Vision in conflict Vol II (opening chapter) - Research Paper Example

Running head: VISIONS IN CONFLICT Visions in Conflict: Introduction March 28, 2009 Visions in Conflict: Introduction History of mankind has seen conflicts in various forms, including conflicts among individuals, groups, communities, religions, regimes, states, nations, etc. Conflicts have occurred for wealth, freedom and power. In the recent years, the increasing brutality in the methods of conflict and the increasing sophistication in the methods of resolution have created a tremendous gap between conflict and resolution (Zartman, 2007, p.3). There is also remarkable uncertainty regarding how to respond to conflict. This stems from a lack of general agreement about world order and conduct, about how to mediate, apply authority and impose restraint on aberrant behavior. The absence of a system of world order has left the world leaders and the world communities ignorant of who their friends and foes are and “even without an idea of friendly and inimical behavior on which to base appropriate reactions” (Zartman, 2007, p.7). There is confusion about what is normal and acceptable and what to do and what not to do in the face of conflict. Peace is not just absence of war or conflict, nor is it maintenance of order through force or coercion. War and conflicts leave countries, communities, homes and people devastated. Millions lose their homes and families. Children are orphaned. The effects of physical injury, financial loss and mental trauma can be far-reaching both for children and adults. Different mediators take different positions and follow different approaches to resolution of conflict and establishment of peace. Sport, religion, education and training, social-psychological studies and psychotherapy are some of the vehicles used globally for mediation for reconciliation and peace. Sports can bring normalcy and balance in the lives of the children where post-conflict effects have wrought havoc. Sports and sportsmanship can clear the atmosphere of chaos left by conflict and spread messages of peace. The Olympic Truce, the longest lasting peace accord in history, when contending nations drop their discord for the time being to allow their athletes participate actively in the sporting events, is an example of the effectiveness of sport as a powerful tool for making peace. The Norwegian Refugee Council has found sport to have positive psychosocial effects on children who have undergone post-conflict trauma and displacement and to “help them make positive choices in their lives” (Right to Play, 2004, p.15). Another vehicle for peace-building that is gaining increasing power in the recent years is religion. “Religion and spirituality offer vital, dynamic and creative resources for peacebuilding,” (Sampson, 2007, p.273). The involvement of religion in peace-building, which used to be sporadic and unplanned for in the past, is giving way to commitments by religious groups, which are now more organized. Religious practitioners now play an important role in peace-building at all levels, including mediation, reconciliation, trauma healing and transformation. Religiously motivated efforts at peacemaking are most effective in situations where religion is not a characteristic of the conflict. Religion has the power to call for action and to motivate people into taking up responsibility for peacemaking. According to Sampson (2007), conflict resolution is natural terrain for religious peace-builders, and processes essential to reconciliation such as confession, repentance, forgiveness, compassion and conversion based on self-reflection have emerged from religious, not secular contexts (p.276). Religious groups are now taking initiative in creating more literature and making people more aware of the necessity as well as the strategies for conflict resolution. They are also giving enhanced education and training in conflict management. Inter-religious workshops can help resolve inter-religious conflicts better than other interventions that do not have an insight into features particular to inter-religious conflicts. The goal of inter-religious peace-building training is to bring about a change in the narrow and prejudiced attitude of the participants to a more broad-minded and tolerant attitude (Abu-Nimer, 2001, p.686). This can be done through a process of three steps, which include unfreezing negative attitudes, reformulating new attitudes, and freezing new attitudes acquired through positive experiences. The role of education in conflict management and resolution has been largely recognized and given a great deal of importance in the recent years. For decades, students have been learning the history of conflicts and wars, their causes, origins, dynamics, ends and outcomes. With the development of political science, they realized the importance of national security, learnt the necessity for strategies and resources for national security, and understood the inevitability of alliances to defend against a common enemy, sometimes pledging their own future to another sovereignty. As most conflicts ended on the battlefield in the earlier years, the focus was mostly on treaty arrangements. Not until the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952, in an effort to preclude war between Germany and France, was any attention given to education on how to prevent or resolve conflicts (Aall, Helsing & Tidwell, 2007, p.329). In the post-Cold War period, several partnerships arose between scholars, third party practitioners and conflicting parties, all working towards understanding the nature of conflicts and effecting prevention, management, resolution and transformation of conflicts. Consequent to terrorist attacks in various parts of the world, there has emerged the recent international trend towards restoration of peace and other humanitarian activities by third party involvement. As a result, there have emerged trainers in the field of conflict management and resolution who aid practitioners in acquiring and honing the skills that are deemed necessary for restoration of peace. While educators help students understand the concepts and theories of conflict management, trainers work with practitioners to help them develop the necessary skills. Training usually takes place in an ongoing situation of conflict, “thereby becoming a form of direct or indirect third-party intervention (Ward Jr. & Lekson, 2007, p.356). Alongside of all the above various approaches is one of the newest and most significant approach to conflict resolution that is based on social-psychological principles. The social-psychological approach is basically designed to complement other approaches rather than substitute them (Kelman, 2007, p.62). Psychological processes are compelling factors in international conflict that influence individual and collective behavior, which in turn influence relations between nations. Factors such as cognitive functioning, trauma and stress and their effects not only affect the communities devastated by conflict but also the decision makers and other partners in conflict resolution where these participants act within organized social structures. Social psychology provides a suitable framework for analyzing such behavior as it focuses on these social, psychological and institutional processes (Kelman, 2007, p.62). Conflict stems from both rational and irrational factors, and international conflict is not just an interstate affair but an inter-societal phenomenon. This requires an examination into what happens within the societies in conflict. Political communities, which often are major participants in conflict, are characteristic of intragroup as well as inter-group disharmony. These internal restraints are severe impediments in the process of mediation. Hence, though peaceful resolution of conflict can be achieved only at governmental or official levels, the internal divisions within groups warrant involvement of several sectors in the mediation. Besides understanding the psychological situation of the victims, understanding the psychological state of the perpetrators and bystanders is important for reconciliation (Staub, n.d.). Perpetrators often have endured victimization and other traumatic experiences as part of the cycle of violence during conflict, and their unhealed psychological wounds have contributed to their actions (Staub & Pearlman, 2006). Kellermann (1996) describes four levels of interventional approaches to understanding and managing interpersonal conflicts and intragroup conflicts. At the first emotional level of conflict management, the focus is on the expression of pent-up hostility. At the second intrapsychic level, the focus is on the correction of the distorted perceptions of the members. The third interpersonal level focuses on interactions and communications, while the group-as-a-whole level examines the global group dynamics that affect the conflict. In social and political conflicts, where individuals are openly hostile towards each other, practitioners become confused and helpless and tend to wait passively for the tensions to either diminish by themselves or build up, tearing the group apart. Group therapy helps get rid of aggression by releasing it through overt expression (Kellermann, 1996). This volume contains several articles and essays written by various authors from around the world on these powerful vehicles of conflict resolution, namely, religion, education and training, psychotherapy and sport. They have related their own personal experiences in conflict resolution and peace-building. They have discussed what they have done by way of restoring peace and what they have inferred in the process of mediation. They have thrown light on several facts, hitherto perhaps unnoticed, that they have learnt from their own experiences in dealing with trauma-torn human beings in post-conflict environments. Today, the world is working towards understanding the nature and causes of conflicts and towards prevention, management, resolution and conversion of conflicts. On the one hand when the experts are trying to find ways and means of tackling conflicts, on the other, terrorist attacks like the 9/11 are rocking the world, making preventions and reconciliations of conflicts more and more complicated. In countries like the Netherlands, 9/11 and consequent problems have been magnified by politicians attacking, rather than constructively dealing with, “Islam as a religion and Muslim culture and social arrangements” (Staub, n.d.[b]). Maintaining positive relations among communities and creating positive perceptions are absolutely necessary to prevent conflicts and associated violence. Efforts toward wiping out discrimination, dehumanization and devaluation between communities; understanding the values and beliefs of all groups; providing opportunities for psychological healing; allowing open dialogues and expression of views can help constructive connections between groups. Laurence McKinney, in his essay, “Preparing for the Coming Faithquake,” in this volume, opines that the next 50 years will see the emergence of new scientifically based global religions. According to the author, traditional religion may be the last casualty of the twentieth century, which might survive in the form of cultural archives with far less authority and influence. The author further speculates that if human society does not come up with generally acceptable world religions, millions will needlessly suffer and perish in encounters based on ancient religious disagreement. Since different religions belong to different regions, each religion is expressed and experienced through the traditions and culture of a specific area. According to the author, as we merge into an inevitable world consciousness, “these regional beliefs would become our last links with centuries of tradition.” Though the different religions of the world believe in the same values and lead humanity in the same direction towards the same happiness and glory, they continuously tend to disagree with each other in the matter of supremacy and priorities. This, surprisingly, is in a scenario where majority of religions have emerged from and are new interpretations of already extant theologies! McKinney states that it is time that a new faith emerged from an entirely new direction – a faith that cannot stand in opposition to any other, a faith with a scientific approach. In this volume, in “The Utility of Teaching Conflict Resolution in War: A Case Study from Iraq,” the author Elisa Levy relates her experiences as an NGO, CHF International, in training Iraqi community leaders on resolution, negotiation and mediation of conflicts. The NGOs had established a Community Action Program (CAP) and Community Action Groups (CAGs) of elected individuals from the community to facilitate execution of the program. The main inferences that came from training the community leaders related to the essential features of conflict resolution that include immediate applicability, cultural flexibility, ideological commitment, gender sensitivity, peer teaching and time on the ground. The author emphasizes the necessity of a practical and immediate situation where the skills can be applied, and the importance of the ideological commitment of the individuals chosen, to render teaching of conflict resolution effective. Reconciliation is essentially “a changed psychological orientation toward the other” (Staub, n.d.[a]). This means that the victims and the perpetrators do not view future as a continuation of the past. However, the basic question in the aftermath of violent conflict is, “After such violence, how can the different hostile groups live together and build a peaceful, non-violent future?” (Staub & Pearlman, 2006). Healing from the wounds of being harmed and of having harmed others is essential for reconciliation, without which it would be impossible for the hostile groups to live together and not allow the cycle of violence to continue. Another factor indispensable to reconciliation is forgiveness without which peace is impossible. In the essay, “Healing Hurts: The Forgiveness Factor,” B. J. Pillay deals with the forgiveness factor in peace restoration. The author recalls his observations in psychotherapy where forgiveness has played an important and meaningful part in restoring peace and maintaining relationships. The author describes his experiences at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Durban, South Africa, that had brought to light appalling and heinous acts of violence of human rights that have occurred in South Africa, the psychological effects of which are suffered even today by the people of that country. The result of the hearings was that many, including those from the white community, realized that their beliefs had been false and unfounded, and that they were mere pawns in the hands of those in power. Pillay, through his essay, points out that while the need for psychotherapy and follow-up interventions was great for such individuals who had undergone such horrendous trauma, the need to acknowledge the suffering of the victims by the society as a whole and the political system, and the ability of the victims to forgive were most beneficial. According to Pillay, while the act of forgiving releases the victim from the agonizing clutches of trauma, the gift of mercy frees the offender as well. Right to Play (2004), a significant component of the Athens Roundtable on Sport for Development, has identified sport as a powerful vehicle that can promote peace and harmony by bringing people together across “boundaries, cultures and religions” (p.3). Sportsmanship can help lay a strong foundation of friendship through reconciliation, watering down of antagonism and resolution of conflicts. Valarie Kamatsiko, in this volume, in her essay titled “Peace and Reconciliation; Through Recreation, Play and Leisure,” identifies sport as a vital tool for peace-building and reconciliation. Kamatsiko states that sport can create an environment for dialogue, paving the way for interaction between individuals from diverse backgrounds which can help reduce ethnic prejudices and inter-group tensions. Thus sport provides opportunity for communication which leads to groups understanding each other better and individuals forming new relationships. Common interests form a new common identity that binds individuals together, and other identities based on religion, culture and ethnicity become reduced in significance and they gradually fade out. Sport, through its regular, systematic activities can help children regain their sense of security and stability. Sport can also provide children of war-torn communities periods of joy and relaxation in the face of the numerous stressors associated with reconstruction. Moreover, Kamatsiko states that, sport activities keep the children and youth healthily occupied so that they do not get the chance to be distracted by or attracted to rebellious and anti-social activities. The author has also described how sport, leisure and recreational activities, and different arts encourage fellowship and interaction, render joy and sportsmanship, and bring about peace and friendship among individuals of groups, communities, and nations. Another essay in this volume, authored by Catherine O’Keefe, “Reconciliation and Peace through Recreation, Play and Leisure” deals with the role of leisure in reconciliation. The author reflects on how leisure had the power to “raise cultures beyond the profanity of war and conflict to a spiritual and sacred place where social groups could heal and bond.” O’Keefe points out the reflection of culture on its arts, cuisine, fashion, architecture and literature. The author points out that if people from different cultures were to concentrate more on their similarities than their differences, the cultural expressions and traditions had enough power to unite them. Contests can be considered as civilized substitutes for wars where the contestants exhibit their national pride and commitment. O’Keefe suggests building bridges of experiences among different cultures in appreciation of each other’s culture can diffuse the conflicts among them. Bridges can be experiences of different forms of recreation, leisure and play. Transculturalism can help diverse cultures meet and blend, creating new shared experiences and dissolving the negative effects of differences. O’Keefe refers to the example of Peace Players International where children from warring cultures are brought together on the same teams to play a game of peace, love and understanding. Forgiveness and healing can flourish better in a healthy environment of leisure and sport. O’Keefe hopes that the spiritual concept of leisure can also be used by the people for better reconciliation and camaraderie among different divisions of humanity. References Aall, P. R., Helsing, J. W. & Tidwell, A. C. (2007). Addressing conflict through education. In I. W. Zartman (ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: methods & techniques. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fyUV8NnlXhEC&pg=PR8&dq=conflicts+peacemaking#PPA327,M1 Abu-Nimer, M. (2001). ‘Conflict resolution, culture, and religion: Toward a training model of interreligious peacebuilding.’ Journal of Peace Research, 38. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://www.aupeace.org/files/Nimer_ConflictResolutionCultureAndReligion.pdf Kellermann, P. F. (1996). ‘Interpersonal conflict management in group psychotherapy: An integrative perspective.’ Group Analysis, 29. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://peterfelix.tripod.com/home/Conflict.pdf Kelman, H. C. (2007). Social-psychological dimensions of international conflict. In I. W. Zartman (ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: methods & techniques. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fyUV8NnlXhEC&pg=PR8&dq=conflicts+peacemaking#PPA61,M1 Right to Play (2004). Harnessing the power of sport for development and peace. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www.sport2005bildung.ch/deutsch/files/MA_Ds_HarnessingThePower.pdf Sampson, C. (2007). Religion and peacebuilding. In I. W. Zartman (ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: methods & techniques. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fyUV8NnlXhEC&pg=PR8&dq=conflicts+peacemaking#PPA273,M1 Staub, E. & Pearlman, L. A. (2006). Advancing healing and reconciliation. In L. Barbanel & R. Sternberg (eds), Psychological interventions in times of crisis. New York: Springer-Verlag. Staub, E. (n.d.[a]). Reconciliation after genocide, mass killing or intractable conflict: understanding the roots of violence, psychological recovery and steps toward a general theory. Manuscript in press. Staub, E. (n.d.[b]). Understanding and preventing violence and developing positive relations between the Dutch and Muslim minorities in Amsterdam, the Netherlands—and local populations and Muslims in Europe. Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Ward Jr., G. F. & Lekson, J. M. (2007). Dealing with conflict: The contributions of training. In I. W. Zartman (ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: methods & techniques. Retrieved March 28, 2009, from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fyUV8NnlXhEC&pg=PR8&dq=conflicts+peacemaking#PPA355,M1 Zartman, I. W. (2007). Introduction: Toward the resolution of international conflicts. In I. W. Zartman (ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: methods & techniques. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fyUV8NnlXhEC&pg=PR8&dq=conflicts+peacemaking#PPA3,M1 Read More