AC4 5% solution seminar Columbia University October 15, 2010

I. Complicate Things – Escaping Attractors II. Simplify Things – Focusing on Hubs & Patterns III. Build Up - Growing Hidden Possibilities IV. Tear Down – Dismantling Destructive Traps V. Leverage Change – Working the Levers VI. Decide More – Adapting to Change

I. Complicate Things – Escaping Attractors play ball author life yours and others’

II. Simplify Things – Focusing on Hubs & Patterns listen to everyone talk to everyone seek, knock, ask

III. Build Up - Growing Hidden Possibilities can ‘this’ be done? can ‘we’ do this? can we ‘learn’ from doing it?

IV. Tear Down – Dismantling Destructive Traps there is no way out this is the way it is this who you are

V. Leverage Change – Working the Levers keep changing what is changing do what is working better keep learning and sharing the learning

VI. Decide More – Adapting to Change we can decide decisions are possible was ‘that’ decision ‘good’?

We ‘make sense’ by experiencing, understanding, judging, and deciding.

Peace emerged in Mozambique successfully because all these operations were unburdened of the constraints that the enmity-system, the experience of violence and the lack of alternatives had imposed on the actors.

Peace emerged in Mozambique successfully because there was a new alignment of power, meaning and relationships that profoundly restructured a conflictual polity.

Positioning acts - relationally situating at least two people (self and other) into a local moral order

Position - a cluster of rights and duties that limits the repertoire of possible social acts available to a person (or a person-like entity) as so positioned

Mutual positioning - when what one person says simultaneously positions self and other or ingroup and outgroup

Local moral order - the dynamic, collaboratively negotiated cluster of rights and duties associated with particular positions in a storyline

Malignant positioning - when what is said about a person leads others to think about and treat that person in harmful ways

Forced positioning - positioning someone in the eyes of others against the will of the person so positioned

Duty - a demand placed by others on the person who owns it

Action - intentional activity

Mozambique is now at peace, independent and united.

How did ‘peace’ happen?

Mozambique

Imagine a country…

… that was never independent, united and at peace …

… where out of 12 million people, 1 million were dead because of the war …

… where out of 12 million people, 4 to 5 million became refugees or internally displaced people (IDPs)…

… where the constitution did not allow multiparty political representation…

… where your neighbors (Rhodesia and South Africa) actively destabilized and continuously threatened security…

… then you have a glimpse of Mozambique in July

… when in 1990 the first direct talks between the FRELIMO government and the RENAMO movement occurred.

Actors FRELIMO government RENAMO movement

June 1975 Mozambique achieves independence from Portugal

In 1976 RENAMO emerges as a military force

In 1986 Chissano becomes President of Mozambique

In 1988 first meeting with RENAMO’s leader, Alfonso Dlakama

negotiations take place in Rome until the agreement is signed on October 4 th, 1992

Mozambicans fought around three fundamental axes: power meaning relationships

… and created an enmity-system through recurrent patterns of behavior (loops).

Independence loop.

Mozambique wants to assert its independence so it distinguishes itself from its neighbors so Rhodesia feels threatened so It intervenes in Mozambique’s internal affairs so Mozambique is less independent

Until Rhodesia keeps its racist government so Mozambique supports the liberation movement in Rhodesia so Rhodesia feels justified in encouraging the civil war in Mozambique

Independence loop (II)

Mozambique wants to assert its independence so it distinguishes itself from its neighbors so South Africa feels threatened so It intervenes in Mozambique’s internal affairs so Mozambique is less independent

Until Mozambique proposes a security agreement to apartheid South Africa so Mozambique promises not to support the liberation movement in South Africa in exchange of isolation of Renamo so South Africa feels empowered to interfere secretly without publicly acknowledging the intrusion.

Unity loop

Mozambique wants to achieve unity as a nation state so It creates a strong central government modeled on the soviet experience so Local ethnic nationalities are disempowered and respond negatively so Mozambican government becomes even more invested in reducing the power of local chiefs so Local groups support an open rebellion

Mozambique is less united so It responds militarily to the rebellion so Local ethnic nationalities resist even more violently, making it impossible for the central government of Mozambique to control the country

Peace loop

Mozambique emerges out of a violent liberation struggle so It tries to achieve peace through violence so violence reigns

Power Human Relations Meaning Independence Loop Unity Loop Peace Loop Independence demands assertiveness that is perceived as threat New relations are determined by independence and forced onto someone Only some are legitimate heirs of the struggle that gives meaning To make a country is to challenge the heritage of many people ‘We’ are a nation before being a people ‘Your’ unity is ‘our’ death Peace is achieved through victory; victory comes through violence ‘We’ will talk when they surrender; so to talk is to surrender It is because we believe that we fight

Suspension, ambiguity and discontinuity in the loops.

Structural Subjective PowerRelationsMeaning Discontinuities power is military control loyalty enmity threats constrained focusing on survival or not?

Recurrent loops made Mozambicans ‘certain’ of their enemies’ power, meaning and relationships.

Perceived certainty

Mozambicans remained in the conflict because moving from the certainty and coherence associated with it was perceived to be counter to one’s own survival as understood in the moment.

What do we really do when we do what we do?

How do we measure the ‘difference’ we make?

Are we understanding more? Are we communicating better?

The paradox of ‘good intent’

Constraints on adaptability

Personal integration

Integrating networks

Peace as movement

The danger of reconciliation

Conflict, change, resolution and order

Cares and order

Who is ordering? (who is ‘making sense’?)

Who is recognized as ordering? (who is recognized as ‘making sense’?)

Power, meaning and relationships are uneven

Disrespect – insult

Authorship and interpretation

Adversary or enemy?

Influence question

Personal experiences and political relevance

Conflict resolution activities in relevant political contexts

Conflict resolution as relational dynamism

Conflict resolution cannot be but political

The problem and promise of manipulation

Conflict resolution activities in violent and volatile environments requires a certain degree of manipulation

It is essential to control that effort by its consequences and actual results

Attentive Intelligent Reasonable Responsible

Responsible Reasonable Intelligent Attentive