Conflict Research and Resolution: Cyprus

Abstract

As the Cold War recedes and Europe moves into a new union, protracted ethnic conflicts raging around the world pose a major challenge to forging a more peaceful world order in the waning years of the twentieth century. The serious and fresh attention given to these conflicts may also provide valuable conceptual and practical tools for conflict management. This article describes a methodology used for conflict resolution training and intervention in the context of protracted ethnic conflicts, and its application to the Cyprus conflict as a vehicle for research. The methodology suggests that it may be fruitful if parties in conflict, or examinations of conflict, were able to systematically develop a variety of different ways of analyzing the conflict and posing solutions to it. Three different lenses for conflict analysis and management are suggested: adversarial, reflexive, and integrative.