CONFLICT ANALYSIS: AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION

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CONFLICT ANALYSIS: AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

A conflict is often more complex than it seems. How do the participants frame the conflict? To what extent are their views alike, and how do they differ? How do others frame the conflict? What seem to be the immediate or proximate factors behind the conflict? Are there deeper livelihood, institutional, political or other structural factors behind the conflict? Trying to manage a conflict as a single, isolated event may be of little use if it is intertwined with wider problems or issues.

Who is involved in the conflict?

Effective consensus building depends on engaging all the stakeholder groups that are relevant to a conflict. It is therefore important to identify stakeholders accurately. Are there any groups who are not present but who have a direct or indirect role in the conflict, such as administrators, resource users from neighbouring communities or migratory populations (herders, farmers or labourers)?

What motivations or incentives exist for the parties to settle their conflict?

Trying to get people to settle their conflict through ACM or other means may be difficult if the parties do not feel or perceive a need to manage or resolve it. In addition, there may be economic, political, cultural or other incentives that influence the parties’ willingness to engage in conflict management. Equally important is to find out whether there are people who would benefit from continuation of the conflict, or who would resist attempts to stop conflict (do some people have an interest in perpetuating the conflict?).

What conflict management strategies have been tried in the past?

It is very important to consider what strategies have already been tried to resolve the conflict. What were the results of these effort? What are the advantages or disadvantages or pursuing the same strategy or strategies for the present conflict?

The more mediators know and understand about the situations in which they are working, the less likely they are to make mistakes, and the more likely to assist stakeholders effectively.

A conflict analysis helps to:

clarify and prioritize the range of issues that need to be addressed;

identify the impacts of conflict;

identify the root causes and contributing factors of conflict in order to determine appropriate responses;

determine the stakeholders’ motivations and incentives through an understanding of their interests, needs and views of the conflict;

assess the nature of relationships among stakeholders, including their willingness and ability to negotiate with each other;

identify existing information about the conflict and what further information is needed;

evaluate the capacity of existing conflict management institutions or practices to deal with the conflict;

build rapport and understanding among stakeholders, where possible; enhance the problem solving and analytical skills of local stakeholders in addressing current and future conflicts (capacity building is an important part of participatory conflict analysis);

increase understanding of the links between the broader social, political and economic context and resource use conflicts.

Many methods and tools are available for analysing conflicts. No single set of procedures or practices works for all situations. Rather than a blueprint, this section presents guiding principles for what strategies and techniques are available, and what sort of information might be gathered.

1. A conflict analysis must be based on a wide range of views about the sources of conflict. Conflicts are about perceptions and the meanings that people attribute to events, policies and institutions.

2. A conflict analysis helps stakeholders to reconsider their perspectives, which are often heavily influenced by emotions, misunderstandings, assumptions, suspicions and mistrust. In conflict situations, emotion can easily overwhelm logic and reason. It is therefore important to distinguish opinion from fact. Balancing emotions and reason (Fisher and Brown, 1988: 43 – 63) is an important aspect of conflict management, not because facts are more important than perceptions or feelings, but because stakeholders deal with them in different ways.

This transformation of perspective is vital in creating space for collaboration in conflict management. It is an integral step in moving away from rigid and inflexible positions towards exploring possible shared interests. This is an important outcome of analysis, which is determining what paths are open to negotiation and identifying common needs or goals that can be met through collaboration.

3. Conflict analysis must examine the broader development context (social, economic, political) and not just consider natural resource management concerns.

4. Any conflict analysis is only preliminary and must be refined and studied carefully as the process gets under way.

5. Conflict analysis is not an end in itself. It is part of the process of defining and learning about the issues (capacity building). For this learning process to happen, conflict analysis must be carried out in a participatory manner. Through exchanges of information it becomes more likely that people will focus on real problems in the negotiation process. However, people are likely to be cautious about revealing some types of information.

6. It is important to know what is worth knowing. The type and amount of information needed from conflict analysis varies from case to case. While it is often assumed that more information is better than less, not all information may be relevant, truthful or useful. In addition, perceived information needs are likely to be constrained by limited time, resources or expertise. When taking such limits into account, it is necessary to define what is meant by “sufficiently” detailed, accurate and reliable information. Data collection or analysis that goes beyond this is not necessary.

1.2 Statement of the problem

The conflict stakeholders reflect on their positions, interests and needs in comparison with those of other stakeholders. Depending on the circumstances, the mediators may conduct the conflict analysis as a joint multistakeholder event. When there are severe tensions, it may be done separately with the different stakeholder groups. However, at some point, the different stakeholders need to share their analyses in order to promote better understanding of each other’s points of view.

1.3 Objectives of the study

1. To understand the impact of conflict analysis

2. To understand the relationship between conflict resolution and conflict analysis.

1.4 Research Questions

1. What is the impact of conflict analysis

2. What is the relationship between conflict resolution and conflict analysis.

1.5 Research Hypothesis

H0: There is no relationship between conflict resolution and conflict analysis.

H1: There is a relationship between conflict resolution and conflict analysis.

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