Protracted social conflict

The term was first presented in a theory developed by Edward Azar[1] and contemporary researchers and conflict scholars continue to use it.

One understanding focuses on hostile interactions between groups that are based in deep-seated racial, ethnic, religious and cultural hatreds.

A few notable examples include: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; The Kashmir Conflict between Pakistan, India and China, the Sri Lankan Civil War; The Cyprus Problem between Greek and Turkish Cypriots; the first, second, and current Sudanese Civil Wars; South African Apartheid; the Rohingya genocide; The Troubles in Northern Ireland ; and the Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara.

[1] The term refers to conflict situations characterized by prolonged and often violent struggle between communal groups for such basic needs as security, recognition, acceptance, fair access to political institutions, and economic participation.

[4] The communal groups may experience deep-seated cleavages based upon racial, religious, cultural or ethnic lines.

Cross-cuttiness is also very common along cleavage structures where divisions within society overlap and “cross-cut" on another group that may have similarities in ethnicity, religion, or social background.

[6] Ethnic divisions and perceived threats often result in the domination of the state machinery by a single group or coalition of elites who deny access to basic human needs for the majority of the population.

However, there are often common themes: disputes over land, entrenched racial or ethnic tension, political marginalization of certain groups, and prolonged structural inequality are all examples.

[8] Since Azar's original work on protracted social conflict, other scholars have developed and continue to contribute to our understanding of its causes and preconditions.

[11][12] Azar argued that the denial of basic human needs to a large portion of the population initiated instances of protracted social violence.

Four preconditions are isolated by Azar as the predominant sources of protracted social conflict: communal content, deprivation of human needs, governance and the state's role, and international linkages.

The resultant disconnection of society and the state can be linked to the colonial legacy, which, "artificially imposed European ideas of territorial statehood onto a multitude of communal groups.

[15] To overcome this deprivation of human needs to entire groups of people, the government must offer security on a multiplicity of levels to all of the constituent population.

Azar states that protracted social conflicts can be characterized by "incompetent, parochial, fragile, and authoritarian governments that fail to satisfy basic human needs.

"[16] Weaker states, like those often involved in protracted social conflict, tend to be more influenced by outside connections both economically and politically.

To overcome the dominance of the international economy, the country in question must work to build institutions that can ease global dependency and stimulate domestic economic growth.

One increasingly discussed cause of protracted social conflict is historical trauma, which is the collection of adverse responses and experiences groups have after being subjected to violence such as colonization, ethnocide, and structural inequalities.

The identity needs of all sides are brought to the forefront with the goal of getting "the disputants to move from positional bargaining to interest-based approaches.

The model involves a number of stages which are framed as a spiral, which moves from the initial experience of trauma toward the possibility of reconciliation and includes stages that involve the cultivation of tolerance, engaging offenders, mourning, reflecting on root causes of conflicts, and creating a new group identity through the integration of trauma.

[17] Truth commissions are official groups which are intended to investigate the causes and impacts of human rights abuses and war crimes.

They typically give reports that present their findings and that include recommendations about how to repair past harms and prevent future ones.

[24] The identity affirmation model centers around an intent to disrupt negative views dominant in-groups hold regarding less powerful and more marginalized groups.

[26] Since its independence in 1948 there has been a conflict between Sinhalese, which gained control over the Sri Lankan government, and different Tamil separatist movements.

The war, that has continued since then, has almost completely disrupted civil administration in the northern province and caused economic devastation of the whole country.

In 1990s the southern Republic of Cyprus applied for a membership in the European Union, and the Turkish Cypriots on the other side turned to Turkey.