Traditional Conflict Management Research Articles

The human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka: history and present status

AbstractHuman-elephant conflict (HEC) is a severe conservation, socio-economic and environmental issue of forests and ecosystems in elephant inhabiting countries, including Sri Lanka. Due to the rapid growth of human and elephant populations, both struggles to share limited land resources. The major causes and contexts of HEC in Sri Lanka include land use change, habitat loss due to human population growth, crop raiding behavior, problem elephants, and changes in agriculture practices. Since 2019, 125 people and 370 elephants have killed annually on average due to the conflict. Also, Sri Lanka has recorded the highest annual elephant deaths and second-highest human deaths due to HEC. The human death rate has increased by approximately 42% over previous three decades. The Sri Lankan government provides compensation for death and disability of the human caused by elephants and for elephant-damaged houses or properties. The Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) is an endangered subspecies. It’s home range is restricted to 50–150 km2and depends on the availability of food, water, and shelter of the habitat in which they live. Various management strategies have been developed by the government and villagers to prevent and mitigate HEC. Today, Sri Lankan elephants are protected under Sri Lankan law, with punishment by fines and jail terms. This article reviews the history, present status, and traditional conflict management of HEC in Sri Lanka. We suggest a satellite data fusion approach with GIS modeling to identify risk zones of HEC to develop further protective measures for humans and elephants.

Traditional Conflict Management: How Early Interpreters Address Paul’s Reference to Those Baptized for the Dead (1 Corinthians 15:29)

Modern scholars often understand 1 Cor 15:29 as a clear reference to the baptism of living individuals as proxies for the departed. Yet before or at the time of 1 Corinthians, there appears to be no evidence for this practice or a similar one. A reasonable explanation for its emergence, therefore, is that the tradition derives from 1 Cor 15:29, rather than giving rise to it. Consequently, 1 Cor 15:29 supplies a unique opportunity to see how Paul’s earliest interpreters navigated the conflict between the emergent proxy baptism tradition and others they had inherited. Responses varied from acceptance (Marcion) to tolerance (Ambrosiaster) to rejection (Tertullian, Didymus, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Eznik) of proxy baptism as being what 1 Cor 15:29 describes. Adopters of proxy baptism found support in Paul for breaking with prior tradition and interpreted 1 Cor 15:29 as a basis for creating a new tradition that fit a distinctive need in their community. By contrast, those who tolerate or reject the proxy baptism interpretation do so by considering both 1 Cor 15:29 and Paul himself as more thoroughly situated within existing prior traditions that rule out proxy baptism. These different responses illustrate the complex interplay between Paul and the conflicting traditions through which his letters have been and continue to be received. These responses also surface key features of the interplay between conflict and tradition, whether that conflict occurs within explicitly religious spheres or not.

Traditional conflict management initiatives in Africa: Wellness models for southern Africa and the Zimbabwean crisis

In this paper we acknowledge that people are inherently different, and conflict simply happens when those differences come to light. We argue that equipped with an appropriate conflict management process, people can explore and understand those differences, and use them to interact in a more positive, productive way. This paper is anchored on the argument that resources are scarce and thus people are bound to clash over their distribution. We view conflict as unavoidable. We are guided by African approaches to conflict management in which emphasis is on wellness, sacredness of human life, cohabitation and working together for progress and development. We argue that experience in the modern world has taught us that our understanding of conflict has a critical bearing on our response to its emergence. If conflict is considered to be inherently destructive, then our efforts are bound to be directed towards suppressing it. If we view conflict as normal and inescapable, then the challenge lies in managing it constructively. We argue that the major point about conflict management in Africa is the emphasis on resolving of conflicts amicably through elders, traditional leaders, healing and reconciliation rituals. Keywords : Conflict, management, ubuntu, wellness, initiatives, traditional, Africa. DOI : 10.7176/JCSD/47-07 Publication date : April 30 th 2019

Towards Complementarity in African Conflict Management Mechanisms

The history of conflict is as old as human history. From the dawn of human history, communities have been competing for control of resources and for dominance. These competitions inevitably led individuals as well as social, political, economic and religious groups to conflicts. It is true that conflict has devastating effects and it is unwanted. It is also true that conflict is unavoidable and it continues to occur.Since the causes of conflict are different, it would be better to use different mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflicts. By avoiding conflict, we avoid not only one of the hindrances of economic development but also foreign powers’ intervention, which may exacerbate the domestic conflicts. Therefore, more than anybody else governments, whose main duty is maintenance of peace and security, are responsible for providing their respective peoples with alternative conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms, popular and widely used among these are the African Traditional mechanisms.Contemporary Africa is faced with the reality of numerous evolving states that have to grapple with the inevitability of conflict. On their own, the fledgling institutions in these states cannot cope with the huge demands unleashed by everyday conflict. It is within this context that the complementarity between African traditional institutions for conflict management and the modern state structures becomes not only observable but also imperative.The continuing role and influence of traditional leadership in modern African is hard to miss. Nonetheless, the relationship between the state and traditional institutions should not be taken for granted for it is a contested terrain fraught with complexities. While traditional institutions are rooted in the culture and history of African societies, the modern state exerts a large amount of influence on these institutions. In some cases the traditional institutions are politicized and have become instruments of propagating state ideology. In other cases, especially where they express dissent with the state, these traditional institutions have often been undermined or usurped by the state. However, the uniqueness of traditional institutions, by virtue of their endogeneity and use of local actors, cumulatively enables them to either resist or even sometimes subvert the state. These traditional institutions, also known as endogenous conflict resolution systems continue to demonstrate their relevance in post-conflict states. This is especially true in the context of weak states that are overwhelmed with ongoing state-building processes. There is no clear-cut formula regarding the interactions between the state and traditional institutions. A relationship definitely exists between the two and understanding this could be central in the promotion of sustainable peace in post-conflict Africa. It is against this background that this paper seeks to achieve the following objectives:i. To underscore the ultimate goal of the African Traditional conflict Management Mechanisms;ii. To highlight both the justification and implication of complementarity relationship between the African traditional conflict management mechanisms and the formal/modern state mechanisms on the restorative justice and reconciliation features of the African system.iii. To illustrate with selected case studies across Africa; andiv. To conclude with some recommendations.

Evidence from an Alternative Path to Reconciliation: The Case of Somaliland

The International Community’s work in conflict management and peace-building in Africa has usually been associated with a double regime of responsibility: protecting humanitarian rights and enforcing democracy. However, existing research suggests that these attempts have rarely improved the humanitarian conditions of conflictual societies, or either encouraged their democratic aspirations. Following the pitfalls met by traditional conflict management, alternative approaches have been advanced and scholars have explored to what extent the transformative power of conflict (Vayrynen, 1991; Azar and Burton, 1986) can actively reduce the level of violence in ongoing conflicts. Hence, this paper presents the case-study of the grassroots peace-building in Somaliland, where an alternative approach to conflict management has achieved more interesting and sustainable results than those pursued by the traditional diplomacy in Somalia. The empirical part of this paper introduces first the failures of the international intervention in Somalia and afterwards it describes the Somaliland alternative route to reconciliation, focusing on three aspects: the resort to traditional methods of conflict management; the gradual and preparatory nature of this peace process; the codification of traditional peace-building into a process of institution-building. This paper argues that the community-based approach adopted in Somaliland has been most productive then the traditional mechanisms adopted by the International Community in Somalia, given the ability of the ‘community’ to bypass two fundamental dilemmas that affect the top-down methodology: the ownership and the legitimacy dilemma.

A study of mega project from a perspective of social conflict theory

Extensive studies show that mega project has close connections with globalization and civilization, but little articles make social logical analyses of mega project. Traditional conflict management lays stress on projects leading to conflicts while neglecting the fact that conflict can also result in mega project in a social context. This paper studies the relationship between mega project and social conflict by exploring mega project from the perspective of the social conflict theory, and develops a conceptual model of mega project, which includes three propositions: (1) mega project is the outcome of social conflict; (2) it functions as a safety valve in society; and (3) it has close relationships with the level of political centralization and economic development. At the end, this paper puts forward some suggestions about the construction of mega project.

<em>Adapting Traditional Peacemaking Principles to Contemporary Conflicts:</em> The ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) spearheaded a silent revolution in proving that a third-world regional organization is capable of driving a peace-enforcement process and achieving relative peace, in spite of neglect by the big powers. This has been shown through the ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in Liberia (1989–1996–1999–2003), Sierra Leone (1997– 2001), and Guinea Bissau (1998). It has since been involved in preventive diplomacy in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and other flashpoints while striving to institutionalize its Peace Support Operations (PSO) architecture in line with the UN standard. Against this backdrop, it became imperative to develop a preventive diplomacy strategy in order to prevent a relapse into destructive conflicts. While the result of the preventive diplomacy in previous interventions by ECOWAS has been modest, its effectiveness has been hampered by technical inadequacies and insufficient institutional support from the ECOWAS Commission. This has resulted in a resurgence of crises in some member states, relapse of postconflict states into instability and conflict, and disrespect for regional statutes and the protocol. It has also weakened the level of trust in ECOWAS to facilitate conflict prevention. However, the advent of the ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF) in 2008 provided an opportunity to implement a coordinated peacemaking strategy and systematically implement provisions of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, decisions, and protocols in order to enhance conflict prevention. More important, the ECPF represents an attempt to adapt the principles of traditional conflict management to contemporary challenges. This paper takes a critical look at the ECPF as a framework capable of effective conflict transformation in the emerging regional peace and security architecture, outlines its traditional conflict management principles, and points out the opportunities of fashioning a mediatory framework that will systematically and consistently engage in good offices, negotiation, mediation, conciliation, and arbitration for regional peace, security, and development.

Self-care and relationship conflict

This paper considers the foundational role of self-care in illuminating and ameliorating relationship conflicts. Through a detailed consideration of the various ways in which self-care may help individuals to understand and work with conflict in their relationships, it presents a case for therapist encouragement of self-care practices alongside (and after) the therapeutic process. It also encourages reflective self-care as a practice for therapists themselves, including reflexive engagement with their own conflicts. The paper draws on traditional conflict management, relationship therapy and psychological understandings, as well as theories of conflict and self-care from existential philosophy, Buddhist mindfulness and social constructionism.

Conflict Management and Communicative Action: Second-Track Diplomacy from a Habermasian Perspective

Many critics have called Jurgen Habermas’s concepts of communicative action theoretically interesting but not practically viable. Traditional conflict management in the form of negotiation and state diplomacy leaves little room for Habermasian communication theory and could count as another example of the inapplicability of his ideas. However, with the advent of new conflict resolution practices in the form of second-track diplomacy, Habermasian communication theories seem to be applied in new ways, which this article will analyze.

Getting along long distance: understanding conflict in a multinational team through network analysis

Multinational companies (MNCs) create international teams to pool global talent and meet organizational goals. But the many differences among team members are fertile ground for conflict. While traditional conflict management techniques gather all team members together to resolve or minimize conflicts, geographic dispersion greatly increases the time, money, and disruption to daily workflow activities necessary to bring multinational teams together. We use a social network perspective to identify and prioritize conflicts to increase team effectiveness, allowing management to focus on the most critical conflicts first. Further, we show that the most critical conflict might not be between headquarters and country subsidiaries, but between two country subsidiaries.

Conflict Management Strategies for the Equal Opportunity Difficult Person in the Sexually Harassing Workplace

Gender influences the types of behavior exhibited and received by individuals in conflict. There is a body of literature that suggests that there are situations in which traditional conflict management strategies will not be effective. These contexts involve interactions with the difficult personality, someone for whom the rules of rational conduct do not apply. These dysfunctional individuals maintain constant, difficult patterns of behavior during conflict and can disrupt the workplace. The purpose of this article is to examine the behavior of sexually harassing individuals in the workforce as they exhibit characteristics of the difficult personality and to provide appropriate recommendations for the implementation of effective conflict management strategies for coping with these individuals.