Foreword

I began exploring conflict transformation as a concept in the 1980s. For the practitioner-scholar most key insights emerge from the unexpected, usually a crisis or a surprise that shifts and awakens the reflective mind. Mine came in the form of a simple question in the midst of a planning seminar in Central America. “You speak of conflict resolution,” a participant noted, “but what does this really mean? I have to say, your use of the word resolution bothers me. If you are coming here to fix things, to have us look for quick solutions that do not really change anything, we are not interested. We don’t need fixing. We’ve had too much of that before.”

My insightful colleague had gone to the heart of the matter on more than one level. It is possible to solve a conflict and not change much. And we certainly live in a world where those arriving from outside settings of protracted conflict seem to carry carpet bags that mix funding along with approaches, ideas, and answers. Thirty years ago, his question shifted mine: How do we transform those things that damage and tear apart human relationships to those that protect and build healthy communities?…