'Negotiating Peace Across Identities'
 Arne Humberset, MA Student, Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Oslo
This page is developed to
provide easy access
to the datasets and the code book of my Master's Thesis submitted
December 1st 2005. You need SPSS software in order to open the dataset
files... This
Master’s Thesis develops the concept of identity
conflict on the basis of needs- and identity-based approaches to
conflict
resolution. These various theoretical perspectives share the assumption
that
identity conflicts make up a particularly intractable type of conflict
that is
not amendable to conventional methods of conflict management. The
concept of
identity conflict incorporates several key assumptions from the needs-
and
identity-based approaches to conflict resolution. First it assumes that
identity conflicts are more intense and last longer than non-identity
conflicts. Secondly, it expects that conflict management is less
successful and
accord violation more likely in identity conflicts. These assumptions
have been
transformed into four hypotheses on the relationship between social
identity
and conflict management. The hypotheses are in turn tested on
quantitative data
from 106 intra-state armed conflicts in the time period
1989–2002. My empirical
analysis finds support for the notion that identity conflicts last
longer than
non-identity conflicts. However, it does not corroborate the
assumptions that
identity conflicts are more intense or that they lead to negotiation
failure. Contrary
to prior quantitative research, I find no evidence that identity
conflicts are
associated with higher probabilities for violated agreements. The main
contributions of this thesis has been the transparent discussion and
explanation for operationalizing the concept of identity conflict, as
well as its
conclusion that acknowledged concepts and models from the field of
conflict
resolution may not be directly applicable to the study of armed
conflict. Arne
Humberset |