Conflict Resolution Beyond the International Relations Paradigm : Evolving Design as Transformative Practice in Nagorno-Karabakh and Syria / Philip Gamaghelyan, Andreas Umland, Susan Allen

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gamaghelyan, Philip, Author.

Contributor:

Umland, Andreas Dr., Editor.

Allen, Susan, Author of introduction, etc.

Series:

Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Syria.

conflict.

resolution.

Local Subjects:

Syria.

conflict.

resolution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (293 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hannover ibidem 2017

Biography/History:

Philip Gamaghelyan teaches at Georgetown University at Washington, DC. He is also director of programs at the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation and managing editor of Caucasus Edition (www.caucasusedition.net). Gamaghelyan studied French, political science, inter-communal coexistence, and conflict resolution at Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Sciences, Brandeis University, and George Mason University. His papers have appeared in International Negotiation, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Peace and Conflict Monitor, among others.

Summary:

Conflict Resolution holds the promise of freeing approaches and policies with regard to politics of identity from the fatalistic grip of realism. While the conceptual literature on identity and conflicts has moved in this alternative direction, conflict resolution practice continues to rely on realist frames and acts as an unwanted auxiliary to traditional International Relations (IR). Perpetuation of conflict discourses, marginalization, and exclusion of affected populations are widespread. They are caused by the over-reliance of conflict resolution practice on the binary frames of classic IR paradigms and also by the competitive and hierarchical relationships within the field itself. Philip Gamaghelyan relies on participatory action research (PAR) and collective auto-ethnography to expose patterns of exclusion and marginalization as well as the paradoxical reproduction of conflict-promoting frames in current conflict-resolution practice applied to the Nagorno-Karabakh and Syrian crises. He builds on the work of post-modernist scholars, on reflective practice, and on discourse analysis to explore alternative and inclusive strategies with a transformative potential through reflections and actions customary for PAR. The IR discipline, that has dominated policy-making, is only one possible lens, and often a deficient one, for defining, preventing, or resolving contemporary conflicts wrapped in identity politics. Other conceptual frameworks can help to rethink our understanding of identity and conflicts and reconstruct them as performative and not static phenomena. These transformative frameworks are increasingly influential in the conflict resolution field and can be applied to policy-making.

Philip Gamaghelyan is an experienced scholar-practitioner whose authentic quest to transform international conflicts has resulted in discoveries that ought to occasion a fundamental paradigm shift in the field of conflict resolution. Gamaghelyan exposes and thoroughly documents how the field of international conflict resolution unwittingly perpetuates and reifies conflicts, rather than transforming them, as a consequence of the near-universal conceptual and/or practical assumption of conflict 'sides'. The very presumption that conflicts are characterized by 'sides' generates and maintains polarized and rigid oppositions while marginalizing any voices and constituencies that do not fit this oppositional framing. The author then documents how standard practices of international conflict resolution unintentionally create counter-productive marginalization across a range of additional dimensions, as well as how an emerging 'business' of conflict resolution profits from the maintenance of conflict. Through the sensitively and humbly narrated story of his own individual and collective learning through real-life cases of international conflict transformation processes, Gamaghelyan also provides insights and guidance for stepping into a new paradigm of international conflict transformation that, when authentically and self-critically engaged, creates new capabilities for genuinely resolving entrenched conflict. Dr. Jessica Srikantia, Rhodes Scholar and an Associate Professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Abbreviations

Introduction

Questions I am aiming to address

The organization of the text

Part I

Chapter 1 Critical review of conflict resolution theories

Binary frames in conflict resolution

Realist theories of international relations

Liberal theories of international relations

In the shadow of Track 1: interactive problem solving

Alternative to binary frames in conflict resolution

Multitrack models of conflict resolution

Network theory

The third side

Constructivist trends in conflict analysis

Reflective and elicitive practice

Theories of ethnicity and nationalism

Critical theory

Structuration theory: segue into participatory research design

Chapter 2 Methodology

Participatory action research

Case selection

Auto-ethnography

First-person action research and collective auto-ethnography

Second-person action research

Ethical considerations and limitations

Chapter 3 Auto-ethnographic sketch

My background, the resulting perspective and subjectivity, and their role in this research

Part II

Chapter 4 On ethical and methodological challenges of leading a Syrian dialogue program in the middle of a civil war: from exclusion to inclusion

The program design and implementation

Program design vs. program reality

Intermission

Back to dialogue

Methodological agony

Reframing

Getting real

Closure

Implications of the Syrian dialogue for this research: toward inclusive frames that do not privilege the violent extremes

Chapter 5 On methodological challenges of leading an analytic initiative in the context of the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: from inclusion to exclusion

The Nagorno-Karabakh Analytic Initiative

The first meeting

The first full symposium.

The second full symposium

Working group

Implications of the Nagorno-Karabakh Analytic Initiative for recognizing power dynamics and resulting exclusion, and marginalization

Part II postscript

Part III

Chapter 6 Influence of macro-frames on conflict resolution practice. Addressing exclusion perpetuated by binary conflict discourses of international relations

In the shadow of the international relations discourse

Practical implications of naming initiatives "Track 2": impact on selection

Practical implications of naming initiatives "Track 2": impact on dialogue

Leaving the shadow: addressing patterns of marginalization influenced by the international relations discourse

Conceptual alternatives

Evolving Designs: rethinking the language of mediation

Evolving Designs: rethinking dialogue and PSW

Evolving Designs in practice: transforming the Analytic Initiative

Chapter 6 postscript: gender and other binaries that affect conflict resolution practice

Chapter conclusions

Chapter 7 Marginalization specific to conflict resolution initiatives. Addressing the formation of dominant factions

Formation of a single dominant faction within initiatives

Cultural intelligibility to the organizers

Reliance on a dominant discourse external to the initiative

Competition for domination and shifting marginalization

Recognizing and addressing domination and resulting marginalization

Chapter 8 Addressing marginalization patterns within the conflict resolution community

Competition among organizations

Walking the talk: the case for the organizations preaching cooperation to lead by example

Power struggles within teams

Addressing marginalization within teams

Chapter 9 Lessons learned

Reflection: the learning and the key findings.

Action: Evolving Designs in Imagine Center's recent initiatives

Questions for further research

Postscript

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783838270579

3838270576

OCLC:

1111968152

Publisher Number:

9783838270579