Project on Constructive Engagement Theory

The importance and difficulty of eliciting and sustaining constructive forms of conflict engagement from the multitude of stakeholders caught up in situations of protracted social conflict cannot be overemphasized. Ripeness theory has been a useful starting point for understanding key underlying motives of disputants, but has limited explanatory power under these more complex, intractable conditions. However, a great deal of insight is emerging from work that is currently being conducted on the ground by scholar-practitioners employed in peace and democratization work in these settings. This research is aimed at eliciting this knowledge for theory and practice. We explore two levels. On a conceptual level, we are interested in better comprehending the nature of the underlying motives and constraints involved in different stakeholders’ decisions and actions surrounding conflict engagement. On a practical level, we are interested in identifying the specific strategies and tactics used by change agents to create the conditions for disputants to move away from destructive and deadly interactions towards more constructive and sustainable forms of conflict engagement.

The research will explore some of the various models and methods of constructive engagement currently being utilized with different groups in the fields of conflict resolution, peacemaking, dialogue and public engagement. Our aim is to elicit the core dimensions of the phenomenon of constructive engagement for the purpose of developing more robust theories and practices. To this end, we explore three main questions:

> What are the implicit and explicit models of people working with intractable conflict for engaging disputants constructively?

> What are the strategies utilized by practitioners and disputants for engaging other disputants and stakeholders in a constructive process?

> What different strategies are utilized for engaging different stakeholder groups? (Such as elite groups, mid-level leaders, marginalized groups, extremists, the mainstream public, etc.)