A new type of conflict?
Manifestations of contemporary violence, ranging from armed insurgencies, terrorism and radicalism, gangs and organised crime among others, affect millions of people’s lives in much the same way as full-scale armed conflict. Not all these manifestations of violence are normally seen as outcomes of conflict – and hence are not within the sphere that peacebuilders normally work in.
Alert understands peace as when people are able to manage conflicts without resorting to violence. The conflicts that we have traditionally focused on are civil conflicts or conflicts between states in a post-Cold-War context. As peacebuilders we are in other words not used to regarding phenomena such as criminal violence as the outcome of conflict. Rather, we tend to label crime as unprincipled and anarchic – in contrast to the ideological and political violence of the 20th century.
However, 21st century violence is challenging what we regard as conflict. The interconnected nature of violence means that conflict in the traditional sense is not the only type of organised violence affecting people’s lives. More often than not, violent crime or terrorism intersects with so-called political violence. This means that our ability to successfully engage in and mediate violence may be hampered it we do not adopt a more holistic approach to conflict that takes into account the various expressions of and interconnected nature of contemporary violence. Simply put, if we don’t address expressions of violence such as gang-violence and terrorism as symptoms of the same deeper struggle that leads to armed insurgency, we risk failing if our mission is to enable people to live lives free from violence.
The nature of contemporary violence therefore prompts us to look at the way we understand conflict and to adopt a more holistic approach that encompasses the various manifestations of contemporary violence, ranging from organised crime, terrorism and gangs to more traditional armed insurgencies. All of these manifestations of violence are indicators of some level of conflict, whether it is conflict between state or non-state actors, within a society or within an individual. It may therefore not be complete state-capture that is at stake, but nonetheless the various expressions of violence reflect a degree of conflict that needs to be addressed by peacebuilders.
The way we – and we share this with a number of key multilateral and bilateral partners - have traditionally thought of conflict has also meant that solutions to conflicts have most often been sought within the boundaries of the state, using a number of approaches such as mediation, diplomacy, peacebuilding, institutions-building and peacekeeping. Most of them are aimed at strengthening the vital and often contested relationship between citizens and the state. This may however, be a too simplistic approach when responding to contemporary conflict given the notion that expressions of violence are rooted in a range of different factors, not all to do with the state.
There is a need, therefore, to consider what the nature of contemporary violence and conflict mean for peacebuilding practice more broadly. This is what Alert aims to provide answers to through our ‘rebuilding peacebuilding project’ – a new project that will provide its initial outputs in the course of 2013. The Conflict Ideas Forum on the 28th of January will provide a first opportunity for Alert to discuss initial thoughts and recommendations with key partners working on similar issues. There will be much to learn from an exchange between those involved in tackling the different manifestations of 21st century violence. This is what we are setting out to do. To create a platform for an exchange of views and ideas that can better equip us all in working towards a more peaceful world. Contemporary violence poses fundamental challenges for peacebuilders and criteria for when and how peacebuilding interventions are feasible in a new theatre of violence need to be developed.
Leading up to and following the Conflict Ideas Forum on 28th of January, this web-forum will be active and will initiate debate around these issues. Participants in the Conflict Ideas Forum will have access to blog. If you want to comment or contribute and are not a participant in the Conflict Ideas Forum, you can contact me on
khoyer@international-alert.org [3].