Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action

by Simon Fisher

Overview

Conflict, as distinct from violence, lies at the heart of all social and political change. It is conflict that is often a sign and mechanism for change, it has many positive characteristics, which we can use to address direct, cultural and structural violence. In order to thrive, peaceful societies need to be able to manage a degree of conflict skilfully.

Working with Conflict embodies and reflects the rich diversity of over 300 peace practitioners from some 70 countries. Pooling their varied experiences across a wide variety of themes - poverty, war, the rise of surveillance and extremism, climate change and environmental degradation, gender and conflict, as well as security cooperation and international relations - Working with Conflict is an accessible practical resource, for both individuals and organisations working and researching working in conflict-prone and unstable parts of the world. Easy to use, including helpful visual materials, it provides a range of practical tools - processes, ideas, techniques - for tackling conflict, as well as providing links to other key conflict-related and peace-building resources, including organisations, publications and websites.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781913441388
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/29/2020
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Simon Fisher is an activist, facilitator, trainer, educator and writer, and has worked with organisations in over 40 countries, supporting many initiatives for dialogue and change.

Vesna Matovic is an experienced peacebuilding and conflict transformation specialist with more than 20 years' experience as a consultant, facilitator, mediator, analyst and trainer on conflict and peace issues.

Bridget Walker's background is in international development, largely in the NGO sector, including Oxfam GB and Responding to Conflict.

Dylan Mathews is the CEO of Peace Direct and has worked for a range of UK based international development and humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, Landmine Action, the British Red Cross and Oxford Research Group.
Simon Fisher is an activist, facilitator, trainer, educator and writer, and has worked with organisations in over 40 countries, supporting many initiatives for dialogue and change. After directing a global education project, he was Oxfam Representative in DRC before co-founding Responding to Conflict in 1991. Out of this experience he co-authored Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action (Zed, 2000), the precursor of this book.

Vesna Matovic is an experienced peacebuilding and conflict transformation specialist with more than 20 years' experience as a consultant, facilitator, mediator, analyst and trainer on conflict and peace issues. She works with International Alert, leading Peacebuilding Training and Learning programmes in conflict analysis, conflict sensitivity, dialogue and mediation.

Bridget Walker's background is in international development, largely in the NGO sector, including Oxfam GB and Responding to Conflict. Her work has taken her to many countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Southern Caucasus and Former Yugoslavia. From 2005 to 2012 she served on the Board of Christian Aid, and is currently a member of the Advisory Group of Concordis International.

Dylan Mathews is the CEO of Peace Direct and has worked for a range of UK based international development and humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, Landmine Action, the British Red Cross and Oxford Research Group.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface
Part I: Analysis
1. Understanding Conflict - Towards a Conceptual Framework

Making sense of conflict
Conflict and Violence are different things
Causes of conflict
Addressing conflicts
Conflicts: To manage, resolve or transform?
Theories about different approaches to intervention in conflict
Violence is more than behaviour
Attitudes and Values in relation to violence
Violence and Nonviolence as ways of bringing about change
Peace as a process
How is it best to start?

2. Tools for Conflict Analysis

What is conflict analysis?
Stages
Timeline
Mapping
Stages
Timeline
Mapping
ABC Triangle
The Onion: Needs, Interests and Positions
The Conflict Tree
Force-Field Analysis
Pillars
Pyramid: Three-level Triangle

3. Critical Issues
Power
Culture
Identity
Gender
Rights

Part II: Strategy
4. Building Strategies to Address Conflict
Visions: Building and Sharing
Multi-level Triangles
Mapping for Entry Points
The Grid: Ideas for Work on Conflict
The Wheel: Integration of Work to Build Sustainable Peace
Aid and Conflict
Impact Mapping: Tracing the Impact of Aid and Development Programmes on
Conflict
The Strategy Circle

5. Influencing Policy: Bringing Your Own Organization with You
The Values Tree
Spectrum of Strategic Options
Checklist for Programming
Assessing Organizational Capacity
The Radar Chart
Helping Individuals to Change

Part III: Action
6. Intervening Directly in Conflict
Nonviolence as an Approach to Conflict Intervention
Preparing for Intervention
Awareness-raising and Mobilization for Change
Prevention
Maintaining a Presence
Enabling a Settlement

7. Addressing the Consequences
Post-war Reconstruction: Combining Physical and Social Aspects
Psychological Reconstruction: Helping Individuals to Deal with the Past
Social Reconstruction: Building Relationships

8. Working on the Social Fabric
Education for Peace and Justice
Participation of People in Decision-making
Good Governance

Part IV: Learning
9. Evaluation
Evaluating Working with Conflict
The Evaluation Wheel
Impact Assessment
Indicators
Key Issues in Evaluation

10. And Find Out More?
Organizations
Resources

Appendices

Glossary

Index

Editorial Reviews

Front-line practitioners working with Responding to Conflict, a British-based non-profit offering courses and advice to peace workers worldwide, synthesize their own experience and that of other peace workers to provide a systematic program for people who work in areas affected by conflict and violence. Covering analysis, strategy, action, and learning, they describe processes, ideas, visual aids, and techniques for tackling conflict. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Until now, it has been impossible to find a book that synthesized current approaches to understanding and dealing with conflict. Working With Conflict has undertaken this monumental task - and has produced a book that will be extraordinarily useful for both practitioners and policy makers alike. Developed in tandem with people who are working at the heart of many conflicts around the world, and displaying much of the wisdom gleaned from their practice, the book provides a unique resource. An invaluable and timely reference book for all those working in the field of conflict.” —Mari Fitzduff, Director of INCORE (the Initiative on Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity in Northern Ireland)

From the Publisher