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Ali
Saleem
Ali
Saleem is Country Director Pakistan at SFCG. Ali has been engaged
in the ongoing peace process and post-conflict transition in Nepal
for the last seven years. His research focuses on issues of historically
marginalized groups and their implications to the peace process.
Before that, he was involved in projects on the rule of law and
human rights with the Asian Human Rights Commission and Asian
Legal Resource Center. He has also worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
China, Cambodia, Thailand, East Timor, and southern Asia with
the United Nations and civil society groups in various capacities.
Ali holds an MA in Post War Reconstruction and Development Studies
from the University of York, UK.
E. Mail: asaleem@sfcg.org
Arshi Saleem Hashmi
Ms.
Arshi Saleem Hashmi specializes in Religion and Politics of Violent
Conflicts, Conflict Resolution and Terrorism. She has done MA
in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, from the School
of International Service (SIS), The American University in Washington
DC; she has also studied Conflict Management at SAIS Johns Hopkins
University and currently doing PhD in International Relations
at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. Arshi Hashmi is working
as Senior Research Analyst at the Institute of Regional Studies,
Islamabad, and as visiting Assistant Professor at the National
Defense University (NDU). She has also been teaching at the National
Institute of Pakistan Studies, (NIPS) and Department of Defense
and Strategic Studies Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. She
has been guest lecturer to Staff colleges of the armed forces,
Defense Services Intelligence Academy and preliminary briefings
to Pakistani Defense Attaches posted to various places. Prior
to her work at Institute of Regional Studies, Ms. Arshi has worked
as a researcher in Washington DC with the United States Institute
of Peace (USIP), Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the
Middle East Institute in the US. Arshi has also taught at Department
of International Relations, University of Karachi for four years
from 1999-2002. Arshi’s research papers are published in
national and international journals and abstracted in International
Political Science Abstract (Paris). Arshi Hashmi was awarded Kodikara
Research Award 2000-2001 from the Regional Center for Strategic
Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Ford Foundation
that resulted in a book titled Conflict Transformation from Ethnic
Movement to Terrorist Movement. She has also been awarded Dean’s
merit Award from the School of International Service (SIS) The
American University (AU) in Washington DC.
E. Mail: arsh_zenith@hotmail.com
Abstract:
Bridging the Gap in Theory and Practice of
Conflict Transformation
Conflict
transformation refers to the process of moving from conflict-habituated
systems to peace systems. This process is distinguished from the
more common term of conflict resolution because of its focus on
systems change. Social conflicts that are deep-rooted or intractable
get these names because the conflict has created patterns that
have become part of the social system. With the social system
as the unit of analysis, the term “resolution” becomes
less appropriate. Transforming deep-rooted conflicts is only partly
about “resolving” the issues of the conflict –
the central issue is systemic change or transformation. As Notter
and Diamond suggest that conflict cannot be “resolved,”
but they can be transformed, thus we use the term conflict transformation.
John Paul Lederach introduces the field of Conflict Transformation
as one that “integrates the emotional and psychological
with the substantive concerns of people in conflict, For a conflict
transformation proponent such as Lederach, bridging the gap between
theory and practice require a long term transformative process
in which hostile relations are modified by education, advocacy
(nonviolent activism), and mediation. On the other hand, Clements
provides a systemic approach, maintaining that transformation
occurs when “violent conflict ceases and/or is expressed
in nonviolent ways and when the original structural sources (economic,
social, political, military, and cultural) of the conflict have
been changed.” The main obstacle to realization of Conflict
Transformation goal from theory to practice is that the conflict
behaviors of disputing parties go through certain incremental
transformations and in the process conflicts are either escalated
or deescalated. Such transformational changes in the parties and
the nature of the conflict appear to be ‘micro’ transformations,
while changes in the socio-political system within which the conflict
is embedded connote ‘macro’ transformations. In order
to understand what connects theory to practice in the field of
Conflict Transformation, Augsburger claims that conflict transformation,
as opposed to conflict management or conflict resolution, occurs
when there is a metamorphosis, or at least considerable change,
in one of three different elements, which includes, transformation
of attitudes by changing and redirecting negative perceptions,
secondly, it transforms behavior, and lastly, transforms the conflict
itself by seeking to discover, define, and remove incompatibilities
between the parties.
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