RESEARCH ON ETHNIC CONFLICT: APPROACHES TO PEACE

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RESEARCH ON ETHNIC CONFLICTAPPROACHES TOPEACE
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RECAP

• ISSUES
• Background
• Objectives
• Development
• Plans

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BACKGROUND

• POLITICAL REALITIES
• Ethnic conflict as source of human misery and
  political instability
• Great variation in types of conflict (sources of
  division internal v. international)
• Many stories of failure to resolve conflict, but
  some revealing stories of success

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BACKGROUND
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BACKGROUND

• SCIENTIFIC REALITIES
• Enormous volume of research within specific
  disciplines on roots of conflict and options for
  resolution
• Big cross-disciplinary and specialist literature
• BUT tendency towards isolation on the part of
  disciplines (and perhaps regions)

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OBJECTIVES

• FORMALLY DEFINED BY ISSC
• (1) to take stock of existing research within and
  across disciplines on the origins of ethnic
  conflict and on the range of approaches that are
  available to eliminate it, to reduce it in
  intensity or at least to mitigate its effects
• (2) to identify the principal gaps in current
  research in the area of ethnic conflict and
  conflict resolution

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OBJECTIVES

• (continued)
• (3) to encourage further research in those areas
  in which obvious gaps have been identified and
• (4) to ensure that research findings in the area
  of ethnic conflict and its resolution are readily
  available within the public policy sector, at the
  level both of national governments and
  international bodies.

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OBJECTIVES

• BROAD STRATEGY
• Work with existing ISSC member associations and
  in particular with their relevant research
  committees
• Establish free-standing resources, including web
  page, to act as umbrella in linking to research
  resouces in the area

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DEVELOPMENT

• WEB PAGE
• Established 2006 (see www.issc-recap.org)
• Aims to link to (1) organisations, (2) resources,
  (3) information agencies and clearing houses
• Plans for expansion

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DEVELOPMENT

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DEVELOPMENT

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PLANS

• WEB
• Further development within existing framework
  (expansion of links)
• Further liaison with ISSC member associations
• Expanded resource guide

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PLANS

• INTERNATIONAL ROUND TABLE
• Provisional theme Recent advances in research
  on ethnic conflict resolution
• Practical arrangements planned for University
  College Dublin, 11-12 September 2008
  (provisional)
• Participants specialists from Europe and
  elsewhere selected in conjunction with ISSC
  member associations

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PLANS

• BOOK
• Edited volume, based on papers presented at round
  table
• Possible commissioning of additional
  contributions
• Publication late 2009 (target)