Assignment of the Conflict Transformation for

Development

Unit 1:
Clarify the concept of conflict. Briefly explain the reason and issue of the
conflict.
Ans: Conflict is a fluid and ambiguous term, therefore different people in different contexts
interpret conflict differently. Conflict can refer to a debate or contest; a disagreement, argument,
dispute, quarrel; a struggle, battle or confrontation; or a state of unrest, turmoil, chaos and
violence. Conflict occurs when two or more people oppose one another because of the difference
in their needs, wants, goals or values. Conflict is usually accompanied by feelings of anger,
frustration, hurt, anxiety, or fear. Conflict is the social process wherein the two opposing parties
try to monopolize the awards or resources through the violence or overtly.
Reason and Issues of the Conflict:
Conflict arises due to various reasons. Malthus says that reduced supply of the means of
subsistence is the root cause of conflict. According to him, conflict is caused by the increase of
population in geometrical progression and the food supply in arithmetical progression.

According to Charles Darwin, the biological principles of “Struggle for existence” and “the

survival of the fittest” are the main cause of conflict.

Sigmund Freud and other psychologist hold the view that the innate instinct for aggression in

man is the main cause of conflict. Thus, various causes lead to conflict.

The main cause of conflict may be briefly stated as follows:

1. Individual Difference:

Inn society, men are not alike in their nature, attitudes, ideal, interest and aspirations. Due to this

difference, they fail to accommodate themselves which may lead to conflict among them.
2. Cultural Difference: Culture is the way of life of a group. It differs from society to society.

The culture of one group differs from the culture of the other group. These cultural differences

among the group, sometimes cause tension and lead to conflict.

3. Clashes of Interests: The clash of interests of different people makes conflict inevitable. The

interests of the workers clash with those of employers lead to conflict among them.

4. Social Change: Conflict also arises due to the difference between rates of social change. The

change in the moral norms of a society and man’s hopes, aspirations and demands leads to
conflict .The conflict between the old and new generations is owing to social changes. Conflict is

an expression of social disequilibrium.

5. Poor Communication:

Conflict generally arises owing to poor communication or communication gap which usually

takes place in the, absence of complete, clear and correct information or due to language barriers.

Poor communication leads to suspicion, misunderstanding, and wrong or partial impression

between individuals, groups or teams, and gives rise to conflict.

6. Competition:

Competition for monetary incentives (e.g., bonus for individual or group performance), higher

position, attainment of benefits, etc. may cause conflict. The problem of competition comes in

where resources are limited and only a few are rewarded, and a large section remains deprived.

This competition generates dissatisfaction and, ultimately, gives rise to conflict.

7. More Power:

To remain satisfied with a limited power is generally not found in human nature. An individual

or a group has a general tendency to become more powerful and more important. From this

tendency, an individual or a group may defy or question the authority of the superior. This leads
to conflict. A conflict may also arise if a group claims to deserve more power to itself than other

group or groups.

8. Difference in Objectives:

Individuals or groups with different objectives are likely to oppose each other. They cannot go

along the same route for long. The activity of an individual with a strong sense of responsibility

and ambition is bound to clash with that of a person having less of those qualities, even though

both of them may be the employees of the same rank. Such differences gradually generate

dissatisfaction between them, and result in a conflict.

Briefly describe the characteristics of the weak states. Explain how these
characteristics lead the states into weak efficient?

Ans: Weak State:

It is defined as the state with the following characteristics:

a. Security Gap: Weak in providing security to its people

b. Capacity Gap: Weak in providing basic services to its people
c. Legitimacy Gap: Weak in having legitimacy among its people

The World Bank defines a state to be ‘weak’ if it

(a) is eligible for assistance (i.e., a grant) from the International Development Association (IDA)

(b) has had a UN peacekeeping mission in the last three years, and (

c) has received a ‘governance’ score of less than 3.2

Characteristics of Weak States

a. Social

 Mounting demographic pressures and tribal, ethnic and/or religious conflicts.

 Massive internal and external displacement of refugees.
 Widespread vengeance-seeking group grievances.
 Chronic and sustained emigration.
b. Economic
  Widespread corruption
 High economic inequality
 Uneven economic development along group lines.
 Severe economic decline.
c. Political

 Delegitimization of the state.

 Deterioration of public services.
 Widespread human rights abuses.
 Security forces operating as a "state within a state" often with impunity.
 Rise of factionalized elites.
 Intervention of external political agents and foreign states.

The above mentioned characteristics can lead the state into weak state by the following ways:

1. Within the borders of the state, there is often no single nation, i.e., a socially cohesive
society. Instead, there are usually a variety of communal groups contending for their own
securities and for supremacy over their competitors.

2. The regime in power, therefore, usually lacks the support of some significant
component of population, because the regime represents the interests either of a particular
social sector or of economic or military elite that has taken control. In all instances, the
result is an absence of perceived popular legitimacy to the existence and security interests
of the regime.

3. The state lacks effective institutional capacities to provide peace and order, as well as
the conditions for satisfactory physical existence, for the population.

4. The sense of threat that prevails is of internal threats to and from the regime power,
rather than externally motivated threats to the existence of the nation-state.

5. Less effective security for all or certain sectors of the population.

6. Less effective capacity of centralized state institutions to provide services and order.

7. Increased vulnerability of the state and its people to influence, intervention, and
control by outside actors, be they often states, communal groups or multinational
corporations.

8. Increased vulnerability of the state and its people to influence, intervention, and control
by outside actors and often state’s communal groups or multinational corporations.
Conflict, peace and development have complementary relationship to each
other. Justify.

Conflict has always both positive and negative impacts on individuals and society. Some
examples of positive outcomes of conflict on peace and development are are discussed here.
 Conflict can motivate people to try harder to win.
 It increases commitment and enhances group loyalty.
 It also clarifies problems or identifies main issues of concern.
 It leads to innovative breakthroughs and new approaches, techniques, procedures and
contents.
 It clarifies or brings underlying problems and facilitates change process leading to
solutions.
 It galvanises or increases energy level and makes key values visible.
 It also sharpens people’s capacity to bargain, influence, compete and negotiate.
 It contributes to agrarian reform and social change.
Similarly, conflict could have severe negative outcomes too.
 Conflict can lead to anger, avoidance, snapping, shouting, frustration, fear of failure, and
sense of personal inadequacy.
 It could also withhold critical information or distort information.
 It reduces productivity of people engaged in it.
 In organisation aspect, it sidetracks careers, ruins relationships and disrupts established
working patterns.
 It wastes brains, money and time, which leads to loss in productivity.
 It often promotes violence and disintegrates social harmony and contributes to breaking
down of society.
 When peaceful/silent conflict turns to violence and war, human rights violations, human
casualty and destruction increase and that ultimately turns to ‘state-failure’
.
Peace and Development:
Peace and development are complementary to each other. They are like two sides of a coin. In
the absence of one other cannot exist. Peace means the absence of violence or other disturbances
within a state whereas development is a result of peaceful environment. Development can be
conducted only in a peaceful environment. If there is war, conflict and violence in the country
then no development can be carried out. All the available means and resources goes in vain
without its utilization. The state will focus on terminating war rather than conducting
development works. For eg: In spite of having enormous resources strife, ethnic violence African
people are deprived of prosperity. During war all national resources are devoted to war efforts.
ultimately the economic life of the nation is in peril. So any kind of real development peace must
prevail. This is why peace is important for development. 
A environment is important for development, and in conflict-ridden communities, development
activities are disrupted due to the unreliable social services and the prevalence of social problems
such as poverty, hunger and inequality. In order to escape direct, structural and/or cultural
violence, development activities may be forced to close down and move to safer locations, even
as the people remaining in these conflict-ridden areas experience poverty, hunger and decreased
opportunities.
The traditional notion of peace—the absence of conflict—is not enough to bring about
development. If a government ends armed hostilities by issuing a ceasefire without addressing its
underlying factors, conflict may resume, further disrupting business operations and exacerbating
poverty, hunger and inequality.
Peace can help to promote development by the following ways:

 Well-functioning government
 Sound business environment
 Equitable distribution of resources
 Acceptance of the rights of others
 Good relations with neighbors
 Free flow of information
 High levels of human capital
 Low levels of corruption

Resource scarcity and resource depletion are the prime issues in taking place
conflict in environment. Put your argument. 
Resource scarcity and resource depletion are the prime issues in taking place conflict in
environment. This notion can be best described with the help of Neo-Malthusian model. The
Neo-Malthusian school of thought purpose that scarcity inevitably leads societies to a state of
war. One of the strongest proponents of this philosophy is Homer-Dixon, who proposes the
concept of environmental scarcity: a construct comprised of the supply, demand and distribution
of natural resources (Homer-Dixon 1999). He argues that scarcity lead to the materialization
of violence. For eg: water scarcity increase the risk of war by 6%. Galtung (1982): • “Wars are
often over resources.” “The destruction of the environment may lead to more wars over
resources.”
Three Casual Forms of Scarcity:
• demand induced (population growth)
• supply induced (degradation, environmental change)
• structural (unequal distribution of resources among individuals & groups)
Resource scarcity + population growth + structural inequalities→ resource capture,
marginalisation, migration →conflict
Resource scarcity is the single most important issue in armed conflict. This is even more true
after the end of the Cold War. Territorial disputes can be proxies for disputes about other scarce
resources (minerals, energy sources, food, water, etc.).
 Political ecology: Nature and society are mutually interlinked as a result environmental
conflicts are social conflicts, economic conflicts, political and cultural conflicts It states that
not scarcity but unequal entitlements, access, control, distribution as well as representation
will lead to the conflict.

Examples of Resource Scarcity induced conflict:

Darfur Conflict- Water Access

Armed Conflict in Nepal- Land Access

Syrian Civil War- drought

ISIS invasion of Iraq-  Droughts, extreme flooding, and winds caused economic disorder for
scores of farmers, herders, and other businesses. 

South Sudan Conflict- famine

Libyan Civil War- low rainfall

Briefly explain the overview of armed conflict in Nepal. Explain the effects of
armed conflict on women in reference to armed conflict period. 

Impacts of Conflict on Gender:

 Positive Impacts:

1. Change in Gender ideologies

 Gender ideologies form part of the value system which supports a given set of gender
roles, identities, and power structures. Women’s involvement in non-traditional role
(soldiers, spies) in conflict may serve to change gender ideologies to some extend
however, these women often are chastised in societies for not conforming to
traditional gender ideologies.
2. Change in gender relation

These are the activities which men and women are expected to carry out on a daily basis within
their households or communities, varying according to socio-cultural context; they are often
referred to as the gender division of labor.
The research found that war leads women to take on heavier responsibilities, while men’s
responsibilities tend to reduce. This is partly because many men are absent fighting or are killed
or abducted.
But it is also often because the resources which men used to control are no longer available, and
because the economic opportunities available in the new situation (for example, petty trade or
agricultural labour) are often more acceptable to women than to men. Women, therefore, have a
broader range of options through which they can fulfil their domestic responsibilities, while for
men the range of options is narrowed.
3. Move from stereotypical/conventional roles

This shift in responsibilities represents a move away from stereotypically ‘masculine’ and
‘feminine’ roles. Men however may react to these changes with depression, alcoholism and an
escalation of violence against women in public and private .
4. Womens’s involvement in national leadership
Increased political participation and organization: women in particular gain greater
confidence and see the benefits of working with other women.
5. Economic impacts: livelihoods and the division of labour
a) Increase in cash economy:
due to displacement men and women were dependent on finding casual work on the
informal sector and also became engaged on variety of risky survival strategies such as
prostitution
b) Adaptation on economic role on household level
Men often lost jobs and assets. Women as household heads in absence of men.Women were
often primary income earners
c) Implication of these changes
 In some cases, men accept this shift passively acknowledging women’s contribution
 In some cases, this shift has brought increase in alcoholism and domestic violence against
women

Negative Impact:
1) Increase in women headed household:
 Men are usually directly targeted in armed conflicts and they make up the majority of
casualties caused by small arms and light weapons (SALW). The increasing number of
households headed by women in conflict zones is an illustration of men’s specific
vulnerability
 Though from perspective of gender equality, female headed household is seen as one of
the feature of women’s empowerment but they have to suffer high workload since they
have to involve in both care and cash economy. It is also seen that female headed
household are vulnerable to the poverty.
2) Gender based violence:
 Gender-based sexual violence has become a weapon of war, often conducted on a
massive scale. Such violence is frequent in countries where total impunity of perpetrators
is the rule, following the collapse of police and legal systems and the total chaos inherent
to war. An example is the abuse committed against women by government soldiers in
Burma. Gender based sexual violence can consist of rape, forced impregnation, forced
abortion, trafficking, sexual slavery and the intentional spread of sexually transmitted
infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, etc.
 Sexual violence against women has a negative effect on the social relations. Many female
IDPs are forced to engage in prostitution.
 Rapes by the commanders in war and in villages too.
 Human trafficking especially girls
3) Gender and displacement
Conflict and displacement often have a great impact on gender roles both in the short
and in the long term.
More specifically, this impact can be:
1 Short term
a. Separation of families and increased vulnerability of women (VAW, lack of access to
food).
b. Lack of education, particularly for girls.
c. Men subject to conscription into military and militias: girl children abducted as
messengers, ‘wives’ and sex slaves and scouts for military groups; women may join
the military.
2 Long term:
a) Demographic profile changes in armed conflict situations, more women than
men may survive.
 b) Changes in labor division between men and women: men may lose their jobs
and feel frustrated as a result of the loss of their roles as breadwinners, while
women may be forced to assume responsibilities previously held by men
following the separation of families, the killing of relatives and the destruction
of homes. These changes can be long term or even permanent.
c) Women’s vulnerability to sexual exploitation, domestic violence and rapes
increases as gender roles shift.
4) Child Marriage:

In many communities, child marriages tend to rise in a conflict setting out of a need to protect
young women from sexual violence at the hands of the enemy or other actors. It is also
sometimes done in a bid to facilitate the entry of men into the territory of the bride, for marriage
allows access. In some communities, marriage is a way to protect the girl’s “honour”. For
example, in Syria, according to statistics from UNICEF, in 2011, 12% of registered marriages
involved a girl under the age of 18. This figure increased to 18% in 2012, 25% in 2013 and just
under 32% in the first quarter of 2014.

Define violence. Explain various forms of violence.

Violence is "the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy".
According to WHO, “Violence is the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or
actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or
has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or
deprivation”
Types of Violence
Johan Galtung has classified the violence into three types:
a. Structural Violence
It refers to a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm
people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. Structural violence exists when
some groups, classes, genders, nationalities, etc have more access to goods, resources, and
opportunities than other groups, classes, genders, nationalities, etc,.This unequal advantage is
built into the very social, political and economic systems that govern societies, states and the
world.. Constitutional privileges of Job reservations and financial supports in the name of the
welfare of the “tribes or backwards” is also examples of structural violence. Structural
violence forms the very basis of capitalism, patriarchy, and any dominator system.
b. Cultural Violence

Cultural violence" refers to aspects of a culture that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or
structural violence, and may be exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical
science and formal science. According to Galtung Cultural violence makes direct and structural
violence look or feel "right", or at least not wrong. Feelings of superiority/inferiority based on
class, race, sex, religion, and nationality are inculcated in us as children and shape our
assumptions about us and the world. They convince us this is the way things are and they have to
be.
c. Direct Violence
Direct violence can take many forms. In its classic form, it involves the use of physical force,
like killing or torture, rape and sexual assault, and beatings. Further, we understand that verbal
violence, like humiliation or put downs, is also becoming more widely recognised as violence. 
Johan Galtung described direct violence as the “avoidable impairment of fundamental human
needs or life which makes it impossible or difficult for people to meet their needs or achieve
their full potential. Threat to use force is also recognised as violence
Johan Galtung (1969), made a clear distinction between Structural Violence, Cultural Violence
and Direct Violence. These ideas are connected to his distinction depending on how it operates
between three inter-related forms of violence (Structural-Cultural-Direct) where Structural
Violence is at the left end and Cultural Violence is at the right end of the base of a Triangle
invisibly while Direct violence is on the vertex visibly.
According to Galtung’s Violence Triangle (1969), Cultural and Structural Violence cause Direct
Violence. Direct Violence reinforces Structural and Cultural violence. The roots of the direct
violence are structural and cultural violence.

Johan Galtung suggested to end the violence by 2 ways:

a. Socialism
b. Social and Economic Democracy

 g) In 21st century, world's major armed conflicts are largely motive by grievances. Put your
argument. 
In 21st century, world's major armed conflicts are largely motive by grievances. Put your
argument. It is the argument that people rebel over issues of identity,
e.g. ethnicity, religion, social class, etc., rather than over economics. Grievance is interpreted as
“justice seeking” whereby collective political violence is motivated by an endeavor to redress
injustices. 
Conflicts started through Grievance are often seen in states with the following characteristics:
 ethnic or religious hatred
 political repression
 political exclusion 
 Inequality
Proponents of the Grievance model believe that conflict emerge from the opposition to perceived
or actual injustice. Oppressed and marginalized people have become tired and they want to raise
their voice for justice and rights.
 
Examine Nepal government's initiative to fulfill security gap, capacity
gap,legitimacy gap to provide security to its citizens.
Constitutional Provision: The Constitution of Nepal (hereafter referred as the constitution),
which is the fundamental law of the land, was promulgated at almost the same time that the
SDGs was adopted globally in September 2015. It guarantees inclusive socio-political and
economic development and a wide range of basic and fundamental rights, including rights to
equality, justice, property, freedom of religion, a clean environment, education and rights against
discrimination. The constitution further upholds the right to food, education, equality,
environment and health, employment and social security, among others. The constitution
provides us with an effective and strong foundation for the main thrust of the SDGs i.e. ‘Leaving
No One Behind.’ It upholds and promotes the agenda of social justice, inclusion and a rights-
based approach, including 33 per cent of women representation in the parliaments. The
constitution has provisions for institutional mechanisms to ensure inclusion and gender equality,
as the appointment to the constitutional bodies and agencies are based on the principle of
inclusion. The eight constitutional bodies—the National Human Rights Commission, National
Women Commission, National Dalit Commission, National Inclusion Commission, Indigenous
Nationalities Commission, Madhesi Commission, Tharu Commission, and Muslim Commission
—provide an impetus towards building an equitable society. The constitution makes it
mandatory for all political parties to abide by the principles of inclusion and also promote
proportional representation for appointment in government services.
National Plans and Policies: The 14th plan has aimed at building an in - dependent and
prosperous state ensuring access to basic social services and providing adequate food, health and
energy, and job security, while calling for efforts towards the effective implementation of the
SDGs to pave the way for the transformation of Nepal from a low to a middle-income country by
2030. The 15th plan includes a long-term perspective with a 25-year vision. ‘Prosperous Nepal,
Happy Nepali’ with 10 national goals high and equitable national income; development and full
utilization of human capital potentials; accessible modern infrastructure and intensive
connectivity; and high and sustainable production and productivity as prosperity; and well-being
and decent life; safe, civilized and just society; healthy and balanced environment; good
governance; compre - hensive democracy; and national unity, security and dignity as happiness.
The plan has a target to increase per capita national income to USD 1,585 against USD 1,051
that of the base year of the plan. It aims to achieve an average economic growth of 9.6 per cent
per annum, reduce poverty rate to 9.5 per cent from the current 18.7 per cent, and increase the
literacy rate of the population aged 15-24 to 99 per cent from the current 70 per cent. Apart from
this, it has also set targets to achieve an average growth of 5.4 per cent in the agricultural sector,
14.6 per cent in the industrial sector and 9.9 per cent in the service sector for the plan period.
Sectoral Plans: The Agriculture Development Strat - egy (2015-2035) was developed in order to
make the agriculture sector sustainable, competitive and inclusive (MOAD, 2015). Similarly, the
National Agro-forestry Pol - icy 2019 was introduced to enhance land productivity and promote
multiple use of land for increasing agriculture productivity. In the health sector, the National
Health Sec - tor Strategy Implementation Plan (NHSSIP) (2016-2021) is being implemented
based on the goal towards the realization of the SDGs, as well as the government’s vision to
graduate from ‘Least Developed Coun - try’ to ‘Middle Income Developing Coun - try.’ The
strategy includes a multi-sectoral approach to address social determinants of health. The
government has been im - plementing the Nirogi Nepal campaign and Multi-stakeholder
Nutrition Plan (MSNP). In the education sector, the School Sector De - velopment Plan (SSDP-
2016-2023) is being put into effect. This plan has given priority to achieving gender equality in
education, and is also expected to increase the enrolment of girls in early childhood education as
well as retention rates. The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme and the Poverty
Alleviation Fund were initiated in order to address the issue of poverty and employment.
Similarly, the President’s Women Empowerment Program and continuation of the practice of
gender-responsive budgeting have contributed towards the upliftment of the status of women.
The Social Security scheme, which was started with a single program in 1994/95, has now been
substantially widened and deepened covering the most vulnerable groups, senior citizens, single
women, persons with disabilities, targeted marginal communities and so forth.
Laws and Acts: the Act Relating to Rights of Per sons with Disabilities, 2017, the Right to Food
and Food Sovereignty Act 2018, the Right to Housing Act 2018, the Right to Em - ployment Act
2018, the Right to Safe Moth - erhood and Reproductive Health Act, 2018, the Social Security
Act 2018, the Act Relat - ing to Children 2018, and the Act Relating to Compulsory and Free
Education 2018. Several acts were amended in the past, such as the Caste-based Discrimination
and Un - touchability (Offense and Punishment) Act to make the government a bailiff against
discrimination cases, and the Community Forestry Act to make them more effective in favor of
the disadvantaged and margin - alized groups living near forest areas. Furthermore, the
elimination of discrimi - nation against women, gender equality and empowerment has received
high priority in legislative provisions, administrative inter - ventions and affirmative actions.
Besides the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, the Sexual Harassment at the
Work Place (Elimination) Act, 2015, the act to Amend Some Nepal Acts for main - taining
gender equality and ending gender based violence (2015), the Witchcraft-relat - ed Accusation
Act 2015 have been adopted by the parliament. Several policies have included a gender-focused
approach, such as the Agriculture Development Strategy, National Health Strategy and gender
and social inclusion (GESI) provisions in pro - grams under different ministries. Similarly, the
National Action Plan against Gender Violence and Empowerment of Women, the National
Action Plan against Trafficking of Women, actions on women, peace and se - curity and actions
against harmful practices have further contributed to uplift the status of women, and promote
equality and em - powerment of women and girl children in Nepal. The country has also been
imple - menting gender-responsive budgeting for more than a decade.
Initiatives to fulfill Security Gap: The Rule of Law, which captures perceptions on the rules of
society, quality of contract enforcements, property rights, police, courts, etc. for Nepal has a
score of -0.48. Similarly, the score for Voice and Accountability for Nepal is -0.13 in 2018. The
ease of doing business score for Nepal shows a slow but positive trend with a value of 63.2 in
2020.1 In the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Reports, Nepal’s ranking has
improved from 117th (out of 148 economies) in 2013/14 to 88th (out of 137 economies) in
2017/18. In 2019, Nepal ranked 109 out of 129 countries in the Global Innovation Index (NPC,
2020a).
Give short introduction of greed and grievances.
Greed: It is the argument which states that combatants in armed conflicts are motivated by a
desire to better their situation, and perform an informal cost-benefit analysis in examining if the
rewards of joining a rebellion are greater than not joining. Collier & Hoeffler (1999) interpret
greed as “loot-seeking” where the propensity for individuals to participate in conflict is the cause
of the availability of lootable economic assets.
Grievance: It is the argument that people rebel over issues of identity,
e.g. ethnicity, religion, social class, etc., rather than over economics. Grievance is interpreted as
“justice seeking” whereby collective political violence is motivated by an endeavor to redress
injustices. 

Whether the cause of war is attributed to 'greed' or 'grievance' the common factor is the
perception of a certain deprivation.
 If deprivation is an economic deprivation, the inequality will be a 'vertical inequality' and
the cause of war will be 'greed'.
 If the deprivation is caused by ethnicity, age, religion or gender, it will be a 'horizontal
inequality' and the cause of war will be due to the 'grievances'.

Conflicts started through greed are often seen in states with the following characteristics:
 Negative Economic Growth
 Systemic Poverty
 Absence of effective military or police apparatus
 Low education level
 High unemployed men
 dependence and extortion of natural resources
 donation from diasporas
Conflicts started through Grievance are often seen in states with the following characteristics:
 ethnic or religious hatred
 political repression
  political exclusion 
 Inequality

Examine current insecurity threats in developing countries.

The insecurity threats faced by developing countries:
 Increasing ethnic and religion manipulation and polarization. For eg: increase in the
tension between Hindu and Muslim in India
 Increase in corruption.
 Increase in the foreign intervention in the policies of the developing countries. Eg: MCC
initiative in Nepal.
 Misuse of the power by the government to fulfill their own vested needs.
 The regime giving the power, resource and post to their own particular supporting group.
 Increase in the expenditure for buying weapons.
 Increase in poverty, hunger, disease and unemployment.
 Rise in the rebellious group against the regime.
 Feeling of insecurity among the common people.
 The regime fulfills the need of only some particular sector of the society.
from Unit 2 
What is conflict prevention? Write down some conflict preventive diplomacy.
Conflict prevention is about making societies’ resilient to violent conflict by strengthening the
local capacities for peace (systems, resources, structures, attitudes, skills). It is the combined set
of tools, actions and approaches designed to prevent the onset of armed conflict or its recurrence
by tackling both the root causes of conflict and its immediate triggers.
Some conflict preventive diplomacy:
 establishing mechanisms to detect early-warning signs and monitor specific indicators
that may help to predict impending(awaiting) violence;

 coordinating intervention to prevent the creation of conflict situations, and

 institutionalizing the idea of preventing violence at the local, regional, and international
levels.

 establishing mechanisms to detect early-warning signs and monitor specific indicators

that may help to predict impending(awaiting) violence;

 coordinating intervention to prevent the creation of conflict situations, and

 institutionalizing the idea of preventing violence at the local, regional, and international
levels.
Define conflict resolution. Explain how we can resolve the conflict.

Conflict resolution can be defined as:

 Conflict resolution is the process by which two or more parties reach a peaceful

resolution to a dispute.

  The informal or formal process that two or more parties use to find a peaceful solution to

their dispute.

We can resolve the conflict from the use of the following process:
1. Understanding the conflict
2. Communicate with the opposition
 Listen their opinions
 Avoid early judgement
3. Brainstrom possible resolution
 Maximize the option
4. Choose the best resolution
 Review the brainstorm ideas andStar the best ideas
5. Use a third party mediator
 As you are brainstorming and choosing a good resolution, you may want
to use third party mediator. This is a person who is not from your group or
your opponent’s group, but whom you both trust to be fair. Your mediator
can help both sides agree upon a standard by which you will judge your
resolution. Standards are a way to measure your agreement.
6. Explore alternatives
7. COPE WITH STRESSFUL SITUATIONS AND PRESSURE
TACTICS

Briefly discuss the use of conflict management in different developmental

field.
The use of Conflict Management in different developmental fields are given below:

 Conflict management goes a long way in strengthening the bond among the warring
parties and half of the problems automatically disappear.
 Conflict management also plays an important role in personal lives. Tussles and
fights spoil relationships and only increase o list of enemies. Everyone needs friends who
will stand by us when we need them. Conflict must be avoided at homes as it spoils the
ambience and spreads negativity. Individuals tend to disrespect others as a result of
 conflicts. Conflict management prevents fall out between family members, friends,
relatives and makes life peaceful and stressfree. Blamegame never helps anyone, instead
it makes life miserable. No idea can ever be implemented if the individuals fight among
themselves.
 Conflict management helps to find a middle way, an alternative to any problem and
successful implementation of the idea. Problems must be addressed at the right time to
prevent conflict and its adverse effects at a later stage. Through conflict management
skills, an individual explores all the possible reasons to worry which might later lead to a
big problem and tries to resolve it as soon as possible.
 Conflict Management is very important because it is always wise to prevent a fight
at the first place rather than facing its negative consequencies. Stress disappears,
people feel motivated, happy and the world definitely becomes a much better place to
stay as a result of conflict management

Mostly people do conflict for their own survival, wellbeing, identity and
freedom. Justify with Galtung's conflict analysis.
Johan Galtung contributed to basic human need approach by identifying four different basic
needs of the people.
1. Survival needs: Protection from violence, safety.
2.Well being needs: Food, water, nutrition, movement, protection from illness
3.Identity needs: belongingness, happiness, affection, actualization, self-expression
4.Freedom needs: Freedom from fear, freedom to choose occupation, way of living 

Galtung maintains that no need is more important and basic than the other. People can sacrifice
one need to obtain the other. e.g. survival need can be sacrificed to obtain identity need or
freedom. If all of these basic needs of people are not met on time then the violence continues.

Briefly discuss the strategies for conflict management?

Conflict management refers to the process of limiting negative impact and enhancing positive
impact.
Conflict Management Techniques:

a.Competing or Forcing (Win/Lose)

The style is assertive and non-cooperative. A party puts its interests before anyone else’s
interests. It is also known as dominating style. One party stands up for its rights and uses all the
power to win position. There is low relationship orientation. The party who uses this technique
wants to dictate others.

This style is power oriented and sees conflict in terms of a "Win-Lost" strategy.
On the negative side, a competitor may suppress, intimidate or coerce other parties into conflict.
On the positive side, a competing style may be necessary when a quick, decisive action is
required or when important but unpopular courses of action may be taken. In addition, competing
may be required when "you know you are right" is an issue. a lion can be a symbol of a
competitive style. The lion’s roar helps the lion to satisfy its interests.

It is used when:

1. When quick, decisive action is vital (e.g., emergencies).

2. On important issues but unpopular actions need to be implemented. (e.g., cost cutting,
enforcing unpopular rules, discipline).

3. On issues vital to nation or company welfare when you know you are right.

4. Against people who take advantage of non-competitive behaviour.

Overuse of this style:

It can lead to lack of feedback, reduced learning and low empowerment. This can result in being
surrounded by "Yes-Men".

People who overuse the competing style often use inflammatory statements due to a lack of
interpersonal skills training.

When overuse is taken to an extreme the person will create errors in the implementation of the
task by suppressing needed information, talking behind another person's back (or "back-
stabbing"), using eye motions and gestures designed to express disapproval and creating
distractions by fiddling or interrupting.

Overuse of this style can be showed through constant tension or anger and occasional outbursts
of violent temper.

Under use of the competing style:

It leads to a lowered level of influence, indecisiveness, slow action and withheld contributions.

Advantages of Competing:

 May provide a quick resolution to a conflict

 Increases self-esteem and draws respect when firm resistance or actions were a response
to an aggression or hostility
 The winner is clear.
 Winners usually experience gains
Disadvantages of Competing:

 May negatively affect your relationship with the opponent in the long run
 Establishes the battleground ground.
 May cause worthy competitors to leave or withdraw
 May cause the opponent to react in the same way, even if the opponent did not intend to
be forceful originally
 Cannot take advantage of the strong sides of the other side’s position
 Taking this approach may require a lot of energy and be exhausting to some individuals

Competing Skills

• Arguing or debating • Using rank or influence • Asserting opinions and feelings • Standing
your ground • Stating your position clearly

b. Avoidance (Leave-lose/win):

It is non-assertive and non-cooperative. The parties may think or pretend that no conflict exists

or just ignore it. This strategy is used when the effort to resolve is not worth. But this approach

over the time worsens the situation.

It might take the form of sidesteps, postpones or simply withdraws. A turtle is a symbol for

avoidance, because it can avoid everything by pulling its head and legs into the shell to be off to

everything.

The goal is to delay. It is appropriate to use this style when there are issues of low importance, to
reduce tensions, or to buy time. Avoidance is also appropriate when parties are in a low power
position and have little control over the situation, when parties need to allow others to deal with
the conflict, or when the problem is indicative of a much larger issue and parties need to work on
the core issue.

Overuse of the avoidance style:

It can result in a low level of input, decision-making by default and allowing issues to annoy,
which can produce a breakdown in communication between parties.

People who overuse avoidance feel they cannot speak frankly without fear of repercussions.

It can lead behaviors becoming passive aggressive by being late and not paying attention at
meetings.
Under use of the avoidance style:

It results in hostility and hurt feelings.

When avoidance is underused a team member may deny that there is a problem and allow their
hurt feelings to prevent communication.

It is used when:

1. When an issue is small, or more important issues are pressing.

2. When parties perceive no chance of satisfying concerns.

3. When potential disruption outweighs the benefits of resolution.

4. To let people cool down and regain perspective.

5. When gathering information supersedes immediate decisions.

6. When other can resolve the conflict more effectively.

7. When issues seem tangential or symptomatic of other issues.

Advantages of withdrawing: 

 When the opponent is forcing / attempts aggression, parties may choose to withdraw and
postpone their response until they are in a more favourable circumstance to push back
 Withdrawing is a low stress approach when the conflict is short
 Gives the ability/time to focus on more important or more urgent issues instead
 Gives you time to better prepare and collect information before you act

Disadvantages of withdrawing:

 May lead to weakening or losing position; not acting may be interpreted as an agreement.
 When multiple parties are involved, withdrawing may negatively affect relationship with
a party that expects action

Avoiding Skills

• Ability to withdraw • Ability to sidestep issues • Ability to leave things unresolved • Sense of
timing
c.Accommodating (Yield-lose/win):

Accommodating is non-assertive and cooperative, just opposite of competing. A person who uses
an accommodating style, as the primary approach to conflict management, may be showing too
little concern for personal goals. A chameleon is a symbol of the accommodating style since it
changes its color to match the color of its environment. By changing its color to accommodate its
surroundings, , the chameleon fits quietly into its environment.

Overuse of the accommodating style:

Results in ideas getting little attention, restricted influence, loss of contribution and anarchy.
People who overuse the accommodating style exhibit a lack of desire to change and usually
demonstrate anxiety over future uncertainties.

When accommodating is overused certain behaviors( like giving up personal space, making "me"
or other victim statements, being overly helpful and then holding a grudge and speaking in an
extremely quiet almost unintelligible voice) will emerge.

Under use of the accommodating style:

Results in lack of rapport, low morale and an inability to yield.

When the accommodating style is underused a person may display apathy as a way of not
addressing the anger or hurt and make statements full of innuendo and double meanings.

It is used;

 When it is important to provide a temporary relief from the conflict or buy time until the
parties are in a better position to respond/push back
 When the issue is not as important to parties as it is to the other parties.
 When one party accepts that it is wrong
 When parties have no choice or when continued competition would be harmful
 Maintaining harmony is important.

Advantages of smoothing: 

 In some cases smoothing will help to protect more important interests while giving up on
some less important ones
 Gives an opportunity to reassess the situation from a different angle

Disadvantages of smoothing: 
  There is a risk to be abused, i.e. the opponent may constantly try to take advantage of
your tendency toward smoot COLLABORATINGhing/accommodating. Therefore it is
important to keep the right balance and this requires some skill.
 May negatively affect your confidence in your ability to respond to an aggressive
opponent
 It makes it more difficult to transition to a win-win solution in the future

Accommodating Skills

• Forgetting your desires • Selflessness • Ability to yield • Obeying orders

d. Compromising (Mini-win/mini-lose):

It is some assertive and some cooperative. Compromise is on the path toward collaboration and

lies somewhere between competition and accommodation. This style means mutual give-and-

take to satisfy both parties, or both may say, “Something is better than nothing.” It has equal

distance between competing and accommodating.

There would be negotiated relationship orientation. When the objective is to move on, not to stop

the journey, the parties may compromise. A zebra can be a symbol for the compromising style. A

zebra’s unique look seems to indicate that it didn’t care if it was a black horse or a white horse,

so it “split the difference” and chose black and white stripes.

Overuse of the compromising style:

Leads to loss of long-term goals, a lack of trust, creation of a skeptical environment and being
viewed as having no firm values.

Result in making concessions to keep people happy without resolving the original conflict.

Underuse of Compromising Style:

Leads to unnecessary confrontations, frequent power struggles and ineffective negotiating.

It is used when:

 When the goals are moderately important and not worth the use of more assertive or more
involving approaches, such as forcing or collaborating
 To reach temporary settlement on complex issues
  To reach useful solutions on important issues
 As a first step when the involved parties do not know each other well or haven’t yet
developed a high level of mutual trust
 When collaboration or forcing do not work

Possible advantages of compromise:

 Faster issue resolution. Compromising may be more practical when time is a factor
 Can provide a temporary solution while still looking for a win-win solution
 Lowers the levels of tension and stress resulting from the conflict

Disadvantages of using compromise:

 May result in a situation when both parties are not satisfied with the outcome (a lose-lose
situation)
 Does not contribute to building trust in the long run
 May require close monitoring and control to ensure the agreements are met

Compromising Skills

• Negotiating • Finding a middle ground • Assessing value • Making concessions

e.Collaborating (Win/win):

It is assertive as well as cooperative, just opposite of avoiding. It may also be called integrative

style. This style focuses on satisfying the underlying concerns of both the parties.

Examples of when collaborating may be appropriate:

 When consensus and commitment of other parties is important

 In a collaborative environment
 When it is required to address the interests of multiple stakeholders
 When a high level of trust is present
 When a long-term relationship is important
 When parties need to work through hard feelings, animosity, etc
 When parties don't want to have full responsibility

Advantages of collaborating: 
  Leads to solving the actual problem
 Leads to a win-win outcome
 Reinforces mutual trust and respect
 Builds a foundation for effective collaboration in the future
 Shared responsibility of the outcome
 Earn the reputation of a good negotiator
 For parties involved, the outcome of the conflict resolution is less stressful (however, the
process of finding and establishing a win-win solution may be very involed – see the
caveats below)

Disadvantages of collaborating: 

 Requires a commitment from all parties to look for a mutually acceptable solution
 May require more effort and more time than some other methods. A win-win solution
may not be evident
 For the same reason, collaborating may not be practical when timing is crucial and a
quick solution or fast response is required
 Once one or more parties lose their trust in an opponent, the relationship falls back to
other methods of conflict resolution. Therefore, all involved parties must continue
collaborative efforts to maintain a collaborative relationship

Clarify the concept of conflict resolution. Briefly describe the existing social
conflict in your community. You as a mediator, what would be your role for
de-escalating the ongoing conflict?

Conflict resolution can be defined as:

 Conflict resolution is the process by which two or more parties reach a peaceful

resolution to a dispute.

  The informal or formal process that two or more parties use to find a peaceful solution to

their dispute.

In my community, the conflict for irrigation canal water during sowing the rice exists (especially
during the month of Ashar, Mangsir and Chaitra). The propensity of the conflict increases during
the month of Mangsir when there is no rainfall and everyone have to completely rely on the
irrigation canal.Due to the absence of systematic routine turn system about who is going to use
water from irrigation canal, there has bee always a conflict among the people of my area. This
has become a serious issue. If I was mediator to solve this conflict, then I would focus on the
following measures:
 Aware the community to recognize this conflict as a problem and that it should be
treated.
 Reconcile the people who have bitter relationship between them due to this conflict.
 Prepare a systematic routine for using the water from the canal.
 Talk to the supervisor of the irrigation to increase the time duration of water during
sowing season.
 Encourage every people to cultivate in an effective manner without wasting too much
water and time.
Briefly examine the factors escalating conflict in the world.
Conflict escalation is the process by which conflicts grow in severity over time.
Factors escalation conflict in the World:
The factors escalating the conflicts in the world can be best shown through Glasl’s model of
conflict escalation. Glasl represents "escalation in his nine stage model not as an ascent to higher
and higher stages of escalation, but as a descent to deeper and deeper, more primitive and more
inhuman forms of dispute... [which] inevitably leads into regions that evoke great 'inhuman
energies' which are not ultimately amenable to human control or restraint.’ In the first level both
parties can still win (win–win). In the second level one of the parties loses and the other wins
(win–lose), and in the third level both parties lose (lose–lose).

The nine stages of conflict escalation

Many different kinds of conflict can be thus analysed: divorces, conflicts between colleagues and
school children, and also conflicts between states.
1st Level (Win–Win)
Stage 1 – Tension
Conflicts start with tensions, e.g. the occasional clash of opinions. This is a common occurrence
and is not perceived as the start of a conflict. However, if a conflict should result the positions
become more fundamental. The conflict could have deeper causes.
Stage 2 – Debate
From now on the conflict parties consider strategies to convince the counterparty of their
arguments. Differences of opinion lead to a dispute. The parties try to put each other under
pressure and think in terms of black and white.
Stage 3 – Actions instead of words
The conflict parties increase the pressure on each other in order to assert their own opinion.
Discussions are broken off. No more verbal communication takes place and the conflict is
increasingly acerbated. Sympathy for "them" disappears.
2nd Level (Win–Lose)
Stage 4 – Coalitions
The conflict is acerbated by the search for sympathisers for one's cause. Believing one has right
on one's side, one can denounce the opponent. The issue is no longer important: one has to win
the conflict so that the opponent loses.
Stage 5 – Loss of face
The opponent is to be denigrated by innuendo and the like. The loss of trust is complete. Loss of
face means in this sense the loss of moral credibility.
Stage 6 – Threat strategies
The conflict parties try to gain absolute control by issuing threats which demonstrate their own
power. One threatens, for example, with a demand (10 million euros) which is enforced by
a sanction ("otherwise I′ll blow up your main building") and underlined by the potential for
sanction (showing the explosive). The proportions decide the credibility of the threat.
3rd Level (Lose–Lose)
Stage 7 – Limited destruction
One tries to severely damage the opponent with all the tricks at one's disposal. The opponent is
no longer regarded as human. From now on, limited personal loss is seen as a gain if the damage
to the opponent is greater.
Stage 8 – Total annihilation
The opponent is to be annihilated by all means.
Stage 9 – Together into the abyss
From this point personal annihilation is accepted in order to defeat the opponent.
To achieve de-escalation Glasl assigns the following strategic models to the different stages of
escalation:

 Stage 1–3: mediation

 Stage 3–5: process guidance
 Stage 4–6: sociotherapeutic process guidance
 Stage 5–7: intercession, intermediation
 Stage 6–8: arbitration, court action
 Stage 7–9: forcible intervention
From Unit 3 
Development aid as a catalyst to escalate conflict in conflict affecting areas.
Put your argument with supporting examples.
Development aid as a catalyst to escalate conflict in conflict affecting areas. Development aid
can directly and indirectly escalate the conflict by the following ways:
Reducing recipient government accountability and national democracy
Foreign aid may hinder the development of democracy in recipient states, by reducing
governments' need to raise taxes from citizens, thus making those governments more
autonomous and less sensitive to citizen demands, while citizens, on their part, have less
necessity to make demands on the government. 
Corruption
Foreign aid encourages rent-seeking, which is when government officials and leaders, use their
position and authority to increase their personal wealth at the expense of the citizens. Most
African leaders and official, are able to amass huge sums of personal wealth for themselves from
the foreign aid received - they enrich themselves and do not use the aid provided for its intended
purpose.
It has been argued that much government-to-government aid was ineffective because it was
merely a way to support strategically important leaders (Alesino and Dollar, 2000). A good
example of this is the former dictator of Zaire, Mobuto Sese Seko, who lost support from the
West after the Cold War had ended. Mobuto, at the time of his death, had a sufficient personal
fortune (particularly in Swiss banks) to pay off the entire external debt of Zaire.
Inappropriate behaviour by aidworkers
Development aid is often provided by means of supporting local development aid projects. In
these projects, it sometimes occurs that no strict code of conduct is in force. In some projects, the
development aid workers do not respect the local code of conduct. For example, the local dress
code as well as social interaction. In developing countries, these matters are regarded highly
important and not respecting it may cause severe offense, and thus significant problems and
delay of the projects.
Contradictions between aid and other donor policies
There is also criticism because donors may give with one hand (through large amounts of
development aid, yet take away with the other (through strict trade or migration policies, or by
getting a foothold for foreign corporations.)
Anthropologist and researcher Jason Hickel states that the rich countries "aren’t developing poor
countries; poor countries are developing rich ones.
Political bias in aid allocation
The practice of extending aid to politically aligned parties in recipient nations continues today.
Researchers has discovered that the greater the degree of alignment the recipient party has with
the donor entity, the more aid it receives on average during an election year. In an analysis of the
3 biggest donor nations (Japan, France, and the US), It was discovered that each has its own
biases to the aid it gives out. Japan appears to prioritize giving aid nations that exercise similar
voting preferences in the United Nations, France mostly sends aid to its former colonies, and the
U.S. disproportionately provides aid to Israel and Egypt. These allocations are often powerful
tools for maintaining the strategic interests of the donor country in the recipient country.
Deterioration of the Economy and Trade
The negative effect of foreign aid on economy and trade of the recipient can be understood
through the term ‘Dutch Disease’. Basically, no matter what kind of aid it is, more foreign aid
means more foreign currency inflows. This would make the domestic products more expensive,
suggesting higher real exchange rate and overall decrease of export sector. In other words, the
‘terms of trade’ of this country get deteriorated. Another symptom of ‘Dutch Disease’ is that the
industries which get assisted would attract more labour or capital from other industries. This
would directly increase other industries’ production cost and squeeze their profits, making the
whole country’s trade environment get worse. One example of this would be El Salvador
(Drabek and Laird, 2001), which received a huge amount US aid between 1982 and 1987.
During this period, El Salvador experienced high inflation and high interest rate accompany with
the US economic aid, which was more than twice of the military aid (Richard A. H., 1988).
Aim of Aid giver nations
Aid-giving countries have been using it as a means of promoting and protecting their own
interests, including political ones. They have been trying to impose highly stringent conditions
on the aid- receiving countries.
They have also used their economic strength for imposing unfavourable terms of trade and
specific monetary and fiscal policies.
Imposition of Western Values
Tied Aid
There is also much debate about evaluating the quality of development aid, rather than simply
the quantity. For instance, tied aid is often criticized, as the aid given must be spent in the donor
country or in a group of selected countries. According to a 1991 report for the OECD, tied aid
can increase development aid project costs by up to 20 or 30 percent.

For Against

Aid can increase the dependency of LEDCs on

Emergency aid in times of disaster saves
donor countries. Sometimes aid is not a gift, but a
lives.
loan, and poor countries may struggle to repay.
 For Against

Aid may not reach the people who need it

Aid helps rebuild livelihoods and housing
most. Corruption may lead to local politicians
after a disaster.
using aid for their own means or for political gain.

Aid can be used to put political or economic

Provision of medical training, medicines and
pressure on the receiving country. The country may
equipment can improve health and standards
end up owing a donor country or organisation a
of living.
favour.

Aid for agriculture can help increase food

Sometimes projects do not benefit smaller
production and so improve the quality and
farmers and projects are often large scale.
quantity of food available.

Encouraging aid industrial
Infrastructure projects may end up benefiting
development can create jobs and improve
employers more than employees.
transport infrastructure.

It may be a condition of the investment that the

Aid can support countries in developing projects are run by foreign companies or that a
their natural resources and power supplies. proportion of the resources or profits will be sent
abroad.

Describe development as the process of marginalization, livelihood loss and

increasing in vulnerable people in the world.

Michael Cernea, a sociologist, who has researched development-induced displacement and

resettlement for the World Bank, points out that being forcibly ousted(expelled) from one's land
and habitat carries with it the risk of becoming poorer than before displacement, since a
significant portion of people displaced do not receive compensation for their lost assets, and
effective assistance to reestablish themselves productively. Cernea has identified eight
interlinked potential risks intrinsic to displacement.

1. Landlessness: Expropriation of land removes the main foundation upon which people‘s
productive systems, commercial activities, and livelihoods are constructed.

Expropriation :the action by the state or an authority of taking property from its owner
for public use or benefit.
2. Joblessness: The risk of losing wage employment is very high both in urban and rural
displacements for those employed in enterprises, services or agriculture. Yet creating new jobs is
difficult and requires substantial investment.

3. Homelessness: loss of a family's individual home and the loss of a group's cultural space tend
to result in alienation and status deprivation.

4. Marginalisation. Marginalisation occurs when families lose economic power and spiral on a
“downward mobility” path. Many individuals cannot use their earlier-acquired skills at the new
location; human capital is lost or rendered inactive or obsolete. Economic marginalisation is
often accompanied by social and psychological marginalisation.

5. Food Insecurity: Forced uprooting(digout) increases the risk that people will fall into
temporary or chronic undernourishment, defined as calorie-protein intake levels below the
minimum necessary for normal growth and work.

6. Increased Morbidity and Mortality: Displacement-induced social stress and psychological

trauma, the use of unsafe water supply and improvised sewage systems, increase vulnerability to
epidemics and chronic diarrhoea, dysentery, or particularly parasitic and vector-borne diseases
such as malaria and schistosomiasis.

7. Loss of Access to Common Property: For poor people, loss of access to the common property
assets that belonged to relocated communities (pastures, forest lands, water bodies, burial
grounds, quarries and so on) result in significant deterioration in income and livelihood levels.

8. Social Disintegration: Displacement causes a profound unraveling(seperating) of existing

patterns of social organisation. When people are forcibly moved, production systems, life-
sustaining informal networks, trade linkages, etc are dismantled.

Indigenous people and other minorities disproportionately affected

• In India, the Adivasi or tribal people, although only representing eight percent of the total
population, make up 40-50 percent of the displaced.
• In Nepal, indigenous groups displaced by a dam on the Kaligandaki river have lost their
land and livelihood and have reportedly been inadequately compensated.
• The livelihood of an estimated 35,000 indigenous Ibaloi people is threatened by the
construction of the San Roque Dam in the Philippines.

Some examples of development-induced displacement are:

 Three Gorges Dam in China – A hydroelectric dam on China's Yangtze River

constructed between 1994 and 2006, which displaced over 1.4 million people through
primary and secondary displacement.
  Sardar Sarovar Dam in India – The largest dam in the Narmada Valley Project, which
displaced over 40,000 people. The dam was the subject of protest by environment
groups and tribal groups during the 1980s and 1990s.
 Ahafo Mine in Ghana – An open-pit mine which displaced approximately 10,000
people in 2005 and 2006. Most of the displaced were subsistence farmers, but the
mining company, Newmont, denied them compensation for loss of land.
 Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in India – Between 1999 and 2003, 24 villages were
displaced to reintroduce the Asiatic Lion to the area. Resettlement and enforcement
of forest boundaries disrupted social and economic ties between the displaced and the
host community.
 Pacific Park/Atlantic Yards in the US – A mixed-use development in New York
City that began construction on 2010, involving eminent domain, the destruction of
12 buildings, and several lawsuits.

Development and conflict has the casual relationship to each other. Put your
arguments with examples.
Development and conflict has the casual relationship to each other. Development is not possible
without conflict and conflict is not possible without visible development. Development processes
seek to change society, they intrinsically hold the potential for conflicts. For this reason, all
development interventions in areas affected by violent conflict must take into account conflict
dynamics (‘conflict sensitivity’). Development interventions that fail to be sensitive to conflicts
are – at best – less likely to be sustainable, and at worst risk exacerbating the conflicts.

Development as a cause of Conflict:

Michael Cernea, a sociologist, who has researched development-induced displacement and

resettlement for the World Bank, points out that being forcibly ousted(expelled) from one's land
and habitat carries with it the risk of becoming poorer than before displacement, since a
significant portion of people displaced do not receive compensation for their lost assets, and
effective assistance to reestablish themselves productively. Cernea has identified eight
interlinked potential risks intrinsic to displacement.

1. Landlessness: Expropriation of land removes the main foundation upon which people‘s
productive systems, commercial activities, and livelihoods are constructed.

Expropriation :the action by the state or an authority of taking property from its owner
for public use or benefit.

2. Joblessness: The risk of losing wage employment is very high both in urban and rural
displacements for those employed in enterprises, services or agriculture. Yet creating new jobs is
difficult and requires substantial investment.

3. Homelessness: loss of a family's individual home and the loss of a group's cultural space tend
to result in alienation and status deprivation.
4. Marginalisation. Marginalisation occurs when families lose economic power and spiral on a
“downward mobility” path. Many individuals cannot use their earlier-acquired skills at the new
location; human capital is lost or rendered inactive or obsolete. Economic marginalisation is
often accompanied by social and psychological marginalisation.

5. Food Insecurity: Forced uprooting(digout) increases the risk that people will fall into
temporary or chronic undernourishment, defined as calorie-protein intake levels below the
minimum necessary for normal growth and work.

6. Increased Morbidity and Mortality: Displacement-induced social stress and psychological

trauma, the use of unsafe water supply and improvised sewage systems, increase vulnerability to
epidemics and chronic diarrhoea, dysentery, or particularly parasitic and vector-borne diseases
such as malaria and schistosomiasis.

7. Loss of Access to Common Property: For poor people, loss of access to the common property
assets that belonged to relocated communities (pastures, forest lands, water bodies, burial
grounds, quarries and so on) result in significant deterioration in income and livelihood levels.

8. Social Disintegration: Displacement causes a profound unraveling(seperating) of existing

patterns of social organisation. When people are forcibly moved, production systems, life-
sustaining informal networks, trade linkages, etc are dismantled.

Indigenous people and other minorities disproportionately affected

• In India, the Adivasi or tribal people, although only representing eight percent of the total
population, make up 40-50 percent of the displaced.
• In Nepal, indigenous groups displaced by a dam on the Kaligandaki river have lost their
land and livelihood and have reportedly been inadequately compensated.
• The livelihood of an estimated 35,000 indigenous Ibaloi people is threatened by the
construction of the San Roque Dam in the Philippines.

Some examples of development-induced displacement are:

 Three Gorges Dam in China – A hydroelectric dam on China's Yangtze River

constructed between 1994 and 2006, which displaced over 1.4 million people through
primary and secondary displacement.
 Sardar Sarovar Dam in India – The largest dam in the Narmada Valley Project, which
displaced over 40,000 people. The dam was the subject of protest by environment
groups and tribal groups during the 1980s and 1990s.
 Ahafo Mine in Ghana – An open-pit mine which displaced approximately 10,000
people in 2005 and 2006. Most of the displaced were subsistence farmers, but the
mining company, Newmont, denied them compensation for loss of land.
  Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in India – Between 1999 and 2003, 24 villages were
displaced to reintroduce the Asiatic Lion to the area. Resettlement and enforcement
of forest boundaries disrupted social and economic ties between the displaced and the
host community.
 Pacific Park/Atlantic Yards in the US – A mixed-use development in New York
City that began construction on 2010, involving eminent domain, the destruction of
12 buildings, and several lawsuits.

Conflict as a cause of Development:

 Conflict can motivate people to try harder to win.
 It increases commitment and enhances group loyalty.
 It also clarifies problems or identifies main issues of concern.
 It leads to innovative breakthroughs and new approaches, techniques, procedures and
contents.
 It clarifies or brings underlying problems and facilitates change process leading to
solutions.
 It galvanises or increases energy level and makes key values visible.
 It also sharpens people’s capacity to bargain, influence, compete and negotiate.
 It contributes to agrarian reform and social change.

Define peace building. Briefly explain the dimension of peace building in

development.

Peacebuilding is an activity that aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the

cultural & structural conditions that generate deadly or destructive conflict.

1st Dimension 2nd Dimension 3rd Dimension

Taking away Rebuilding basic Trauma counseling Gender empowerment

weapons facilities,
Transitional justice and Raising environmental
transportation and
Re-integrating restoration awareness
communication
former
networks, utilities Community dialogue Promoting economic
combatants into
development
civilian society Developing rule of Building bridges between
law systems and different communities Developing a civil
public society and private
administration Increasing human rights
sector that can represent
diverse interests and
Building
challenge the state
educational and
peacefully
health
infrastructure
 Providing
technical and
capacity-building
assistance for
institutions
Creating
legitimate
(democratic, accou
ntable) state
institutions

Write down the impact of community peace building in the level of

development.
Community peacebuilding is both a social and structural process. It is a participatory, bottom-up
approach, founded on the premise that people are the best resources for building and sustaining
peace. It posits that the promotion of peace must be undertaken not only at the international and
national levels but also at a local level, with families, tribes, and communities, where disputes
can potentially escalate to violent conflict.

Community peacebuilding aims at developing trust, safety, and social cohesion within and
between communities; to strengthen social and cultural capacities to resolve disputes and
conflict; and to promote inter-ethnic and inter-group interaction and dialogue. It aims to prevent
conflict and achieve conditions which reduce community vulnerabilities to violence from
internal or external causes; and ultimately, it seeks to influence attitudes and behaviours through
promoting values of peace and tolerance.

Community peacebuilding can be achieved through strengthening the capacity of community-

based institutions, especially shuras and other newly established and/or mandated groups like the
Community Development Councils, Peace Councils, etc., to resolve disputes through mediation,
negotiation, and conflict resolution; supporting civil-society involvement in peace and
development; and promoting peace education. Community peacebuilding promotes restorative
justice, in that it seeks to provide restitution to victims and to restore relationships between
offenders and victims.

Peacebuilding is not about imposing solutions, or preconceived ideas or processes. It involves

self-analysis and helps support communities to develop their own means of strengthening social
cohesion and of building capacities to reach solutions that are peaceful and just. It aims to
encourage gradual and progressive change in traditional community institutions, for them to
become fairer, more representative, and more constructive.

Community peacebuilding promotes inclusive partnerships between people, institutions, and

civil society. It is not a fixed or defined activity, but an ongoing social process that adapts to
local circumstances and seeks to incorporate peacebuilding values, skills, and techniques into all
aspects of governance and development work.

Community peacebuilding has been carried out with much success by local and international
organisations in a range of conflict and post-conflict countries. A number of highly effective
community peacebuilding programmes have been undertaken by various organisations in post
conflict countries. The impact of community peace building are:

 Increased resolution of disputes.

 Peace building avoids conflicts from escalating and helps prevent conflicts in areas where
there are none
 Lower levels of violence. 
 Lower levels of domestic violence. 
 Lower levels of violence amongst children. 
 Improved social relations. 
 Stronger resilience to external threats or events.
 Expansion of development activity.
 Mitigation of oppression. 
 Peace building also helps create security and stability within our community and country
at large
 When there is conflict, life and property are destroyed, peace building therefore helps
safeguard lives and properties
 Peace building fosters unity and togetherness among people
 Peace building contributes to development as we are saved the extra expenditure we
would have incurred in restoring damaged properties during conflicts

From Unit 4
Development failure and constitutional causes are the major context of armed
conflict (1996-2006) in Nepal. Justify.
Development failure
Unlike the naïve belief of development interventions bringing about positive impacts to the well-
being of socially excluded, after more than five decades of experiences of planned development,
it has became clear that such interventions often overlook or exclude the most worst off
population. In this context, an important question emerges regarding the performance of
programmes and projects funded by donors and the role of the
National Planning Commission in Nepal. What achievements in addressing inequality and social
exclusion donor-funded development projects have taken place after several decades of their
engagement? Why they are not able to ensure the development supported by donors to address
these issues? Why do they still want to continue the same
approaches, strategies and mechanisms, if they are not able to achieve the stated goals? It is time
for donors to rethink their development support strategies and practices and refine their
approaches. So far, the unique characteristic of donors is to be sectoral, compete with each other
on a particular development issue, provide contradictory advice to the government and impose
rigidity and conditionality in their assistances (e.g., to relinquish incentive systems such as
subsidies in agriculture, force to rise prices of basic goods and services like electricity
and water that often lead to severe conflict). For example, the ADB imposed conditions to
abolish subsidy in agricultural inputs and reduce the number of food depots from Mid- and Far-
Western regions have severely questioned the contribution and effectiveness of donor-funded
development intervention to address the root causes of the conflict. He writes, “…What we say of
the USAID implemented Rapti Zone Rural Area Development Project, and its second
incarnation, the Rapti Development Project, aimed to fulfil the basic needs of the poor
majority, the farmers of the mid hills. The Programme spent about US $ 50 millions in
‘improving household food production and consumption, improve income generating
opportunities for poor
farmers, landless labourers, occupational castes and women’. In short, the project’s overall goal
was to increase the well-being of people. The Americans thought they’d need 15 years to achieve
their objectives.
And, going by their reports, they worked ‘hard’ for those 15 years. The project started in 1980
and ended in 1995, just a month and half before the Maoists began their armed movement. …
The government and donors both say development packages will help eliminate the Maoists. If
that were true, why was Rapti Zone so favourable for the
development of Maoist movement? If that is what you get after 15 years of American funded
development, we were perhaps better without it”. (Mainali, 2003:125-126).
Most of the integrated development projects in the late 1970s to early 1990s were operating in
rural remote areas (e.g., Integrated Hill Development Project in Dolakha and Sindhuplackowk
districts, Koshi
Hill Development project in Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Sankhuwasawa, Terathum, Mechi Hill
Development project in Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung, Rasuwa-Nuwakot Integrated
Development project in Rasuwa
and Nuwakot, Rapti Integrated Development Project in Rapti zone, Mahankali Integrated
development project in Mahakali, Gulmi- Arghakhanchi integrated development project in
Gulmi and Arghakhabchi districts, Bheri Integrated development project in Bheri zone, etc.).
Similalry, Remote Area Development Committee, Special
Area Development Committee and so many other remote and inaccessible areas-focused
developments programmes and projects have been implemented in the last six decades.
Nevertheless, poverty, inequality, discrimination exist in these areas and now the Maoists are
successfully expanding their influences based on these developmental weaknesses and these
remote and rural areas are in control. If we examine the history of planned development of
Nepal, the concepts and models are frequently changed according to the interests of the donors
without considering local needs and specificities.
Every five years, donors bring new concepts, jargons and technologies that are either not suitable
to rural Nepal or not familiar to the Nepalese people. Therefore, they invest huge resources and
time to make these notions familiar and then they change again. The unique characteristic of a
donor-focused programme is to play with concepts,
forgetting every reality of rural Nepal. For example, the notion of integrated development
programme was changed to poverty-focused programme, to empowerment programme to social
inclusion programme without fully operating any of these to have some real impacts. Large
numbers of inexperienced and extremely expensive expatriates and
advisors come to these development projects and start to instruct the development without
knowing the reality of people. In agriculture, forestry, rural development, natural resource
management and environment, rural
infrastructure development Nepal has enough expert manpower. They never focus on developing
local capacity. Instead, they bring their own expatriate staff. If we compare the efficiency of
financial and knowledge
resources, local experts are for more efficient than the expatriate staff. However, this is not an
issue of consideration.
Donors’ aid conditionality is one of the main obstacles in development. Many donors talk much
about the transparency of Nepalese organisations but they never talk about transparency of their
own organisations. If these questions are raised, they always skip them and are not ready to
reveal the truth. Do any of the donors, donorfunded
programmes and INGOs make their budget coming to Nepal transparent (how much money is
received for Nepal, where this money is spent and how it is spent, who is getting how much for
what and actually how much poor people are getting)? None of them is ready to be transparent.
Some of them are transparent on the amount given
to NGOs and ask transparency with them but not wholly. Development mismatch is another
fundamental cause of the conflict. The post-1990 empowerment phenomena show that overall
political empowerment is high and social and economic empowerment is low and only elite, and
neo-elite got benefit of social and political
development. Nepal’s planned development has the proven history of grand failure in terms of
addressing root
causes of the conflict, upon which the Maoist insurgency is breeding. Thus, it is imperative that
mismatch between social, economic and political development and empowerment is one of the
major causes of conflict in Nepal. The general public had great expectation form the 1990’s
political change. However, the post-1990 polity failed to govern the country based on the
democratic ideals and the constitutional provisions detailed
in the Constitution of Nepal 1990. That made the general public very frustrated and unhappy.
This frustration became a mighty ground for the Maoists to undertake armed rebellion. The state
is not able to reduce poverty, control exploitation of the disadvantaged communities by those in
power and generate employment opportunities
for the large mass of unemployed people. Semi-educated, left-out and unemployed frustrated
youths are becoming a risky reservoir of mass movements like the Maoist insurgency in Nepal.
Corruption and irregularities are increasing and becoming an integral part of the political
process. It is widely recognised that the post-democracy phase of Nepali politics, dominated by
the Nepali Congress Party (NCP), failed to govern democratically. Main opposition party was
also not playing a constructive role to resolve the conflict. Maoist conflict was blatantly
used by political parties as a bargaining chip to go to power. Civil administration was fully
politicised. Even police force was abused for political gains of the ruling party. Political parties
and the government did not work sincerely to restructure the malfunctioned civil administration
to make it factually competent to devise and
implement reform agenda and exercise inclusive democratic practices. The bureaucracy was
absurdly used to fulfil vested political and party interests, which are often contradictory to the
will of the general public. These weaknesses helped to develop distrust in the democratic
process.
Constitutional causes
Some scholars and activists argue that the 1990’s constitution is not able to deal with some
fundamental issues that have to be addressed by multiparty democracy. Some scholars even
blame this constitution as sexist and racist. They argue that the constitution is racist because it
promotes one language, one culture and one religion and sexist because it does not treat men and
women equally in fundamental issues like citizenship. This constitution also
promotes majoritarian institutions, which discriminate against minority religious groups, women,
low caste people, etc. They ague that the constitution has provided freedom of expression but has
not ensured equity. This constitution has declared Nepal as a Hindu state, which betrayed many
non-Hindu Nepalese people. As against the non-Hindu
feeling, many influential political elites view appropriateness and rationality of the present
constitution. They oppose developing a new constitution that could address some fundamental
issues and help to resolve Maoist conflict. They argue that the present constitution is sufficient to
resolve Maoist conflict. Some argue that the constitution-making process was not participatory,
people have never endorsed this constitution and this constitution has several limitations.

Briefly review the post-conflict peace-building approaches in Nepal.

Post-Conflict Transition Management in Nepal:

Post-Conflict Transition Period in Nepal: From the perspective of peace, post conflict transition
is a time span between the signing of peace agreement to the completion of implementation of
provisions mentioned in the agreements, which is often completed once the new constitution
(either revised or re-written) starts fully functioning. Hence it is a situation of transition from
conflict to peace.

Nepal has entered into the post conflict phase after the signing of Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA) by the then rebel leader Prachanda and the Prime minister in 21 November
2006 on the behalf of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the government of Nepal
(representing the Seven Party alliance).  The historic peace agreement not only ended the more
than a decade of armed insurgency but also opened windows of opportunity to transform the
feudal, centralized and exclusionary state into a modern and inclusive nation. Transformation of
Nepal’s conflict into durable peace and democracy requires smooth implementation of peace
process and its logical conclusion (Upreti, 2008a). The 12-point understanding between the
Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and CPN (M) and subsequent people’s movement of April 2006
provided fundamental basis for ending armed conflict and restoring peace. Signing of the CPA
and invitation to the Untied Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN)1, Agreement on Management
of Arms and Armies, the promulgation of the Interim Constitution, formation of the Interim
Legislative Parliament and the Interim Government, completion of the verification process2 of
the 'peoples liberation army' (PLA) by a Joint Monitoring Coordinating Committee3; reaching
agreements by the interim government with Madeshis, Janajaties and other concerned
stakeholders, successful completion of the highly awaited and frequently postponed election of
the Constituent Assembly (CA), declaration of Nepal as 'Democratic Republic' by the 1st
meeting of the CA on 28 May 2008 and installing the power sharing arrangements (election of
President, Prime Minister and Chair of the Constituent Assembly) are the major building blocks
for Nepal’s post conflict management (Upreti, 2008b; Baechler et al., 2008). The post conflict
transition management has challenge of transforming a centuries’ old feudal, centralized, unitary
and exclusionary nation with widespread discriminations based on sex, caste, ethnicity and
religion to a federal inclusive republic.
Post Conflict Transition Management:
Post-Conflict Transition management is defined as a governing process that addresses the new
issues and challenges emerged from the boarder political changes in Nepal and contribute to
bring desirable socio-political outcomes (peace, stability and prosperity). Hence, managing
transition requires combination tools and techniques, perspectives and determination, vision and
commitment, flexibility and risk taking ability of leadership. Transition management is a
gradual, evolutionary and continuous process of managing socio-political uncertainties and
complications arise from the deliberate, vested interests of powerful actors as well as societal
requirements for the change process. Hence transition management is a complex and
complicated in nature.

Making post conflict transition successful requires focusing on the following components:

1. Management of post conflict process

2. Dealing with contents,

3. Behavioural response

1 Management of post conflict process:

Nepal’s peace process is relatively week and even it is said that that Nepal’s peace process is
‘without processes’. Nepal’s post conflict transformation process can be even more successful by
making ‘process right’. To make process right means inclusion of main stakeholders of peace
process in the decision-making (e.g., women, Dalists, Janajatis, conflict victims, displacement,
etc), balancing confidentiality and transparency, getting approval of decisions that have far
reaching consequences by people (e.g., referendum), proper documentation of the decisions,
being accountable to sincerely implement decision, etc. Experiences of other conflict ridden
countries show that right process helps to make quality decisions and that helps better
implementations of the decisions. Proper process helps to achieve these transformations and lack
of due process creates obstacles and complications while implementing transformation packages.

Indicators of the successful post-conflict transition management

 Inclusive constitution making process
 Major constitutional issues decided by referendum (ownership
principle).
 Constitutional principles respected while making constitution,
 Completion of constitution making within the defined time
 Independent Peace Commission and all other monitoring mechanisms
in full function
 High degree of peoples participation in transition process 
 All agreements and understandings are implemented honestly and
timely
 Ensure transitional justice
 Impunity is properly addressed
 Rule of law is established
 Implementation reparation, reconciliation, rehabilitation, reintegration,
reconstruction packages,    
 Police performance is effective and free from politicisation and
malpractices 
 Security situation is ensured 
 Illegal arms supply controlled
 Armed groups, if any, controlled
 Smooth implementation of DDR and SSR according standard
practices
 Key stakeholders committed for SSR
 New national security policy formulated
 Collective commitment from all political parties in addressing
transitional challenges 
 Human rights situation is improved
 Impunity is full addressed
 Full justice to conflict victims and survivors
  Rule of law respected
 Constructive dialogue, mutual respect and collective responses 
among political parties (coalition culture)
 Decide the irreconcilable difference through democratic procedure
(e.g., voting)
 Collective commitment and ensure all requirement for election to
provide elected functional  leadership in local and national
government
 Develop public ownership of transition management by involving
people
 Consensus in development priority and economic development   
 Cautious and well assessed response to popular and extremist demand
 Engage in dialogue and interaction (respond but not react)
 Coalition culture and proper power sharing arrangement   
 Non-interference in the function of security forces, bureaucracy,
judiciary 
 Positive indication or the high economic growth rate
 Major infrastructure development started
  Rights of citizens respected
   Reintegration and psychological reconstruction incorporated into
national policy and practices

Dealing with the post conflict contents

Success of post conflict period requires a process of smooth transformation of the transition. It is
possible only when the political, economic, social, cultural, psychological barriers are dismantled
and new vision and commitments are made through appropriate process (Bloomfield et al., 2003;
Galtung, 1996; Upreti, 2004). It is virtually impossible to transform the feudalistic, centralised,
unitary, monarchist and exclusionary country into a modern, equity oriented, federal Nepal
without transforming perspective, thinking, action and behaviour of all people of Nepal.
Transformation requires in:

a) Attitude, behaviour, perspective, thinking and action of major actors (political leadership,
bureaucracy, judiciary, security forces, social elites and their organizational structures, procedure
and mode of representation);

b) Rules (most of the existing laws, rules and provisions are the controlling and exclusionary
and need change,

c) Issue (Nepali society is transforming from civil war to durable peace and hence all issues and
agenda of the war-time must be changed and the role of government should be facilitating
instead of controlling), d) Structures (transformation is required in existing structure and power
relations), e) Context (transformation of exclusionary and controlling patterns of governance), f)
Value (e.g., social change through violent action to social change through peaceful action,
nonviolence, and co-existence).
 The post-conflict transition management must
a)      address root causes of the conflict and structural inequalities;
b)     build trust, cohesion and harmony at community;
c)      develop community resilience to cope with the adverse impacts of conflict;
d)     create space and opportunities for peace building,
e)      ensure visible benefit to socially excluded and marginalized people and make sure that they are
included in the decision making process;
f)      prevent possible widening of gap between rich and poor and enforces discriminations;
g)     make sure that development interventions are not introducing new conflicts and tensions and
ensure that resources are not captured and manipulated by elites. This is possible through
incorporating PCIA into development programmes and projects.

3. Managing the Behavioral Response in the Post-Conflict Transition:

Nepal’s current transition is becoming extremely complicate to manage mainly because of the
erratic behaviour of the political decision makers. Post conflict transition became shaky because
of the insensitive behaviour of some of the political and social leaders who hoped to benefit by
manipulating the ethnic sentiments. It will be extremely difficult to successfully mange transition
if the current approach of political leaders continues. So far, leadership failed to internalise the
complexity of managing post-conflict transformation (Upreti, 2008c). Making transition
successful requires accomplishing the following:

 Agreeing on the constitutional principles for the new constitution

 Implementation of the agreements and understanding
 Monitoring of the implementation
 Adaptation and revisions of the agreements
 Stakeholders participation in implementing the CPA provisions  
 Collective commitment for the new election for making new constitution
 Agreeing and conducting local election that provide political space for democracy to
function   

Structures required for post-conflict transition

• Commission on Land Reform
• Security Commission and or National Security Council
• Security Sector Restructuring or other related committees ,
• Committee on Disappeared Persons
• Local Peace Committee
• Administrative Restructuring Commission
• Thematic Committees (e.g., Peace Trust Fund)
• National Peace and Rehabilitation Commission
• High level State Restructuring Recommendation Commission
• Political party structures
• National Peace Commission Including Peace Secretariat (MoPR),
• Research and Resource Centre,
• Peace Trust Fund Management Committee
• Technical Committees and Special Task Forces (for thematic issues)

 Existing structural inequality and people's dissatisfaction from the king's

governance system are the major context of armed conflict (1996-2006) in
Nepal.
Justify.
Governance failure to address structural causes of conflict
Century-old production relations, social structures and governance system maintained by status
quo, severely skewed resource distribution and control, injustice, racial, ethnic, geographical,
gender and social
discriminations, rampant poverty and unemployment have contributed to igniting and expanding
the insurgency. It has been well documented that social exclusion, acute inequalities, absolute
poverty, lack of access to resources and failure of political structures to address these issues have
inflected the Maoists’ ‘people’s war’. Deep-rooted social cleavages in terms of caste, ethnicity,
gender and regional, cultural, linguistic and religious forms of discrimination
provided fertile ground to escalate the conflict. The Maoists successfully capitalised on the
discouragement of people towards poor performance of the ruling and opposition parties.
Democratic transition of the 1990s regarding the transformation of the state, politics and society
turned out to be unsatisfactory. Dominance of certain elite
groups (e.g., Brahmin, Chhetri and Newar, family dominance in politics, nepotism, etc.) in all
social, political and economic sectors promoted a feeling of injustice and revenge as ethnic
groups and “lower” caste people strongly believe that they have been excluded from
opportunities and resources. The Maoists have tactically utilised this sentiment by organising
people not only on the basis of social concerns but also in terms of ethnic and geographical
identity.
A strong psychological factor contributing to this conflict is the deeply cemented ambition of
social elites (not only political but also economic, civil society and bureaucratic elites) to grab
power. Centralisation and regional imbalance, skewed distribution, access and control of natural
and other productive resources, dominating
influences of religiously- and culturally-biased traditional Hindu cultural values, discrimination
against women, ethnic minorities, so-called lower castes, and Dalits have created a feeling of
injustice, frustration and have fuelled the conflict. Definitive action on radical land reform was
not taken. The performance of privatisation was extremely poor. After the political change of
1990, new elites are emerging within the socially excluded groups (such as women, Dalit, ethnic
minorities, etc.) at the cost of whole segment of the socially excluded groups.
Dissatisfaction of the Palace
It is widely accepted in Nepal that the palace was not satisfied with the 1990’s tripartite
agreement between the king, Nepali Congress and United Leftist Front to reduce power of the
palace. During the time of preparing a new constitution, the palace did everything to ensure its
power. The Palace wanted to restore the lost power in 1990 and therefore it was waiting for an
appropriate time and context to do so. Hence, all activities of the palace were concentrated to
achieve the lost power. During 12 years of democratic rule, palace worked with a game
plan and became successful in utilising political parties and leaders in this endeavour. The late
king Birendra did not take a confrontational approach in gaining power. Rather, he used a more
slow and peaceful but strong approach contrary to his brother’s. Capturing the frustration of the
general public towards the performance of political parties, the palace has started experiments of
different models of forming government under the conceptual framework of guided democracy,
keeping aside all political parties. The King’s action led to deeper conflict between the
parliamentary parties and the monarch. Consequently, the parliamentary parties did not support
peace process and negotiation. The Maoists successfully capitalised the contradictions between
the king and the parliamentary
parties to their advantage. Mobilisation of security forces (civil police force, armed police force,
Royal Nepal Army, state intelligence service) as a unified command under the Royal Nepal
Army did not get full support of political parties. All democratic institutions were weakened. In
absence of the parliament, the country has been ruled by ordinance and royal order. This has
great bearing on the expansion of Maoists.

 Define conflict transformation. Nepalese economy is transformed from an

economy of violence to an economy of peace. Justify.

Conflict transformation refers to outcome-, process- and structure-orientated long-term peace

building efforts, which aim to truly overcome revealed forms of direct, cultural and structural
violence. Conflict transformation moves beyond the aims of conflict resolution and conflict
management. Conflict transformation refers to a change/improvement, in the nature of a conflict,
especially a de-escalation of conflict or reconciliation between people in conflict. Unlike conflict
resolution (which denies long-term existence of conflict) or conflict management, which assumes
that relationships can be managed), the concept of conflict transformation reflects the notion that
conflicts go on for long periods of time, changing the nature of the relationships between the
people involved, and themselves changing as people’s response to the situation develops over
time.

Areas of transformation
 Actor transformation- change in leadership.
 Issue transformation- Linking of conflict issues with development of nation.
 Rule transformation- Rule is focused for uplifting marginalized society/people
 Elite transformation- Traditional land lords, socially focal person are diminishing

Nepalese economy is transformed from an economy of violence to an economy of peace.

Economy of violence is a type of violence committed by individuals or groups preying on

economically disadvantaged individuals. Before the armed conflict in Nepal, there was

centralisation and regional imbalance, skewed distribution, access and control of natural and

other productive resources, dominating influences of religiously- and culturally-biased traditional

Hindu cultural values, discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, so-called lower castes,

and Dalits have created a feeling of injustice, frustration and have fuelled the conflict. Century-

old production relations, social structures and governance system maintained by status quo,

severely skewed resource distribution and control, injustice, racial, ethnic, geographical, gender

and social discriminations, rampant poverty and unemployment have contributed to igniting and

expanding the Maoist insurgency. It has been well documented that social exclusion, acute

inequalities, absolute poverty, lack of access to resources and failure of political structures to

address these issues have inflected the Maoists’ ‘people’s war’. Deep-rooted social cleavages in

terms of caste, ethnicity, gender and regional, cultural, linguistic and religious forms of

discrimination provided fertile ground to escalate the conflict. After the armed conflict in Nepal,

there have been significance change. The concept of federalization, regional balance, gender

equality, secular Nation, caste equality and reservation has got the place in the mainstream
debate and has been addressed through various policies and institutions. The Constitution of

Nepal, 2072 is the indicator of transformation of Nepal from economy of violence into economy

of peace. It has adopted the spirit of Nepal as a federal, democratic and republic. It has the

provision of economic and social security for the poor and disadvantage class, caste and gender.