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The current work aims to introduce the concept of conflict perception and construct a scale that measures individual differences in perceptions about conflicts along religious, national and material dimensions. The concept and the measure are developed in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The research design combines three methodological elements: 14 focus groups in Israel and the West Bank, which represent diversity in place of residence, religion, age and political background; an expert panel review; and a survey of 411 student respondents that was conducted between September 29 and October 9, 2013, among university students in Israel and Palestine.

The findings show that conflict perception is an individual’s subjective view regarding the essence of the conflict and its central issues, the identities of the parties involved and their motivations, which may include material, ideological or symbolic motives, or any combination thereof. A novel scale consisting of five statements that can measure conflict perception that was developed, validated and implemented via a survey sample showed that Palestinians in the West Bank and in Israel have a religious perception of the conflict, whereas Jews have a national perception of the conflict.

First, the paper introduces a new concept that sheds additional light on the micro foundations of peoples’ attitudes in conflict situations. Second, it develops and validates a measurement tool for conflict perception that may be usable, with necessary adjustments, in other conflicts. Third, it demonstrates that parties to the conflict do not necessarily share similar perceptions about the conflict, a finding with far-reaching consequences for conflict resolution at both the scholarly and policy levels.

This paper aims to examine the victimisation experiences of farmers, herders and community members within the context of the persistent conflict between farmers and herders across Nigeria, with specific focus on Anambra, Benue and Oyo states in south-east, north-central and south-west geopolitical zones of the country, respectively.

The study used the cross-sectional survey to elicit quantitative data from 725 respondents made up of 256 farmers, 225 herders and 244 community members aged 18 years and above, in six purposively sampled local government areas in the three states, while 16 in-depth interviews, 19 key informant interviews and 18 focus group discussions were conducted to extract qualitative data from purposively sampled farmers, herders, community leaders and members of the study communities.

The results show that farmers, herders and other community members in the study suffered losses in the form of destruction of farmlands and livelihood, internal displacement and human fatalities, for the farmers and community members; and destruction of livelihood, loss of money and human fatalities, for the herders. The paper predicts a worsening of the feud between these groups and the attendant reprisal attacks and victimisation if the current binary narrative of victimhood that privileges the needs and experiences of one group over the other persists, and urges stakeholders to put in place enduring structures that will minimise nomadic herding and ensure proactive security.

The focus on the issue of the “victimisation experiences” of herders and farmers and the invitation to researchers and policymakers to examine the role of the prevailing binary construction of victimhood in the conflict is a refreshing addition to other works on this subject.

Intractable conflicts are characterized as protracted, irreconcilable, violent, of zero‐sum nature, total, and central. They are demanding, stressful, exhausting, and costly both in human and material terms. Societies involved in this type of conflict develop appropriate psychological conditions which enable them to cope successfully with the conflictual situation. The present paper proposes the following societal beliefs which are conducive to the development of these psychological conditions: beliefs about the justness of one's own goals, beliefs about security, beliefs of delegitimizing the opponent, beliefs of positive self‐image, beliefs about patriotism, beliefs about unity and beliefs about peace. These beliefs constitute a kind of ideology which supports the continuation of the conflict. The paper analyzes as an example one such intractable conflict, namely the one between Israel and Arabs, concentrating on the Israeli society. Specifically, it demonstrates the reflection of the discussed societal beliefs in the Israeli school textbooks. Finally, implications of the presented framework for peaceful conflict resolution are discussed.

Far too often refugees are being researched on; however, the purpose of this chapter is to research with refugees while exploring the ways refugee youth in a higher education protracted context can become producers of research and knowledge. I sought to collaborate with my co-researchers / co-authors through a community-based action (CBA) approach at Kakuma Refugee Camp to assure that their youthful (ages 18–35) voices were included in this study. A CBA approach seeks to speak with participants, not for them. They learned about the research process, why research is needed, and how we can produce it together. Using a critical-hope framework, that is, a pedagogical tool that uses a critical theory lens to address unjust systems through meaningful dialogue and empathic responses, we co-led 30 psychosocial peace-building education (PBBE) courses in Kakuma and Nairobi, Kenya. Data were collected from the researcher and co-researchers’ reflective logs on our own observations in the PBBE courses. A thematic analysis approach was chosen in order to avoid focusing on the norms and/or creating specific norms that dictate, demand conformity, and silence divergent voices. There were three themes: time, place, and person.

This paper aims to explain how peace research has influenced a re-conceptualization of the international relations (IR) notion of security and conflict, the nature of the global arena, how to effectively negotiate conflict resolution and strategies for peacebuilding. The paper argues that – although peace research had contributed to reducing the threat of interstate conflict – IR scholars have failed to recognize the need for a more inclusive theoretical strategy for dealing with the new challenge imposed by intrastate conflict.

The paper uses Cyprus as a case to compare the conflict management strategies of the liberal peace agenda and the integrative, multi-level, multi-dimensional approach to peacebuilding that is proposed by peace research. The Cyprus case is also used as an example of how the alternative approach to participatory political communication has moved the Cyprus situation off deadlock and in the direction of more promising outcomes.

The research reveals that although the liberal peace agenda (i.e. the state-centric and established diplomatic approach to conflict management) is effective in getting the two sides of the conflict to the negotiating table, it is inadequate in addressing the underlying cause of conflict; thus, in many instances, there is a reoccurrence of conflict and violence.

The paper is limited in its ability to place peace research within the context of theoretical developments in the field of IR (e.g. this is even more-so true in regard to researching international politics). Although peace research has made enormous contributions in reducing the threat of interstate conflict (e.g. it is acknowledged that peace research contributed to ending the Cold War, thus bringing about new perspectives on how the global arena is defined, the nature of conflict and the role of communicative action in global relations), there has not been a corresponding development in the theory and practice of IR.

The paper explains how recent developments in communication theory and information communication technology have altered the nature of the global arena and the factors impacting global social movements. Thus, the paper indicates factors that are vital to cross-border interactions, cross-border social movements and alternative approaches to interstate social-political activities that deserve further research.

The research analyzes the contribution to participatory political communication in conflict management, reconciliation and peacebuilding processes. The paper also highlights the role of alternative media as a component of the infrastructure for peace (e.g. in the Cyprus context, it provides a forum in which agents from an otherwise divided community can participate in establishing shared values and common objectives).

Cyprus represents one of the longest running conflicts and, in addition, one of the longest running peacekeeping missions of the UN. This paper explains how unique features of the peace research approach to peacebuilding contributes to producing more positive results in what has heretofore been a deadlock in the divided community of Cyprus. Thus, this paper provides an indication of how the lessons learned by peace researchers in the Cyprus micro context contribute to addressing macro-level IR challenges (e.g. north-south and east-west challenges that occur because of outlooks in the proverbial other).

This study examines the relationship between gender and religious affiliation to the preferred conflicts styles of 384 student participants living in and attending university in South Africa, Israel, Bosnia‐Herzegovina and Northern Ireland. Participants report living in stressful social contexts that are often characterized by reports of terrorism perpetrated by paramilitaries, the state, violence that is brought on by long standing ethnic hatreds and years of division between major groups contending for control of political and social institutions, civilian uprisings, and in some cases low scale civil war. The results indicate that the independent variables—gender and religion—provide statistically significant observable differences in how people report they engage in conflict as seen in their choice of conflict styles. In particular, the findings on gender differences provide a surprising result that is partially attributed to the contextual factors of warfare and one's active participation in it. The results on religious affiliation provide a number of intriguing patterns among various religions including a desire to accommodate or collaborate with others and a strong dislike of avoidance. There are other more specific patterns that can be partially attributed to contextual factors as well. With so many contexts being present in the study a number of intriguing explanations and working hypotheses are brought forth to help explain why these patterns on gender and religious affiliation exist.

This chapter theorizes, and provides field-based illustrations, about new ways to foster intergroup collaboration beginning first with intragroup conflict engagement. While the author has been experimenting with these ideas and practices for many years, this chapter represents still early efforts to lay out an agenda for systematic research and experimentation.

I hypothesize that by successfully engaging internal conflicts about outgroups within ingroups, sides may separately become more willing and able to successfully and interactively solve shared problems and achieve superordinate goals between them. History is filled with attempts at cooperation between antagonistic groups – whether through negotiated agreement, functional cooperation, promoting positive contact and attitudes, and so forth – that have led instead to worsening attitudes and renewed confrontation. Even when polarized groups decide to cooperate to achieve superordinate goals (Sherif, 1966) they are often unable to make this leap from conflict to collaboration. I posit that this may be in part because inadequate attention is paid first to intragroup conflict dynamics vis-à-vis outgroups.

Conflict and violence are the main drivers of globally escalating humanitarian needs. Local grassroots initiatives are pivotal in distributing humanitarian supplies in the acute response phase until more established humanitarian aid organizations can enter. Nevertheless, scant research exists regarding the role of grassroots associations in providing humanitarian assistance during a military conflict. The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of grassroots associations and identify important themes for effective operations.

This paper adopts a case-study approach of three Ukrainian grassroots associations that began operating in the immediate days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The findings are based on analyzing primary sources, including interviews with Ukrainian volunteers, and are supported by secondary sources.

Grassroots associations have local contacts and a contextual understanding of population needs and can respond more rapidly and effectively than large intergovernmental agencies. Four critical themes regarding the operations of grassroots associations emerged: information management, inventory management, coordination and performance measurement. Grassroots humanitarian response operations during conflict are challenged by personal security risks, the unpredictability of unsolicited supplies, emerging volunteer roles, dynamic transportation routes and shifting demands.

Grassroots responses are central to humanitarian responses during the acute phase of a military conflict. By examining the operations of grassroots associations in the early months of the 2022 war in Ukraine, the authors provide a unique perspective on humanitarian logistics. Nonetheless, more inclusive models of humanitarian responses are needed to harness the capacities and resilience of grassroots operations in practice.

Although a great deal of research has focused on the effect of trust on conflict, little research has examined the impact of conflict on trust. The purpose of this paper is to present a model that investigates the relationship between conflict types (task, relationship and process), conflict features (intensity and duration), communication openness (CO) and workplace trust.

Data were collected from 510 employees from public sector organizations. The authors tested the direct effects of the hypothesized links with linear regressions while the mediation effects were tested using the Sobel test. Finally, the authors followed Kenny and Baron's procedure to test the moderation effects.

Results from the regression analyses confirm that conflict features (intensity and duration) fully mediated the link between conflict types (task, relationship and process) and trust, while CO moderated the relationship between conflict features and trust. In addition, prolonged conflict duration was linked with trust. Implications of the findings are discussed.

The study is cross sectional and some of our scales have few items. In future, more robust scales in a longitudinal study should be used to further deepen our understanding of the association between the variables in our model. In addition, we have studied the concept of trust as perceived by the employees without distinguishing between high‐ and low‐trust perceptions. Future studies should compare levels of trust associated with the different types of conflict and especially varying magnitude of conflict intensity (e.g. low, mid and high) at different times.

The study provides new insights into the influence that conflict (task, relationship and process) may have on trust and the moderating role of CO in the link between conflict and trust. The paper also offers a practical assistance to group members and leaders that are interested in building trust especially in the presence of conflict.

This study aims to contribute to discussions on peace between hostile nonmajor powers by focusing on the behavior of major powers. Specifically, alliances between nonmajor and major powers are explored to determine whether such ties contribute to transitions to higher levels of peace. Moreover, systemic factors involving power dynamics and relationships between major powers are also evaluated.

Multiple data sets which altogether covered the era from 1816 to 2010 were analyzed. All pairs of countries that were former foes were considered. Cox hazard regression was conducted.

Systemic instability is influential at transitions from lowest levels of peace for nonmajor power dyads. Eras where major powers are operating multilaterally appear to play a highly limited role in nonmajor powers attaining stable peace. However, alliances with major powers are relatively more crucial in these discussions for nonmajor powers and contribute to higher levels of peace being attained by nonmajor powers.

Further research in particular with case studies can help to elucidate and extend the statistical findings.

Based on the findings, the design and operations of alliances can create more space to hear a wider range of issues that allies can be facing.

While major powers clearly have considerable capacity and global outreach, there has been little attention to whether and how they contribute to former foes attaining higher quality of peace.