Conflict Transformation Research Articles

Transforming Intractable Policy Conflicts: A Qualitative Study Examining the Novel Application of Facilitated Discourse (Track Two Diplomacy) to Community Water Fluoridation in Calgary, Canada.

Governments face challenges in resolving complex health and social policy conflicts, such as the community water fluoridation (CWF) impasse in Calgary. Track Two diplomacy, informal dialogues facilitated by an impartial third party, is proposed to address these issues amid epistemic conflict and declining public trust in fellow citizens, science, and government. This study examined Track Two diplomacy's application in Calgary's CWF policy conflict. Collaborating with policymakers and community partners, the research team explored a Track Two-CWF process and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with policymakers, scholars, practitioners, observers, and civil society representatives. Data interpretation explored contextual factors, conflict transformation potential, and design features for a Track Two process. A conflict map revealed factors contributing to impasse: the polarizing nature of a binary policy question on fluoridation; disciplinary silos; failed public engagement; societal populism; societal lack of disposition to dialogue; individual factors (adverse impact of conflict on stakeholders, adherence to extreme positions, issue fatigue, apathy, and lack of humility); together with policy-making factors (perceived lack of leadership, lack of forum to dialogue, polarization and silos). Participants suggested reframing the issue as nonbinary, involving a skilled facilitator, convening academics, and considering multiple dialogue tracks for a Track Two process. The first theory of change would focus on personal attitudes, relationships, and culture. Participants expressed cautious optimism about Track Two diplomacy's potential. Track Two diplomacy offers a promising approach to reframe intractable public health policy conflicts by moving stakeholders from adversarial positions to jointly assessing and solving problems. Further empirical evidence is needed to test the suggested process.

Jokes and quarrels: a cross-cultural investigation of humor and conflict transformation in groups

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between different styles of humorous communication (i.e. controlling and liberating) and conflict transformation in groups, in particular the transformation of task and process conflicts into relationship conflict. This study also examines the extent to which power distance moderates the association between controlling humor and relationship conflict. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data using a survey from 536 participants from two different countries varying in power distance (Romania and The Netherlands) working in groups in organizations from various sectors. Findings Supporting the hypotheses presented in this study, multi-level data analyses showed that liberating humor has a positive association with task conflict, while controlling humor has a positive association with both process and relationship conflict. Moreover, task and process conflict mediate the relationship between liberating and controlling humor (predictors) and relationship conflict (outcome). The hypothesis regarding the moderating effect of power distance was not fully supported by the data. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the multilevel interplay of humor and intragroup conflict in cross-cultural settings and shows how various types of humor can shape the emergence of conflict and its transformation.

Colonial State and the Transformation of Inter-Ethnic Conflicts in Uasin Gishu County Up to 1963

Inter-ethnic hostilities have persisted over a considerable duration on a worldwide scale, originating from socio-economic and political issues. Ethnic conflict has been extensively documented in several African countries throughout the continent, spanning from the pre-colonial era to the colonial period. The occurrence of this ethnic conflict can be attributed to the policies implemented by the colonial state. Hence, the principal aim of this research was to document and examine the extent of the colonial state's engagement in the endeavor of mitigating inter-ethnic conflicts in Uasin Gishu County, particularly during the era preceding 1963. The primary objective of this study was to examine the impact of the colonial state on the development of inter-ethnic conflicts in Uasin Gishu County, specifically focusing on the period leading up to 1963. The research employed a historical methodology, incorporating primary and secondary data sources. The study incorporated a diverse range of primary data sources, such as annual reports, conclusions derived from appointed commissions, interviews conducted with key stakeholders, court judgments, and official government statistics. In addition, the study incorporated secondary materials. The sources encompassed a heterogeneous array of materials, including printed books, scholarly papers, and unpublished archival documents. The study was positioned within the existing body of literature by incorporating these sources. Land alienation and the subsequent establishment of settler farms coupled with setting up squiredom labour served to inadvertently lay the foundation for inter-ethnic friction. The study posits that the implementation of a holistic strategy that encompasses various actors from both the public and private domains is necessary to effectively tackle the root causes of disputes and avert their recurrence in subsequent instances. Simultaneously, it is imperative to enhance regulations to dissuade the political class from employing land issues as a tactic to incite ethnic differences and escalate tribal wars within the designated region. The output of this research is expected to have a positive impact on various stakeholders, such as historians, policymakers, political bodies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and religious institutions. The aforementioned findings have the potential to make a significant contribution to the promotion of peace and justice in Uasin Gishu and similar contexts.

Categories of hero and character in drama in the light of historical poetics (in the non-classical period of the epoch of modality)

The purpose of the proposed article is to consider the key trends occurring with the categories of the hero and character of the dramatic text in the third global period of historical poetics – the era of poetic modality (in its non–classical period), since it is at this stage of the literary process that the most attention is paid to the subjective sphere of the work. The author of the work, among other things, notes: transformations of images of actors caused by both actual social realities and crises of their identity; changes in terms of communicative interaction and speech of heroes and characters; transformation of dramatic conflict from external (event) to internal (personal), etc. The key methods used in the work include comparative typological analysis, descriptive and hermeneutic. The novelty of this scientific research lies in the systematization of existing ideas concerning this issue, as well as in the breadth of the material concerned (from European and domestic dramaturgy of the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, plays of symbolists and absurdists to the domestic "new drama" of the XX – XXI centuries). A special contribution to the development of the poetics of dramaturgy is the theoretical justification and practical application of the term "image-silhouette" proposed by the author (by analogy with the concepts of "image-type", "image-character" and "image-personality" proposed in the concept of historical poetics by S. N. Broitman) demonstrated in the article.

Violent and Unethical Non-Violent Abuse of Faith and Ethnoreligious Sentiments in Southeast Europe: Religious Peace-Building?

The article presents a theoretical and conceptual examination of religious violent and unethical non-violent behaviors, ethnopolitical and clerical synergism, and religious peace-building capacity. I argue that the phenomenon of religious/ethnic violent and non-violent interchangeability adopted by national political unethical behavior has adverse consequences on the post-Yugoslav social behavior and reconciliation process; religions should be a moral peace-building agency. The multiethnic/multireligious socialist Yugoslav society has been violently transformed into influential ethical and clerical cultures, producing antagonistic ethnonational societies sustaining pastoralism as potent identity manifestations of the social capital. War-period visual violence and emotions influenced violent behavior and policy within the discourse "our vs. their sacred ethnic land," creating an unbearable ease of creating fear and motivating violent antagonism and war crimes. The post-war antagonistic media rhetoric, visual antagonism, and abuse of faith adversely impact peaceful coexistence. Ethnic, religious, ideological, and political contextual factors are challenging to generate in post-conflict, divided Balkan societies. Fear of others, religiously distinct, is a category that's difficult to determine and prevent. Western-Balkan societies possess victimological and political mythical conventions, honoring ethnoreligious war victories, defeats, and agonies, maintaining hostility and revenge discourse. Historically, religions were misused to justify violence and maintain non-violence, unethical sociopolitical order, and negative peace. The ideologies of religious superiority intertwine with intensely dominant national perceptions, so belonging to the Serb, Croat, or Bosniak people is equated with Orthodoxy, Catholicism, or Islam. This entanglement is the groundwork for despondency and a hostile peace climate. Current clerical and ethnopolitical policies lead further away from conflict transformation, directing toward the renewal of monotheistic spirituality, cognition, and violence. Political involvement affects "authentic" religion. We should engage in all-inclusive theological and consensus approaches to demonstrate that religions are peace-building agencies, retrieving and revitalizing authentic morality criteria. Religious sentiments mobilize people more rapidly than other identities.

Civil Society and Peace Transformation in Sudan’s Darfur Region

Scholars increasingly agree that civil society is needed if peace operations are to succeed, and conflicts resolved. However, they disagree on the impact and influence of civil society on conflict transformation. The three international peace operations in Darfur from 2004 to 2018 experienced very limited successes, but the situation changed rapidly from 2018 onwards as the crisis transitioned from high to low-intensity conflict. How was this achieved? What factors were responsible for this conflict transformation process? This study contends that the involvement of civil society that facilitated the removal of Al-Bashir set this transformation toward positive peace in motion. Relying on descriptive design, secondary data and critical analysis, this study argues that civil society has navigated Darfur’s complex conflict terrain and contributed in good measure to the peace progress. This paper further examines the role of Darfur’s warlords as peace influencers and how their leadership styles can be utilised to bolster Darfur’s peace.

Intergroup resource allocation among children from minority and majority groups in three settings of former conflict.

Intergroup resource allocation was examined among 333 children aged 7-11 (51.9% female) within three settings of former intergroup conflict (January-June 2021). Children represented both ethno-religious minority and majority groups (Republic of North Macedonia: Albanians, Macedonians; Croatia: Serbs, Croats; Northern Ireland: Catholics, Protestants), from predominantly White and middle-class families. Ingroup bias in average resource allocation amounts was demonstrated by both minority and majority children, across settings, in the context of novel targets (historic conflict rivals). Majority children were also more likely to give equally (which maintains the status quo) than minority children. Giving equally increased with age for both minority and majority children, despite being in "zero-sum," conflict settings. Equitable intergroup resource allocation in such settings has implications for conflict transformation.

Integrating Conflict Management Learning into the Curriculum

Abstract Teaching young people how to deal with conflict is rarely part of a school curriculum. Although, as social communities with humans of different ages, and levels of power and status, schools themselves are full of conflict, they are often reluctant for many reasons to acknowledge the fact, and more reluctant to give it an explicit profile by including the teaching of conflict management and transformation within the curriculum. Most conflict and bullying management in schools is reactive (i.e. after the fact), top-down (i.e. done to or with the participants by teachers and school leaders), and any training is extra-curricular. Cooling Conflict was a ten-year action research project in Australia, part of the international dracon project, investigating how drama can provide young people with the cognitive tools to resolve their own and other people’s conflicts, and to manage bullying for themselves. The program developed carefully structured drama pedagogy to give students knowledge and a vocabulary to understand the origins and structures of conflict, and to provide practice in the range of strategies available for resolving, managing or transforming conflict. The aim was to provide the students with autonomy and agency over this knowledge, and peer teaching became an important part of the program, which was (and still is) implemented in a wide range of educational settings internationally, formal and informal. From the outset and wherever possible, the program was deliberately integrated into standard curriculum time and programs, to embed the concept that conflict transformation and management can be learnt through experiential, integral learning. Over ten years, the project accumulated overwhelming evidence that, properly used, drama pedagogy is a valuable method for providing students with the tools they need to manage or transform their own conflicts, and themselves to take responsibility for assisting peers and younger students to do the same.

Theoretical approaches to studying the post-conflict peacebuilding in ,,prolonged conflicts”: the case of the Republic of Moldova

The article is devoted to the analysis of theoretical approaches to the study of the post-conflict stage of peacebuilding in „protracted conflicts”. In this context, the definitions of „prolonged conflict” and „post-conflict stage” are analyzed, as well as various approaches to the emergence of the post-conflict stage in the context of conflict transformation theory. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the factors that influence the emergence of the post-conflict stage in „unresolved conflicts”. The application of the theory of conflict transformation to analyze the relationship of the parties in the conditions of the „hybrid field”, which includes the absence of hostilities and the presence of a dialogue between the conflict parties, as well as the use of the efforts of international actors to reach a political decision on the resolution of the conflict, form the basis of the methodology of the study of the post-conflict peace consolidation stage related to the conflicts in the post-Soviet space. This approach, which is of not only scientific, but also practical interest in the context of the existence of a prolonged unresolved conflict in the Republic of Moldova, highlights the need to form a different vision and a new pr

The science of bridging differences and the dialogic transformation of conflict: a case study from «This is Us»

In a climate of increasing social and political polarisation, there is much interest in dialogue and bridging differences. This article investigates the dramatisation of dialogic conflict resolution, examining how the psychological science of bridging differences can be utilised to create realistic and emotionally engaging narratives that highlight the transformative impact of dialogue on character development and relational dynamics. Relational conflicts have long been recognised as possible catalysts for character transformation, and complex narratives (Mittell, 2015) are particularly appropriate for a nuanced representation of characters’ psychological experiences throughout the process. This study draws upon extensive psychological and communication research on bridging differences compiled by Shigeoka et al. (2020) and UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center (2021). It reorganises this research into a horizontal timeline of behaviours, highlighting their practical application during the conflict resolution process. It then makes a cognitive poetics analysis of how these behaviours may be observed in a case study of relational conflict from the complex television series This is Us (NBC, 2016-2022). By observing the impact these behaviours have on the transformation of characters, the study explores how credible dialogic relational conflicts can lead to verisimilar character transformation on screen. In addition, it considers how an artistic interpretation of the science of bridging differences can contribute to our understanding of dialogue in practice.

The role of Igbo women in peace building during the Nigerian civil war: 1967 – 1970

The salient roles of Igbo women during the Nigeria Civil War were a catalyst in the survival of many dying and suffering children, and the broken and frustrated Biafra soldiers. The roles too were important in the internal security of Igboland in the absence of the men who were on the war front to defend the fatherland. The devastation caused by the war affected the culture and traditional institutions of the Igbo, which in effect, posed a double challenge to the women. Igbo women were not only victims of the war, they were challenged too with roles of acting as heads of their various families and bridge builders in communal and inter-communal relations. The women amid uncertainties embarked individually and communally on peace-building processes. A spectrum of interventions embarked by the women to bring the end to the war spread across the area of health, business, international relations and food security through their salient actions, which enhanced and promoted human security and created positive peace in the land. This paper examines these roles played by Igbo women during the war and how their efforts helped bring about peace and hope during, and after the war period. Looking back and the devastation of that time, the Igbo women today would abhor any wars in Nigeria. We employ the conflict transformation theory in this narrative and conclude that Igbo women are creative peace-builders.

Integrating climate mitigation and environmental peacebuilding objectives through sustainable land use systems: Theory of change and indicators

Land is an essential natural resource for climate mitigation and peace. It is commonly connected with sources of GHG emissions and with drivers of (violent) conflict. Therefore, climate mitigation and peacebuilding strategies are co-designing sustainable land-use systems (SLUS) with affected communities to integrate land-based climate mitigation and peacebuilding objectives. SLUS is practiced within agricultural production systems that meet sustainability principles (environmental, social, and economic). Nevertheless, there needs to be more program evaluation frameworks, especially measurable indicators, that integrate these two objectives (achieving peace and climate mitigation). This study aims to develop a methodology and criteria to evaluate the precise mechanisms of SLUS influencing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and drivers of conflict. A mix-method approach was used in two case study regions, Cesar and Caquetá, Colombia, where SLUS strategies where implemented. First, we conducted three workshops, two in-person and one virtual (n = 103). Secondly, we held semi-structured interviews (n = 115) to make an analysis of the conflict. Our research focused on the drivers of land-based emissions and conflict drivers targeted by the SLUS implementation. Lastly, through a household survey (n = 929), we illustrated the impacts of SLUS in peacebuilding at the farm level. Results show that SLUS, such as cocoa agroforestry, can contribute to climate change mitigation and deliver co-benefits in four core factors: (i) socio-economic inclusion by creating jobs and diversifying livelihoods, (ii) dialogue and conflict transformation by allowing negotiations around the participatory design of farms, including conservation agreements, (iii) natural resource governance, and (iv) cooperation by creating knowledge exchange and a community of practice.

Political Transformation of Social Conflicts in the Context of Global Political Risks and Threats (Theoretical View)

Relevance. The phenomena and processes observed in the social system in the modern objectively conditioned conditions of dynamization and politicization have a stable tendency to the formation and accumulation of transformational potential. In this sense, social conflicts at the present stage are often transformed into political conflicts within the framework of an unprecedentedly developing and increasingly complex socio-political space. Of particular research interest is the identification of key features and patterns of political transformation of social conflicts in the focus of global political risks and threats. It also seems appropriate to formulate specific practical measures of approximating specifics in the direction of managing the political and transformational potential of modern social conflicts.Purpose. The main purpose of this article is to present a theoretical overview of the transformation of social conflicts in the context of global political risks and threats.Objectives: formulation of global political risks and threats at the ideological-conceptual, activity-functional, structural and institutional, resource and interactive levels, identification of key features and patterns of political transformation of social conflicts.Methodology. The author mainly used the following group of methods in the process of writing the article: information analysis, content analysis, event analysis, sociological analysis.Results. Taking into account the stated research issues, it seems appropriate to formulate specific practical measures of approximating specifics in the direction of managing the political and transformational potential of modern social conflicts.Conclusion. Within the framework of the modern global socio-political reality, generating and reproducing a huge number of social and other conflicts, it is necessary to pay more attention to the phenomenology of social conflict as such, implying, firstly, a positive and naturalistic perception of the conflictogenic nature of political phenomena and processes, and secondly, the implementation of targeted monitoring of political and conflict dynamics, thirdly, the organization of discussions on open and verified platforms, and fourthly, improving the effectiveness of existing regulatory and legal regulations and formal procedures.

The Effect of National Culture on the Creation of Positive Emotions: A Study Involving a Selection of States in India

Having a broad range of emotions gives our lives color and texture, and perhaps makes them meaningful. Through the phenomenon of jumping from one emotion to another can be difficult to fathom at times. Emotional conflict can result in arising of a whole gamut of feelings and emotions; veering from love to fear, upset to joy, happiness to sadness and more is the virtual transformation of the internal emotional conflict (Fredrickson, et al., 2003). Positive emotions change the boundaries of the way that people perceive and operate within the world. They create the necessary space to allow for the blossoming of the individual (Fredrickson & Kahneman, 1993). The purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelationship between selected indexes of the national culture, and positive emotions. The sample group consisted of one hundred Indian expatriates living in the Kingdom of Bahrain and working in the healthcare sector. Four subgroups, each consisting of twenty-five people, represented the four States, from different parts of India. Although work has been done on comparing emotional indices of national culture, it seemed interesting and worthwhile to examine the variation within a nation state, clearly, the more aware we are of cultural influences, and their impact on emotional state, the easier it is to foster good relations, both on a personal level, and in the workplace. A research model examining the impact of cultural dimensions on positive emotions has been created, based on previous studies. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods have been used, in an attempt to achieve the objectives. A comparison of culture compass analysis between the four States has been conducted. The results have shown that there is a noticeable difference between them, in terms of the level of incidence of positive emotions.

Демократизация управления персоналом как фактор развития творческой активности работников

The basic approaches of analysis are identified, generalized definitions are developed, and the essence of the personnel management democratization process is clarified. Based on the authors' interviews of 12 expert managers (2022) the relationship between the democratization process of personnel management and the development of creative activity of employees is revealed. It is proved that democratization of management of the personnel is a process of introduction of democratic principles and norms in a control system of the personnel, formation of innovative culture, transfer of a part of traditional functions of management to direct structural divisions, social and labor groups, separate workers of organization. The authors propose to differentiate the objectives of democratization of management processes at the level of individual structural subdivisions, social professional groups of the organization: 1) implementation of the process of transferring management functions in relation to the set tactical work tasks; 2) ensuring relative social justice, optimization of professional adaptability; 3) motivation of rationalization proposals and innovative implementations; 4) formation of the mechanism of partnership interaction on the problems of creative innovations and rationalization proposals; 5) target design of educational, scientific, innovative self-management activities of professional teams. It was proved that management design of innovative organizational culture reflects not only the process of planned, purposeful formation of innovative values, norms, traditions and principles of both the organization as a whole and individual social professional groups, but also the achievement of democratic management transformation, regulation and resolution of labor conflicts, labor adaptation of organization members. In conditions of growing uncertainty of external and internal environment, managerial democracy should have specific manifestations in individual units and professional groups of the organisation.

INTERROGATING THE ASSUMPTIONS OF GENERAL SYSTEM THEORY INTHE 21ST CENTURY: OYO STATE GOVERNMENT-LABOUR LEADERS’ DISPUTE (2016-2019)

Conflict of interests over human needs has been a recurring decimal since the advent of mankind on the planet earth. The only viable option left for man is how to strike a balance in human relations without necessarily destabilizing the social setting. This study examined the strengths and weaknesses of General system theory in the dispute between Oyo State Government and Labour Unions over the management of 31 secondary schools in the state. The causative, as well as trigger factors, that led to the industrial dispute were also interrogated. The study is qualitative, and relied on secondary and Face-to-face interviews for data collection. Content analysis was adopted. It was discovered among others that: Religious Organizations (ROs), Ibadan District Council (IDC), Secondary School Associations (SSA), Traditional Rulers (TRs), and Parent Teachers’ Association (PTAs) were interested in the Public-Private Management proposal by the State government. The functional indispensability of General system theory was incompatible with the State-centric approach of the Oyo state government. The unpaid salary arrears of the teaching staff, civil servants, and the apparent lack of trust and sincerity of purpose at the latent and manifest stages of the conflict were the trigger factors in the dispute. The study concludes that, the unmet basic needs and aspirations amongst the stakeholders were the causative factors of the protracted dispute. It recommended that, parties in the dispute should have jettisoned their principled negotiation approach as the issues were not beyond conflict transformation strategies.

“The other side of diversity”: Students’ experiences of race, difference, and inequality in a Costa Rican international school

ABSTRACT This paper examines bids for a more critical global citizenship education, the desire to engage students’ lived experiences of power and inequality, from students in an international school in Costa Rica that embraces diversity and conflict transformation as core values. In the midst of a racial reckoning prompted by the Black Lives Matter movement, I show how students pushed back against post-racial multiculturalism, White saviorism, and ahistorical approaches to cultural diversity in their school. I argue that their experiences as racialized diaspora subjects led them to critique elements of global citizenship education that fail to acknowledge structural racism. While much of the literature on global citizenship education emphasizes the failure to engage primarily elite/White/Western students in critical discussions of race and structural inequality, this paper shows how some students, primarily racialized non-white students, sought to open these conversations based on their own experiences of difference.

Peace and Conflict Transformation Through the Clinical Legal Education Programme

Clinical Legal Education came to Nigeria, first, as a solution to remedy the effects of epileptic access to justice and, further, to develop law students’ professional skills through rendering free legal services to indigent members of society. It was not received into the Nigerian legal pedagogy without some level of resistance, however with consistent lobbying it was eventually incorporated. The Clinical Legal Education program began with just five pilot university law clinics to implement the components of Clinical Legal Education. Despite this relatively small number, the program was able to satisfy its immediate objectives, pending other universities that could not resist the need to benefit from the program inculcated it into their legal pedagogy. Consequently, Nigeria now has 21 active university law clinics rendering free legal services to indigent persons and teaching community members about their legal rights. Offering free legal services and educating community members about their legal rights are not the end of the benefits of Clinical Legal Education. There are many other benefits that are derived from the Clinical Legal Education program and in this paper, as way of just one example, I examine the ways in which clinical legal education is helping to curb communal violence.

Promoting Peace and Impunity? Amnesty Laws after War in El Salvador and beyond

Abstract Amnesty laws are a widespread practice in the transition from war to peace. They often aim at the transformation of violent conflict by making promises about exemptions from liability for war crimes. Critics argue that amnesties are in violation of international law and reproduce impunity in post-war societies, whereas supporters of amnesty laws focus on their peace-promoting features. Previous research has extensively looked into the second aspect, and found that amnesty laws can open the door to negotiations and a short-term termination of civil war. The question of impunity, however, has not been answered extensively. Applying a Historical Institutionalist framework, we assess the impact of the adoption of amnesty laws on societal impunity, defined as any person or group being exempt from punishment or free from the injurious consequences of an action. Case-study evidence from El Salvador shows that amnesty laws are reproducing existing power relations and thus inhibit profound reforms. With the help of amnesty laws, an institutional environment will be created that acts in the favor of involved parties for years, if not decades. We subsequently test these qualitative findings with a newly created dataset on post-war justice sector governance and reform across forty different post-war countries worldwide from 1990 to 2016, and with societal, police, and military impunity as dependent variables. Statistical evidence shows that amnesty laws significantly correlate with higher levels of impunity in a country. A peace agreement, or democracy at the end of war, reduces the risk of impunity even with amnesty laws present.

Nationalism as an Obstacle to Conflict Resolution and Peace Building Processes in Georgia

The article seeks to explore the impact of nationalism on Georgia’s ethno-territorial conflicts and its negative role in conflict transformation and peace building processes. By looking at fundamental differences and contradictions between Georgian, Abkhaz and Ossetian national projects, article claims that Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts were unavoidable. It also discusses all key arguments and counterarguments of conflicting parties, such as discrepancies in rethinking the history, demographic expansion, attempt of assimilation, linguistic politics, etc. When nationalism becomes key trigger of conflict and mistrust between the parties, the ground for external intervention is convenient to use existing situation and strengthen its influence in a country or region. In Georgian ethno-territorial conflicts, this destructive external power was Russian Federation. Hence, disagreement between Georgian, Abkhaz and Ossetian national projects as well as Russia’s destructive engagement and declaration of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, postpones conflict resolution and complicates peace building processes.