1. Galtung’s Conflict Triangle

2. Johan Galtung
Norwegian sociologist, mathematician, helped found discipline of peace & conflict studies
Lots of theories…. Works on positive vs. negative peace; structural violence; conflict & conflict resolution; peacebuilding; imperialism; USA as republic & empire
Often critical of W. countries & attitude toward Global South

3. Conflict & Violence Conflict can be negative but also POSITIVE.
Conflict does NOT equal violence, but violence is one possible response to specific conflict
Possible to identify specific causes & more general conditions that make violent conflict more likely

4. ABC Triangle Framework to analyze stakeholders/ actors Attitudes
Behavior
Context/ Contradictions

5. Behavior has roots in peoples’ attitudes & political-economic context
Violence, genocide, insurgency attacks, discriminatory acts
Manifest Level:
How people act encourages conflict, immediate evidence of conflict
Behavior has roots in peoples’ attitudes & political-economic context
Latent Level;
How people think encourages conflict; deeper causes of conflict
Attitudes:
Racism, discriminatory attitudes, sexism, victimhood, trauma
Context/ Contradictions
Inequality, dispute over territory or resources

6. Context & Contradiction
Incompatibility of goals/ needs/ interests btwn parties
Social structure / values? (patriarchy? Caste? Ethnicity? Rich-poor?)
Scarcity? (of anything- water, oil, elected officials?)
Competition? (in elections? For power? For market share?)
Migration? (rural to urban? N. Africa to Europe?)
Change? (social, political, economic, globalization, climate, etc)

7. Attitudes Psychological conditions
Cognitive (perception, enemy construction, negative stereotypes, etc); feelings (hate, anger, suspicion, etc)

8. Behavior
Polarizing & often destructive activities of parties (actual visible behaviors)
Throwing, burning, killing, shooting, rioting, demonstrations, war, etc. etc. etc.

9. Conditions making violent conflict more likely:
Conditions making violent conflict less likely:
Little or no democratic means of dispute resolution; minorities excluded from political representation
Wealth, territory or resources shared unequally and controlled by powerful elites
Poverty
Government is above the law, making arbitrary and illegitimate decisions
Judicial system is absent or interfered with, not independent or fair
Human rights are abused
Democratic institutions exist, with full political equality and participation
Equal sharing of resources and wealth
Equality of opportunity for all
Government respects the rule of law
Disputes can be resolved fairly through a fair and independent judicial system
Respect for human rights (especially of minorities)

11. Sometimes violent conflict is shallow- the roots of the violence are not deep (maybe a misunderstanding?)
Sometimes, there may be little violent behavior, but there are deep-rooted problems in people’s attitudes and the context.
Latent conflict: must address the roots of conflict before they lead to actual violence
The most difficult kind of conflict is persistent conflict, in which violence is both visible and deep-rooted.

12. Conflict Triangle Example: Syria

13. Galtung’s Triangle: Syria
Behavior
Violence, genocide, insurgency attacks, discriminatory acts
Galtung’s Triangle: Syria
Manifest Level:
How people act encourages conflict, immediate evidence of conflict
Context/ Contradictions
Sunni majority is in in conflict with President’s Alawite sect, which has drawn in Sunni and Shia regional powers. Sunnis feel marginalized by Assad’s Shia-led gov’t; Islamic State (ISIS) believes it is right to create Sunni Muslim caliphate across Syria and Iraq – does not accept current int’l borders
Latent Level;
How people think encourages conflict; deeper causes of conflict
Attitudes:
Racism, discriminatory attitudes, sexism, victimhood, trauma
Taken from Murphy and Gleek (2016)

14. Galtung’s Triangle: Syria
Behavior
Violence, genocide, insurgency attacks, discriminatory acts
Galtung’s Triangle: Syria
Manifest Level:
How people act encourages conflict, immediate evidence of conflict
Latent Level;
How people think encourages conflict; deeper causes of conflict
Attitudes/Assumptions:
Assad gov’t believes it should stay in power & that rebel forces are ‘terrorists’ challenging legitimate authority of the state. Sunni rebels feel Assad gov’t not legitimate, demanding greater representation and political equality; Sunnis marginalized by Assad-led Shia government
Context/ Contradictions
Sunni majority is in in conflict with President’s Alawite sect, which has drawn in Sunni and Shia regional powers. Sunnis feel marginalized by Assad’s Shia-led gov’t; Islamic State (ISIS) believes it is right to create Sunni Muslim caliphate across Syria and Iraq – does not accept current int’l borders
Taken from Murphy and Gleek (2016)

15. Conflict Triangle: Syria
Behavior
Assad gov’t: military campaign vs. insurgency, chem weapon attacks (Aug 2013)
Sunni rebel forces: violent insurgency
ISIS: military campaign to est Sunni Islamic caliphate; fighting everyone
& others!
Conflict Triangle: Syria
Manifest Level:
How people act encourages conflict, immediate evidence of conflict
Latent Level;
How people think encourages conflict; deeper causes of conflict
Attitudes/Assumptions:
Assad gov’t believes it should stay in power & that rebel forces are ‘terrorists’ challenging legitimate authority of the state. Sunni rebels feel Assad gov’t not legitimate, demanding greater representation and political equality; Sunnis marginalized by Assad-led Shia government
Context/ Contradictions
Sunni majority is in in conflict with President’s Alawite sect, which has drawn in Sunni and Shia regional powers. Sunnis feel marginalized by Assad’s Shia-led gov’t; Islamic State (ISIS) believes it is right to create Sunni Muslim caliphate across Syria and Iraq – does not accept current int’l borders
Taken from Murphy and Gleek (2016)

16. Your Turn!
Working with a partner (maybe a group of 3), you will choose a conflict (some we’ve studied, some we haven’t) and do some background research on these elements of the triangle- attitudes, context, and manifest behaviors
Next class you will present your conflict triangle to the class [verbal presentation, but create a visual triangle to help encourage focus while you speak]
Try to incorporate a few different perspectives for each element
Grade will be participation + presentation together.

17. Conflicts Somalia (civil war, 1990s-) Darfur Yemen (civil war, 2015-)
Boko Haram (Nigeria)
South Sudan (2013-)
Kashmir (India-Pakistan)
Colombia (1960s-)
Kurdish-Turkish (1948-)
Libya (2011- or 2014-)
Central African Republic (2012-)