Friday, October 06, 2006

An Approach To Conflict Resolution

Ravindra Varma

All human beings do not think alike or feel alike. They have therefore no escape from having to encounter differences. Differences can lead to intolerance, intolerance can lead to confrontation, and hostile confrontation can, does often, lead to conflict. The objects that set one on the path of confrontation and conflict are therefore very important in understanding 'conflict'. So are the means-tactics and instruments that one uses to engage in conflict. Both these affect the individual as well as the group or society in which, or on behalf of which he or she wants to engage in conflict. They act and interact on the individual as well as the institutions that he fashions or lives under, and the "forces" that they generate and employ for bringing about change or resisting change. The problems that arise from these inter-relationships cannot be solved by saying that conflicts are inevitable in the life of the individual and society.

Science and technology have given us weapons that individuals or groups can use to cause mass destruction, wipe out vast populations and inflict death and suffering on generations that may survive or succeed nuclear holocausts. In fact it will be truer to say that we have used science and technology to invent such weapons to enforce our views and our will on those who differ, and expose the human species to the threat of extinction. We have done so because we have inherited the belief that disputes can be settled only by violence, war in the case of nations, and violent conflict or upheavals in the case of sub sovereign groups or individuals. But the world has now seen the magnitude and duration of the effects of the destruction that violence can cause, to the one who initiates as well as the one who responds, and to the vast mass of innocent people who are not responsible for these decisions, but live in areas controlled by the one who initiates or the one who responds.

The ordinary human being everywhere has therefore become far more conscious and concerned about the risks and the ruin that conflict brings in its train. He has therefore become aware of the stake that he has in avoiding and resolving conflict. He is no longer satisfied with the academic adage that conflicts are inevitable. He does not want conflicts because conflicts are prone to become violent, and competitive violence can lead to the destruction of all mankind including themselves. The demonstrations that one sees today from Turkey to Los Angeles bear testimony to the new awareness of the futility and dangers of violent conflict, and the revulsion to war as a weapon to settle disputes. Today we do not therefore want differences to precipitate into violent conflict or war. Conflicts in perceptions easily become prone to violent conflicts because of

(1) the ferocity of feelings built up through intense and clever propaganda

(2) the easy availability of arms for combat

(3) the inherited belief in war or violence as the most efficient way of settling disputes

(4) the romantic appeal of secret societies and conspiratorial action and

(5) the appeal of martyrdom and eternal glory that is associated with it.

Conflict is not an instant occurrence - something that occurs without a warning, without building up - without gestation.

It is therefore necessary to take a deeper look at

(a) how conflicts build up and precipitate into violent conflicts

(b) the areas in which or the issues on which conflicts are most likely to arise and

(c) the action that we can take to to resolve, defuse or control conflicts.

We have already observed that conflicts are not instant occurrences. They build up. From where then do they commence? We observe many conflicts around us, in the world of sentient beings as well as in the world beyond what we regard as sentient. But in this analysis we are confining ourselves only to conflicts that arise between human beings or institutions fashioned by human beings.

All these conflicts originate from differences in perceptions about likes or dislikes, truth or justice or rights or interests. These perceptions arise, or are formulated, in the mind; the desire or determination, to establish the ascendancy of, or to secure the acceptance, of one's perception also arises in the mind. It is the mind that lights upon or chooses or fashions the means by which one decides to assert one's perception. If it is for these reasons that we say conflicts originate in the minds of human beings. If it is in the minds that they originate, and it is the human mind that chooses and fashions the means that are employed in conflicts, it is in the human mind that one has to grapple with problems relating to the precipitation of conflicts.

It is mind that reconciles with a different perception, decides that it is not worth a conflict, or necessary pr profitable to engage in conflict to defend one's perception of another's mind.

Any study of conflicts therefore has to begin by observing that

(1) conflicts are not instant occurrences

(2) that they commence from the perception of differences

(3) that there as a perceptible process or progression which leads one from the perception of difference to intolerance; to the desire to eliminate what one cannot tolerate, to engage in conflict to secure the elimination of what one cannot tolerate, to use any means including violence to achieve victory in the conflict, to create a psychosis that justifies conflict as inevitable and necessary for the defence or victory of something that one considers sacrosanct. Thus, if conflict or violent conflict occurs as a result of conscious or unconscious escalation from differences that can be considered natural, it follows that events or changes in attitudes can intercede between one stage and another thus stalling or preventing escalation. It is this possibility which gives us the opportunity to prevent the precipitation of violent conflict, and the responsibility to discover effective methods of intercession.

The purpose of intervention must be to decelerate feelings and promote introspection on

(1) how the difference affects oneself or one's interests or 'rights'

(2) whether escalation will bring a solution

(3) what the cost of escalation will be - to the two sides, and to society at large - in the short term and in the long term

(4) whether there is a position, - perhaps an intermediate position, - that safeguards the rights or interests or views of both

(5) whether one can explore and locate such a position - through dialogue - which reviews facts, and methods that have been used to arrive at conclusions

(6) whether such a position can be found through mediation or arbitration, (even with a provision to review the results of arbitration after a specific period has passed, to assess effects or changes in the preparedness of both sides to engage in or resume conflict)

(7) whether the nonviolent means of Satyagraha based on truth, love and awareness of the paradigms of interdependence can result in a peaceful resolution of the conflict or the creation of a new balance of the forces that support different positions, accepting nonviolent methods for reconciliation of views or interests.

The agents of intercession can be

(a) a concerned individual with credibility held in respect by both sides;

(b) a group or organization that wants to take the initiative to protect peace and justice and to promote reconciliation;

(c) a group of persons that represents a judicial initiative for intercession;

(d) a governmental or inter-governmental group or organisation, depending on the grounds, and the potential scales of conflicts. Any one who wants to intervene must have the requisite credibility.

Now let us examine the question whether all conflicts can be resolved or eliminated. In as much as conflicts arise from differences, and differences are natural, the potential for conflict can not be totally eliminated till all human beings have learnt to "digest" differences and abide by the modus vivendi that flows from the paradigms of interdependence, confining themselves to ends as well as means (including institutions and sanctions, that are consistent with interdependence. It may take quite some time before such a state of mind becomes universal. While the creation of such a state of mind (and institutions and sanctions that go with it should undoubtedly be our long term objective, in the immediate future we should begin by

(1) abjuring violence as an instrument of conflict;

(2) progressively de-escalating, and confining ourselves to methods of dialogue, mediation, arbitration, nonviolent means that can promote introspection and logical examination of issues, paralyzing the perpetrator of injustice through massive non-co-operation, etc.

There will certainly be no dearth of people who scoff at the plea for abjuring violence, especially when it comes to conflicts between nations. But with a little thought, one may see that the plea is not senseless. Firstly, it cannot be gainsaid that weapons of mass destruction have created the very real fear that war may result in the ruin, if not the extinction of the human species; that the destruction that a war might cause will not respect frontiers, will not discriminate between combatant and non-combatant, between the one who initiates and the one who responds. No one - no master of the science of warfare can predict the shape of things 'on the morning after', who survives, and whose interests or perceptions would be upheld by the corpses and ruins that will remain. Who in his senses will want to launch an enterprise - which will demand the highest price ever paid by humanity in lives and assets of all kinds - without being sure of what can be gained from the enterprise? The time has therefore come for us to look at what we can save by abjuring war, to see that we can save what we want to save only by abjuring war.

Secondly, changes in weaponry and delivery systems have radically changed the nature of wars. Enormous disparities in the quantum and quality of deployable destructive power available to contending forces have resulted in revolutionary changes in tactics and strategy. Old objectives for military action have given place to new. The defence of frontiers and territories have become less important. Aggression can take place without fighting at the frontiers. All frontiers have become porous for some kinds of aggression. Infiltration, terrorism, guerilla warfare, biological and chemical warfare from secret launching pads within the country and from distant launching pads, and assassination have become the characteristics of international hostilities and warfare. Chemical and biological weapons, even nuclear weapons have become accessible to many, and the mightiest of mighty nations are finding that there is no certain or satisfactory way of overcoming their vulnerability to such attacks. The USA has seen how difficult it is to assure the safety of its citizens and installations with the most powerful weapon systems it has at its command. If the objective of the armed forces is to ensure safety and security from external aggression, the post-September 11 scenario has exposed the near-ineffectiveness of old systems. New systems of defence will have to be evolved.

President Bush talked of the way the nature of war has changed after September the 11th.

Thirdly, no military system in the world today is in a position to offer a military answer or blue print to meet the demands of the new types of aggression that we are witnessing or experiencing. If the old system cannot offer an answer to the new menace or to what war has become, a new system must be found.

That new system cannot be based on the notion that annihilation of the body or the infliction of vicarious suffering on those who are not guilty will lead to transformation of the mind of those who differ or end conflicts that originate and linger in the mind.

The new way or system has to be able to deal with the mind itself, and that can only happen through dialogue and persuasion.

II

Though all minds do not think and feel alike, the best way to understand another man's mind is through observing one's own mind. When one watches one's mind, one sees that the emotions that arise in one's mind are not permanent. They do not always have the same intensity. Sometimes, we can be in the grip of an emotion, and at the same time see how the emotion has gripped our mind and is twirling our mind around as a storm twirls a tree around. We can also see how the storm passes, and the mind or the tree slowly - sometimes quickly - settles down and experiences the calm that follows the storm. We thus see that emotions arise in our mind, but are not part of our mind. If they were part of our mind, there would have been no variations in the intensity of our emotions, no changes, no arising and no disappearance. We should learn from this that the intolerance, anger and aggressiveness that we encounter from other minds are also capable of waxing and waning, arising and disappearing. The collective mind of groups of human beings also shares the same nature; it can be roused to a high pitch of fury, but it can also respond with equal intensity to pity or love or compassion or loyalty or devotion to ideals or to God. It may be argued that the psyche of the individual and the psyche of a collective do not always react in an identical fashion. But it is also true and we have many instances that show how they both react and can react similarly. The Indian struggle for independence under Mahatma Gandhi is replete with instances that show how similar emotions arose and worked in the mind of individuals and groups, the readiness to overcome hatred, the readiness to sacrifice one's possessions or happiness, the readiness to suffer for a cause, etc. There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate the similarity of responses to similar stimuli or to the same appeal. It is therefore possible to believe that similar stimuli and appeals may help to decelerate the momentum of negative and divisive emotions and bring it below the level of the threshold of active confrontation or conflict.

One of the major reasons why Gandhi was able to do this was Gandhi's success in making people distinguish between evil and the evil doer, or the mind that holds wrong views and the views themselves, which as we have seen, are not an inherent and irremovable part of the mind. If this is a valid and verifiable distinction, we can also see the consequences of holding the two as one. Firstly, if they are the same, there is hardly any way of changing or transforming views or emotions. The problems that arise from differences can only be resolved by the physical isolation or annihilation of the other person. Given the fact that human beings think and feel differently, this would have led to a perpetual desire or effort to eliminate or contain the other. Such an attitude of mind would be inconsistent with the gregariousness or interdependence that characterize the human species. It is therefore clear that the mind of the human being, as it has evolved in the species, has to be treated and approached as distinct from the views and emotions that arise, transit, and disappear, and the distinction has to be used to deal with problems that arise from differences in views and emotions. If this is a necessity to bring about changes or compromises in the short term, it is also a necessity to preserve the integrity of human society and to protect it from the violent and destructive effects of frequent fission. Secondly, if views are unalterable and there is no way of achieving (eliciting) consent or acquiescence through persuasion and consent, social changes can be brought about, and social systems can be sustained only through 'force', and not reason. Dictatorship then will be the natural way of governance, and suppression will be the natural way of dealing with a mind that dares to think for itself. Democracy education, bases itself on the belief that the human mind can be transformed, that views can be transformed, if not to the point of wholesale acceptance of other views and the abandonment of one's earlier views, at least to the point of acquiescence and tolerance.

The next question we have to address is why is it that we insist that our views be accepted, and why do we resist the views of others? One of the most powerful factors that influences the views that we hold is our ego or the ego aspect (?) of our mind. In fact, it is very difficult to disentangle our thoughts and views from our ego. The difficulty is all the greater, and hard to overcome because the ego is subtle, and knows how to conceal itself or defend itself when challenged. It hardly ever comes into the open, and yet it can manipulate our attitudes and views effectively. Considerations of prestige, self-interest, acquisitiveness, greed, the desire to possess-possessiveness, aggrandizement, the desire to be different, etc. are all intertwined with the ego. Yet, the ego has to learn to reconcile with the egos of others if it is to be at peace with itself and others. One of the fundamental requisites of peace and harmony, therefore, is the balance between the egos and the self-perceived interests of egos in a society.

How then do we explore this field and work for such a balance? Very little of the ego is accessible to empirical observation and analysis. One cannot detect the ego - the workings of the ego without looking inward. It is here that the science that enquires into the inner world - religion or spiritual disciplines have helped us most and can help us. Perhaps that is why all religions have posited peace as the paramount goal of the human being and society, and talked of the relation between peace and the conquest or taming of the ego or the discovery that there is no inherent existence for the ego. That is why they have formulated ways of overcoming the distortions in the comprehension of reality that the ego manages to create.

Those who want to prevent the precipitation of differences into conflicts, and those who want to intercede to find ways of reconciliation have therefore much to learn from what religions and spiritual exercises have taught us, of how to tame the mind and make it an abode of peace, and orient it towards peace and reconciliation.

III

23. Buddha Dharma talks of wisdom and loving compassion. Gandhi talks of Truth, Love and Compassion.

24. The very first sermon that the Buddha delivered after his Enlightenment was on suffering: the fact of suffering: the cause of suffering: the way to end suffering by ending the cause of suffering. Conflict is suffering. It is caused by suffering. It is engaged in with the hope or objective of ending suffering. The Buddha saw that the wrong understanding of reality was the cause of suffering. He therefore wanted sentient beings (human beings) to work for the correct understanding of reality. In the profoundest and subtlest sense this meant the understanding of Shunyata; that all phenomena including the self are void of inherent existence; that they exist only by imputation, and originate and appear only in dependence on other phenomena (Pratityasamutpada). In the field of action, he therefore wanted us to base ourselves on a clear understanding of the law of cause and effect, or Karma. As positive aids that could help in eliminating negativities that stood in the way, he recommended the Four Immeasurables or the Brahma Vihara, Maitri, Karuna, Mudita and Upeksha. As the means or methods for giving battle to negativities, he recommended antidotes. Akkodhena jine kodham, asadhum sadhuna jine, jine kadariyam danena, sachenâlikavadinam. (Let a man overcome anger by non-a anger (gentleness), let him overcome evil by good, let him overcome the liar by truth) (Dhammapada - kodhavaggo) He underlined the principle that one finds in the physical universe, and pointed out that negativities could be combated and eliminated only by antidotes and not by further or more refined doses of the (same) negativity that one was wanting to eliminate.

25. To Gandhi Truth is reality; is the core of reality; the Law that governs the Universe and gives it its form: Dharma or the force of cohesion that sustains an entity. Love is a reflection of this force of cohesion among the sentient, as the law of gravitation is its reflection in the realm of the inanimate. He therefore looked upon Truth and Love as two sides of the same coin, and declared that as a votary of Truth or Satyagraha, it was his duty and his Sadhana to serve all creation. "All creation" includes not only the sentient but also the non-sentient; and the sentient as Gandhi explained includes the "creepy-crawlies" or the "meanest" of creations. To Gandhi, therefore, the purpose of individual and social life was the pursuit of Dharma (Dharmamaya) through means consistent with Dharma or the force of cohesion, viz. Love.

26. Gandhi too believed that Truth manifested in itself, and was accessible only, through the 'inexorable law of cause and effect'. A cause could create only the effect that was inherent in it. Conversely, a desired effect could be brought about only by creating the cause that could produce the effect (that contained the seeds of the effect). Means and ends therefore become almost indistinguishably interwoven. An evil effect or negativity can be removed only by the power of its antithesis or antidote. So to him too, love or cohesion was the only force that could overcome hatred and conflict.

27. Gandhi pointed out that since conflict took birth in the mind, it could be resolved only through a mental process or mental force, not through the deployment of physical force. He saw Satyagraha as a mental, moral or spiritual force that the mind used to work on other minds and to correct attitudes and acts that were inconsistent with Truth, justice or the principle of cohesion that is the essence of Dharma.

28. Both the Buddha and Gandhi were men of action. The Buddha is a remote figure in history and the interventions he made to preempt or resolve social conflicts or ensure justice to sentient beings are not remembered or recounted. But Gandhi lived in the recent past, and his interventions and struggles are still remembered and studied.

29. Gandhi has explained why he became a man of "direct action". He had found that human beings were sometimes (often) impervious to the appeal of reason when their interests or views were involved, and only direct action could shock them out of selfishness or intransigence, into introspection and self-correction. He answered the charge that such direct action could become divisive and cause confrontation or conflict in society, and said that men of peace, persons of undoubted spiritual eminence like the Buddha and Jesus were men of direct action.

30. According to Gandhi, "Never has anything been done on this earth without direct action. I reject the word 'passive resistance', because of its insufficiency and its being interpreted as a way of the weak.

31. What was the larger symbiosis that Buddha and Jesus preached? Gentleness and love. Buddha fearlessly carried war into the enemy's camp, and brought down on its knees an arrogant priesthood. Christ drove out the money chargers from the temple of Jerusalem and drew down curses from heaven upon the hypocrites and the Pharisees. Both were for intensely direct action. But even as Buddha and Jesus chastised, they showed immeasurable love and gentleness behind every act of theirs." (Young India 12.05.1920)

32. Thus Gandhi's recipe for the resolution of conflicts was Satyagraha, thedesire to discover Truth, to insist on Truth, and abandon all that dilutes Truth or deviated ever so slightly from Truth. This could be achieved through joint review of facts and issues; mediation or arbitration; introspection; direct action that promoted introspection and reminded one of the need for reconciliation in a society that comes into being, survives and prospers through interdependence; and tolerance for the residual differences that might remain on peripheral matters.

IV

33. It can be said that up to now we have been talking primarily of the mind and attitudes of the individual, and not about the psychology and motivations of groups that engage in conflict or about the specific issues that become the epicenters of conflict. Yet, we have talked of (some) similarities in the attitudes and responses of the psyches of individuals and groups. We have also made some reference to the internal conflicts that one experiences and the projections and manifestation of these or similar conflicts in the external world - perhaps sufficient to show the similarity and relationship between conflicts in the mind, micro conflicts and macro conflicts, internal conflicts and external conflicts, attitudinal conflicts and institutional conflicts.

34. Groups and institutions too have their own egos; and all the problems that arise from ways in which egos intervene and distort the comprehension of truth or the formulation of views. Where the group is one into which one is born, one is brainwashed, subtly and overtly, right from one's birth. This applies not only to taboos and rituals, but also to the "ego" of the group, ethnic, racial, religious, territorial etc; the identity of the group; its superiority or purity; its heritage, its interests; what it needs to preserve its uniqueness or heritage and so on. As in the case of the individual, one talks of the self-interest of the group, the legitimacy of the use of force to protect it, the sovereignty or sub-sovereign autonomy of the group and so on. One creates fierce loyalty to the group and wants to sustain it through exclusivism. One not only renders loyalty (and feels guilty when one is accused of lack of loyalty) but concedes to the group the right to demand unquestioning loyalty and to enforce severe penalties - including the death penalty in the case of the state. All these become the causes of conflict within the group and between groups. How can we deal with these conflicts or potential conflicts if we look upon groups as watertight entities with sovereign or near-sovereign rights? The individual has learnt that he is not sovereign- cannot be sovereign in an interdependent society. Groups cannot have unlimited and sovereign powers in an interdependent world where science, technology and historical movements of populations have brought different communities and groups together, often living and working together. Walls seem to have become anachronisms. Yet we have not cultivated the courage or skill necessary to live together to encounter difference with tolerance or understanding, and to produce the warmth of love to melt frigidity, suspicion or intolerance on the other side. When walls have collapsed we have to learn the ethics and dynamics of an open society. Neither the ethics nor the dynamics of an open society can countenance conflict. They can only prescribe coexistence and transparency, transparency of motivation, and transparency in the means or methods we employ to pursue transparent motives.

Humanity sets up institutions to protect interests or to prescribe procedures for ensuring justice. But when institutions do not provide equal protection to the rights of all or procedures become channels of manipulation, - conflicts arise. They take the form of conflicts between vested interests and those who seek to grapple with 'structural violence' that can be as cruel and as lethal as gross or covert violence. This is an area with a wide precipitation of conflicts. They are frequent and often fierce, because the status quo is entrenched, and has the support of the coercive apparatus of the State behind it, whereas those who are compelled to fight for justice are weak, vulnerable, mostly unarmed and often unorganised. It often seems impossible to secure redress without recourse to militancy and conflict. Those who want to intercede in such situations must have the vision to see the conflict as a quest for justice and not as a challenge to law and order. They should have the ability to trigger introspection on the issues of social justice that have precipitated situations, and on the social consequences of the means that those who seek justice are employing. V 36. In this analysis, up to now, I have not made any reference to means and measures that are employed to limit or contain the damage from war, to forgo or abjure the use of weapons of mass destruction, to bring about a limited or prolonged and unlimited ceasefire, to supervise ceasefires, disarmament, demilitarized zones etc; to recruit and deploy peace keeping forces, and international armed forces, to use unarmed and neutral forces to keep peace, to augment the powers and jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, to expand its powers to entertain disputes from international non-governmental organisations and groups, to make the verdicts or arbitration of the Court legally binding on all parties to disputes, to form and deploy non-governmental or UN unarmed forces for preventive action and deceleration of tension, for intercession at every stage of escalation etc. I have not done so since these are all measures or steps that are designed to prevent armed conflict, not necessarily to seek reconciliation or resolution of the causes of conflict.

I believe that all these are very important, and are steps that we have to take in our progress towards a peaceful or nonviolent society. They are immediate and preliminary steps that we have to take to change our attitude to conflicts and acquire the tolerance that interdependence demands, to find the fundamental requisites that are essential for the control, sanitization and transformation of the causes of conflict.

The Role of Civil Society in Conflict Resolution

M. B. Nisal

Horowitz argues, all conflicts based on ascriptive group identities -race, language, religion, tribe or caste - cause are called ethnic. In this umbrella usage, ethnic conflicts range from 1) The Protestant-Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland and Hindu-Muslim conflict in India to 2) black-white conflict in the United States and South Africa, 3) Tamil - Sinhala conflict in Sri Lanka, and 4) Shia-Sunni conflict in Pakistan.

The form ethnic conflict takes, be it, religious, linguistic, racial, tribal does not seem to alter its intensity, longevity, passion and relative intractability, their emphasis on the ascriptive and cultural core of the conflict, imagined or real, and they distinguish it primarily from the largely non-ascriptive and economic core of class conflict. Ethnic conflict may have an economic basis, but that is not its defining feature. The politics of ethnic group can be defined irrespective of internal class differentiation, race, language, sect or religion. So communal and ethnic mean the same.

Sooner or later scholars of ethnic conflict are struck by a puzzling empirical regularity in that field. Despite ethnic diversity, some places-regions, nations, towns or villages-manage to remain peaceful where as others experience enduring pottorus of violence. Similarly, some societies, after maintaining a veritable record of ethnic peace, explode in ways that surprise the observers and very often the scholars as well. Variations across time and space constitute an unresolved puzzle in the field of ethnicity and nationalism.

Until we study ethnic peace, we will not be able to have a good theory of ethnic conflict. Despite rising violence, many communities in the world still manage their interethnic tensions without taking violent steps.

Now let us distinguish between ethnic identity, ethnic conflict and ethnic violence. In any ethnically pleural society that allows free expression of political demands, some ethnical conflict is more or less inevitable. Indeed, such conflict may be inherent in all pluralistic political system, authoritarian or democratic compared to authoritarian systems, a democratic polity is simply more likely to witness an open expression of such conflicts. The former may look disaffected ethnic groups into long periods of political silence, giving the appearance of a well governed society, but a coercive containment of such conflict also runs the risk, though not the certainty of an eventual outburst of a pent-up frustration when an authoritarian system begins to liberalize or lose its legitimacy. Contrarywise, ethnic conflicts are a regular feature of ethnically plural democracies for if different ethnic groups exist, the freedom to organize is available.

The real issue is whether the ethnic conflict is violent or is waged in the institutionalised channels of the polity as nonviolent mobilization. If ethnic protest takes an institutionalized form in parliaments, assemblies, in bureaucracies, or on the street, it is conflict all right, but not violent. Such conflict must be distinguished from a situation in which protest takes violent forms. Rioting breaks out on the street and in the neighborhoods, and in its most extreme form, programs are initiated against some ethnic groups with full connivance of state authorities. Given how different these outcomes are, explanations of institutionalized conflict may not be the same as those for ethnic violence and rioting. Further explanations of rioting may also be different from those for programs and civil wars. Ethnic peace should be, for all practical purposes, be conceptualised as an institutionalized channeling and resolution of ethnic conflicts. The world will be a happier place if we could eliminate ethnic and national conflicts from our midst, but a post ethnic, post national era does not seem to be in the offing. At least our medium-run expectations should be better aligned with our realities. A roughly similar point can be made about the relationship between ethnic identity and ethnic violence. Ethnic identities by themselves do not produce violence, they may co-exist with peace. It is sometimes argued that if ethnic identities could only give way to economic identities, conflicts would be less violent and "civilized". Indeed, "modernization" in 1950s and1960s was widely expected to lead to class and occupational differences between human beings, overriding ethnic difference that were deemed relics of a by gone era. Why should economic conflicts be less violent than ethnic conflicts ? The underlying intuition is simply that identities tend to be indivisible, where as a fight over resources is amenable to flexible sharing. If a deal can be struck, splitting shares into a 60-40 or 65-35arrangement, a peaceful resolution of a conflict is possible. Such bargaining, it is argued, is not possible with respect to ethnicity. With the clear exception of those born of intermarriages, Christian cannot be turned into half-jews and a white person cannot be made half-black. The degree of freedom being so much lower, clashes based on ethnic identities resist compromise, arouse passion instead of reason, and generate violence.

Is there a way out? Lijphart argues that, in order to be successful and reduce ethnic conflict, democracy in a pleural society requires elite compromise. A pleural society is defined as one in which the various ethnic groups are segmented and have little criss-crossing. Elite compromise can best be around by a political system that works on inter-group consensus, not inter-group competition. A consensual democracy of this kind can be called consociational. It has from features, a grand coalition of ethnic leaders in government, a mutual veto given to each group proportionality in decision-making, positions, and segmental autonomy with respect to matters such as education, language and personal laws. The examples are Austria, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland.

If we summarise, we come to conclude that conflict is not necessarily violent. It can take on institutionalised form if ethnic demands for higher political representation, affirmative action, or personal laws are pursued in assemblies, elections, bureaucratic corridors, and nonviolent movements and protests.

Civil society interface at the point where conflict turns into violence. Civil links, if they exist between ethnic group also resolve the unanswered puzzle of instrumentalism, namely, why even though political elites may try to use ethnicity for political purposes and wish to cleave societies on long ethnic lines, they are unable to do so everywhere. In fact, they may not find such efforts sensible at all, and may instead put together winning coalitions in non-ethnic ways.

The concept of civil society, though highly popular and much revived in recent years, remains intensely contested. Accordingly to the conventional notions prevalent in the social sciences, "Civil society" refers to the space in a given society that exists between the family level and the state level. According to Gellner, civil society is not only modern but also based on strictly voluntary, not ethnic or religious associations between the family and the state.

Informal associations or activities help in forming civil society. The sites of civic interactions range from generally predicable to highly particular and culturally specific. The predictable sites are neighborhood, a village commons, the playground, the halls for entertainment ant community functions. Groups interaction is not confirmed to them, however, and may also mark some culturally specific sites, the festival venues where people not only participate in a religious activity but also build connections for secular purposes such as politics, the sidewalks where those returning from work habitually walk together are talk, not simply about the weather but also about organizational structures in the workplace, markets, films, festivals, and politics. The village river or a pond is the place where women not only wash cloths and exchange views about families but also discuss school teachers, landlords and village politics; the milk collection centers where men and women pour milk each morning as well as talk about children, relatives, local government, cultural trends and national polities.

What is crucial to the nation of civil society is that families and individuals connect with others beyond these homes and talk about matter of public relevance without the interference or sponsorship of the state. Whether such engagement takes place in association or in the traditional sites of social get-togetherness depends on the degree of the state urbanization and economic development. Cities tend to have formal associations, but villages make do with informal sites and meetings. In villages in our country-India-less that 4 percent of all deaths and roughly 10 percent of all Hindu-Muslim riots are on record during 1950 to 1995. Peace was maintained not because of associations but because everyday civil engagement between Hindus and Muslims was enough to keep potential rioters away. In cities, however, such everyday engagement was not enough, and associations were required.

When villages become towns, towns turn into cities, and cities are transformed into metropolises, people begin to travel long distances for work, face to face contact is typically not possible beyond neighbourhoods, and associations become necessary not only for civil peace but also for many economic, social and political aims and interactions. We should not look for associations, where the end for them is not pressing or where access to them is difficult for some groups. We should, instead, look at the alternative civil sites that perform the same role as the more standard civil organisations do. One more observation is that interethnic or inter communal engagement makes for peace, not interethnic or intracommunal. Intracommunal engagement leads to the formation of what might be called institutionalised peace system. Engagement, if all intracommunal, is often associated with institutionalised riot system.

One the whole, two links can be specified between civic life and ethnic conflict. First prior and sustained contact between members of different communities allows communication between them to moderate tensions and preempt violence, when tensions arise owing to an exogenous shock, say a riot in the nearby city, distant violence repeated in press or shown on T.V., rumours planted by politicians or a group in the city, a provocative act of communal mischief by police or some youths. In cities of thick interaction between different communities, peace committees at the time of tensions emerge from bellow in various neighborhoods and the local administration does not have to impose such committees on the entire city. The former is better peace protector than the latter.

Secondly, in cities that have associational integration as well as everyday integration, the foundations of peace becomes stronger without a nexus between politicians and criminals, big riots and killings are highly improbable.

Civil links across communities have a remarkable local and regional variation. They differ from place to place depending on how different communities are distributed in local business, middle-class occupations, parties, and labour markets. The result is, when the same organisation is able to create tensions and violence in one city or region, it is unable to do so in another city and region, when civil engagement crosses communal lines.

One might ask whether these points are India-specific or can be applied elsewhere also. Ethnic violence tends to be highly locally or regionally concentrated. A countrywide breakdown of the ethnic relations is rare. We tend to form exaggerated impressions of the destructive power of ethnicity because violence is what attracts popular attention; especially the attention of media. The quiet continuation of routine life may be important for research but it is not news; and hence is unimportant for the media. In contrast, large riots or major acts of violence make "good copy" and are widely repeated. In the process, we end up getting the impression that ethnic violence is normal and ethnic peace rare in the world, whereas the reality is the other way round.

If we systematically investigate the links between civil society and ethnic conflict, we can achieve better understanding of violence in general as well as of its local a regional variation.

[Source: International Seminar on Conflict Resolution, February 15-17, 2003]

Interpersonal Conflict

Thomas Weber

Satyagraha, as used in interpersonal conflicts, often depends on the degree to which its values have been internalised rather than on a conscious adoption of tactics. Gandhi claimed that "there is no royal road" to achieve this. It will only be possible "through living the creed in your life which must be a living sermon". This "presupposes great study, tremendous perseverance, and thorough cleansing of one's self of all impurities", which in turn requires working through "a wide and varied experience of interior conflict". These interior conflicts, for example the questioning of one's own motives and prejudices, the sincere attempt to see if in fact the other's position is nearer the truth, and if need be admitting one's errors, are in some measure alternatives to wider conflicts.

The critics of nonviolence often attack the pacifist approach or justify not trying nonviolent solutions by posing the hypothetical case in which the satyagrahi is either himself attacked, or is witness to the attack upon another. It is unlikely that such an eventuality will occur in the lifetime of average individuals-most human conflicts take place in quite different circumstances. Lanza del Vasto, therefore, warns against using such "extreme, exceptional, and overpowering" imaginary circumstances for formulating general rules or drawing conclusions from them concerning legitimacy of action. The striving for nonviolence, instead of planning for such possible eventualities, accepts that if they did occur they would be still taken care of somehow (just as if they had been planned for), while during the rest of one's life other almost daily conflicts could be solved in more cooperative ways.

The rule for reconciling the duty of resistance to evil on the one hand and of ahimsa on the other, according to Gandhi, "is that one should ceaselessly strive to realise Ahimsa in every walk of life and in a crisis act in a manner that is most natural to him. The result will be nonviolence to the extent to which he has successfully striven." Eventually such conscious striving will be internalised and "spontaneous reactions in a crisis will be nonviolent".

In the language of Christ or Gandhi, Lanza del Vasto explains, if we are able to control our actions we should, or if we have internalised nonviolence sufficiently we will, if struck on one cheek turn the other. The returning of evil for evil, rather than ending evil, doubles it. No one, he claims, is so bad as to continue "taking advantage indefinitely of the opening given to him and his own impunity", and even those mad with rage have been known to stop "as if thunderstruck when you do not retaliate". The reason for behaving this way, for accepting self-suffering rather than retaliating, is that "your enemy is a man". In fights the enemy is generally dehumanised, is seen as a beast or monster, and "that is the moment and not now when you must stick to the hard truth that he is a man a man like yourself", and "if he is a man, the spirit of justice dwells in him as it dwells in you".

Where the defence of a third party is in question Gandhi does not take as narrow an approach as one of his mentors, Tolstoy, did. Tolstoy was firm in his belief that the justification of violence used against a neighbour for the sake of defending another man against worse violence is always incorrect, because in using violence against an evil which is not yet accomplished, it is impossible to know which evil will be greater.

Gandhi, however, insisted that injustices had to be fought and his intolerance of cowardice prompted him to explain that self-defence and defence of third persons even if violence is involved "is the only honourable course where there is unreadiness for self-immolation". He was even willing to go as far as to claim that nonviolence may be compatible with killing, but never with hating:

Even manslaughter may be necessary in certain cases. Suppose a man runs amuck and goes furiously about sword in hand, and killing anyone that comes in his way, and no one dares to capture him alive. Anyone who dispatches this lunatic, will earn the gratitude of the community and be regarded as a benevolent man.

When Gandhi was asked by his eldest son what action he should have taken had he been present when Gandhi was almost fatally assaulted in 1908, whether he should have run away and seen his father killed or whether he should have used the physical force that he wanted to use in defense of Gandhi, he was informed that "it was his duty to defend me even by using violence".

Gandhi was fond of pointing out that satyagraha can be used in broader fields, as it can in the everyday domestic situation; however, he was careful to add "that he who fails in the domestic sphere and seeks to apply it only in the political and social sphere will not succeed".

Those who harbour feelings of fear will always be potential enemies. Fear is a deep-seated emotion that is hard to fight. The false impression of fearlessness is easily seen through by others and therefore what must be aimed at for internalized nonviolence is the removal of fear and its replacement with trust. As Naess observes, personal relationships are an area where this substitution can be commenced as a first step towards integrating it as a life-style.

Most conflicts are in the order of zero-sum, both parties having the desire to dominate. Often this is born of fear or insecurity, the feeling that if one yields, or shows trust, advantage will be taken of them. The function of nonviolent resistance in these conflicts is never to harm the opponent or impose a solution on them, against their will, but to help both parties into "a more secure, creative, happy and truthful relationship". This can be achieved by remaining nonviolent despite the hardships and apparent losses, and by

respect for personality, good will, acts of kindness, adherence to truth, disciplined order, a belief that human unity and underlying similarities are more enduring and important than human differences, and a steady series of deeds in accord with that belief.

In dyadic conflicts, of which domestic quarrels are a good example, "non-cooperation, civil disobedience of the orders of the offender if he happens to be in exercise of authority, suffering of hardships that came as a result of this resistance, fasting, etc. "may be employed, but the chief measures to be used will be persuasion and discussion. The Gestalt therapist Fritz Perls claims that in the world a peculiar polarity exists between listening and fighting: "People who listen don't fight, and people who fight don't listen." With more listening he believes that the number of hostilities would greatly diminish. Listening and seeing the other's point of view, however, must be more than an intellectual exercise, it must contain a sincere desire to understand, it must have empathy. This clarifies the issues and aids the search for truth.

The genuine quest for truth in conflict situations has the by product of changing perceptions as the circumstances and the underlying causes become more apparent, for "the action of an individual depends directly on the way in which he perceives the situation" This means that satyagrahis cannot remain rigid in their attitude but must, while hoping to win the opponent over, be willing to change their own attitudes with the dictates of the unfolding facts.

As mentioned, the resolution of interpersonal conflicts along Gandhian lines depend to a large degree on how far the principles of satyagraha have been internalised; however, there are various techniques that can be learned which will aid in the cooperative solution of such conflicts. These techniques are in keeping with the Gandhian ideal of nonviolence, that is, treating the other as a "you" rather than as an "it".

When interpersonal conflicts arise, whether they be between parties having differing degrees of authority (for example, parent/ child in the home or teacher/student in the school) or between parties having theoretically equal power (friends, marriage partners, etc.) the general ways of bringing conflicts to an end are for the parties to attempt to impose their will on each other, for authority figures to exercise their authority, or for one party to give in. The first of these "zero-sum" approaches (authoritarian) may produce resentment and hostility in the loser, provide them with little motivation to carry out the solution, requires heavy enforcement, inhibits the growth of self-responsibility, self-discipline and creativity, fosters dependence and submission (mainly out of fear), and may make the winner feel guilty).

The second approach (permissiveness) is of the "Okay-you-win, I-give-up" method of dealing with conflict. In the winner this may foster selfishness and reduce their respect for the loser. For the loser it fosters resentment towards the winner, makes them feel guilty about not getting their needs met and may require the loser to be pushed into an authoritarian approach. In these conflict situations those without power or authority learn to cope by rebelling, retaliating, dishonesty (lying, cheating, blaming others, etc.), submitting or even fantasizing and regressing).

The use of these zero-sum methods will generally have the outcome of solving the manifest conflicts where the parties have unequal power. Where the parties are of relatively equal power zero-sum methods often result in bitter stalemates making cooperative methods of solving disputes in these circumstances perhaps even more important. Cooperative approaches to conflict solution avoid these negative outcomes.

A technique, appropriate in cases where personal needs rather than values or beliefs are the focus of the conflict, which allows one to express underlying conflicts is called the "I-Message". In interpersonal conflict the initial response is often destructive, taking the form of blame which generally obscures the real issues underlying the conflict. Reformulating negative statements of blame into "I-Messages" (which explain the feelings of the speaker as the result of unacceptable behaviour by the other and give the speaker's perception of the consequences of the behaviour to themselves, rather than the more usual blaming of the other for unacceptable behaviour and its consequences), can aid the clarification of the issues and steer the conflict onto a constructive and cooperative path. "You-Messages" that are very often sent, unlike "I-Messages", tend to provoke resistance and rebellion.

Another technique that can clarify the real issues in an interpersonal conflict and thus aid its solution is the role-reversal technique of switching viewpoints where each party honestly tries to argue for the other's viewpoint, while the other listens. These techniques are applicable in domestic situations or with friends and neighbours where there is a sufficient degree of rapport.

In line with Rapoport's insistence on the importance of being correctly heard and understood, and Gandhi's insistence on establishing the truth, the techniques of "active-listening" and "mirroring" could be used until hearing what the opponent in a conflict is saying becomes second nature. The essence of active listening is mirroring back what has been said. This assures the accuracy of listening and also "assures the sender that he has been understood when he hears his own message fed back to him accurately". Active listening can help to solve immediate interpersonal conflicts or it can be used by a third party to help one of the antagonists in a conflict situation clarify their own feelings and think creatively about possible solutions.

Where active listening is used to reach a solution to an immediate interpersonal conflict its effectiveness excludes conflicts over the collision of values or beliefs. In these cases it is hard to point to tangible and concrete effects" of the annoying behaviour of one party on the other. (It should be noted, however, that authoritarian and permissive win/lose methods also have limited success in truly solving these types of problems.) One must live and be a model for one's own value system while trying to become more accepting. Gordon suggests, as a way of seeking truth, that in conflicts over values or beliefs the individual has a duty to honestly ask themselves "why do I find it so difficult to accept someone who chooses to be different from me?''

Of course Gandhi did not know of these techniques; however, he was fond of emphasising the need for caring and cooperative interpersonal relations that these techniques may aid to achieve. He firmly believed that the home was the training ground of satyagraha--that it was the world in microcosm and how we reacted to aggression from strangers or handled our disagreement with them depended upon that training. The care and attention paid to small seemingly unimportant conflicts is as important as that given larger disputes, "For it will be by those small things that you shall be judged."

[Source: Conflict Resolution and Gandhian Ethics By Thomas Weber]

Gandhi's Role And Relevance In Conflict Resolution

Chhaya Rai

(Dean, Faculty of Arts ,R.D. University, Jabalpur)

"The world will live in peace , only when the individuals composing it make up their minds to do so".

- Mahatma Gandhi (Hindu Dharma, p. 70)

The above mentioned conviction of Gandhiji endorses/precedes the Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed". Undoubtedly each and every person or we should say every citizen of the global family, ought to be committed to peace in today's human predicament , caused by conflicts due to Ideological Extremism, Religious Fundamentalism, Misguided Nationalism, Economic Injustice and Inequality. Violation of Human Rights, Suppression of Freedoms, Militarism of Power Politics, Population Explosion, Racial and Ethnic Discrimination , Egoism and uncontrolled human instincts etc.

Gandhi recognized .the potentiality of these various kinds of conflict as occasions to contemplate over the confirmed problems and also as opportunity to search peaceful means to resolve them, because of his positive attitude .He knew very well that the process of conflict resolution involved painstaking task of restructuring the present world by liberating human mind from dogmatism of various kinds such as economic and political barbarism, religious bigotry etc. To achieve simultaneously the negative aim of conflict - resolution and the positive aim of establishing peace, Gandhi propounded his philosophy of peace. The need of ours is to proclaim again and again the significance of Gandhian pacifism to solve crucial problems of conflicts and violence.

To prevent structural violence, Gandhi proposed the theories with ideals of Satyagraha, Sarvodaya, Swaraj , Swadeshi, Buniyadi Talim, Decentralization of Power, and wealth, Trusteeship, social Harmony & communal unity, Economic equality, Sarva Dharma Sambhava, Democracy of Enlightened Majority etc.

Gandhi's approach had always been Holistic as human life is a synthetic whole, which can not be divided into watertight compartments of social , religious, political life etc. Following diagram exhibits the salient features of Gandhian pacifism. Gandhi's Philosophy of Peace:


1 .Moral Crisis

Solutions: Non-violence Ashram, Anasakta Karma


2.Religious Fundamentalism

Solutions: Sarva Dharma Sambhava, Tolerance, Respect towards all Religions


3.Educational Reform

Solutions: Nai-Talim Adult Education


4.Social Disturbance

Solutions: Removal of Untouchability, Communal Unity, Sarvodaya, Upliftment of Women, Prohibition, Service of Backward Classes, Village Sanitation


5. Political Conflicts

Solutions: Swaraj, Decentralisation of Power. Democracy of Enlightened Majority


6.Economic Problem


Solutions: Trusteeship, Swadeshi, Bread Labour, Khadi and Village Industries, Decentralisation of Wealth Eleven Vows or Ekadasha Vrata also recommends the solutions mentioned above and thus presents a constructive programme proposed by Gandhiji. Once again it underlines (i) Removal of untouchability (ii) Prohibition, (iii) Upliftment of women (iv) Communal Unity (v) Service of backward class (vi) Village Sanitation (vii) National Language (viii) Basic education (ix) Adult education (x) Village Industries. Gandhiji assert that besides individual endeavour corporate actions are also needed . So he established" Ashram", where people could be incited in vows.

The most fundamental principle of his philosophy of peace is "Ahimsa" or non-violence which is law of love, life and creation as opposed to violence or Himsa, the cause of hatred, death and destruction. According to Gandhi the universal human value of Ahimsa ought to be cultivated not merely at personal level, but at social, national and international level too if we wish to avoid personal, social , national and international conflicts. It is a very powerful means to avoid conflict, since it springs from inner realisation of the equality of all. human beings . Negatively it is absence of mental intention of injuring, harming, disturbing and. agonising opponent, and positively it is good will towards all human beings. Nonviolence at interpersonal and International levels can be defined as Altruistic approach. As a peaceful technique to resist injustice, it includes a concrete programme and leads to self-suffering and sacrifice. For Gandhi "Fasting unto death" is the last step to oppose injustice ·

Gandhi's approach is ethical, as he believes, that moral degeneration is the root cause of all evils including conflicts · So he recommends acquisition of moral value such as truthfulness, non-violence or love. self-control, forgiveness, non-enmity or friendliness, compassion, mercy etc. In fact values are the best equipments discovered by human being to escape various types of conflict. Researches also show that root of all problems invariably lies in the infringement of values- moral, religious, spiritual, economic and political -and moral principles· Undoubtedly conflicts are nothing but the illustration of the violation of moral laws, non performance of duties , negligence of human values, enjoyment of freedom without caring for responsibility etc. Hence Gandhi appreciates moral solution, which is inexpensive, and single person can initiate and undertake the task of conflict resolution by attracting world wide attention· Gandhi, a great political thinker, therefore, recommends that politics should be a branch of ethics· Moral principles must be adhered to by politicians, ideologues, social activists as well as ordinary citizen of the world as there is no dividing line between private and public life.

Assimilation of values in one's character and their expression in conduct is required to avoid conflict and this in turn is possible through awakening of"Conscience" at personal, social, national and global levels. Public awareness of those values which are conducive to peace building must be evoked through exhibition, education, public lectures, dialogues and-mass communication- T.V., Radio, Newspapers etc.

Gandhi proposed and adopted "Satyagraha" as an moral equivalent to war and conflict. As we all know the successful conduct of war involves two things. On the one hand, suppression of the virtues of kindness, friendliness, forgiveness and consideration for the sufferings of fellow human beings , and on the other, encouragement of the feelings of unqualified hatred , anger and hostility towards so called enemies. Thus war leads to total violation of the liberal democratic principles of respect for persons and dignity of the individual. On the contrary, satyagrahi while resisting injustice, shows respect for his opponent by making moral appeals to him and expecting him to be responsive. Satyagrahi aims at conversion of the opponent's heart by making him aware of his ill will or inhuman behaviour through self- suffering". Satyagraha aims at winning over opponent by love and gentle persuading and by arousing in him a sense of justice rather than forcing him to surrender out of fear.

The method of Satyagraha is purely moral and humanistic as it involves faith in the inherent goodness and good sense of the opponent coupled with goodwill towards him and readiness to come to an understanding and compromise. In fact Satyagraha aims at settlement of issue or issues with the opponent without causing him even psychological injury but it implies soul - force, courage and determination

A well-conducted Campaign of Satyagraha absolutely untouched by violence in word and deed, made the hypocritical opponent suffer from split personality as his own moral consciousness getting alarmed by the exposure of the immorality of his action. Gandhi believed in the technique of Satyagraha , because he had faith in the goodness of human nature.

The moral and humanistic grandeur of satyagraha as method of resolving conflict and securing justice has been appreciated by several thinkers , politicians and social workers. Conflict can not take place if we behave on kantian maxim that humanity (rational beings) should always be treated as an end-in-itself. If we wish to keep peace, we ought to follow the UN charter of human rights, according to which dignity of human life must be honoured and maintained without reference to caste, colour, creed etc. We have to redefine the concept of Development and Progress as Human Welfare and well-being by replacing the prevalent misleading concept of development and progress in terms of Economic Development and material progress. If we want peace, we have to replace the humanity negating industrial consumerist culture by idealistic humanism. Belief in the spiritual constitution of man led Gandhi to affirm equality of all human beings and to declare innate goodness of men . Humanism as the philosophy of Globalism or Global philosophy implies non-discrimination with regard to race, sex language, region, religion, political ideology, social and economic status, international status of the country etc. ,since the basic structure and nature of human beings all over' the world is same .We must rationalise our ways of thinking and to think of the world in terms of maps and markets, we should think of it in terms of men, women and children i.e. in terms of mankind.

To prevent conflicts caused by religious bigotry, Gandhi suggested "Sarva Dharma Sambhav". According to him all religions are true and man can not live without religion so he recommends attitude of respect and tolerance towards all religions.

Since the scientific and technological researches aimed at material comforts are ruining human sensitivity and sentiments i. e. human feelings and relations, so scientists and technocrats must be reminded of their moral obligation to choose peaceful means and so to perform their first and prior duty towards humanity .They should not invent biological, chemical , nuclear, laser and other kinds of sophisticated weapons, which verifies the assumption that science and technology one frequently used as instruments of exploitation, domination and destruction rather than as means in the service of mankind and peace.

Ideological extremism is also a cause of violent confrontation, as it makes the ideologues incapable of dialogue and negotiation while confrontational determination to counter force by force must be replaced by a policy of dialogues and negotiations .Democracy facilitates such policy, so Gandhi approved the democratic way of governance and life. We can say that Gandhi has been the champion not only of political democracy but also of economic and spiritual democracy as he committed to' the vedantic view of Unity-in-multiplicity and was a supporter of economic equality. Mutual trust and bilateral negotiations, preparedness to discuss the problem collectively with open mindedness, tendency to examine and change (if necessary) our own belief i. e. flexibility is also required to escape conflict.

Total disarmament is the need of the hour but it can not take place unless and until the hearts and minds of persons who manufacture, sale and purchase weapons are changed. Public pressure could play an important role. Organisations, in addition to individual pacifist must pressurise the governments or the policy makers to adopt peaceful means to resolve the problems.

It is very shocking to note that no serious and sustained consideration is given to human search for peace or peace studies in academic institution and syllabi, while ours is a world of nuclear giants and moral infants. Each and every citizen of the world must be educated to escape conflict, as ultimately person himself is the insurmountable barrier in conflict resolution. Every educated person should be made aware of the fact that the issues relating to peaceful co-existence basically belong to each citizen. So every person must be trained to rise above communal pressures, religious loyalties, regional and other interests etc. Harmonious interpersonal relationship must be developed through formal and informal education i. e. through audio-visual media. Hence reconstitution of present education system by re-considering its goal is a very urgent task.

Awareness and awakening of creative qualities must be a part of education policy and curriculum. Instead of over-emphasizing destructive instincts, we must try to make a person cultured by encouraging to cultivate constructive aspects of his personality, because constructive aspect is related to human values and virtues as well as their incorporation in cognitive, conative and affective dimension of our personality.

The foregoing outlines of Gandhi's Philosophy Of peace endorses the truism that Gandhi is one of the very relevant precursors of conflict-resolution movementwith his comprehensible philosophy of peace based on the psychology of human nature, awareness of social realities and knowledge of economic and political systems and situations.

[Source: International Seminar On Conflict Resolution (February 15 - 17, 2003)]

The Emerging Role of NGOs in Conflict Resolution

Siby K. Joseph

Introduction

With the multiplication and escalation of conflicts at various levels, the need for conflict resolution has become urgent than ever before. There has been a government realization among governments, international organization and non-governmental organization that more resources and time need to be set apart for managing conflicts and that the work for peace has to place by harnessing the cooperation of several agencies at different levels. Governments by virtue of their rigid structure very often failed to address adequately questions related to conflicts of a delicate and complex nature. Also failed agencies and resources available with governments have been founding inadequate in this respect. The latest tendency is to search for other tracks of conflict resolution and also resources to compliment government effort.


Towards Multi-Track Approach

The movement from 'track - one diplomacy' 1 to 'track - two diplomacy' 2 resulted in the emergency of a large number of actors in conflict resolution and peace building process. John McDonald and Louis Diamond have identified nine actor categories or tracks in conflict resolution : official diplomacy, education, research and training, business, funding, media and communication, religion, NGOs and advocacy groups and private citizens 3 . In addition to these group of actors the Carnegie Commission recognized the role of the UN and religion organizations in peace building process 4 . Barnett Rubin and Susana Campbell in a study for the Canter for Preventive Action pointed out that "the multiplicity and variety of actors involved in generating conflicts requires a similar multiplicity of international partners to resolve them" 5 . Multidimensional nature of conflicts has been partly in giving rise to the concept of a multi - track approach in conflict resolution.

According to Diamond and McDonald Multi-track diplomacy is "a conceptual framework designed .... to reflect the variety of activities that contribute to international peacemaking". They pointed out that track two diplomacy is designed (1) to reduce or resolve conflict between groups or nations by improving communications, understanding and relationships; (2) to lower tension, anger, fear or misunderstanding by humanizing and "face of the enemy" and giving people direct personal experience of one another; (3) to affect the thinking and action of track-one (i.e. official diplomacy) by exploring diplomacy options without prejudice, thereby preparing the ground for move formal negotiations for re-framing policies. The successful resolution of conflict mainly depends on track - two diplomacy complimenting track - one diplomacy. Thus a combined effort of track-one and track-two becomes in t he process of conflict resolution.


NGOs and International Agencies

Over the years there has been a tremendous increase in the number of NGOs., so also the variety of their activities and their geographical spread. Because most of the NGOs are involved in works relating to development, relief and advocacy, which are of direct and visible benefit to the people, they have achieved a high degree of good will. In addition, many of the NGOs have skilled personnel who can intervene in conflict situations creatively in order to bring resolution. This fact has been recognizes by the United Nations as well as international funding agencies like the World Bank who now bank upon the resources of NGOs for conflict resolution, particularly in areas like early warning, third party intervention, reconciliation, particularly in areas like early warning, third party intervention, reconciliation and peace building. The UN General Assembly recognized the role of NGOs and called upon the UN Department of Public Information ( DPI) to work with NGOs interested in communicating information about the United Nations. In continuation of the General Assembly resolution, the NGOs and Institutional Relations Section was established within DPI to provide information and other liaison services to the growing number of NGOs accredited to the United Nations. In 1968, the UN Economic and Social Council formalized its consultative relationship with NGOs. However it is to be noted that NGOs were not given any formal status in the General Assembly or other powerful bodies like the Security Council.

Now NGOs have become key partners i development assistance especially to less developed countries from international agencies like the UN, the European Union and the World bank. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary General of the UN affirmed that NGOs "are an indispensable part of the legitimacy without which no international activity can be meaningful.


The Role of NGOs

NGOs constitute an essential part of civil society and they have the potential to play key roles in resolving conflicts and restoring civil society. NGOs can support to form well knit local infrastructures or peace constituencies comprising of people from different sectors of civil society whose aim is to attain sustainable peace and whose activities are based on long term commitment. NGOs should invest more resources for capacity building activities at different levels. It involves the training of own staff, identifying indigenous partners, local leaders and so on, NGOs can act as mediators to bring consensus among different conflicting groups with the help of local peace constituencies.

Pamela Aall suggests a number of roles that NGO's can play in the peace making process. NGOs should presume their traditional relief and rehabilitation activities with a long-term perspective. "The initial emergency relief response should be linked to a set of activities that leads to the transformation of those conflicts in a way that promotes sustained and comprehensive reconciliation among the warring parties". Aall cautions us against the dangers of using external resources in relief and rehabilitation activities. Excessive use of external resources can foster dependence and passivity. It can also become a new object of contention, inadvertently fueling the conflict. NGOs should mobilize local resources which empower the people and enroll new participants into their activities, especially women who have often been kept passive in the peace process. NGOs should continue to monitor human rights abuses. They should undertake the task of providing an early warning of potentially violent conflicts and should pursue conflict resolution activities.Aall warns that these roles must be kept separate both of the safety of NGO workers and in order for it to be effective.


Prerequisites

To work effectively in a conflicting situation NGOs should preserve their own identities and neutrality and should appear to be impartial. Unofficial status of NGOs provides more access to conflicting parties, which helps in the process of negotiation. The long-term commitment of NGOs is a crucial factor in establishing trust among the people and to attend to the goal of lasting peace. Pamela Aall prescribes four conditions for NGOs more directly engaging in conflict resolution activities: (1) the NGO must be very familiar with the country, issues and participants in the conflict (2) the NGO should have indigenous partners (3) NGO staff must be well grounded in conflict resolution skills and knowledge and (4) NGO workers must understand and accept the personal risk they run in attempting to intervene directly in the conflict.


Conclusion

State is often seen as one of the parties in a large number of conflicts.Therefore, it is important for NGOs to maintain their independence without loosing trust of the conflicting parties including the state. NGOs should work in co-operation and co-ordination with each other to reduce duplication in their activities.In this process NGOs should not loose their individual identities.Coordination and networking of NGOs is a key factor in lobbying and advocacy at a higher level... NGOs should limit their scope of work to mere conflict resolution, but expand to address the root causes of conflict and enhance the process of peace building. Hence, the role of the NGOs in conflict resolution is based on their presence at the ground level as actors with a reservoir of good will generated through years of development and rehabilitation work. Apart from creating a congenial atmosphere for negotiations, where the prospects for such negotiations are not visible at the level of the conflicting actors, the NGOs can play a key role in many intractable conflicts. Peace building is now seen as a part of sustaining agreements reached. No organization is perhaps more equipped that the NGOs in undertaking this task. However, in order to play a more effective role in conflict management, the NGOs may have to reorient themselves with the requisite and attitude and skills, which of course should be seen as an additional element of their development work.

[Source: International Seminar on Conflict Resolution,(February 15 - 17 , 2003)]