Dennis Sandole

Handbook of Conflict Analysis and Resolution

This major new handbook comprises cutting-edge essays from leading scholars in the field of conflict analysis and resolution (CAR). The volume provides a comprehensive overview of the core concepts, theories, approaches, processes, and intervention designs in the field. The central theme is the value of multidisciplinary approaches to the analysis and resolution of conflicts. This consists of moving from the study of analytical approaches to understanding the deep-rooted causes of conflict, to third party intervention approaches to preventing or ending violence, and to resolving and transforming conflict. The book is divided into four main parts:

The Biological Basis of Needs in World Society: The Ultimate Micro Macro Nexus

The purpose of this Chapter is to explore whether there are any biological constraints to systemic integration, to explore the “ultimate micro-macro nexus”: the link between biology and the international system.

Virulent ethnocentrism: A major challenge for transformational conflict resolution and peacebuilding in the post‐cold war era 1

Introduction The purpose of this article is to discuss the origins and prospects for reduction of virulent ethnocentrism: a deep and violently aggressive sense of the ‘Other’, resulting from the apparent tendency of people across time and cultural space to subdivide others into ‘them’ and ‘us’ (see LeVine and Campbell, 1972). In the Balkans, this phenomenon has resulted in one world war plus the more recent ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the last ten years of the 20th century.

Changing Ideologies in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

This article reports on a survey of the views of Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe elites on peace and security in post-Cold War Europe. The findings suggest that there appear to be three distinct meta-cultures developing in the new Europe: one comprises the former Yugoslavian republics (FYug), together with the former non-Soviet members of the Warsaw Pact (NSWP) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); another comprises the neutral and nonaligned (NNA); and the third comprises the former Soviet Union (FSU). The FYug-NSWP-NATO cluster appears to be more flexible—further away from Cold War Realpolitik and closer to an Idealpolitik framework—than are the NNA and FSU. This flexibility has also been suggested by the FYug-NSWP-NATO clusters appearing to be more in favor of change in existing international mechanisms than are the NNA and FSU. The article concludes with recommendations about how Track 1 governments and international governmental organizations and Track 2 nongovernmental organizations can better integrate their peacekeeping and conflict resolution resources, especially in dealing with current and future Yugoslavias.

Developing Conflict Resolution in Transcaucasia: A University-Based Approach

This article provides an overview of the authors efforts, together with those of colleagues, to help institutionalize the teaching and practice of conflict resolution in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe. These include his institutes university-based programs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey funded primarily by the U.S. Institute of Peace, and his work, in conjunction with Partners for Democratic Change, in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, and the Slovak Republic. The article concludes by locating these activities within the context of the authors model for a new European peace and security system.

Simulation in the Analysis of International Conflict: Accessing Total Systems

from Alta Gracia became enthusiastic about the technique of simulation and wish to repeat the experience. It is essential, however, to move toward the next stages. Here, the target group will have to improve their perceptions of environmental processes and to enrich their knowledge of social behavior regarding the environment. But above all, they will have to integrate conservative governmental action with projects that regulate transformations implicit in any sort of development.

Simulated violent conflict and war: implications for ethnic conflict in post-cold war Europe

This article addresses the author’s Genesis of War project, which includes use of the PRISONER’S DILEMMA SIMULATION (PDS) and one major finding generated by it; namely, that over time, conflict comes to be characterized, more and more, by self-stimulating/selfperpetuating processes. This finding has influenced the development of a generic theory of violent conflict and war, whose implications for the apparently self-stimulating/self-perpetuating ethnic warfare in former Yugoslavia are examined. The article concludes with a discussion of a possible role for simulation as an aid to policy makers concerned with the wars in former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.