts and values are fundamentally different, but often confused. This essay examines the confusion clarify the two terms.
      • Uncertainty -- When a conflict involves complex elements and unknowns, it is often a significant reason why the conflict becomes intractable in the first place. This essay offers suggestions for dealing with diversity.
      • Obtaining Trustworthy Information -- When emotions are running high and everyone has an agenda, it can be very difficult to obtain credible information. This essay discusses the problem and how it can be addressed.
      • Neutral Fact-Finding -- Factual disputes are often a key component of larger conflicts. One way to deal with them is to get a neutral party to assess the opposing factual assertions for accuracy.
      • Joint Fact-Finding -- One way to resolve factual disagreements is joint fact-finding, which asks contending parties to work together to research the cause of their conflict.
      • Oversight / Review Committee -- One method for determining the trustworthiness of particular fact-finding efforts is an outside review. Here, an outside panel of experts checks a study for thoroughness, completeness, and objectivity.
      • Truth Commissions -- Truths commissions are official groups endowed with the authority to extensively investigate the human rights abuses and war crimes committed in a specific country or region during a specified time period.
      • Amnesty -- Many argue that amnesty can allow societies to wipe the slate clean after war crimes or other human rights abuses, to put the past behind them in favor of the future. Others argue, that this condones the perpetrators' actions and encourages such behavior.
      • International War Crimes Tribunals -- These are tribunals designed to prosecute war crimes such as genocide, torture, and rape. Such tribunals are becoming increasingly common and are used instead of or in conjunction with truth commissions to try to move beyond the violence of many ethnic conflicts and allow the society to build peace.
      • Communicating Facts -- Simply having access to trustworthy, credible information is not enough. It is also necessary to present the information in a way that decision makers and the general public can understand. This essay illustrates how to do that.
• Intervention Processes and Outcomes
  
  • Options and Strategies
    
    • Countering Intractability -- Even when a conflict is moving quickly down the road of intractability, its escalation may still be interrupted. This essay discusses some of the ways adversaries and intermediaries may halt and even turn back a conflict's course towards intractability.
    • Theories of Change -- Theories of change are theories that explain how particular interventions (such as dialogues or problem-solving workshops) influence people and change their behavior enough to change the character of the entire conflict in which they are involved. All interventions should have a theory of change, and should assess its validity by outcome evaluations as much as possible.
    • Peaceful Change Strategies -- Many distinguish between the "soft path" of negotiation and the "hard path" of force. This essay argues that this is a false dichotomy and that both strategies should be combined in order to transform conflict.
    • Intervention Processes -- Most intractable conflicts require outside intervention in order to be constructively transformed or resolved. This essay introduces the many forms of intervention and discusses their strengths and weaknesses.
    • Addressing Underlying Causes of Conflict -- Ultimately any negotiation must address the underlying causes of the conflict, things like unmet human needs, injustice and moral differences. This essay discusses ways in which these "non-negotiable" items can be dealt with.
    • Managing Interpersonal Trust and Distrust -- Trust has often been praised as the "glue" that holds relationships together and enables individuals to pool their resources with others. Unfortunately, when conflict escalates to a dysfunctional level, trust is often one of the first casualties.
    • Intervention Coordination -- In most serious conflict, situations there are likely to be a number of independent intervention efforts. This essay explores the importance of coordination and the problems that commonly arise because of a lack of coordination between these initiatives.
    • Meta-Conflict Resolution -- Many conflict resolvers emphasize mediation, dialogue, or problem solving workshops as solutions to conflict. But intractable conflicts usually need a much more comprehensive approach. This article describes such an approach and articulates the various roles that must be carried out to successfully transform these conflicts.
    • The Coordination Quandary: Applications and Implications of Post-Conflict Coordination Principles - This is the second article in a four-part series on Directory-Oriented Peacebuilding.  This builds on the first article (The Costs of Conflict) by introducing principles of post-conflict coordination and demonstrating how increased coordination and cooperation could greatly improve existing efforts.
    • Rehabilitating the Responders: The Role of a Post-Conflict Directory in Improving Coordination. This is the third article in Hook's four part series on Directory-Oriented Peacebuilding. Here she introduced how a post-conflict directory could aid in the coordination of post-conflict efforts.
    • Substantiating the Claim: Establishing the Effectiveness of a Post-Conflict Directory - This is the final article in Hook's four-part series on Directory-Oriented Peacebuilding in which she applies the idea to the aftermath of the Ugandan Civil War. 
    • The Scale-Up Problem -- Much conflict resolution takes place around the table or in small-group processes. Yet, intractable conflicts often involve whole communities or even societies. So methods must be found to widen or "scale up" the small group processes to the larger society.
    • Incrementalism -- It is often impossible to replace destructive conflict processes with completely new, alternative systems. This essay examines how, over time, incremental improvements can result in significant positive change.
    • The Meaning of Civility - Many people have been calling for an increase in "civility" in public discourse.  But what do they mean? This article gives one definition of civility, along with recommendations about how to attain it. 
  • 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 they need to do to get there.
    • 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.
    • Facilitator Co-Debriefing -- Expert coaches and facilitators Philip Gamaghelyan and Christopher Littlefield explain how they co-debrief to help improve their own skills as well as the processes they are conducting. Typical topics of discussion -- both during and after the completion of a program -- include relative power, roles, leadership, triggers, process, conflicts, and goals. By respectfully working through problems among the participants, between the facilitators and the participants, and/or between the facilitators, this process can improve the process as well as improving both new and experienced facilitators' skills.
    • 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.
  • Negotiation
    
    • Negotiation -- Negotiation is bargaining -- it is the process of discussion and give-and-take between two or more disputants, who seek to find a solution to a common problem. This overview essay discusses basic strategies and tactics of negotiation.
    • Negotiation Theory
      
      • Negotiation Theory -- This essay explains negotiation theories, examining the goals and strategies of a successful negotiator.
      • Win-Win / Win-Lose / Lose-Lose Situations -- The terms, "Win-Win," "Win-Lose," and "Lose-Lose" are basic concepts in dispute resolution. They are game theory terms that refer to the possible outcomes of a game or dispute involving two sides, and more importantly, what the implications of those outcomes are.
      • Positive-Sum / Zero-Sum / Negative-Sum Situations -- The three terms refer to possible ways resources can be divided. They relate closely (but are not equivalent to) win-win, win-lose, and lose-lose conflicts.
      • Interests, Positions, Needs, and Values -- Interests are people's desires--the things they want to achieve in a conflict or dispute. In their best-selling book, Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher and William Ury assert that almost all adversaries have negotiable interests, it is only when the conflict becomes about rights, values, or power that it become intractable.
      • Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) -- BATNA is a term invented by Roger Fisher and William Ury which stands for "best alternative to a negotiated agreement." Any negotiator should determine his or her BATNA before agreeing to any negotiated settlement.
      • Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) -- The ZOPA is the common ground between two disputing parties. The ZOPA is critical to the successful outcome of negotiation, but it may take some time to determine whether a ZOPA exists.
      • Ripeness -- A conflict is said to be ripe once both parties realize they cannot win, and the conflict is costing them too much to continue. This tends to be a good time to open negotiations.
      • Compromise -- A solution to a mutual problem that meets some, but not all, of each of the parties' interests. While compromise is good for repairing damaged relationships, it can also leave both parties unsatisfied, prolonging conflict.
      • Limits of Rationality -- Negotiation theory often assumes that people in conflict behave rationally, making their decisions on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis. While rational assessment is sometimes one part of the disputants' decision making rubric, other factors usually play a significant role as well, often overriding what would be seen to be the "rational" response.
    • Negotiation Strategies
      
      • Negotiation Strategies -- Most literature on negotiation focuses on two strategies, cooperative bargaining versus competitive bargaining. This essay defines and compares these two bargaining styles.
      • Integrative or Interest-Based Bargaining -- In integrative bargaining, the parties attempt to "enlarge the pie" or allocate resources in a way that everyone gets what they want.
      • Distributive Bargaining -- In distributive bargaining the parties assume that there is not enough to go around. Thus, the more one side gets, the less the other side gets.
      • Positional Bargaining -- This type of bargaining negotiates from positions, rather than interests. It is more typical in situations where there is a "fixed pie" to be divided up, or where both sides cannot possibly win, hence an integrative approach is not possible.
      • Creating and Claiming Value -- In any negotiation, the parties decide whether to be competitive or cooperative. However, some theorists argue that this is a false dichotomy--that all negotiations involve both.
      • Culture-Based Negotiation Styles -- In Asian, Canadian, and U.S. cultures, touching outside of intimate situations is discouraged. But, Mediterranean, Arab, and Latin American cultures allow more touching. Cultural differences like this can cause problems in cross-cultural negotiations. Such differences are explored in this essay.
      • Single-Text Negotiation -- This form of negotiation occurs when a mediator or one party drafts an agreement (or other document), and then the other party or parties edits that agreement, one-by-one, until everyone can agree on the entire thing.
  • Mediation and Facilitation
    
    • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) -- Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a term generally used to refer to informal dispute resolution processes in which the parties meet with a professional third party who helps them resolve their dispute.
    • Facilitation -- Facilitation is a process in which a neutral person helps a group work together more effectively. Good facilitators can help groups stay on task and be more creative, efficient, and productive.
    • Mediation
      
      • Mediation -- Mediation is a conflict resolution process in which a third party assists the disputants to communicate better, analyze their conflicts and their options and to develop a mutually satisfactory solution.
      • The Culture of Mediation: Settlement vs. Resolution -- This essay explores the difference between conflict resolution as a process that can pursue either social peace, or social justice. The author explores what these are, which takes precedence in what situation, and how mediators can behave so that the outcomes that they value (justice and/or peace) are actually attained.
      • Problem-Solving Mediation -- Thomas Hobbes wrote, "Cities and kingdoms, for their own security, undertake invasions out of fear of being invaded and seek to weaken or destroy neighbors as a way of reducing foreign threats." Security guarantees are one way out of this destructive cycle.
      • Transformative Mediation -- Theorists, Robert Bush and Joseph Folger proposed that mediation can effect deep changes in people and their relationships. What they call transformative mediation can change how people behave not only toward their adversary in a particular conflict, but also in their day-to-day lives thereafter.
      • Neutrality -- In North America, most conflict resolution experts assume that intervenors (facilitators, mediators, arbitrators, etc.) should be neutral. But people are increasingly debating whether true neutrality is possible -- or even desirable. A review of the debate is given here.
      • Insider-Partial Mediation -- Insider-partial mediation is mediation that is done by a person involved in the conflict instead of a neutral outsider. Though uncommon in North America, some argue that insider-partial mediators are better in non-Western contexts.
      • International Mediation and Intractable Conflict -- Parties in international conflicts usually think of violence or coercion as their best option. Even if they do try diplomacy, the parties are unlikely to attempt international mediation. This essay suggests that this option should be tried more often.
      • Mediation and Multiculturalism: Domestic and International Challenges -- In this essay, the author discusses his experiences with multicultural mediation and suggests ways that mediators can avoid misunderstandings.
      • Special Affinities and Conflict Resolution: West African Social Institutions and Mediation -- This essay describes a particular kind of interpersonal relationship common in West Africa called "joking kinship." This relationship has importance for conflict resolution and transformation in that region and has further implications for the way trainers and intervenors work in cultures different from the ones they are familiar with.
      • Mediating Evil, War, and Terrorism: The Politics of Conflict -- This essay discusses alternative ways that political systems, individual peacebuilders, and "regular" people can address violence and evil, suggesting that some approaches perpetuate or even escalate the evil, while other approaches disarm it and render it an ineffective mode of action.
    • Mediation Strategies and Techniques
      
      • Mediators Without Borders: A Proposal to Resolve Political Conflicts -- This essay gives guidelines for mediators who are working in cultures different from their own. It explains the nature of the problem such mediators face, gives strategies for addressing the problem and then outlines a "twelve-step program" for increasing the capacity of hostile communities to prevent, resolve, and recover from violent conflicts.
      • Convening Processes -- Conflict interventions usually begin with a convening process, in which disputants come together with a third party to discuss the conflict and decide on a course of action. This essay outlines strategies for doing a conflict assessment, identifying and recruiting participants, obtaining resources, and designing the process.
      • Ripeness-Promoting Strategies -- A conflict is said to be ripe once both parties realize they cannot win, and the conflict is costing them too much to continue. However, if the parties have not yet reached that stage, steps can be taken to encourage them to consider negotiating.
      • Ground Rules -- Ground rules are formally agreed on standards of conduct that govern third-party processes. They cover the behavior of the disputants, the role or behavior of any third party, the methods or process to be used, and/or the substance of the discussions.
      • Sequencing Strategies and Tactics -- Some conflicts are so complex that it is unrealistic to try to resolve the whole thing at once. In these cases, interveners can divide the immediate dispute into a more manageable series of sub-disputes. They can then address the easiest issues first and save the harder ones for later. An alternative approach does the hardest one(s) first. This essay discusses different approaches to sequencing.
      • Reframing -- Bernard Mayer wrote, "The art of reframing is to maintain the conflict in all its richness but to help people look at it in a more open-minded and hopeful way."
      • Option Identification -- Once the parties have identified the issues under contention, they should systematically list all options that they see available to them for advancing their interests. Option identification helps parties develop creative, realistic solutions to their conflict.
      • Focusing on Commonalities -- Andrew Masondo wrote, "Understand the differences; act on the commonalities." This essay examines how that can be done.
      • Caucus -- Caucuses are meetings that mediators hold separately with each side of a dispute. They can be called by the mediator or by one of the parties to work out problems that occur during the mediation process. Some mediators use them extensively, while others do not use them at all.
      • Reality Testing -- Parties often have wildly unrealistic expectations. They tend to overestimate what they can accomplish and underestimate how much suffering the conflict will cause.
      • Consensus Building -- Consensus building is used to settle conflicts that involve multiple parties and complicated issues. The approach seeks to transform adversarial confrontations into a cooperative search for information and solutions that meet all parties' interests and needs.
      • Costing -- Costing is the process of assessing the costs and benefits of a particular action -- not only in monetary terms, but in terms of time, resources, emotional energy, and other intangible effects on people's lives.
      • Policy Dialogue -- Policy dialogues are convened to address major public policy disputes. Often used to constructively confront complex environmental conflicts, policy dialogues bring representatives of opposing groups together to open up discussion, improve mutual understanding, and assess the degree of consensus and controversy that exists.
      • Shuttle Diplomacy -- When emotions run too high to bring disputants together in the same room (or even the same country,) shuttle diplomacy can be used to carry messages back and forth. This essay discusses when and how this should be done.
      • Action-Forcing Mechanisms -- Deadlines can be very useful. They can force disputants to stop stalling and move forward in a negotiation. However, if these deadlines are too soon, they can lead to poor decisions.
      • Trust in Mediation -- Alan Gold harped on the importance of trust in mediation when he wrote, "The key word is 'trust.' Without it, you're dead. Without it, stay home!" This essay explains why trust is so important in mediation and introduces trust-building strategies.
      • Codes of Conduct for Intervenors -- Those working in conflict resolution face a variety of complex ethical questions. Codes of conduct are guidelines governing the way dispute resolution practitioners deal with these issues.
      • Facilitator Co-Debriefing -- Expert coaches and facilitators Philip Gamaghelyan and Christopher Littlefield explain how they co-debrief to help improve their own skills as well as the processes they are conducting. Typical topics of discussion -- both during and after the completion of a program -- include relative power, roles, leadership, triggers, process, conflicts, and goals. By respectfully working through problems among the participants, between the facilitators and the participants, and/or between the facilitators, this process can improve the process as well as improving both new and experienced facilitators' skills.
    • Arbitration and Adjudication
      
      • Arbitration -- Arbitration is a method of resolving a dispute in which the disputants present their case to an impartial third party, who then makes a decision for them which resolves the conflict. This decision is usually binding. Arbitration differs from mediation, in which a third party simply helps the disputants develop a solution on their own.
      • Adjudication -- Adjudication is a judicial procedure for resolving a dispute. In the context of ADR, it usually means the traditional court-based litigation process.
      • Hybrid Processes -- A hybrid dispute resolution process combines elements of two or more traditionally separate processes into one. Hybrid processes are generally used when parties believe a dispute requires elements of multiple processes and a practitioner is skillful enough to fill two roles.
      • Grievance Procedures -- Grievance procedures are a standardized set of procedures to follow when someone has a complaint or a problem. These are frequently used in workplace conflicts. When used effectively, they can significantly reduce the outbreak of intractable conflict.
    • Peace Processes
      
      • Peace Processes -- This introductory essay explains the term "peace process" and its components: peacemaking, building, keeping, and violence prevention, among many others.
      • Preventive Diplomacy and International Violence Prevention
        
        • Preventive Diplomacy and International Violence Prevention -- Violence prevention has evolved from being focused almost exclusively on short-term interventions. It now refers to long-term initiatives that target the root causes of conflict.
        • Peace Education -- Peace education involves practical and philosophical training that uses empowerment and nonviolence to build a more democratic, harmonious community.
        • The Role of Education to Build Peace and Reconciliation in Post Conflict Settings - This article examines post-conflict education of youth, and observes that there is a tendency for the conflict to continue to play out in the school setting, unless children are taught conflict resolution skills and helped to pursue reconciliation processes within the educational setting.
        • International Regimes -- This essay provides a brief overview of regimes -- what they are, what they do and how they do it (taking into account different theoretical views). It also explores questions that remain about their contributions to international relations, conflict prevention, and peace.
        • Globalization -- Globalization has both positive and negative effects for people in both the developed and the developing world. This essay examines the many benefits and costs of globalization, and considers how it might be directed to maximize benefits while minimizing costs.
        • Mobilization Slowing -- Fear of a surprise attack can force military forces onto high alert. In this state, an innocent incident could spark a deadly confrontation. This essay on mobilization slowing shows one approach for reducing the risk of rapid escalation.
        • Military Force Restructuring -- Most societies have had on-going tensions between the military and civilians. Although most people want to maintain large, powerful forces able to protect against enemies, those forces should not be able to consume their societies.
        • Arms Control and Non-Proliferation -- This essay considers arms control broadly, referring to all forms of cooperation between potential adversaries geared toward reducing the likeliness of war, the economic costs of preparing for war and limiting the scope of violence should war occur.
        • Disarmament -- Disarmament refers to limiting or eliminating the use of weapons. Disarming can defuse a dangerous situation because it is generally seen as a gesture of good intent. Disarmament often reduces fears and tensions and paves the way for greater cooperation. However, it is sometimes feared, as it is seen as leaving one open to attack from an enemy who has not also disarmed.
        • Human Rights Protection -- There is growing consensus that the protection of human rights is important for the resolution of conflict. This essay discusses various ways the international community is attempting to bring an end to human rights abuses.
        • When Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clash: Can Both Prevail Together? This essay examines the difficulties inherent in pursuing justice and peace (or human rights and conflict resolution) goals simultaneously.  Both are necessary for lasting peace, yet they often are at odds with each other in terms of goals and actions.  These challenges are examined in the context of Bosnia and Uganda. 
        • Protective Accompaniment -- After prolonged conflict, the fabric of society begins to wear thin. Media, social services, police, and court systems may become biased, overly partisan, or cease serving the needs of the populace. When this happens, outsiders can step in to help.
        • Safe Havens -- In recent conflicts, the civilian casualty rate has reached nine of 10 casualties, compared with only one of 10 at the beginning of the 20th century. Safe-havens are protected locations where refugees and war victims can come to escape the violence in their communities.
        • Buffer Zones -- Edward Hall wrote, "[The protection of personal] space is the outgrowth of an animal's distinctive defense of his lair and is reflected in human society by the office worker's jealous defense of his desk, or the guarded, walled patio of the Latin-American home." When conflict is focused on a border area controlled by contending factions, the establishment of a demilitarized buffer zone can de-escalate the conflict.
        • Arms Embargo -- One of the best ways to limit the destructiveness of a dangerous conflict is to block the flow of additional weapons into an area. Arms embargos attempt to do that.
      • Preventing Interpersonal Violence -- This essay examines what can be done to prevent violence at the interpersonal and small group level (as opposed to the international level). The prevention of family violence, gang violence, and violence in the schools are examples of topics considered in this essay.
      • Peacemaking
        
        • Peacemaking -- Peacemaking is the term often used to refer to negotiating the resolution of a conflict between people, groups, or nations. It goes beyond peacekeeping to actually deal with the issues involved in the dispute, but falls short of peace building, which aims toward reconciliation and normalization of relations between ordinary people, not just the formal resolution that is written on paper.
        • Diplomacy -- Caskie Stinnett said, "A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip." These resources discuss the impact of diplomacy on intractable conflict.
        • Track I Diplomacy -- Track I diplomacy involves the actions of official government representatives.
        • Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) -- IGO activities are actions taken by international governmental organizations (IGO's) to transform, resolve, or manage conflicts. Activities of the UN and regional IGOs are described in this essay.
        • Track II (Citizen) Diplomacy -- Track II or citizen diplomacy are peacebuilding efforts undertaken by unofficial (usually non-govermental) people who try to build cross-group understanding and even develop ideas for conflict resolution that have not been broaded in official channels.
        • Problem-Solving Workshops -- In a problem solving workshop, carefully chosen representatives from all sides meet with a third party panel to analyze the conflict and develop possible solutions. The process usually focuses on human needs and is more analytical than other similar approaches.
        • Track I - Track II Cooperation -- The prevention and resolution of complex conflicts depends on a the efforts of both officials (track one) and non-officials (track two). This essay discusses the importance of cooperation between these two tracks.
        • Multi-Track Diplomacy -- Peacebuilding is seen by many participants to have many "tracks" beyond just track I and track II. This essay explains the concept of multi-track diplomacy, developed by Louise Diamond and John MacDonald.
        • Military Intervention -- A generation ago, the terms "military intervention" and "conflict resolution" would almost never have been uttered in the same breath. Militaries have intervened in the affairs of other countries time and time again, but rarely have they done so in an attempt to end conflicts -- until recently.
        • Peace Agreements -- This essay lays out an outline for understanding different types of peace agreements. The following essays discuss each type of agreement in more detail.
      • Peacekeeping
        
        • Peacekeeping -- Peacekeeping is the prevention or ending of violence within or between nation-states through the intervention of an outside third party that keeps the warring parties apart. Unlike peacemaking, which involves negotiating a resolution to the issues in conflict, the goal of peacekeeping is simply preventing further violence. Peacekeeping can also happen at lower levels of conflict, in families, communities, or organizations.
        • Criminal Misconduct and Sexual Offenses by UN Personnel During Peacekeeping Missions: Responses and Challenges - This essay looks at the problem of criminal and sexual misconduct perpetrated by UN peacekeepers, examines what has been done to address the issue, and recommends further actions that could be taken to both prevent future occurrences and prosecute those that have already occurred. 
      • Peacebuilding
        
        • Peacebuilding -- Peacebuilding is a long-term process that occurs after violent conflict has stopped. It is the phase of the peace process that takes place after peacemaking and peacekeeping.
        • Levels of Action
          
          • Levels of Action -- This essay explains John Paul Lederach's "triangle" which describes three levels of society at which would-be conflict resolvers might work: the grassroots, the leaders, and the middle level. While peacework must be done at all three levels, the middle level is especially important, Lederach says, at it links the top with the bottom as well as linking across party lines.
          • Elites -- This essay describes the kinds of actions and interventions that are appropriate for people in elite, leadership roles such as military or government. The section also discusses the obstacles and limitations of elite peacemaking efforts.
          • Midlevel Actors -- The midlevel of Lederach's social hierarchy includes ethnic and religious leaders, academics, and NGOs. This is the level that can potentially bridge the gap between the grassroots and the elite levels of society and hence is a very effective and important point to intervene.
          • Grassroots Actors -- In prolonged and violent conflict, life at the grassroots level is characterized by a survival mentality. People struggle daily to find adequate food, water, shelter, and safety. This struggles gives people a very different understanding of the conflict than that held be leaders, and it puts grassroots citizens in an especially important role in all peacebuilding efforts. This essay discusses things that everyday citizens can do, independent of those in leadership positions, to reduce a conflict's destructiveness.
          • The Scale-Up Problem -- Much conflict resolution takes place around the table or in small-group processes. Yet, intractable conflicts often involve whole communities or even societies. So methods must be found to widen or "scale up" the small group processes to the larger society.
        • Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) -- In 1945 there were around 3,000 international NGOs; by 1990 that number had increased to more than 13,000. This essay discusses both the positive and the negative effects NGO's have on conflict.
        • NGO/Corporate Partnerships: Bridge-builders Needed - Over the last few years, increasing attention has been paid to partnerships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and private enterprise. These partnerships hold much promise, but they are very difficult to establish and maintain.  This article explains why, using a case study of coffee farmers in Mindanao.  The author then discusses how an intermediary could have been very useful both in that case, and in many other similar cases, to help corporate entitles find and successfully partner with NGOs to engage in economic development and peacebuilding.
        • Inclusion of Women in the Peacebuilding Process -- This article looks at the difficulties, but also the benefits of including women in peacebuilding, with a particular focus on Sudan and Darfur.
        • Religion and Peace -- Religion is both a cause and a solution to many intractable conflicts. This essay looks at the role that religious actors and religion per se has and can play in the transformation or resolution of conflicts. The essay on religion and conflict identifies the ways and some instances in which religion has contributed to the development and maintenance of conflict.
        • Strategic Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation: The Catholic Contribution to Peace This essay tempers the popular idea that religion engenders violent conflict, by citing many examples in which religion (specifically the Roman Catholic Church and related entities) has worked to promote and sustain peace.
        • Conflict Transformation -- Many people believe that conflict happens for a reason and that it brings much-needed change. Therefore, to eliminate conflict would also be to eliminate conflict's dynamic power. In transformation, a conflict is changed into something constructive, rather being eliminated altogether.
        • The Transformation of Labor-Management Conflicts -- Less than a hundred years ago, conflict between labor and management was widely seen as intractable. Now however, this conflict has evolved into a whole series of "ordinary conflicts pursued under ordinary rules." This essay uses labor conflict as a model for transforming intractable conflict.
        • Recognition -- The word recognition is most often used in conflict resolution to mean acknowledging and empathizing with another. This essay describes why that is so important and how it can be encouraged. It also discusses the diplomatic sense of the word in which it means one nation-state acknowledging the legitimacy of another or its leadership.
        • Humanitarian Aid and Development Assistance -- Humanitarian aid is assistance given by an organization and/or foreign government to countries who are experiencing need because of mass migration, hunger, disease, and/or other crisis conditions.
        • Peacebuilding at the Intersection with Development and Humanitarian Aid -- Can peacebuilders, development, and humanitarian workers collaborate for better outcomes?  This article explores the obstacles and opportunities. 
        • Important Skills for Humanitarian Professionals Working in a Contemporary Conflict Environment -- This essay discusses several important skills and tools that allow humanitarian agencies to better tackle the challenges of contemporary conflicts. By examining several case studies, the author illustrates why each of the skills is important and how it is used in real conflict situations.
        • Stabilization and the Problem of Insurgency - This article examines post-conflict stabilization and how insurgencies can work to halt or even reverse such efforts.  It then briefly discusses ideas about how such insurgencies can be thwarted and peacebuilding continued.
        • Building Peace After Terrorism: From Reconciled Relationship to Structural Change - Sumner argues that counterterrorism and peacebuilding are not "separate islands," but rather go "hand-in-hand" as both involve addressing the root causes of terrorism through a conflict transformation framework.
        • Peacebuilding and the War on Terror: The U.S. Drone Program This article argues that "in its current state, the U.S. drone policy does little to build peace and may in fact contribute to recruitment. As a result, the U.S. public cannot be complacent about allowing drone strikes to continue unabated. The Obama administration should curb its targeted killings and overhaul the drone program. Even beyond simply fixing the drone program, the United States must also review its long-term strategy in the War on Terror."
        • Trauma Healing -- When conflict results in physical or psychological abuse, people can become traumatized. Trauma causes victims to continue to suffer, to be almost frozen in time.This essay details the effects of trauma and offer suggestions for healing.
        • 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 they need to do to get there.
        • Joint Projects -- Adversaries usually focus on their differences, while neglecting their common interests. One way to overcome this problem is by organizing and pursuing joint projects, which can help to repair the parties' relationship.
        • The Power of Music and Dance to Heal War-torn Societies: Case Studies from Brazil, Uganda, and Israel/Palestine -  In three beautiful and moving stories, this essay illustrates how music and dance can create sacred space for human beings to forgive themselves and others, move away from pain, and create renewed visions for self-healing and peace in the world around them.
        • The Processes of Music and Peacebuilding - This article looks at ways that music can be an agent of social change, a connector between people and groups, and a healer. It concludes by illustrating how music can generate what Lederach calls "the moral imagination," spurring people to generate creative new options to their conflict challenges.
        • Drama in Conflict Transformation -- The dominant "western" culture has typically considered knowledge in terms of scientific facts ("positivism") and has communicated education in hierarchical (top-down), synchronic (the learners synchronized with the teachers), and authoritarian/prescriptive ways. Using drama as a way to express and deal with conflicts is a very different approach that has value both in "western" culture, but especially in other cultures that do not resonate with the Western positivist approach to knowledge and learning.
        • Apology and Forgiveness -- These are two sides of the mutli-faceted "diamond" of reconciliation. Both are necessary for true reconciliation to take place.
        • Respect -- Treating people with respect is key to conflict transformation. When they are denied respect, people tend to react negatively, creating conflicts or escalating existing ones.
        • Humanization -- Viewing one's opponent as evil, perverted, or criminal justifies violence and make acts that were previously unthinkable seem perfectly acceptable. The opposite of this is humanization, where opponents recognize their common humanity and feel empathy for for each other. Artists, journalists and teachers have traditionally played key roles in humanization.
        • Humanization of Extremists -- Extremists can be dealt with in humane ways. This essay illustrates what this means.
        • Reconciliation -- Reconciliation is seen as the ultimate goal of peacebuilding, in which parties re-establish relationships and attempt to move beyond the past.
        • Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation The conventional wisdom is that reconciliation can only begin once a peace agreement has ended the conflict (at least temporarily). However, if one adopts the perspective of conflict transformation, rather than conflict resolution, then reconciliation becomes a crucial part and parcel of conflict transformation. Along that line of thinking, this essay aims to examine how reconciliation can fit into the framework of conflict transformation.
        • Peace Through Tourism -- This essay describes both the costs and benefits of tourism in relation to peacebuilding. While tourism offers the opportunity for cross-cultural contact and improved understanding, it carries with it a number of risks ranging from environmental degradation to cultural and social exploitation. Awareness of the problems enables both tourists and the tourism industry to adopt more beneficial tourism practices that will promote better understanding between cultures, therefore promoting peace.
        • Sports Peacebuilding: The Basics -- Sports peacebuilding is a relatively new endeavor that is growing rapidly. This introductory article by Krafchek describes what is involved and how it works. Krafchek also includes an informational video from coaches who actually run such programs.
      • Nation Building
        
        • Nation Building -- The general public sees nation-building programs as those in which dysfunctional or "failed states" are given assistance. This essay looks at the history of nation building and how it has been interpreted differently over the years.
        • Democratization -- Winston Churchill once said, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others." This essay examines the process of democratization in all its forms.
        • Democracy and Conflict Management -- In many ways, democracy is a system of conflict management in which the outcomes are unknown but the fundamental rules of the game provide a safe arena in which to compete.
        • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- This is the first of 9 articles that are excerpts from Kenneth Cloke's book showing how conflict resolution principles can save democracy.
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Introduction - An introduction to how we can respect difference and collaborate to more effectively solve our most pressing problems. 
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Power, Rights, and Interests -- Though American democracy currently emphasizes power and rights for decision making, Cloke here shows how focusing on interests is more effective. 
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Truth and Falsity -- Cloke shows how to surpass 'tis-'taint arguments about facts to get down to effective, collaborative problem solving.
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Meditative, Interest-Based Approaches to Political Conflicts - Focusing on relationships and process as much as or more than content can help make political discussions more effective. 
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Power and Rights v. Interest-Based Approaches to Political Discussion - This shows how to focus on relationships and process in a constructive dialogue. 
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- 20 Ways to Talk about Political Differences - Practical, constructive ways to talk to others (with whom you disagree) about hot political topics.
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Algorithm for Political Dialogue -- An algorithm for turning circles into spirals, improving our ability to discuss and learn from political conflicts.
          • Politics, Dialogue, and the Evolution of Democracy -- Chapter 8 Global Pandemics, National Borders, and Political Problem-Solving -- Learning from the response to Ebola, Bird Flu, and the H1N1 Swine flu epidemics to design an interest-based response to such catastrophes.
        • Elections -- Elections are a cornerstone of democracy and, hence, figure prominently in democratization efforts around the world. This essay explores different electoral systems, elections in post-conflict situations, and the role of the international community in election monitoring.
        • Election Monitoring -- Elections are a key component of democratization. Timing and credibility are critical however. This essay examines both and explores the use of election monitors as an approach to ensuring the integrity of the elections.
        • Civil Society -- Civil society refers to the public's active engagement in government and public affairs. A society with a thriving civil society can deal with conflict in a creative, non-violent manner. A society with a weak civil society tends to stifle conflict until it explodes into violent revolution.
        • The Functions of and Opportunities for Civil Society in Peacebuilding in Developing Countries - The opportunities for civil society groups to perform their peacebuilding functions remain enormous. However, it is imperative for civil society groups to realize that these opportunities have the capacity to become obstacles to peacebuilding as well. This article explores the promise and pitfalls of civil society peacebuilding and discusses how to maximize its positive potential.
        • Peacebuilding, Linearity, and Civil Society - This essay explains how current concepts of civil society and their role in peacebuilding are primarily linear, not complex.  By conceiving of civil society's role in building peace as a complex task, their role can be better understood and potentially more accomplished.
        • Civic Education -- Civic education programs aim to develop citizens' knowledge of the political system and create an engaged, politically informed populace.
        • Public Participation -- Public participation is a key aspect of democratic systems. This essay explains what it is, the ways it is implemented, and how it affects public decision making processes at all levels.
        • Challenges and Strategies for Democratic Participation -- Also known as participatory democracy, unitary democracy, and community-based democracy, democratic participation is an alternative to representative democracy, whereby direct and active citizen involvement is integral to a revised notion of democracy.
      • Transitional Justice
        
        • Truth Commissions -- Truths commissions are official groups endowed with the authority to extensively investigate the human rights abuses and war crimes committed in a specific country or region during a specified time period.
        • International War Crimes Tribunals -- These are tribunals designed to prosecute war crimes such as genocide, torture, and rape. Such tribunals are becoming increasingly common and are used instead of or in conjunction with truth commissions to try to move beyond the violence of many ethnic conflicts and allow the society to build peace.
        • The International Criminal Court: An Overview --  This article explains what the ICC is, how it came to be, and how it functions. 
        • Lustration -- The term "lustration" derives from the Latin for "purification." In this essay, it refers to a means by which some countries deal with a legacy of human rights abuses.
        • Power Sharing -- If parties in intractable conflicts reach a stalemate but are unwilling to give up their power, they may choose a power sharing agreement, which would allow all major parties to retain their power. Power sharing is also sometimes implemented during transitions between authoritarian and democratic rule.
        • Land and Property Rights in the Peace Process -- Land and property rights disputes can be very difficult to resolve, especially in transitional societies where land ownership is murky. Often two (or more people) say they own a particular piece of land, and all the evidence of ownership has been destroyed. Systems must be established to resolve competing claims that are seen to be fair and effective.
      • Training as Intervention
        
        • Conflict Transformation Training as Intervention -- This essay discusses the use of training as a means of conflict intervention, focusing especially on the author's work with both an external and local NGO in Manipur, India.
        • Elicitive Training -- The elicitive model of conflict resolution training encourages developing an intervention process from already-existing, local knowledge about managing conflict instead of imposing an outside culture's view of conflict resolution.
  • Outcomes of Intervention
    
    • Settlement, Resolution, Management, and Transformation: An Explanation of Terms -- This essay refers to four different goals for a conflict intervention. It defines the four terms and explains how their meanings have evolved over time.
    • The Culture of Mediation: Settlement vs. Resolution -- This essay explores the difference between conflict resolution as a process that can pursue either social peace, or social justice. The author explores what these are, which takes precedence in what situation, and how mediators can behave so that the outcomes that they value (justice and/or peace) are actually attained.
    • Conflict Transformation -- Many people believe that conflict happens for a reason and that it brings much-needed change. Therefore, to eliminate conflict would also be to eliminate conflict's dynamic power. In transformation, a conflict is changed into something constructive, rather being eliminated altogether.
    • Ceasefire -- In a violent conflict, the first step toward negotiation is some type of ceasefire, which freezes the conflict in place and stops the killing.
    • Tolerance -- William Ury explained, "tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person."
    • Coexistence -- In a state of coexistence, the parties agree to respect each other's differences and resolve their conflicts nonviolently.
    • Stable Peace -- This essay introduces the idea of a stable peace, or "a situation in which the probability of war is so small that it does not really enter into the calculations of any of the people involved.
    • Toward Better Concepts of Peace -- "Peace," in some circles, is a bad word: it is thought of as "giving up." Others only define it as the absence of something -- such as conflict or war. But peace is also positive, and positive peace is a much more nuanced and valuable idea than the other two conceptions. This article examines the many different theoretical interpretations of the concept of "peace."
  • Peace Agreements
    
    • Peace Agreements -- This essay lays out an outline for understanding different types of peace agreements. The following essays discuss each type of agreement in more detail.
    • Structural Components of Peace Agreements
      
      • Structural Components of Peace Agreements -- In contrast to procedural components, which define procedures for resolving conflicts, structural components attempt to resolve violent conflicts by making specific provisions designed to solve specific problems.
      • Structural Barriers to Agreement -- Structural barriers are aspects of the external environment that limit negotiating options, sometimes so severely that there is no "zone of possible agreement (ZOPA)." Though such structural barriers are sometimes significant, the first step toward fixing them is to recognize that they exist. Once this is done, strategies can be developed to modify the social, political, or economic structures so that negotiated agreements can be reached.
      • Ceasefire -- In a violent conflict, the first step toward negotiation is some type of ceasefire, which freezes the conflict in place and stops the killing.
      • Addressing Injustice -- Injustice ranges from isolated cases of theft and murder to discrimination that has soaked into the structures of a society. Depending on the grievance, injustice can be very difficult to recognize and eliminate. Yet remedying injustice is key to successful conflict resolution.
      • Self-Determination Procedures -- Since the end of the Cold War, more and more groups of people have demanded the right to "self-determination," meaning they have demanded their own nation-state or some degree of autonomy within another nation-state. This essay discusses the kinds of demands made and alternative responses to them.
      • Social Structural Change -- This essay examines fundamental changes that at times need to be made to the way a society is organized if their conflict is to be resolved. A prime example o is when South Africa abandoned its system of racial apartheid in favor of a majoritarian constitution.
      • Security Guarantees -- Thomas Hobbes wrote, "Cities and kingdoms, for their own security, undertake invasions out of fear of being invaded and seek to weaken or destroy neighbors as a way of reducing foreign threats." Security guarantees are one way out of this destructive cycle.
      • Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants -- Disarming and demobilizing military forces (especially militias) and successfully reintegrating the former warriors into a peaceful society is one of the major challenges of a post-violence or "post-conflict" peacebuilding stage of a violent conflict.
      • Lessons and Limits:  An Examination of the Social Implications of Traditional Approaches to Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Programs - This article examines traditional approaches of DDR programs, which focus primarioly on security issues and suggests that they need a broader focus, considering, for example, social issues such as conflict history, justice, and reconciliation as well.  DDR programs that focus exclusively on security objectives, without considering broader factors, tend to be very difficult to implement and hard to maintain.
      • Rebuilding Lives in Community: Linking Lessons from Ex-Offender and Ex-Combatant Reintegration -- This paper compares and contrasts the reintegration experiences and challenges faced by former civil war combatants and former prisoners in the U.S. While these groups may seem to inhabit two different worlds, Kniss uncovers striking similarities in their situations and considers the lessons that can be learned about both through the comparison. This paper also highlights the vital role of community in both forms of reintegration.
      • Reconstruction -- These materials explore programs that can revitalize the economies of communities ravaged by conflict. These programs can build prosperity and limit the poverty and despair that underlies so many intractable conflicts.
      • Compensation and Reparations -- In 1951, the first Chancellor of Germany announced, "In our name, unspeakable crimes have been committed and demand compensation and restitution, both moral and material, for the persons and properties of the Jews who have been so seriously harmed." In cases such as the Nazi's genocide against the Jews in WWII, governments sometimes offer compensation to try to make amends for past grievances and to promote healing.
    • Procedural Components of Peace Agreements
      
      • Procedural Components of Peace Agreements -- Procedural provisions of a peace agreement determine how peace is to be brought about and maintained.
      • Designing New Dispute Resolution Systems -- Dispute system design refers to the process of creating an entire routinized system for repetitively handling similar types of disputes. Applied domestically to labor-management and workplace disputes, it also is applied at a national level to help societies develop new conflict management procedures and entire justice systems as part of the democratization process.
      • Grassroots Process Design -- Interventions are less likely to succeed if the parties feel that outsiders are imposing the conflict resolution process on them.. This essay addresses strategies for involving the parties and building their sense of ownership in the process.
      • Monitoring of Agreements -- Peace agreements can be lethal instruments when they are poorly designed and poorly enforced. For example, the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda occurred after the failure of the Arusha Accords. This type of failure can sometimes be avoided through outside monitoring of an agreement.
      • Enforcement Mechanisms -- Peace agreements fail, even when made in good faith, because parties are not able to enforce the terms of the agreement. In order to prevent this, enforcement mechanisms should be built into every peace agreement.

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