Track III Actions: Transforming Protracted Political Conflicts from the Bottom-up

Since the end of the Cold War in the early ’90s, a multi-track approach to peacemaking has been developed by academics and practitioners to bring political and civil society leaders together from across the divide of contested societies to find ways out of the conflict. Much of the focus up to now has been given to the strategic contribution of Track II conflict analysis and problem-solving workshops. This book puts the spotlight on the role that grassroots leaders and citizens can play at Track III level in the community in building and strengthening a bottom-up approach to conflict transformation following protracted conflicts. In Part 1, the focus is on the post-conflict situation of Northern Ireland twenty years after the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Part 2 portrays scholarly and practitioners’ perspectives and actions in communities and organizations designed to build partnerships in order to counteract the legacies of active protracted conflict. Plots the role of Track III approaches within a multi-track peacemaking pyramid in the protracted conflict and post-conflict phases of confl ict transformation. Provides case studies on how to engage community leaders in thinking together how to work with deep-seated legacies of protracted conflicts. Explores the contribution of bottom-up models to build intergroup partnerships within and between local communities. Focuses on the interface between research and practice.

About the Author

Helena Desivilya Syna is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at The Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel. She conducts research on social conflict, organizational behaviour and diversity management in organizations and communities. Her work integrates a micro-level social psychological perspective with a macro-level, social-constructivism approach, using a mixed-method approach – quantitative and qualitative methodologies and research tools. It leverages her expertise and experience in program evaluation promoting deeper and more comprehensive study of the research-practice interface. Professor Geoffrey Corry is a dialogue facilitator at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation outside Dublin. He facilitated over 50 political dialogue workshops during the years of the peace process from 1994 through to 2006 and since then a number of large acknowledgement circles for victims of political violence. He has trained mediators and facilitators not only in Ireland but also in Colombia, Israel/Palestine and Haiti. He has served as Chairman of Glencree Centre (1984-87), Mediators Institute of Ireland (1999-2002) and Facing Forward (2006-2012). He was director of two leading national youth organisations from 1976-1988.