TURNING THE TIDE: a new approach to conflict resolution.

AuthorGreener, Peter

Peter Greener and Bethan Greener-Barcham report on a recent Auckland University, of Technology/British Council initiative held in Auckland.

It has often been said that we live in `uncertain' times. The ending of the Cold War and its bi-polar structure has given rise to numerous changes in the world in which we live. The way in which security in general, and conflict and its resolution in particular, are both conceptualised and actualised has constituted one of these major changes. In recent years there has been a proliferation of books, articles, seminars and workshops concerned with the growth phenomenon that is `conflict resolution'.

The undertaking of another such workshop/conference in Auckland is perhaps, therefore, unsurprising given the temper of the times. Yet this particular forum sought to undertake an unusual task. When civil conflict erupts at ethnic and religious pressure points, concerned organisations struggle to understand, let alone overcome, the conflict and tension that has caused it. As called for in recent years by various international relations and security studies theorists, `Turning the Tide' was a workshop/conference which set out to achieve an amalgam of theory and practice, of international/domestic merging which stressed the importance of efforts to resolve all forms of conflict. `Turning the Tide' comprised a closed three-day workshop and a two-day public conference aimed at opening up new avenues for cross-discipline, cross-sectoral and cross-institutional approaches to the resolution of conflict in all of its numerous guises.

Since the reformulation of what constitutes `security' began in earnest with the ending of the Cold War, numerous theorists and analysts have called for theorising to be put into action, for the concept of security to be broadened and for disciplinary lines to be erased so that the greatest number of options for the achievement of security at all levels are able to be realised.(1) These foci have been underscored not only by the emergence of rising numbers of intra-state conflicts, replacing a previous emphasis on the possibilities for inter-state conflict, but also by an awareness of the inter-relatedness and importance of all forms of conflict and violence at both domestic and international levels. Finally, then, the urgency and importance of conflict resolution in the domestic sphere has begun to be recognised by those previously preoccupied solely with conflict at the international level.

The urgency and status previously accorded only to international developments has thus begun to be extended to other forms of conflict that are just as worthy of the attention of both academia and the state. It has, therefore, been realised that both a cross-discipline and cross-sectoral approach to conflict resolution might yield up new methods and guidelines for dealing with conflict and for creating comprehensive security, though many of the issues they face remain the same.

Dominant questions

Questions about intervention, mediation and resolution currently dominate much of the discourse about conflict. Where, when and what kind of intervention or mediation is called for? How is it to be carried out? By whom? Why? Is it appropriate? What can be done after the immediate conflict has ceased? How is a full resolution of the conflict to be achieved? These are old questions which have been given a new lease of life by a growing willingness to embrace alternative methods for approaching the resolution of conflict. `Turning the Tide: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution' represented such a willingness in allowing a space for the meeting and mixing of people from varied backgrounds who may have had only one thing in common: an interest in the resolution of conflict.

From 20 to 24 November the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and the British Council co-hosted `Turning the Tide', which consisted of two separate events. The first was a three-day workshop for `young leaders' in the area of conflict resolution. Drawn from throughout New Zealand, twenty young people were nominated by a wide range of organisations, selected for their leadership potential and involvement in the field.(2) They were invited to...

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