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BPSE-146: Conflict Resolution and Peace Building

BPSE-146: Conflict Resolution and Peace Building

IGNOU Solved Assignment Solution for 2021-22

If you are looking for BPSE-146 IGNOU Solved Assignment solution for the subject Conflict Resolution and Peace Building, you have come to the right place. BPSE-146 solution on this page applies to 2021-22 session students studying in BAPSH, BAG courses of IGNOU.

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Assignment Solution

Assignment Code: BPSE-146/ASST/TMA/2021-22

Course Code: BPSE-146

Assignment Name: Conflict Resolution and Peace Building

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor


Marks: 100

Answer all questions in each Section



Assignment - I



Answer the following in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks.


Q1. What are the life cycles of conflict? How is crisis prevention different from crisis management?

Ans) A conflict is a dynamic scenario in which the intensity level changes over the course of the conflict's life cycle. Understanding the conflict cycle is necessary for knowing how, when, and where to use various conflict prevention and management tactics and procedures. Various conflict patterns recommendations and models have been proposed over time. In terms of their severity levels, conflicts are sometimes described as cyclical, ranging from a state of negative peace or unstable peace to crisis and war. It then de-escalates into an uneasy peace. The majority of academics think that these cycles occur on a regular basis. Positive peace has the potential to interrupt the cycle. As a result, peace is defined as a situation of so-called "positive" peace, rather than just the absence of conflict.


Crisis Prevention

There are numerous methods for preventing conflict. Preventive measures strive to enhance the system's structure in times of stable and unstable peace, which is required for peaceful dispute resolution. Conflict prevention strategies, on the other hand, are only useful during the phase of stable and unstable peace, i.e. before a conflict manifests. It's crucial to distinguish between structural and direct preventive measures here.


During a period of steady peace, structural interventions are most effective. They are made up of structural measures that are targeted at certain groups or topics, such as economic development, political involvement, or cultural autonomy. The advantage of implementing structural interventions early on is that they are more likely to be accepted while the players' suspicions are minimal. As a result, more comprehensive and institutional procedures can be put in place. The more severe the disagreement, the more precise measures are required.


Direct preventive efforts are addressed at issues in the unstable peace phase with a shorter-term goal in mind, namely, to reduce tension and build trust between the actors. Simultaneously, the window of opportunity for longer-term initiatives, such as institution building, is closing, and the battle is becoming more issue specific and costly in terms of money and politics. Direct preventive interventions can include formal or informal workshops that address potential conflict issues, for example. Preventive diplomacy, according to former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, is "the employment of diplomatic techniques to prevent disagreements from forming, escalating into armed conflict...and preventing the armed conflict from spreading."


Crisis Management

Crisis management is used in the days leading up to a war's outbreak, when the conflict is fast escalating and management options are limited. This era is marked by a lack of time and other resources, as well as insufficient information, to handle the problem. Crisis management comprises more drastic measures than crisis management, with the goal of containing the outbreak of militarised conflict using all possible methods. Third-party involvement by actors such as NATO or the United Nations is an example of such a measure.


Preventive strikes are also seen by some analysts as potential conflict and crisis management strategies. Neither prevention nor management are possible during the course of a battle. Even though political, economic, and social tactics are utilised simultaneously to reduce the opponent's willingness/capacity to fight, military measures are used as a key instrument. At this point, the players must either fight it out until they reach a so-called "hurting stalemate," in which both parties recognise the need to stop the conflict, or external forces must enforce peace.


Q2. What do you mean by peace? Discuss typology of peace with examples.

Ans) Peace, according to Wright, is "the by-product of an acceptable world organisation." He goes on to say that "a peaceful society is a community in which order and justice prevail both internally among its members and outside in its relationships with other communities."


Typology of Peace


Sub-International Peace Plans

At the sub-international level, there are several well-known techniques. Despite the fact that they play a minimal role in contemporary peace thinking, they must be acknowledged due to their prevalence. Intergroup, and also inter-human, conflicts are non-realistic conflicts, and more specifically, projections of intra-human conflicts, according to intra-human approaches to peace.


As a result, if man could be released from more of his inner tensions, he would act less aggressively on a global scale. Psychotherapy is more frequently used in contemporary civilizations, if not for the entire population, at least for its leaders, and if not for current leaders, at least as a screening method for future leaders, than religious conversion was in previous generations.


International Peace Systems

Based on Power Distribution: The majority of peace thinking has focused on the issue of how power should be allocated among the world's nations. The disregard of other types of power besides coercive power is common in theories about this. Influence potential is rarely regarded in its broadest sense. There are four primary peace models if we continue to the tradition of researching the distribution of military force.


Based on Conflict Organization: The second main type of international peace strategy focuses on conflict organisation. The core concept here is the criss-cross model, which is founded on the idea that the more conflicts a system has, the stronger it is, as long as those conflicts do not split the units in the same way.


Using Individual Loyalty Conflicts as a Base: Other peace models imply that nations' violence potential is lessened when divided loyalties are induced in individuals, however the crisis cross model states that peace is achieved when nations are caught under cross pressures. One such strategy aims to control numerous national loyalties: the goal is to prevent conflict polarisation by institutionalising secondary and main relationships between persons from different countries, preferably across potential conflict border lines.


Homology between nations has been identified as an important element because of the amount to which they are identical in social and political structure, that is, institutions and states in nation A have their "opposite number" in nation B. In minimum homology models, nations are as diverse as possible in terms of their value systems; as a result, they will not compete for the same finite resources, but will instead form a highly specialised pattern of dependency, a kind of complementarity-based symbiosis.


Based on International Stratification: International stratification, that is, the ranking of nations as high or low on such rank dimensions as size, population, power, natural resources, income per capita, cultural level, social level, and urbanisation, is multidimensional and there is a tendency toward rank equilibrium, in the sense that nations tend to divide into those that are high and those that are low on most or many dimensions, is multidimensional and there is a tendency toward rank equilibrium, in the sense that nations tend to divide into those that are high The issue, as with individual systems, is how nation-to-nation interaction is regulated. At the international level, there appear to be two approaches for managing "class conflict."


International Peace Systems

The majority of peace thinking has focused on the issue of how power should be apportioned among the world's nations. The first model is that of minimum equality of power, which is founded on the premise that making power a monopoly of one nation or system, as it is monopolised by some states in the international system, is beneficial for the international system. Pax Romana, Pax Ecclesiae, and Pax Britannica are examples. These are examples of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, and the United Kingdom sustaining law and order across vast swaths of the globe.



Assignment - II



Answer the following questions in about 250 words each. Each question carries 10 marks.


Q1. Write a critical note on whether conflict is inherent in human beings. Substantiate with arguments.

Ans) Conflict is inherent in societal structures, according to the Structural Violence Theory. Structural violence is caused by social structures and institutions. Johan Galtung recognised three types of violence: direct or overt violence, indirect or structural violence, and cultural violence.


Direct violence is a reaction to structural violence in which an individual or group intentionally harms another individual or group. In structural violence, institutions, systems, and structures either discriminate against people or deny or deprive them of their basic human rights and abilities, such as survival, well-being, safety, respect, freedom, identity, religion, and so on. Through ideology, religion, language, the arts, and education, cultural violence is utilised to justify and legitimise overt and systemic violence.


Individuals, groups, communities, and others are threatened by structural violence, which hinders them from realising their potential and achieving their goals. Repression, exploitation, and/or alienation are all examples of oppression. The framework could exploit individuals economically, politically suppress them, and/or culturally alienate them. Some examples of structural violence include slavery and colonialism. Gandhi advocated for the creation of new social structures devoid of structural violence. As a result, his approach to conflict resolution tried to keep the person while relentlessly attacking the structure.


Q2. Explain the salient points of constructive versus transformative approach and peace versus justice approach

Ans) The salient points of constructive versus transformative approach are:

  1. Reconstructive techniques focus on more tangible areas of peacebuilding, such as road, communications, healthcare, and public institutions, where advantages and outcomes are rapid and easily measurable.

  2. On the other hand, a transformative strategy aims to fill up these gaps, focusing less on physical restoration and more on improving social relationships inside and among conflict-prone communities. To begin with, their effects are less measurable, and their processes are typically time-consuming.


The salient points of peace versus justice approach are:

  1. Peacebuilding is a transition from short-term peacekeeping to long-term peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts.

  2. Peacebuilding is a broad notion that starts after the conflict has stopped and a ceasefire agreement has been reached. It covers not only the recurrence of violent conflict, but also the core causes of conflict and the creation of an enabling environment for long-term peace.

  3. In international relations, peacebuilding is a common activity. As a result, it is still evolving from below, through actual peacebuilding efforts on the ground, to a great extent.

  4. States with strong institutions are more likely to use a whole-of-government approach to peacebuilding. It places a strong emphasis on improved 'coordination' across various government entities in the design and implementation of peacebuilding accords.

  5. Peacebuilding and democratic governance are linked in the Political Democracy method, with a growing realisation of the importance of strong political and economic institutions in maintaining peace.

  6. Peace vs. Justice Approach: A peace-driven approach places a larger emphasis on ‘saving lives,' eliminating violence swiftly, and attaining negative peace.

  7. Beyond the cessation of violence, the justice approach to peacebuilding looks into problems of reconciliation, truth, and justice. It is made up of four elements: truth, justice, rectitude, and retribution/requital.


Q3. Explain the obstacles to interreligious dialogue and risks involved in it.

Ans) Interreligious communication is possible, but it is also challenging due to a number of obstacles. Perhaps this is why Jean-Mary Gaudel emphasised that the cross would always be the highest form of conversation, not as a dogma, but as a mystery that we cannot escape. Dialogue with various religions is fraught with difficulties. Some of these challenges have been identified by many scholars as a lack of deep knowledge of one's religion, a lack of knowledge of other religions, fear of the unknown, suspicion, a lack of self-critical assessment, superiority and inferiority complexes, disparity between those participating in dialogue, and inequality in theological development.


Natural law is ignored, faith and reason are confused, and there is a dearth of theological and metaphysical vocabulary that may be utilised to explain certain realities. Independent preachers are becoming more prevalent, which is posing a challenge. When someone does not elevate the position of other religions to that of world religions, it might become an impediment. We're not implying that all religions are alike. If we can't avoid them in order to meet, we can at least comprehend them and find ways to focus on what brings us together while suspending what divides us. Perhaps we also want a background that will enable us to meet despite our differences. Knowing who we are, that we are all human beings and citizens of this globe, can provide a solid foundation for discourse.



Assignment - III



Write a short note on the following in about 100 words each. Each short note carries 6 marks.


Q1. Civil Society for Peace Building

Ans) The civil-society or transformational approach to peacebuilding and conflict resolution entails the creation of an interactive, interconnected web of activities and interactions between the elite and the grassroots to create a "culture of peace," as Louis Kriesberg describes it. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are largely acknowledged as an important part of civil society. Non-governmental organisations, as Jonathan Goodhand points out, contribute to peacebuilding goals in both indirect and direct ways, such as supporting local leadership, monitoring and protecting human rights, facilitating good governance, constitutional reforms, local capacity building, and the development of alternative livelihoods. Conflict monitoring, mediation, security sector reforms, lobbying, education, and establishing peace constituencies are all activities that could have a direct impact on peacebuilding; nevertheless, indirect actions tend to integrate peacebuilding into existing activity.


Q2. Gene Sharp (1928-2018)

Ans) Gene Sharp was a thinker, peace activist, and author of seminal books on nonviolent conflict dynamics. Sharp began his career as a political pacifist, refusing to sign the draught for soldiers to fight in the Korean War. Sharp was imprisoned for nine months in 1953–54 for this. His nonviolent research led to an Oxford University PhD and the renowned three-volume, 900-page book The Politics of Nonviolent Action, which was released in 1973 and is still in print today. In 1983, he established the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the study and promotion of peaceful conflict resolution around the world. Sharp died on January 28, 2018, at the age of ninety, at his home in Boston.


Q3. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1956

Ans) The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a pivotal moment in America's campaign against racial segregation. Montgomery's city government implemented a racial segregation system on its buses. The front row seats were designated for white people under the arrangement, while black people were forced to sit in the back rows. Rosa Parks, a black woman, was going home by bus after a long day's work on December 1, 1955. The bus quickly became overcrowded. Only one white man remained. Because the city code stated that no black passenger should seat parallel to a white passenger, the bus driver asked her and three other black passengers to relocate. Mrs. Parks, on the other hand, refused to move. She was arrested and found guilty of breaking the law. She did, however, challenge the decision to a higher court of law.


Q4. Re-construction and Rehabilitation of the Tamils in Sri Lank

Ans) In 2009, Sri Lanka's twenty-five-year civil war, which killed approximately 70,000 civilian lives, came to an end. The civil war began with discrimination against the minority Tamil community, which demanded complete autonomy for Tamil-dominated areas under their control in the north and east of the country as part of the devolution of powers at the provincial level during the civil war. Several non-governmental organisations are working to rebuild and rehabilitate the IDPs. A plea has also been made for the media to play a positive role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of IDPs, as well as to support ongoing reconciliation efforts. Negative reporting should be avoided, and the focus should instead be on development and peacebuilding activities like as reconstruction, IDP relocation, and former combatants' rehabilitation.


Q5. Media and Peace Building

Ans) Information is power and understanding has the ability to influence public debate. Access to media can affect perceptions in this way. Different sorts of media are used around the world to disseminate information, and free mass media is viewed as a tool and marker for democracy. Freedom of expression is not only essential for a healthy media, but it is also a basic human right and a necessary component of a democratic system. It is a symbol of freedom of expression, access to knowledge, and the representation of diverse viewpoints in a diverse society. Effective and democratic media are a crucial aspect of any preventative culture, and they are especially important for nations attempting to move to peace and democracy.

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