Dialogue/transition: resources

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: "...A Diplomat?s Handbook for Democracy Development Support is meant to present a wide variety of case studies documenting and explaining specific country experiences. It also identifies creative, human, and material resources available to Missions, the ways in which Missions and diplomats have supported requests in the past, and describes how such support has been applied. A review of these experiences bears out the validity of our belief in our inter-dependence. It will hopefully also provide practitioners with encouragement, counsel, and a greater capacity to support democrats everywhere.
Source/publisher: Community of Democracies, Council for a Community of Democracies
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Albert Einstein Institution is a nonprofit organization advancing the study and use of strategic nonviolent action in conflicts throughout the world. We are committed to the defense of freedom, democracy, and the reduction of political violence through the use of nonviolent action. Our goals are to understand the dynamics of nonviolent action in conflicts, to explore its policy potential, and to communicate this through print and other media, translations, conferences, consultations, and workshops."... Downloadable books on this site include: There Are Realistic Alternatives by Gene Sharp: "There Are Realistic Alternatives is a short, serious introduction to nonviolent struggle, its applications, and strategic thinking. Based on pragmatic arguments, this piece presents nonviolent struggle as a realistic alternative to war and other violence in acute conflicts. It also contains a glossary of important terms and recommendations for further reading." 54 pp. 2003" Languages available: English, Arabic ....198 Methods of Nonviolent Action" "Practitioners of nonviolent struggle have an entire arsenal of "nonviolent weapons" at their disposal. Listed are 198 of them, classified into three broad categories: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and nonviolent intervention." Languages available: English....On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking About the Fundamentals by Robert Helvey: "On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict delves into the question of how to build a strategy for nonviolent struggle. Covering a variety of topics--such as ways to identify a movement?s objectives, preparing a strategic estimate for a nonviolent struggle, and operational planning considerations--this publication contains insights on the similarities between military and nonviolent strategy. It represents a major new contribution to this field of study. Additional topics covered in the book include psychological operations and propaganda, contaminants that may affect the efficiency of a nonviolent movement, and providing consultations and training for members of movements and organizations".... From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp: "From Dictatorship to Democracy is a serious introduction to the use of nonviolent action to topple dictatorships. Originally published in 1993 in Thailand for distribution among Burmese dissidents, this booklet has since been translated into seventeen different languages and spread worldwide.". 88 pp. 2003....The Anti-Coup by Gene Sharp and Bruce Jenkins: As coups are one of the primary ways through which dictatorships are installed, this piece details measures that civilians, civil society, and governments can take to prevent and block coups d??tat and executive usurpations. It also contains specific legislative steps and other measures that governments and non-governmental institutions can follow to prepare for anti-coup resistance". 64 pp. 2003....The Role of Power in Nonviolent Struggle by Gene Sharp: "Nonviolent action . . . is capable of wielding great power even against ruthless rulers and military regimes," writes Sharp, "because it attacks the most vulnerable characteristic of all hierarchical institutions and governments: dependence on the governed." Abstracted from Sharp?s classic three-volume work, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, this monograph summarizes the core concepts behind the technique of nonviolent struggle." 19 pp. 1990, 1994.Languages available: English, Arabic, Burmese, Russian, Spanish....National Security Through Civilian-based Defense by Gene Sharp" "This publication offers an introduction to civilian-based defense. It also identifies significant research areas and policy studies that are relevant to advancing the field." 93 pp. 1985....Toward Research and Theory Building in the Study of Nonviolent Action by Ronald McCarthy and Christopher Kruegler: "The authors offer their thoughts about developing theory and conducting research in the emerging field of nonviolent action." 35 pp. 1993 .
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
Date of entry/update: 2007-06-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English and 20 other languages
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Description: Studies and other documents on Burma/Myanmar as well as on peace and conflict in other countries in SE Asia
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
Date of entry/update: 2012-10-22
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: An International Service for Conflict Prevention and Resolution "CR?s organisational objective is to provide practical and sustained assistance to people and groups in areas of armed conflict or potential violence who work at community or national level in order to prevent violence or transform conflict into opportunities for social, economic and political development based on more just relationships..." International resource for local or national peace and conflict prevention initiatives. Supports sustained practical activities to prevent or transform violent conflicts. The website, especially in the Accord Series, contains a large number of online documents which provide "detailed narratives and analysis of specific war and peace proceses...a practical resource for reflection for all those engaged in peacemaking activities..."
Source/publisher: Conciliation Resources
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Conflict Information Consortium Brochure The University of Colorado Conflict Information Consortium, directed by Guy and Heidi Burgess, was founded in 1988 as a multi-disciplinary center for research and teaching about conflict and its transformation. With its primary focus on difficult and intractable conflicts, the Consortium has pioneered efforts to use rapidly advancing information technologies to provide citizens in all walks of life with the information that they need to deal with conflicts more constructively. The Consortium sees such efforts to enhance and mobilize the skills of the general population as critical to efforts to deal with complex, society-wide conflicts.
Source/publisher: University of Colorado
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Mission Statement Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) is an independent, non-profit organisation that innovatively promotes and works for sustainable security. CMI works to strengthen the capacity of the international community in comprehensive crisis management and conflict resolution. CMI's work builds on wide stakeholder networks. It combines analysis, action and advocacy. Background CMI was founded in 2000 by its Chairman President Martti Ahtisaari. The headquarters of the organisation are in Helsinki, Finland. Our role Crisis Management Initiative * Promotes sustainable security in a pioneering way * Brings together actors to seek solutions to security challenges * Engages in capacity building among the international community in conflict prevention, resolution and transformation * Advocates solutions for security * Uses comprehensive approaches that bind together security and development, good governance, justice and reconciliation CMI's activities are divided into two programmes - Crisis Management Programme and Conflict Resolution Programme - , and the Martti Ahtisaari Rapid Reaction Facility.
Source/publisher: Crisis Management Initiative
Date of entry/update: 2008-11-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Finnish
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Description: We envisage a world in which people are able and willing to prevent and transform violent conflicts peacefully. We believe in: - a multi-track approach - the importance of local capacities for peace - partnerships with local organisations - long-term engagement - impartiality The ECCP as a Secretariat The European Centre for Conflict Prevention holds the secretariat for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. As the secretariat, the ECCP provides services to the network proactively. It coordinates and supports its activities with particular attention to priority programmatic areas. For more information about other Networks that the ECCP is involved in, please visit our Networks section.
Source/publisher: Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Do something good by creating your blog with us... Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they�re tremendous tools of freedom of expression. Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest. Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles...Contents: Bloggers, the new heralds of free expression; What�s a blog ?; The language of blogging; Choosing the best tool; How to set up and run a blog; What ethics should bloggers have ? Getting your blog picked up by search-engines; What really makes a blog shine ? Personal accounts: - Germany - Bahrain - USA - Hong Kong - Iran - Nepal How to blog anonymously; Technical ways to get around censorship; Ensuring your e-mail is truly private; Internet-censor world championship.
Source/publisher: Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontieres)
Date of entry/update: 2007-09-26
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 827.38 KB
Local URL: PDF icon book414.pdf
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Description: "The purpose of IPRA is to advance interdisciplinary research into the conditions of peace and the causes of war and other forms of violence. To this end, IPRA shall encourage worldwide cooperation designed to assist the advancement of peace research and, in particular: to promote national and international studies and teaching related to the pursuit of world peace; to facilitate contacts and cooperation between scholars and educators throughout the world; and d to encourage worldwide dissemination of results of peace research."
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "PRIO's overall research is organized into four Strategic Institute Programmes: Conditions of War and Peace Foreign and Security Policies Ethics, Norms and Identities Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding..."
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Online materials by and about Mahatma Gandhi
Source/publisher: Gandhian Institution Bombay, Sarvodaya Mandal
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-09
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: [Our Mission] Promoting and nurturing democracy through fenovation (sic) of highly intelligent and politically motivated citizenry of the country: Capacity Building & Supplier of change agents... Feeding related policy inputs to the governing body : Think-Tank... Public Opinion Shaping via public media and opinion polls... Promote issues on enviroment that in turn will serve the long-term benefit of the country.
Source/publisher: Myanmar Egress
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-06
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Important papers on Burma/Myanmar including: Financing Dispossession; Ending Burma?s Conflict Cycle?; Conflict or Peace? Ethnic Unrest Intensifies in Burma; Burma?s Longest War: Anatomy of the Karen Conflict; Ethnic Politics in Burma: The Time for Solutions; A Changing Ethnic Landscape: Analysis of Burma?s 2010 Polls; Unlevel Playing Field: Burma?s Election Landscape; Burma?s 2010 Elections: Challenges and Opportunities; Burma in 2010: A Critical Year in Ethnic Politics...
Source/publisher: Transnational Institute
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-09
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: Executive summary: "International peacebuilding actors have so far been wary of engagement with political parties. However, there is growing recognition of the importance of working with local political systems, institutions and parties in the promotion of peace. It is therefore important that international actors strengthen their understanding of political parties in conflict-affected contexts and how such parties relate to conflict and peacebuilding, as well as examine how best to deepen engagement with them. This report examines the nature of political parties in conflict-affected contexts and the challenges such parties face in becoming effective actors for peace. It analyses three cases ? Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar ? where parties have played very different roles in relation to both the grievances and struggles that have fuelled conflict, and efforts to build and sustain peace. It then discusses how lessons from these cases can inform the work of international peacebuilding actors. Finally, the report examines the track record of the international community in working with political parties in conflict-affected contexts. It argues that international actors must move beyond ?blueprint” approaches to party support and instead develop more comprehensive and context-relevant responses to the specific challenges that such parties face."
Creator/author: Clare Castillejo
Source/publisher: Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center
2016-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 140.44 KB
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Description: "This publications showcases final short papers from 2011 graduates of CPCS? Applied Conflict Transformation Master?s Course that we offer in cooperation with the Pannasastra University in Phnom Penh..."....."....In the following chapters an array of issues are tackled resulting in a colourful collection of insight and analyses. Chapter 1 situates the works through a detailed introduction to the ACTS course, and a discussion of the effectiveness of action learning to build the capacity of peace practitioners in the region. In Chapter 2 we begin to see the work of the students themselves as they engage and challenge key assumptions and perceptions of poverty in Vietnam and conflict in Afghanistan; ultimately these reports urge careful and rigorous analysis of the context of any intervention. Chapter 3 sees the theoretical discussion of two Designs for Peace. These articles provide innovative alternatives for responding to violence both in Bangladesh (by developing a peace curriculum for youth) and in Cambodia (through the architectural design of a museum for peace). In Chapter 4 we are presented with three articles which seek to share the larger lessons from the authors? own experiences at the practical level. This is achieved through discussing donor cooperation in Banda Aceh, community feedback mechanisms in the GRP ? MILF peace process, and civil-military cooperation in Maguindanao. Finally Chapter 5 takes on a more personal face with two particularly reflective accounts by the viii students, who question how to improve their own role as practitioners in Sri Lanka and Thailand..."
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2012-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.33 MB
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Description: "Co-authored by CPCS Academic Director Noah Taylor, this conceptual paper explores the diversity of perspectives on peace moving beyond the idea of peace in relation to the absence of conflict and the presence of security. In this framework peace is explored as impure, diverse and conflictive, advocating for an understanding of peace that embraces diversity, and engages with conflict rather than suppresses it.".....Abstract: "While the central question of diversity has often been how to live in peace with difference, we approach the question —what happens when diversity also involves conflicting approaches to peace? This paper contains the authors? reflections on the colloquium with the same title held in the On Diversity Conference 2012 in Vancouver, where the authors and participants explored peace itself as an expression of diversity. We argue that an attempt to answer this question requires a change in focus; if there is no longer a unifying peace, how can we engage with diversity in a plurality of conflicting peaces? Mainstream peace and conflict studies literature understands conflict as opposite to peace. Supported in contemporary critical research, we argue that the concept of peace rather than being perfect, absolute and pure is in fact impure, diverse, and conflictive. Hence, an understanding of peace that attempts to embrace diversity will necessarily be relational, include conflict and engage with it, in contrast to silencing it or suppressing it. We argue that instead of being its opposite, conflict is in fact an essential component of peace. To elaborate on the argument, we deal with two of the possible interpretations of peace in history and culture: peace linked to security, understood as the eradication of threats from others and therefore recurring to ideals of perfection and homogeneity; and peace as an experience of harmony, highlighting mystical or musical harmony, which, far from being pure, emerges also out of conflicting tones. We conclude that both in traditions of mysticism and in security politics, diversities in friction lie at the core of experiencing and conceptualizing peace."
Creator/author: Florencia Benitez-Schaefer, Shawn Bryant, Catalina Vallejo, Noah Taylor
Source/publisher: The International Journal of Community Diversity, Illinois USA via Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2013-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 340.08 KB
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Description: "One of the most recent developments in the practice of conflict transformation is the systemic approach dubbed ?Elicitive Conflict Transformation.” As a practice, it is deeply tied to considerations of identity. This paper summarizes and synthesizes current thinking in the transrational approach to conflict transformation as the current state-of-the-art in peace theory. This approach underlies the practice of Elicitive Conflict Transformation and opens many new frontiers to peace research including an expanded perspective of what identity is and how it shapes the work of conflict transformation."
Creator/author: Noah Taylor
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2014-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 287.85 KB
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Description: "This mapping exercise seeks to provide a better understanding of national apologies by analysing the nuances associated with the term while studying examples of apologies made by states to their people."....Abstract: "The national apology is a phenomenon which can loosely be defined as a collective, political, intra-state apology, issued from one group to another through the use of appropriate representation. Broadly speaking the ?age of apology? started twenty years ago, yet even with age the term ?national apology? has remained one which is particularly analytically elusive. The bulk of the concerned literature has attempted to face up to this dilemma, to clarify the issues and fortify (or discredit) the utility of the practice. However what it has achieved is confusion over the points of suitable definition, purpose, form, delivery, target audience, and so on. This paper attempts to address these issues through analysing the nuances associated with the term, to contribute meaningfully to the topical discussion through a mapping exercise. As such this paper seeks to provide the knowledge for understanding both composition and critiques of national apologies. The process of mapping national apologies is started through mounting a discussion of its variables which are historical location (historic or recent), incidence (discrete or sustained) and significance (whether it remains relevant in the current context). It then continues to argue that the correct form for a national apology requires paying particular attention to the publicity, official character, and ceremony of the statement, as well as by choosing an appropriate speaker. Such contextual adequacies however are not enough to validate an apology. The statement must include within its content an acknowledgement of the injustices committed, an expression of remorse, a guarantee of non-repetition, and refrain from appealing for forgiveness. Finally complementing such an apology with further reparative action (measures of sincerity, National Apologies: Mapping the complexities of validity4 corrective action, and material compensation) give the best chance for a national apology to be considered valid and accepted. In conclusion the report affirms that although the mapping exercise has surely been informative to the reader, and may act as a resource for the analysis and correct construction of national apologies, the information put forward is clearly not intended to be indisputable. It is a current theory in the face of a lack of engagement with this under studied topic, and the author?s intention has been to inspire debate. When this field has a significant potential to contribute to reconciliation and peace efforts around the globe it seems inappropriate to accept it as unexplainable. Thus, the report finishes by suggesting it is only through persistent and constructive dialogue between academics and practitioners that we may hope to one day reach consensus on best practice of national apologies."
Creator/author: Eneko Sanz
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2012-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 751.22 KB
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Description: "Encouraging practitioners to question and challenge narratives around strategic peace building frameworks this research critically analyses such narratives and shows that they tend to be subjective in nature, signal certain political positions and are often framed through the lens of modernist state-building theory.".....Introduction: "There are innumerable actors engaging post-conflict contexts at the international, national and local level. Their activities target a broad range of political, economic, social and cultural agendas, spanning long pe riods of time and enduring particularly unstable conditions. Since the publication of An Agenda for Peace,2 the international community has been driven to amalgamate all such activities into an increasingly broad and multidimensional enterprise labelled post-conflict peacebuilding. As ti me passed, additional elements related to this new concept continued to be identified and duly incorporated into the undertaking, seeing in practice the ever-widening scope and breadth of peace building. In light of this, and after a string of less than successful experiences, practitioners and policy-makers alike recognized the need to tame such complexity and requested a more coherent master plan. In response to this demand s trategic planning frameworks for int ernational post-conflict peace building (SFPs)3 have been pr oduced since the mid-nineties, by the UN, IFIs, governments of donor and conflict-affe cted countries, regional organiz ations and NGOs. By 2010 the g7+ group of fragile states had identified ?the pr oliferation of strategic frameworks” as a significant challenge to peace building.4 Meanwhile, the European Parliament was considering drafting the EU?s own SFP.5 SFPs are policy planning documents comprising analysis and recommendations. They belong to the genre of technical- administrative texts but, as many plans do, SFPs also make use of narrative devices usually associated with literary works. In trying to produce a coherent prioritization, phasing and sequencing of activities, they construct a plot with a beginning, middle and end. In the process of attempting to identify and coordinate multiple actors, SFPs make distinctions between main and secondary characters, and between heroes, villains, and victims. And in trying to give a common meaning and purpo se to the myriad of tasks performed under the label of peace building, these documents portray themes of progress and crisis against the backdrop of dramatic stories about the fight between good and evil. This paper will try to illustrate how such narrativity present in SFPs signals certain political positions. To achieve this it will present an outline of the narrative analysis approach to policy planning. This is followed by a description of how the methodology has been adapted for this study to the requir ements of SFPs. The analysis is then divided in two distinct parts. The first discusses some features of the characters in the ?peace building story”: who are the heroes and their allies, the anti-subjects, the donor, and what does this signify. The second part deals with plot: how SFPs are structured around the triad Security-Development-Political Reform, and how this produces a set of recognizable stories. It is considered how the attempt to give coherence to a collection of literally hundreds of episodes, each of them an intricate narrative in itself, reflects the fact that the peace building story may turn out to be a version of another one, namely the modernist state building story. The paper ends with some reflections about how a narrative policy analysis can help us read and construct different discourses on peace building."
Creator/author: Eneko Sanz
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2013-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.31 MB
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Description: "his paper reflects on Conciliation Resources? experience of formal hybrid mediation support in the Mindanao peace process. Key lessons are drawn from this new approach and its potential for further use in the field of mediation and conflict transformation is evaluated.....Summary: -The International Contact Group (ICG) in Mindanao is the first ever formal hybrid mediation support initiative..It developed organically over 15 years of protracted negotiations...Diplomats and international NGOs played complementary roles, strengthening the overall value of their participation...The experience of the ICG suggests that hybrid Contact Groups can be a valuable response to the complexity of long-standing conflicts
Creator/author: Kristian Herbolzheimer, Emma Leslie
Source/publisher: Conciliation Resources via Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies
2013-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 168.94 KB
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Description: "Kyoko Okumoto, a well-respected Japanese peacebuilder, once said to me, ?I firmly believe that to be an effective peacebuilder you need to be able to trust.” By trust she did not mean a blind, naïve faith in whomever or whatever comes along; she meant a will- ingness, across cultures, faiths, political affiliation, and gender, to allow other in—that is, to suspend all our prejudices and stereotypes. Such trust requires us to show our vulnerabilities to people we might not ordinarily reveal them to, in order to demonstrate that we have flawed humanity in common. This means entering into a place of insecurity and entrusting our host or guide to lead us and take care of us. This position of cultural humility is the foundation of peace work, allowing practitioners to connect with people on a basic level that is both informative and insightful in shaping effective peace prac- tices and programs..."
Creator/author: Emma Leslie
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2013-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 263.02 KB
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Description: "In January 2012, our Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies facilitate a visit of the Karen National Union to visit the Moro Islamic Libera tion Front in Cotobato City, Mindanao. The KNU had asked about the experience of armed groups in ceasefires, and there is no better place in the region today than to see how hard the Philippine government and MILF have worked to sustain a ceasefire while there peace talks go on. The Chairman of the MILF peace panel, Mohagher Iqbal, chose carefully his advice to the KNU. Number one he said: ?Prepare, prepare, prepare. And when you think you are ready prepare some more.” He explained that as an armed group you have been well trained to fight in the jungle, but negotiations is a different arena, and requires training, preparation, knowledge, awareness, tactics, strategies, skills. He understood that even when you think as the group demanding your right you are ready, there will some aspect of the negotiation you have not yet considered. Secondly, he said: Maintain military discipline. He said military discipline is not just for fighting wars. He said when you sign a ceasefire agreement you need to ensure that your chain of command is in tact. A ceasefire does not mean disarm. A ceasefire is the ceasing of hostilities so talks can go on. If you sign a peace agreement you need to know that when you tell you troops to disarm they will put down their guns and they will go home. You can negotiate confident you cannot deliver on your own promise. Thirdly he said: You will think negotiating with your opponent is hard, but negotiating within your own group is even harder. Unifying and bringing your people along with the negotiation is the most challenging aspect of peace talks. At times you will feel closer to your negotiating counterpart, then you do to your own stakeholders..."
Creator/author: Emma Leslie
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2013-10-14
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 84.77 KB
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Description: "Over the past few decades, the shifting dynamics of the nature of war, combined with a maturing field of peace process support, have led to parallel shifts in the nature of mediation in peace processes. There has been a significant increase in the number of ongoing civil wars, as opposed to interstate wars, and the field of conflict transformation has changed accordingly. Under the leadership of Kofi Annan, the United Nations began the process of mainstreaming the inclusion of civil society and other actors into the fields of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Now, more actors, using more-advanced support mechanisms, are engaging in peace-process support. This maturing of the field has also helped facilitate innovative approaches to overcoming the challenges of contemporary peace talks in a civil war setting. This article will reflect on some of the changes in practice in relation to the peace process currently underway in the Philippines..."
Creator/author: Emma Leslie
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2013-12-17
Date of entry/update: 2016-02-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 89.54 KB
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Description: "On paper, few countries have had as good a year as Myanmar. It has seen the lifting of economic sanctions, the write-off of a substantial portion of the country?s debts, strong levels of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the winning the Association of Southeast Asia Nations? (ASEAN) chairmanship, the hosting of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, and praise from almost every government, donor and economic institution in the world. This progress report is surprising considering that 2013 also brought evidence of the government?s role in stoking religious hatred across the country, the number of internally displaced people resulting from civil conflict and land grabbing burgeoned, and the country continued to languish towards the bottom of almost every global economic and social index. The wheels of Myanmar?s transition are in motion; progress is being made, but obstacles remain before the reform process realizes its potential. Few people have contested this narrative of progress - in a sense, the impossibility of being able to contest this is what makes it such an effective rhetorical device..."
Creator/author: David Baulk
Source/publisher: "Asia Times Online"
2013-12-13
Date of entry/update: 2014-05-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The UN Secretary-General?s good offices on Myanmar, now in their twentieth year, have been one of the longest such diplomatic efforts in the history of the organization. With Myanmar now in the midst of major political, economic, and social reforms, and questions invariably being raised about the future of those ?offices,? it is an opportune time to revisit the history and achievements of the past twenty years of mediation efforts... This 100+-page report tells the story of UN mediation efforts in Myanmar through the lens of four special envoys: Alvaro de Soto, Razali Ismail, Ibrahim Gambari, and Vijay Nambiar. It examines the various strategies and achievements over the past 20 years and provides lessons for Myanmar and, more broadly, for the Secretary-General?s good offices in other regions of the world. The report argues that the conditions for success or failure lie in the readiness of the parties for conflict resolution, the scope of the mandate, the clarity of objectives, the impartiality of the mediator, and the presence or absence of strong leadership from the Secretary-General himself. ...This study has chronicled and narrated the UN?s good offices effort in Myanmar as told through the lens of those most involved. It is largely limited to the UN side of the story and in no way pretends to be a comprehensive or definitive history of the mediation effort in Myanmar. While limited in scope, the recurring themes, various approaches tested, and shortcomings observed do allow some important conclusions to be made and lessons to be drawn. The following analysis refers primarily to the time prior to the transfer of power from the SPDC to a quasi-civilian government in March 2011 and the start of the reforms that followed. The final section then takes a brief look at the status of the good offices in August 2012, sixteen months into Myanmar?s democratic transition and the options going forward..."
Creator/author: Anna Magnusson & Morten B. Pedersen
Source/publisher: International Peace Institute (IPI)
2012-11-05
Date of entry/update: 2012-12-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 794.78 KB
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Description: Need for translations into Burmese of key texts
Creator/author: David Steinberg
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2012-03-12
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Burma/Myanmar is currently in a transition with important ramifications for capacity development efforts. The present preliminary study explores some of the critical issues at stake for capacity development activities in order to better understand how the field as a whole can continue to undertake effective trainings and evolve to adapt to current trends. Of particular interest to the researchers is the question of how to teach human rights and social sciences in complex settings such as in Burma/Myanmar and how this field may evolve. The preliminary research has two research interests: contemporary issues of concern in capacity development which need to be addressed by the current stakeholders; and the interaction between the stakeholders within the capacity development network (including Burma/Myanmar participants, Burma/Myanmar organizations, universities, Thai based organizations, political groups, and so on). As a preliminary study, this report seeks to give some first impressions of the current situation of the capacity development field during a period of change in Burma/Myanmar. This research does not attempt to quantify the field or undertake a mapping of it. Rather, the preliminary study intends to draw out issues and concerns expressed by stakeholders in capacity development which can guide future directions of activity, development, and research. The capacity development field is large, yet there has been limited analysis of how this field works and few studies of how stakeholders adapt to current changes. This report wishes to contribute to the understanding of capacity development in the field of human rights and social sciences in three specific ways: • Understanding how and why young Myanmar people get involved in civil society activities. • Understanding how the capacity development field is structured and how it operates. • Understanding what organizational and quality concerns capacity development organizations should be addressing..."
Creator/author: Camilla Buzzi, Mike Hayes, Matthew Mullen
Source/publisher: Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University
2012-02-21
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 404.07 KB
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Description: 2nd Edition.....Contains Burma/Myanmar case study..."..."A Diplomat?s Handbook for Democracy Development Support" is meant to present a wide variety of case studies documenting and explaining specific country experiences. It also identifies creative, human, and material resources available to Missions, the ways in which Missions and diplomats have supported requests in the past, and describes how such support has been applied. A review of these experiences bears out the validity of our belief in our inter-dependence. It will hopefully also provide practitioners with encouragement, counsel, and a greater capacity to support democrats everywhere....[It]identifies a ?toolbox? of creative, human, and material resources available to Missions. It records ways in which Missions and diplomats have drawn from these tools in the past in the interest of democracy development support. The Handbook means to cover a full range of conditions and situations, from regimes which are flatly undemocratic and repressive, to phases of post-conflict recovery, to democratic transition and consolidation. The Handbook includes a representative variety of case studies documenting and explaining specific country experiences. It is important that each case study be seen for its specific contextual properties. Nonetheless, there are characteristics which obviously recur. Moreover, it should always be borne in mind that activities and outcomes in one locale can have ripple effects in the region and on wider or specific other relationships..."
Source/publisher: Community of Democracies, Council for a Community of Democracies
2010-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English (Spanish also available)
Format : pdf
Size: 1.25 MB
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Description: Please join us and authors Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan for a stimulating and informative discussion on their new book, Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. Throughout this volume, Chenoweth and Stephan argue that nonviolent campaigns have been more successful than armed campaigns in achieving ultimate goals in political struggles, even when used against similar opponents and in the face of repression. From case study analyses to aggregating datasets, they provide evidence that nonviolent campaigns are more likely to be perceived as legitimate, attract widespread domestic and international support, and neutralize the opponent?s security forces, among others.
Source/publisher: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
2011-12-08
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The World Movement for Democracy is a global network of democrats, including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who have come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy..."..."The Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) initiated this nongovernmental effort..."
Source/publisher: World Movemenf for Democracy
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...I have tried to think carefully about the most effective ways in which dictatorships could be successfully disintegrated with the least possible cost in suffering and lives. In this I have drawn on my studies over many years of dictatorships, resistance movements, revolutions, political thought, governmental systems, and especially realistic nonviolent struggle. This publication is the result. I am certain it is far from perfect. But, perhaps, it offers some guidelines to assist thought and planning to produce movements of liberation that are more powerful and effective than might otherwise be the case...".....The date given is that of the first edition of the English version.
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
2002-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese
Format : pdf
Size: 1.08 MB
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Description: "...I have tried to think carefully about the most effective ways in which dictatorships could be successfully disintegrated with the least possible cost in suffering and lives. In this I have drawn on my studies over many years of dictatorships, resistance movements, revolutions, political thought, governmental systems, and especially realistic nonviolent struggle. This publication is the result. I am certain it is far from perfect. But, perhaps, it offers some guidelines to assist thought and planning to produce movements of liberation that are more powerful and effective than might otherwise be the case...".....The date given is that of the first edition of the English version.
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
2002-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Chin
Format : pdf
Size: 1.7 MB
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Description: "...I have tried to think carefully about the most effective ways in which dictatorships could be successfully disintegrated with the least possible cost in suffering and lives. In this I have drawn on my studies over many years of dictatorships, resistance movements, revolutions, political thought, governmental systems, and especially realistic nonviolent struggle. This publication is the result. I am certain it is far from perfect. But, perhaps, it offers some guidelines to assist thought and planning to produce movements of liberation that are more powerful and effective than might otherwise be the case..."
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
2002-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 404.87 KB
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Description: "...I have tried to think carefully about the most effective ways in which dictatorships could be successfully disintegrated with the least possible cost in suffering and lives. In this I have drawn on my studies over many years of dictatorships, resistance movements, revolutions, political thought, governmental systems, and especially realistic nonviolent struggle. This publication is the result. I am certain it is far from perfect. But, perhaps, it offers some guidelines to assist thought and planning to produce movements of liberation that are more powerful and effective than might otherwise be the case...".....The date given is that of the first edition of the English version
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
2002-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Jinghpaw
Format : pdf
Size: 1.23 MB
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Description: "...I have tried to think carefully about the most effective ways in which dictatorships could be successfully disintegrated with the least possible cost in suffering and lives. In this I have drawn on my studies over many years of dictatorships, resistance movements, revolutions, political thought, governmental systems, and especially realistic nonviolent struggle. This publication is the result. I am certain it is far from perfect. But, perhaps, it offers some guidelines to assist thought and planning to produce movements of liberation that are more powerful and effective than might otherwise be the case...".....The date given is that of the first edition of the English version.
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
2002-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Karen
Format : pdf
Size: 1.32 MB
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Description: "Nonviolent struggle is based upon the very nature of power in society and politics. The practice, dynamics, and consequences of nonviolent struggle are all directly dependent upon the wielding of power and its effects on the power of the opponent group. This technique cannot be understood without consideration of this important element in its nature. This perception is in direct contradiction to the popular miscon-ceptions that nonviolent action is powerless, that it conceptually and politically ignores the reality of power in politics, and that its advo-cates are naive in not accepting that violence is the real source of power in politics. These misconceptions, however, are themselves rooted in a denial or ignoring of the nature of power in politics and the crucial role of power in the operation of nonviolent struggle..."
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
1990-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese
Format : pdf
Size: 376.32 KB
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Description: "Nonviolent struggle is based upon the very nature of power in society and politics. The practice, dynamics, and consequences of nonviolent struggle are all directly dependent upon the wielding of power and its effects on the power of the opponent group. This technique cannot be understood without consideration of this important element in its nature. This perception is in direct contradiction to the popular miscon-ceptions that nonviolent action is powerless, that it conceptually and politically ignores the reality of power in politics, and that its advo-cates are naive in not accepting that violence is the real source of power in politics. These misconceptions, however, are themselves rooted in a denial or ignoring of the nature of power in politics and the crucial role of power in the operation of nonviolent struggle..."
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: The Albert Einstein Institution
1990-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 174.63 KB
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Description: "Which Way to Freedom?, a concise, elementary text that highlights key concepts of nonviolent struggle to achieve liberation, which the Albert Einstein Institution helped produce with the Political Defiance Committee, has also been translated into Burmese and up to 15,000 copies are circulating inside the country."
Creator/author: Gene Sharp
Source/publisher: Albert Einstein Institution
1957-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese
Format : pdf
Size: 1.5 MB
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Description: Handbook on team-building, team work and conflict resolution... Themes: being a good listener, a good communicator - Refrain from doing anything that makes you feel that you arc manipulating someone; Lead by example; have humility; appreciate your co-workers; have a clear vision; avoid arguments, listen to others, create a positive atmosphere, Don?t take yourself too seriously..... Conflict Resolution: what is conflict? sources of conflict; factors effecting conflict - accommodation, compromise...collaboration...
Creator/author: Aye Aye Myint
Source/publisher: Community Capacity Building Committee
2010-01-01
Date of entry/update: 2011-10-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 2.35 MB 8.52 MB
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Description: "...The choice of electoral system is one of the most important institutional decisions for any democracy. In almost all cases the choice of a particular electoral system has a profound effect on the future political life of the country concerned, and electoral systems, once chosen, often remain fairly constant as political interests solidify around and respond to the incentives presented by them. The choices that are made may have consequences that were unforeseen as well as predicted effects. Electoral system choice is a fundamentally political process, rather than a question to which independent technical experts can produce a single ?ƒ??‚ ??ƒ??‚ ??ƒ??‚ ?correct answer?ƒ??‚ ??ƒ ??‚ ??‚ ??ƒ ?ï ? ??‚ ?. The consideration of political advantage is almost always a factor in the choice of electoral systems. Calculations of short-term political interest can often obscure the longer-term consequences of a particular electoral system. The choice of electoral system can have a significant impact on the wider political and institutional framework: it is important not to see electoral systems in isolation. Their design and effects are heavily contingent upon other structures within and outside the constitution. Successful electoral system design comes from looking at the framework of political institutions as a whole: changing one part of this framework is likely to cause adjustments in the way other institutions within it work. Electoral systems are today viewed as one of the most influential of all political institutions, and of crucial importance to broader issues of governance. For example, it is increasingly being recognized that an electoral system can be designed both to provide local geographic representation and to promote proportionality; can promote the development of strong and viable national political parties, and ensure the representation of women and regional minorities; and can help to ?ƒ??‚ ??ƒ??‚ ??ƒ??‚ ?engineer?ƒ??‚ ??ƒ ??‚ ??‚ ??ƒ ?ï ? ??‚ ? cooperation and accommodation in a divided society by the creative use of particular incentives and constraints..."....N.B. the Burmese version is dated 2003 and is shorter than the English and other versions, dated 2006.
Creator/author: Andrew Reynolds, Ben Reilly, Andrew Ellis
Source/publisher: International Idea
2003-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-07-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese, English, Arabic, French, Nepali, Spanish
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Description: In der Zusammenfassung sind drei Szenarien zur Lösung des Konflikts und Verhaltensmaßregeln für ein internationales Engagement zu finden. Darüber hinaus werden die Hintergründe des Konflikts detailreich in ihren zahlreichen sozialen und wirtschaflichen Facetten dargestellt und Ansätze für ein deutsches bzw. europäisches Engagement aufgezeigt. Recommendations for international engagement; Social and economic conditions
Creator/author: Hingst, René
Source/publisher: Heinrich Böll Stiftung
2003-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-07-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: German, Deutsch
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Description: The handbook provides practical advice on how to broker peace in countries emerging from deep-rooted conflict and outlines options negotiators can draw upon when trying to build or rebuild democracy. The handbook provides a thorough overview of democratic levers - such as power-sharing formulas, questions of federalism and autonomy, options for minority rights, constitutional safeguards and many others. It analyses actual negotiated settlements from places like Bosnia, Fiji, Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. Written by international experts and experienced negotiators, the handbook is designed as a quick reference tool containing numerous case studies, fact sheets and practical examples.
Source/publisher: International IDEA
2002-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-11-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese, English, Spanish, Bahasa Indonesia
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Description: Introduction; Chapter 1 Theory of Political Power; Chapter 2 Pillars of Support; Chapter 3 Obedience; Chapter 4 Mechanisms and Methods of Nonviolent Struggle; Chapter 5 Problem Solving; Chapter 6 Strategic Estimate; Chapter 7 Operational Planning Considerations; Chapter 8 Psychological Operations; Chapter 9 Insights into Strategic Thinking; Chapter 10 Fear; Chapter 11 Leadership; Chapter 12 Contaminants; Chapter 13 Influencing External Audiences; Chapter 14 Consultations and Training... Appendices : Appendix 1 Glossary of Important Terms in Nonviolent Struggle; Appendix 2 Methods of Nonviolent Action; Appendix 3 Example of Problem Solving Using Staff Study Format; Appendix 4 Suggested Format for Preparing a Strategic Estimate... Figures: Figure 1 Monolithic Model of Power; Figure 2 Pluralistic Model of Power; Figure 3 Pillars of Support; Figure 4 Pulling vs. Pushing • Pillars of Support; Figure 5 Loyalty Pie... ^ Bibliography
Creator/author: Robert L. Helvey
Source/publisher: The Albert Einstein Institution
2004-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2007-06-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese, Chinese
Format : pdf
Size: 1.86 MB
Local URL:
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Description: "A 120 page manual that provides a toolbox of tips, best practice case studies and resources for campaigning" Though this very useful book is specifically related to campaigning on freedom of expression, it is reelvant to most areas of international advocacy.
Source/publisher: IFEX
2005-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2005-11-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Report of Workshops held in Chiangmai, Thailand & New Delhi, India April 2000.The South African experience; Lessons Learned. Distinguishing between Burma and South Africa. The pre-negotiation phase -Creating the conditions for a negotiated settlement: Subjective and objective factors; Objective factors; International pressure; Economic pressures; Military factors; Internal mass opposition ; The sustainability of minority rule ; Subjective factors; Liberation movements; The regime; Making the negotiations option attractive. Establishing and sustaining the negotiating process: Dealing with preconditions: "Levelling the playing fields" ; Protecting the process from violence; Violent challenges to the negotiations; The National Peace Accord; Agreeing on the constitution-making process; Agreeing on the process; Phase one: Establishing binding principles prior to elections; Phase two: Operationalising the binding principles through the Constitution. The making of the constitution: Inclusivity; Popular participation; Confronting the past in order to face the future. Substantive choices in the South African: constitution-making process; The Constitutional State; Government of National Unity; Bill of Rights; Strong Parliament; Institutions supporting democracy; Electoral System; Language and Culture; Federal or regional decentralization; Decentralization and financial matters; Critical observations of the constitution; Detailed drafting; Cost of structures; Impractical provisions. Lessons from the South African negotiations.
Source/publisher: International IDEA
2001-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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