{"id":272062,"date":"2024-08-26T12:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T11:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=272062"},"modified":"2024-11-26T21:25:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T21:25:20","slug":"conflict-transformation-by-peaceful-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/08\/conflict-transformation-by-peaceful-means\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The TRANSCEND Method<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The TRANSCEND<\/em> Method is based on the central thesis that to prevent violence and develop the creative potential of a conflict, there has to be transformation. At the root of the method is the understanding of conflict as incompatible goals, meaning as a problem to be solved; not as incompatible parties (persons, countries etc.), meaning as one or more parties to be controlled (usually not oneself).This training manual from the United Nations Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP) gives an overview of the approach and explains how to put it into practice. Transforming a conflict requires transcending the goals of conflicting parties, defining other goals, disembedding the conflict from its original situation and embedding it in a more promising place. This is achieved through dialogue based on empathy, non-violence and joint creativity. Failure to transform conflicts leads to violence.<\/p>\n

A conflict has its own life cycle. Normal conflicts are complex and involve many actors, goals and issues. Incompatible goals can breed contradictions, which \u2013 combined with attitudes of hatred and violent behavior \u2013 generate conflict. Violent cultures (which legitimize violence), violent structures (which exploit and alienate) and violent actors can combine to produce basic conflicts, which, if unattended, can spiral into meta-conflicts. The task is to transform conflicts, through a focus on cultures, structures and actors, by finding positive goals for all parties and imaginative ways of combining them.<\/p>\n

The TRANSCEND<\/em> Method has six basic premises, drawn from Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Daoist, Islamic and Judaic thought respectively. These include: consideration of conflict as a source of both violence and development; mutual causation and shared responsibility; and the importance of dialogue. Ultimately the TRANSCEND<\/em> Method aims to help bring parties together in a self-sustaining process.<\/p>\n