Seminar on: IMPLICATIONS OF THE 13TH SAARC SUMMIT

PROGRAM

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MECHANISMS AND THE CHALLENGE OF PEACE

ARTS AUDITORIUM
UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

NOVEMBER 26-27, 2007

ORGANIZED BY
THE PROGRAM ON PEACE STUDIES AND
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI IN COLLABORATION WITH
THE HANNS SEIDEL FOUNDATION, ISLAMABAD

CONCEPT PAPER

WORKSHOP ON CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MECHANISMS AND THE CHALLENGE OF PEACE

BACKGROUND

A lot of work has been done in the field of conflict and conflict resolution (CR) but not much thought has been given to the concept of conflict management (CM) as a requirement of peace in today’s world. The shift from inter to intra-state conflicts in the post-Cold War era and the emergence of several research institutes and policy oriented think tanks dealing with various aspects of concepts like conflict prevention, conflict transformation, conflict management and conflict resolution surely indicate the interest and scope of studying conflicts at multifarious levels.
The change in international order because of the pre-eminence of United States in global affairs; the events of September 11, 2001 resulting in the war on terror; the rise of non-state actors particularly Al-Qaeda and various religious extremist groups tend to make the task of conflict resolution difficult. While resolving a conflict is considered idealistic in nature, an intermediate and pragmatic approach for de-escalating conflicts and minimizing the level of violence is conflict management. In a situation when deadly conflicts result into colossal physical and material losses, the approach of conflict management aims to control the conflict dynamics from assuming a violent shape and paving the way for a viable discourse on keeping the conflict within manageable limits.

Mission statement

The purpose of holding an International Workshop on Conflict Management Mechanisms and the Challenge of Peace is to evoke interest and better understanding in Pakistan as far as the field of conflict management is concerned. Particularly, in a situation when some of the intractable conflicts have reached a point of stalemate, the workshop will examine some of mechanisms, which can manage a conflict so as to prevent further escalation and instability of the conflict situation.

Some of the factors, which provide justification to the approach of conflict management in today’s world are:-

The interests of the parties involved in a conflict, which do not give enough space for resolving a conflict thus resulting in stagnation and stalemate as far as the shape of conflict is concerned.
The role of vested interest groups who want to keep the level of conflict high and the failure of conflicting parties to neutralize such vested interests groups
To provide space for the ultimate resolution of conflicts
The nature of conflict, which is variable in different parts of the world and which requires management, rather than resolution.

It is against this background that a two-day workshop on Conflict Resolution Mechanisms and the Challenge of Peace has been planned under the Program on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution (PPSCR), Department of International Relations, University of Karachi on November 26-27, 2007. Under PPSCR, two-day international workshop on, “Paradigms of Conflict Resolution” was organized on February 22-23, 2001 which examined in detail different aspects of CR and came up with various recommendations for unleashing a viable process of conflict resolution in South Asia. Another workshop on “Teaching and Research Methods in Conflict Resolution” was organized under PPSCR in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad on October 9-10, 2004 at the University of Karachi. The purpose of that workshop was to examine in detail important issues in teaching and research in the field of conflict resolution and to ponder on the ways to create awareness about the necessity for introducing conflict resolution in the curricula at school, college and university level.

The proposed workshop on CM has been planned so as to discuss in depth prospects of finding an alternate approach to peace and examine what practical mechanisms of CM exist in contemporary world. While CR may not be practicable because of the above-mentioned factors, CM may be within the scope of reachable solution.

Following questions will be examined in the proposed workshop:-

What is the linkage between CR and Peace and how a discourse on CM may help the process of conflict resolution?

Is CM a viable approach of conflict resolution?
What are the viable mechanisms of CM?
What are the major fault lines of CM and how these could be removed?
To what extent the existing literature on CM is useful in seeking a better
understanding of conflicts, particularly in developing countries?
Is the conflict management mechanism sufficient to cope with the challenges which one encounters in the contemporary world?

Following are the objectives of workshop:-

To create awareness among the participants of the workshop as far as different concepts of conflict and conflict resolution are concerned.
To examine the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of conflict management.
To compare CM with other concepts like conflict resolution, conflict prevention, conflict transformation and conflict resolution.
To explore the fault lines in conflict management mechanisms.
To examine linkage between CM and Peace.
To analyze the case studies of CM in different regions of the world.
To explore linkage between CM and the role of civil society, media and academia.
To publish the proceedings of workshop in the form of a book.

It is expected that the two-day workshop on conflict management mechanisms will go a long way in establishing a constituency of peace, conflict resolution and conflict management in this part of the world.

Prof. Dr. Moonis Ahmar
Chairman & Program Director
November 10, 2007

workshop program

ABSTRACTS

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MECHANISM PROCESS IN BANGLADESH: A CASE STUDY OF CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS (DELWAR HOSSAIN)
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND NORTHERN IRELAND  (FARHAN HANIF SIDDIQI)
EMERGING CHALLENGES IN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE PEACE BUILDING IN NEPAL    (GANESH ARYAL)
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND MISMANAGEMENT IN IRAQ   (JUSTIN ALEXANDER)
THE ROLE OF RESEARCH INSTITUTES & THINK TANKS IN THE PROCESS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT    (SALMA MALIK)
RESOLVING AN IDENTITY-BASED CONFLICT IN A PLURI NATIONAL SOCIETY: REFLECTIONS ON THE CONFLICT RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE IN SRI LANKA
(SUMANASIRI LIYANAGE)
PROSPECTS OF CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN KASHMIR   (DR. SWARAN SINGH)
KEY NOTE ADDRESS    (TARIQ FATEMI)
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MECHANISM IN FORMER YOGOSLAVIA
(TEHSEEN NISAR)
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MECHANISMS: NEED FOR AN ALTERNATE APPROACH
(MOONIS AHMAR)
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN NEPAL: A PAKISTAN’S PERSPECTIVE    (NABIHA GUL)
PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT MANAGEMENT    (MOHAMMAD SELIM)
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT MECHANISM IN AFGHANISTAN  (ZAFAR NAWAZ JASPAL)