MODULE I – CONTEXT

The first module relates to the kinds of conflict that emerge within the context of social sub-systems – the structural parameters or sources of conflict depicted in the causal model of institution centred conflict research.

Before data can be gathered in the field a number of locally specific research parameters need to be more closely defined. The first step of this research stage is to tentatively set the appropriate socio-geographical delimitation and historic dimension of the research. Often these are the administrative and socio-geographical dimensions of the research. Secondly, most relevant cleavages within those socio-geographical target areas need to be identified. Thirdly, the time dimension of the research needs to be roughly defined, usually based on the most relevant conflicts identified.

MODULE II – ACTORS

The identification of actors involved in a conflict is a crucial first step after the preliminary conflict assessment has been concluded. In case of open conflicts, the identification of directly involved parties can be straight forward. In case of latent conflicts and in case of external actors pursuing their interests via proxies (as in the case of clandestine patron-client relations) this may be a more difficult task for fieldwork and background checks.

Four tasks are at the centre of the actor analysis in empirical conflict research:

1. The identification of relevant actors in the role(s) they have in the conflict.

2. The qualification of the actors, specifically their composition, quality and degree of coherence and formalisation if they are collective actors.

3. The positions taken by the actors differentiated from identifiable interests with regard to other actors and resources at issue.

4. Finally, the relationship to other actors that are part of the conflict.

MODULE III – RESSOURCES

In the theoretical basis for institution centred conflict research developed in the former chapter resources are treated as part of actors’ choices and constraints. Resources are often what actors are after in conflict and resources are always needed to pursue ones’ interest in conflict with other actors. Hence, there is no actor-independent theory of the role resources play in conflicts. In a way they are a supplement to the analytical module of actor’s analysis. They are, however, analytically distinct from actors and are a crucial element for understanding conflict dynamics. This is why we treat them as a separate analytical module.

The principle questions resource analysis as part of conflict research has to address are:

- What resources are driving the conflict, what resources are the parties to the conflict trying to increase, acquire, create or control?

- What resources are the different actors using in order to progress their interest?

- What are the “winning resources” that (may) decide the outcome of the conflict?

Resources are material and immaterial means actors may acquire and use in order to progress their interests and secure their reproductive needs. In any case resources are a means for something else - they are not an end in itself.

MODULE IV – INSTITUTIONS

Conflict analysis that only takes into account possible structural causes of conflict, the intentions of actors (driven by needs and interests, and reflected or disguised in stated positions) and the resources driving conflict or utilised in conflict, takes us some way in understanding local social order through the lens of conflict processing. But it is still insufficient in explaining path dependencies beyond the power differentials and strategic interests of involved actors. Root causes like poverty, social inequality, or repressive and exclusive patterns of governance may or may not lead to violent conflict or disruption. Actors’ intentions change and are repeatedly readjusted; they may be ambivalent and contradictive to start with. The availability or lack of certain resources potentially relevant for the conduct of conflict – like small arms or cash-resources – may or may not be utilised by the parties involved in conflict.

In order to understand the scope of action available to actors and the strategies and tactics they apply in conflict we need to analyse the way incentives and constraints informing their actions are organised in a more permanent way. In other words, we need to identify relevant institutions and analyse their impact on actors involved in conflict.

Development & Adaptive Change