Engaging Conflict History: Toward an Integrated Method of Conflict Resolution Dialogue and Capacity Building

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21113
• Date: 01 April 2015
• Author: Tatsushi Arai
• Published date: 01 April 2015

C R Q, vol. 32, no. 3, Spring 2015 277

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the Association for Confl ict Resolution

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.21113

Engaging Con ict History: Toward an Integrated

Method of Con ict Resolution Dialogue

andCapacity Building

Tatsushi Arai

 is article presents a method of applied practice that engages contested

historical meanings of intercommunal and international confl ict.  e

concept of confl ict history is introduced to describe a worldview of a

confl ict-aff ected community that seeks a coherent explanation of the

origin, evolution, and signifi cance of the confl ict it faces. Four inter-

connected perspectives on confl ict history–orthodox, diff erent, media-

tive, and alternative–are explored to bridge empirical inquiry into the

divided past with possibilities of future coexistence.  e study builds on

psychoanalysis and memory research, as well as on the author’s experi-

ence in confl ict resolution dialogues across the Taiwan Strait.

This article endeavors to answer questions arising from practical

experiences in facilitating confl ict resolution dialogues and capacity-

building workshops: How can communities undergoing deeply rooted

confl icts come to terms with the multifaceted meanings of their collective

history? How can they use their memories of the divided past as a basis

of self-refl ection and a source of strength to transform their long-stand-

ing confl icts? How can they discover and activate peace potential in their

collective understandings of history based on a learnable and teachable

method of inquiry and dialogue? To answer these questions, I introduce the

concept of confl ict history, which I defi ne as an evolving cognitive universe

of a confl ict-aff ected society that seeks to develop a coherent explanation

as to how the confl ict has emerged and evolved into its present form.  is

question of how inevitably leads to other related questions, such as what

events and issues have contributed to shaping and reshaping the confl ict,

278 ARAI

C R Q • DOI: 10.1002/crq

who else is involved in it, and why the confl ict is arising in the fi rst place.

Confl ict history, therefore, is a dynamic, holistic, and multidimensional

worldview of historical confl ict.

 e signifi cance of a systematic inquiry into confl ict history cannot

be overstated. A bird’s-eye view of contemporary international relations

suggests the salience of confl ict history as an underlying cause or conse-

quence, or both, of many of the large-scale protracted confl icts aff ecting

global security. Examples of such confl icts include Arab-Israeli relations,

the crisis in and around Syria and Iraq, India-Pakistan relations over

Kashmir, the tension between Iran and the West, the East China Sea ter-

ritorial dispute between Japan and China, the rising crisis in Ukraine,

and the cycle of intercommunal violence in the African Great Lakes.  e

importance of engaging confl ict history deeply and proactively in these

and other contexts of enduring tension is unmistakably clear. However,

as Barbara Tint (2010) observes in her extensive literature review on the

link between history, memory, and intractable confl ict, the body of schol-

arship on confl ict resolution focuses primarily on the present and the

future, as if “to look forward, not back” (248), for the purpose of problem

solving. Tint also notes that the literature of confl ict resolution generally

treats the collective memory of the past as background information for

analysis. Tint’s fi ndings suggest a need to build integrated frameworks of

analysis and applied practice that use the collective memory of the past

as a basis for transforming historical confl icts in such a way as to link the

past, present, and future more coherently.  is article contributes toward

meeting this need.

 is inquiry fi rst refl ects on a practical experience I had in facilitating

a confl ict resolution dialogue on the historical tension across the Taiwan

Strait.  is case study illustrates not only how diff erent worldviews of con-

fl ict interact with one another through dialogue, but also how experiential

methods of interactive dialogue can help reveal less conspicuous realms of

collective thinking that hold the key to the transformation of deeply rooted

confl ict. Second, I conceptualize these diff erent types of thinking further

and construct a working framework of analysis and applied practice that

can be used to engage confl ict history proactively. As I construct a working

framework, I draw insights from the emerging literature in psychoanalysis

and memory research. Finally, I apply the proposed working framework to

the Taiwan Strait confl ict and illustrate how this framework can work as

a practical method of confl ict resolution dialogue, capacity building, and

history education.