The Phenomenon of Using Examples in Conflict/Peace Contexts: The “Åland Example” Seen through the Lens of Diffusion

Abstract

Abstract The autonomous Åland Islands in Finland have since the end of the 1980s been used as an example of how to accommodate diversity and/or competing claims for self-determination and in many other contexts where tensions related to diversity issues persist. The “Åland example” can serve as a case study of the phenomenon of using previously solved conflicts as examples or models for and in conflict/peace contexts. In contrast to previous literature, this article focuses on the practice of using examples and attempts to describe and analyze this practice as a phenomenon in itself. Advancing previous attempts to associate the use of examples with research on ideas that travel, this study employs a framework from studies of diffusion. The main aim of the article is to assess whether a diffusion framework can enhance understanding of the phenomenon of using examples in conflict/peace arenas. Although the diffusion framework helps to conceptualize the practice of using examples as a phenomenon and to highlight the processes and interlinkages between its components, there may be limits to the framework's fruitfulness for gaining a deeper understanding of how and why examples are used in and for conflict/peace contexts.