Catherine Morris
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- Bock, Joseph G. "Towards Participatory Communal Appraisal." Community Development Journal (annotation by Reina Neufeldt)
- Bush, Kenneth. A Measure of Peace: Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) of Development Projects in Conflict Zones (annotation by Reina Neufeldt)
- Farrow, Trevor C. W. "Negotiation, Mediation, Globalization Protests and Police." Queen's Law Journal (annotation by Kim Ferris)
- Fisher, Roger., Ury, William., & Patton, Bruce. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (annotation by Yvette Cowan)
- Lederach, John Paul. The Little Book of Conflict Transformation. (annotation by Yvette Cowan)
Bock, Joseph G. "Towards Participatory Communal Appraisal." Community Development Journal 36 (2)(April 2001): 146-153.
Annotation by Reina Neufeldt, Peacebuilding Technical Advisor, Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore, MD.
This article outlines reasons why a participatory approach to evaluation is preferable to an assessment approach (using the "Social Harmony Impact Assessment Tool") in development programs designed to address communal tension. Assessment is problematic because it emphasizes screening out rather than listening to participants. Three advantages of the participatory approach are: 1) The result is an organic assessment of problems and needs; 2) Target communities are more likely to have ownership; 3) Project monitoring becomes a matter of accountability to the target group not merely the donor. Suggestions to make the PRA more applicable to conflict situations (based on Lederach and Anderson): 1) Include views of multiple sides (defenders, aggressors) in interviews; 2) Identify identity group clusters in community mapping; 3) Produce a flow diagram of the escalation of communal tension into violence; 4) Use communally balanced teams when conducting field research; 5) Prepare a seas onal calendar, include religious festivals, and chart relative to outbreaks of violence; 6) Identify options for conflict transformation (identify who will benefit materially and symbolically; did this project help cultivate belonging amongst disparate groups, etc.); 7) Identify unintended consequences for exacerbating tensions.
Bush, Kenneth. A Measure of Peace: Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) of Development Projects in Conflict Zones. Working Paper No. 1. Ottawa, ON: The International Development Research Centre, 1998.
Annotation by Reina Neufeldt, Peacebuilding Technical Advisor, Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore, MD.
Bush argues that peacebuilding should not be regarded as a specific activity, but rather an impact on the peace and conflict environment of development projects. He presents the Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PCIA) tool, which is designed to anticipate, monitor and evaluate impacts of proposed and completed development projects for structures and processes which strengthen prospects for peaceful coexistence and decrease likelihood of outbreak, recurrence or continuation of violent conflict. Bush suggests PCIA is only appropriate for "at risk" locations and outlines some ways to identify those areas. He identifies four Pre-project considerations: location, timing, political context, and other salient factors affecting the impact of the conflict on the project. He then identifies three broad categories of questions to assess environmental factors (risk assessment), project-specific considerations and interaction between the two, which can become a baseline for future refer ence. Environmental factors focus on predictability of environment, infrastructure conditions, opportunity structure. Project-specific considerations focus on resources, comparative advantage, project "tolerance level," and suitable personnel availability. Correspondence between the environment and proposed project include focus on level of political support for project, trust of authorities (gatekeepers), trust, support and participation of community, sustainability. Bush suggests impacts should be understood as a scale, from positive to negative. Sources for information on impact include: situation reports, chronologies of conflict, local and international human rights reports, media reports, academic studies, and especially lived experiences of those in conflict zones. Bush argues that indicators should be determined by the users in a participatory process and involve multiple stakeholders. Indicators may focus on security, psychological, social, political and judicial dimensio ns. Post-project impact may be assessed in a number of areas. He identifies 5 main areas of potential impact: 1) institutional capacity to manage/resolve violent conflict and build peace; 2) military and human security; 3) political structures and processes; 4) economic structures and processes; 5) social reconstruction and empowerment.
Farrow, Trevor C. W. "Negotiation, Mediation, Globalization Protests and Police: Right Processes; Wrong System, Issues, Parties and Time." Queen's Law Journal 28 (2003): 665-703.
Annotation by Kim Farris in "Annotated Literary Review." Annex 13 in White Paper: The Case for a Civilian Peace Service Canada, by T. Evelyn Voigt, and Gordon Breedyk. Ottawa: Civilian Peace Service Canada, January 2008.
In dealing with anti-globalization protesters, police forces in Canada and the United States are experimenting with a new proactive strategy of negotiation and mediation. This strategy addresses two key objectives: protecting the safety of police, protesters, meeting delegates and the public, and facilitating lawful dissent. It has been credited, most recently at the 2002 G8 Summit in Alberta, with reducing violence on the part of protesters. However, in the author's view, an emphasis on dialogue between police and protesters raises several concerns. First, it tends to involve protestors within the political system that they are trying to change from the outside, thus limiting their ability to bring about such change. Second, focusing the dialogue on issues of safety and the acceptable level of dissent draws attention away from the fundamental issues that concern the protesters, such as fair trade, workers' rights, the environment and debt relief. Third, the dialogue is with the police, rather than with the government and corporate representatives whom the protesters are trying to reach. Fourth, at this point in the history of the anti-globalization movement, police--protester negotiations may dampen the dissent and debate that are needed to bring real institutional change.
Fisher, Roger., Ury, William., & Patton, Bruce. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In 2nd ed. New York: Penguin, 1991
Annotation by Yvette Cowan
Getting to Yes seeks to define negotiation as a continual activity that each individual manages personally and professionally, and when there are seemingly incompatible demands, do not have to end in 'win-lose' circumstance. Roger Fisher and William Ury are, at the time of writing, co-founders and directors of the Harvard Negotiation Project. Bruce Patton, a new contributor to the second edition of Getting to Yes, is the deputy Director of Harvard Negotiation Project. The book offers readers a 'how to' manual on creating, and participation in, a process of principle-centered negotiations. The authors assert the necessity of "separat[ing] the people from the problem" (p. 17) in order to enable the negotiator to focus on identifying the common and different interests of each party before creatively seeking to meeting those interests. The authors successfully demonstrate that utilizing a 'winning' approach to negotiations can limit opportunities to "invent[ing] options for mutual gain" (p. 56) that may, otherwise be overlooked. Fisher, Ury and Patton also respond to questions readers may have about how to handle such negotiation challenges as asymmetry (p. 97), stalled talks (p. 107), and "dirty tricks" (p. 129).
Lederach, John Paul. The Little Book of Conflict Transformation. Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2003
Annotation by Yvette Cowan
In The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, Dr. Lederach differentiates conflict transformation from conflict resolution and conflict management. According to Dr. Lederach, "resolution is content-centered" (p. 30), whereas, "[t]ransformation... includes the concern for content, but centers its attention on the context of relationship patterns" (p. 30). Conflict transformation is a means of addressing the "deep-rooted cycles of conflict episodes that have created destructive and violent patterns" (p.69). Further, conflict transformation offers a practitioner an analytical framework that directs examination of conflict beyond an "episode" (the presenting problem) to search for the "epicenter" (source of the presenting problem). He guides the practitioner in developing his or her capacity in utilizing the transformational approach. His framework includes instructive tools such as conflict mapping and developing sustainable plans to manage short- and long-terms needs. D r. Lederach does not see the elimination of conflict as possible or desirable. He deems it essential to the flourishing of human social interaction. The overall aim of Dr Lederach's transformational approach to conflict is to encourage analysts' and practitioners' to work toward the ultimate human goal of dynamic and complex societies without violence: peace.
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Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding: A Selected Bibliography (formerly Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding: A Selected Bibliography). Copyright 1997-2023 Catherine Morris. All rights reserved.
