About the Book
Despite considerable progress in research and practice in the constructive transformation of intractable conflicts beginning in the 1970s, many terribly destructive conflicts have recently erupted. New circumstances have emerged that have resulted in regressions.
The contributions in this book examine many of the new challenges and obstacles to the transformation of intractable conflicts. It also offers an array of new and promising opportunities for constructive transformations. The book brings together analyses of U.S.-based conflicts with those from many regions of the world. International, intra-state, and local conflicts are explored, along with those that have been violent and non-violent. The diversity in disciplines among the authors provides a wide range of theoretical approaches to explaining how a variety of intractable conflicts can be transformed.
Case studies of local, national, and transnational conflicts serve to illustrate this new landscape. These analyses are complemented by conceptual discussions relating to new conflict systems, actors, dynamics and strategies. Policy implications of findings are also presented.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction, Galia Golan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Louis Kriesberg, Syracuse University
2.Gendered Perspective on Intractable Conflicts and Power Sharing, Ayelet Harel-Shalev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
3. Mapping and Monitoring Global Insecurity and the Global Illicit Economy: The Effects of Intractable Conflicts, Margaret Hermann, Syracuse University
4. Unrecognized States: Theory, Cases, and Policy Implications, Kristy Buzard, Syracuse University; Benjamin A.T. Graham, University of Southern California; Ben Horne
5. Transformation of Armed Conflict: Lessons from the Arab-Israeli Conflict , Galia Golan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
6. Dynamics Contexts of Conflict: Complicated Actors and Settings in Northern Ireland , Ronit Berger, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel
7. Social Media Use and Fear Levels after the Paris 2015 Attacks: A Comparative Study, Bernard Enjolras, Institute for Social Research in Oslo, Norway; Shana Kushner Gadarian, Syracuse Uni
About the Author :
Miriam F. Elman is associate professor of political science and the Inaugural Robert D. McClure Professor of Teaching Excellence at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University where she also serves as a research director at the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC). Elman received her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and her B.A. in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the editor and co-editor of five books, including most recently Democracy and Conflict Resolution: the Dilemmas of Israel’s Peacemaking and Jerusalem: Conflict and Cooperation in a Contested City. In addition to her books, she is also the author and co-author of over 65 journal articles, book chapters and reports on topics related to international and national security, the nexus between religion, politics and conflict resolution, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Elman’s research has been supported by many government agencies and private foundations, including the US Department of Education, Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict (CSRC), and Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (BCSIA), where she was an International Security Fellow.
Catherine Gerard serves as Director of the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC), Associate Director of Executive Education Programs, and Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. In her role as Director of PARCC, she oversees an internationally known center for theory-building and practice in conflict analysis and resolution. Her focus is research, education, and practice of managers and students in the skills of collaborative leadership and change. She is co-editor of Pushing the Boundaries: New Frontiers in Conflict Resolution and Collaboration (2009) and co-author of “The Contribution of Leadership to the Movement from Violence to Incorporation” in the book, Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding (2009). As Associate Director of Executive Education, she oversees the Executive degree programs and develops and instructs executive education programs for domestic and international customers.
Galia Golan is Darwin Professor Emerita of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and former chair of the Political Science Department. She was also Chair, Program in Diplomacy and Conflict Studies, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. She has published 10 books, most recently Israeli Peacemaking Since 1967: Factors for the Breakthroughs and Failures, (Routledge), now co-editing with Gilead Sher a volume Israeli Spoilers in Israeli-Arab Peacemaking. The recipient of the Israel Political Science Association 2007 Award for Lifetime Contribution, the International Studies Association Distinguished Scholar Award in Peace Studies 2016, and the 1995 New Israel Fund Women in Leadership Award, Dr. Golan was a leading scholar on Soviet foreign policy, authoring numerous books and articles on Soviet policy in the Middle East.
Louis Kriesberg is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies, and founding director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (PARC), all at Syracuse University. His most recent books are: the 5th edition of Constructive Conflicts, co-authored with Bruce W. Dayton, published in 2017, Perspectives on Waging Conflicts Constructively: Concepts, Cases and Practice, Co-edited with Bruce Dayton. 2017;. Louis Kriesberg: Pioneer in Peace and Constructive Conflict Resolution Studies. Springer, 2016; Realizing Peace: A Constructive Conflict Approach, published by Oxford University Press, in 2015; and Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding: Moving from Violence to Sustainable Peace (co-ed. with Bruce Dayton, 2009). Among earlier books are: International Conflict Resolution (1992), Timing the De-Escalation of International Conflicts (co-ed., 1991; and Intractable Conflicts and Their Transformation (co-ed., 1989).
Review :
This collection is timely in light of the myriad of unmanageable, longstanding conflicts that occupy global headlines. It focuses on why conflicts persist and magnify (with destructive consequences) despite efforts at resolution. The answer is in part because the nature of conflict is shifting as a result of new circumstances and changes that unfold at the local, national, and international level. Specifically, contributors identify four new, interacting developments that tend to exacerbate conflict but at the same time can be used to work toward a more constructive solution. The essays are divided into four parts, each dedicated to one of these interacting developments: new actors, new dynamics, new strategies, and new frameworks. Each part includes four or five case studies that present different aspects of the new development. The case studies are rich in detail and examine conflict at various levels. The most significant contribution this volume makes to the literature on conflict resolution is its interdisciplinary approach. As the case studies demonstrate, lessons can be extracted from both successful and failed efforts to resolve conflict. The four developments highlighted may show the way to a more constructive approach to conflict resolution. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
The editors have done a good job of fitting the chapters into a coherent theme. . . the book communicates a relatively optimistic outlook.
This volume examines the most critical issue facing humanity—our seemingly complete inability to constructively transform the many intractable conflicts that are devastating countries across the globe.Though many argue that climate change is the world's biggest problem, we won't be able to "solve" climate change (or inequality, or immigration, or anything else) unless we transform the conflicts that drive it. By examining new actors, dynamics, strategies, and frameworks, this volume examines the many old and new sources of current difficulties, as well as promising new approaches for overcoming these challenges.
Intractable conflicts are often considered too hard to resolve. This book, however, disagrees and defines a number of paths that could transform these stubborn conflagrations and set them on the road to resolution. Drawing on a wide variety of cases and highlighting different disciplinary approaches, this volume delves deeply into the topic and is highly recommended for students and experts alike.
In this ground-breaking contribution to peace and conflict studies, Galia Golan and Louis Kriesberg bring together cutting-edge scholarship on intractable conflicts and their transformation. Sections focus on new actors, new dynamics, new strategies, and new frameworks. The contributors to this book provide evidence-based scholarship that deepens understandings of conflict transformation and offer more nuanced or even countervailing perspectives on central ideas in the field. A particularly important contribution is the exploration of the linkages between the nature of conflict resolution processes and just outcomes for the parties. This is a must-read for scholars, practitioners, and policy makers, and for leaders in nongovernmental and governmental organizations internationally who are seeking to address complex and longstanding social conflicts and to promote human rights and social justice in a changing global context.
