The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution
OJPCR: The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution is a resource for students, teachers and practitioners in fields relating to the reduction and elimination of destructive conflict. It is a free, yet valuable, source of information to aid anyone trying to work toward a less violent and more cooperative world.
Issue 5.1
Experience
From Peacekeeping to Peacebuilding
From Violence to Peace: Terrorism and Human Rights in Sri Lanka
Personal Empowerment as the Missing Ingredient for a Resolution of the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Creating a More Peaceful Classroom Community by Assessing Student Participation and Process
Analysis
To Protect Democracy (Not Practice It): Explanations of Dyadic Democratic Intervention (DDI)
Why did the Colombia Peace Process Fail?
Truth and Reconciliation: The Road Not Taken in Namibia
Kant's Perpetual Peace: A New Look at this Centuries-Old Quest
The Jewish Group: Highlighting the Culture Problem in Nation-States
How Can I Teach Peace When the Book Only Covers War?
Cooperation in Pluralistic Societies: An Analytic Mathematical Approach
Publications of Interest
Books
Conflict Resolution | Ethnic Conflict | History | International Relations/Diplomacy | Reconciliation | General
Ethnic Conflict
| Keeping the Peace: Lasting
Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts By Daniel L. Byman. 2002. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press. 280 pp with index. Paperback $23.95 There is no shortage of books on ethnic conflict, but the vast majority of those that provide guidance in the reduction and elimination of ethnic conflicts are focused on the efforts of third parties. Daniel Byman takes a different approach. In addition to mapping a theory of ethnic conflicts, he describes governmental policies that can help limit ethic conflict within countries. Third party intervention is considered in only one chapter, and Byman's confidence in it is low. Byman proposes five useful strategies for managing ethnic tensions, coercion, cooption, changing group identities, power-sharing systems, and partitioning states. Byman sees a need for coercive policies in order to allow for the creation of cooperation. While none of these is likely to be successful alone, a government must carefully craft a policy that incorporates all of these in order to avoid hostilities.  Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War By Stuart J. Kaufman. 2001. New York, Cornell University Press. 262 pp with index. This book has already been adopted for a number of classes in conflict and conflict resolution, so suffice it to say that Kaufman's analysis of symbolic politics in the strong answer to those who argue ethnic conflict is the result of "ancient hatreds." Through the cases of Caucasus, Georgia, Moldova, and Yugoslavia, Kaufman illustrates his contention that ethnic conflicts are driven by actors acting through symbolic choice, instead of rational choice. In addition to this contribution to conflict theory, this book also examines the implications of a symbolic approach for conflict resolution. |
Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict:
Revised Edition Edited by Michael E. Brown, Owen R. Coté, Jr, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steben E. Miller. 2001. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press. 491 pp including index. Paperback $27.95. Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict is a collection of articles from the journal International Security. Although this single-journal focus could limit the variety and scope of many anthologies, this book covers a broad range of issues related to ethnic conflict from a variety of perspectives. The book is divided into sections examining theoretical issues, options for resolution or mitigation of these conflicts, and the obstacles such efforts will face.  The Wars Within: Peoples and States in Conflict By Robin M. Williams. 2003. Ithaca, Cornell University Press. 336 pages. Cloth, $37.50 The Wars Within is the summation of over 50 years of Robin William's work on the sociology of conflict. It provided a step-by-step description of the process by which simple group behaviors become grievances, then mobilization, then violence. Williams is convinced that under the superficial complexity of ethnic conflict lies a common system that can be understood. Based on this understanding, he makes a number of suggestions for conflict resolution. There is little new in the chapter describing specific actions - arms control, preventative diplomacy, power sharing - but in the chapter that follows, Williams works through the more general application of his approach for a conflict resolution effort, is an excellent example of the melding of conflict theory and conflict resolution. |
The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution is published by the Tabula Rasa Institute.