Suchergebnisse

1. Partisan moralism and the need for structural thought -- 2. How do social systems generate violence? -- 3. Violent systems and their transformation -- 4. Class conflict and the problem of crime -- 5. Cultural conflict and the problem of religious violence -- 6. Structural conflict resolution : toward a new politics.

This book analyses how certain types of social systems generate violent conflict and discusses how these systems can be transformed in order to create the conditions for positive peace. Resolving Structural Conflicts addresses a key issue in the field of conflict studies: what to do about violent conflicts that are not the results of misunderstanding, prejudice, or malice, but the products of a social system that generates violent conflict as part of its normal operations. This question poses enormous challenges to those interested in conflict resolution, since the solution to this problem involves restructuring social, political, and cultural systems rather than just calling in a mediator to help people arrive at an agreement. This study breaks new ground in showing how local conflicts involving crime, police, and prisons; transnational conflicts involving religious terrorism by groups like ISIS; and international conflicts involving Great Power clashes are all produced in large part by elite-driven, exploitative or oppressive social structures. It also presents new ideas about the implications of this 'structural turn'for the practice of conflict resolution, emphasizing the need for conflict resolvers to embrace a new politics and to broaden their methods far beyond traditional forms of facilitation. Written by a leading scholar, this book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace studies, war and conflict studies, sociology, political science and international relations in general.

Suggests how the great promise of basic human needs theory has succeeded along with points of failure. Avenues for potential development are then addressed. The virtues of basic human needs theory are that it (1) distinguishes between struggles that can be dealt with through power-based negotiation & those that require other measures, (2) understands contradiction inherent in notions like negotiation & dispute resolution, & (3) asserts a needs-based approach to undermine manipulative leaders. The theory's main limitation is deemed its assumption that there exists some sort of human nature or inherent biological structure. For the future, it is argued that the problem-solving system of conflict resolution must be demystified. 35 References. J. Backman

In this edited volume, experts on conflict resolution examine the impact of the crises triggered by the coronavirus and official responses to it. The pandemic has clearly exacerbated existing social and political conflicts, but, as the book argues, its longer-term effects open the door to both further conflict escalation and dramatic new opportunities for building peace. In a series of short essays combining social analysis with informed speculation, the contributors examine the impact of the coronavirus crisis on a wide variety of issues, including nationality, social class, race, gender, ethnicity, and religion. They conclude that the period of the pandemic may well constitute a historic turning point, since the overall impact of the crisis is to destabilize existing social and political systems. Not only does this systemic shakeup produce the possibility of more intense and violent conflicts, but also presents new opportunities for advancing the related causes of social justice and civic peace.