The Contemporary Conflict Resolution Reader

Armed conflict may appear to be in long term decline, but the intractability and destructiveness of contemporary conflicts make conflict resolution as urgent and necessary as ever. The Contemporary Conflict Resolution Reader is the first comprehensive survey of the field as it has evolved over the last fifty years, bringing together the seminal writings of its founders with the cutting-edge interventions of today?s leading exponents and practitioners.

Drawing on their extensive experience and knowledge of conflict and peace research across the world, the editors have selected a rich and illuminating set of readings that offer a unique and accessible overview of the many different aspects of conflict resolution. The chapters range across prevention, nonviolence, constructive approaches, mediation, negotiation, reconciliation and peace-building. Each one is framed by an editorial introduction and the readings are helpfully broken up into the following sections: reflective pieces, guides to practice, case studies and tools for learning. 

Covering classical and contemporary ideas, the Reader includes extracts which mark the continued innovation, relevance and dynamism of the field globally. Whether used on its own or as a companion to the hugely popular Contemporary Conflict Resolution, this Reader will be an invaluable resource for students and teachers of peace and conflict research, politics and international relations, as well as practitioners working in the field. While acknowledging the scale of the challenges ahead, this inspiring collection suggests a hopeful and practical vision of the way forward for conflict resolution in the 21st century.

Sources and Acknowledgements

Debating Conflict Resolution: Texts, Voices and Narratives
Tom Woodhouse, Hugh Miall, Oliver Ramsbotham and Christopher Mitchell

Part I Foundations

Introduction

1 On Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch
Immanuel Kant

2 The Value for Conflict Resolution of a General Discipline of International Relations
Quincy P. Wright

3 The Mathematical Psychology of War
Lewis F. Richardson

4 Conflict and Defense; A General Theory
Kenneth Boulding

5 Conflict and Communication
John Burton

6 Conflict Theory and Practice
Johan Galtung

7 The Middle East Conflict
Johan Galtung

8 Conflict in Man-Made Environment
Anatol Rapoport

9 The Management of Protracted Social Conflict
Ed Azar

10 The Functions of Social Conflict
Lewis Coser

11 The Strategy of Conflict
Tom Schelling

12 Building a Global Civic Culture; Education for an Interdependent World
Elise Boulding

13 A Brief History of Social Psychological Theorizing about Conflict
Morton Deutsch

Toolbox

Part II Conflict Theories and Analysis

Introduction

Conflict Theories

14 The Structure of International Conflict
Chris Mitchell

15 Extending the Reach of Basic Human Needs
Dennis Sandole

16 Ethnic Groups in Conflict
Donald Horowitz

17 New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era
Mary Kaldor

18 The Economic Functions of Violence in Civil Wars
David Keen

19 Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension of Development
Frances Stewart

20 Dynamics of Contention
Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly

21 A Nested Theory of Conflicts
Marie Dugan

22 Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies
John Paul Lederach

23 Conflict Resolution and the Structural Sources of Conflict
Richard Rubinstein

24 Telling Each Other Apart: A Discursive Approach to Violent Conflict
Jolle Demmers

25 Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War
James Fearon and David Laitin

Conflict Analysis

26 Conflict Analysis Tools
Simon Mason and Sandra Rychard

27 FAST Conflict Analytical Framework applied to Angola
Swisspeace

28 Systemic Conflict Transformation: Reflections on the Conflict and Peace Process in Sri Lanka
Norbert Ropers

Toolbox

Part III Praxis (1): Conflict Prevention and Nonviolence

Introduction

Reflective Pieces

29 Constructive Conflict: from Escalation to Resolution
Louis Kriesberg and Bruce W. Dayton

30 Breaking Cycles of Violence, Conflict Prevention in Intrastate Conflicts
Janie Leatherman, Raimo Väyrynen, William E. Demars, and Patrick Gaffney

31 Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life; Hindus and Muslims in India
Ashutosh Varshney

Guides to Practice

32 Report of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict

Case Studies

33 Conflict Prevention in the Baltic States: The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
Ed. Rob Zaagman

34 Chill Out: Why Cooperation is Balancing Conflict Among Major States in the New Arctic
Andrew Hart, Bruce Jones and David Steven

35 Negotiation Games
Steven Brams

36 Nonviolence in Peace and War, vol II
Mohandas K. Gandhi

37 From Dictatorship to Democracy
Gene Sharp

38 Nonviolent Resistance and Conflict Transformation in Power Asymmetries
Veronique Dudouet

Toolbox

Part IV Praxis (2): Mediation, Negotiation and Reconciliation

Introduction

Reflective Pieces

39 Understanding Conflict Resolution
Peter Wallensteen

40 Making Peace
Adam Curle

41 International Mediation in Theory and Practice
Saadia Touval and William Zartman

42 Readiness Theory and the Northern Ireland Conflict
Dean Pruitt

43 Why Orphaned Peace Settlements are More Prone to Failure
Fen Hampson

44 The Mediation Dilemma
Kyle Beardsley

45 The Meaning of Reconciliation
Hizkias Assefa

Guides to Practice

46 Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
Roger Fisher and William Ury

47 From Identity-Based Conflict to Identity-Based Cooperation
Jay Rothman

48 Approaches to Community Relations Work
Mari Fitzduff

49 Peacemaking Public and Private
Adam Curle

50 In the Middle
Adam Curle

51 Training Manual in Community Mediation Skills

Mediation UK

52 Use of language by mediators: Exercises

Case Studies

53 Disputes and Negotiations
Philip Gulliver

54 Explaining Conflict Transformation: How Jerusalem became Negotiable
Cecilia Albin

55 The Dayton Agreement. The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina

56 Northern Ireland documents

Toolbox

Part V Praxis (3): Peacebuilding

Introduction

Reflective Pieces

57 Understanding the Contradictions of Postwar Peacebuilding
Roland Paris and Timothy Sisk

58 The US Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq’ and ‘The UN’s Role in Nation-Building: From Congo to Iraq
James Dobbins et al.

59 Hybrid peace: the Interaction Between top-down and bottom-up peace
Roger Mac Ginty

60 Transitional justice and reconciliation: theory and practice
Martina Fischer

61 Towards a Strategic Framework for Peacebuilding: Getting Their Act Together
Dan Smith

62 The Potential Complementarity of Mediation and Consultation within a Contingency Model of Third Party Intervention
Ronald Fisher and Loraleigh Keashly

Guides to Practice

63 Code of Conduct for Conflict Transformation

International Alert

Case Studies

64 Women Take the Lead in Pastoral Kenya
Van Tongeren et al. (eds.)

65 Governing (in) Kirkuk: resolving the status of a disputed territory in post-American Iraq
Stefan Wolff

Toolbox

Part VI Challenges and Future Directions

Introduction

66 The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Stephen Pinker

67 Climate Change and Armed Conflict
James Lee

68 Revisiting Change and Conflict: On Underlying Assumptions and the De-Politicisation of Conflict Resolution
Vivienne Jabri

69 From Pacification to Peacebuilding: A Call to Global Transformation
Diana Francis

70 Culture and Conflict Resolution
Kevin Avruch

71 Peace Studies: A Cultural Perspective
Karlheinz Koppe, Aurangzeb Haneef, Kam-Por Yu, Grimaldo Remifo, Kofi Asare Opoku

72 Ushahidi: From Crisis Mapping in Kenya to Mapping the Globe

73 Cosmopolitanism after 9/11
David Held

Toolbox

Index

Hugh Miall is Professor of International Relations at the University of Kent.

Tom Woodhouse is Adam Curle Professor of Conflict Resolution at the University of Bradford.

Oliver Ramsbotham is Emeritus Professor of Conflict Resolution at the University of Bradford.

Christopher Mitchell is Professor Emeritus of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.