What is a conflict?
Conflict is a disparity on the point of law or fact between two or more parties whose solution can be gotten from the mobilization of political and diplomatic resources. Conflict is a clash, a confrontation, a falling apart of things. Conflict can be said to be the worst creation of mankind – effects of conflict are sometimes devastating.
Conflict Prevention
Conflict Prevention aim at avoiding the violent escalation of a dispute. The concept and practice of Conflict Prevention has evolved from being focused almost exclusively on Preventive Diplomacy, to a more comprehensive approach that can be defined as Structural Prevention. This new approach includes long-term initiatives targeting the root causes of conflict.
Conflict Resolution
1) Win-win Negotiation
Effective negotiation helps you to resolve situations where what you want conflicts with what someone else wants. The aim of win-win negotiation is to find a solution that is acceptable to both parties, and leaves both parties feeling that they’ve won, in some way, after the event. For a negotiation to be ‘win-win’, both parties should feel positive about the negotiation once it’s over. This helps people keep good working relationships afterwards.
2) Third-party Conflict Resolution
Third-party conflict resolution involves the use of a neutral third party to either help in the resolution of a dispute or to resolve the dispute. Disputes within organisations or society can
be resolved by the use of a third party in three ways:
– Mediation:
Mediation is the use of a neutral third-party to help the disputing parties resolve the dispute on their own. A mediator will not resolve the dispute for you, but she/he will help facilitate a discussion between you and the person with whom you are having a problem in hope that you and the other person can find a solution together.
– Arbitration:
Arbitration is a process where a neutral third party is brought in to arbitrate – or resolve – your dispute. Parties that fail to resolve their disputes in mediation will often seek arbitration. Unlike in mediation, the arbitrator makes a decision resolving the dispute. Unlike mediation, arbitration will always bring an end to the dispute so long as it is binding, meaning that both parties are required to comply with the decision.
– Litigation:
Litigation involves filing a lawsuit and having your dispute resolve either by a judge or a jury. Like arbitration, litigation will resolve the dispute and there will generally be a winner and a
loser.
Peace Building
The bitter reality is that conflict is not about something just or unjust but something necessary and inescapable. Conflict is a catalyst for harmony; it is a facilitator of development and a barometer for the measurement of social cohesion. If conflict is not well managed it can lead to an outbreak of violent – war. The aftermath of every war is the destruction of not only physical properties but also a collapse of existing structures, developmental regression, the fall in social cohesion, and a repression in moral values.
What is Peace Building?
Peace building refers to the chain of activities aimed at addressing the root causes of a just ended conflict as well as seeking methods of preventing future conflicts. Peace building is a
long-term process that occurs after violent conflicts has slowed down or come to a halt.
Peace building Versus Peace-making and Peacekeeping
Peace-making comprises of all the diplomatic efforts and endeavours which are carried out to end on-going violence between conflicting parties, move them towards nonviolent
dialogue and eventually reach a peace agreement. Peacekeeping is the intervention of a third party usually though not necessarily with the use of military forces to assist the conflicting parties in transitioning from violent conflict to peace by separating the parties and keeping them apart.
Principles of Peace Building
There are a number of principles that underpin peace building in theory and practice.
Focus is however put on five fundamental principles:
Local ownership: Like development peace building is people-oriented process which is centred on those most affected by conflict and rooted in local contexts and realities.
Inclusiveness: Peace building is an inclusive process which gives sufficient focus on the most vulnerable and the marginalised people in the post-conflict society. It recognises that violent conflict is most often the direct repercussion from discrimination, exclusion and marginalisation, particularly of minorities and women. Peace building strives towards a fair,
equitable and sufficient inclusion of all segments of the society.
Long term process: Peace building like development is a long-term process. There is no “quick-fix” or set blue print for peace building processes.
Human rights and justice centred: The roots of conflict can be found in the violation of basic political, civic, economic, social and cultural rights. Without addressing human rights-based violations, peace will not be sustained.
Comprehensive: Peace building interventions are multidimensional in essence and strive towards coherency with other sectorial and disciplinary approaches. Peace building as a methodology aims at identifying the roots of violence which may be based on violation of human rights which lead to discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion. These three vices in turn prevent certain groups from accessing goods and services that form the basis of a developed society – food, clean water, infrastructure, health, education, justice and participating in the political, social and economic processes of a state. Therefore, without addressing the continued or potential exclusion of different groups of society (e.g. women, demobilised soldiers, disillusioned youths, and marginalised minorities) development gains will not be sustainable.
Conflict Sensitive Development Intervention
There are basically two ways through which peace building can be conducted. Either it takes the form of an intervention in favour of development in which case it addresses given aspects which are crucial to the community’s development or it is integrated into the entire post-conflict planning and implementation process. The most effective means of integrating
peace building is by adopting and applying a conflict-sensitive approach. Conflict sensitivity examines the interaction between context and intervention. Conflict-sensitive interventions refer to all aspects of the context such as socio-economic and political tensions, root causes of conflicts and structural factors that have the potential to become violent if not addressed
in an adequate way.