Arab Approaches to Conflict Resolution

Mediation, Negotiation and Settlement of Political Disputes

Nahla Yassine-Hamdan, Frederic Pearson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781136658730
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Peace & Global Development
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book examines Arab approaches to mediation, negotiation and settlement of political disputes.

This book proposes that two clusters of independent variables are potentially responsible for the distinctive nature of Arab conflict resolution. Firstly, those linked with Arab political regimes and imperatives, and secondly those linked with Arab and /or Islamic culture. The text also focuses on the Arab League and its history of involvement in crisis and conflict situations, along with the roles of individual leaders, emissaries and extra-regional actors such as IGOs (Inter-Governmental Organisations) in undertaking mediation initiatives. IGO and Arab League activity has taken on new importance since the various intervention attempts in connection with the 'Arab Spring' since 2011.

During the negotiation process, most Arab regimes tend to view conflicts within a broad historical context and Islamic culture prioritises the cohesion of the community and internal stability of the state over individual autonomy. This has created an authoritarian style of leadership, and in practice, leaders in the Middle East have had near absolute authority in the decision-making process—a fact which will have a lot of weight in conflict management and whether peace will endure for a long period of time.

This book is unique in studying these clusters through comparative systematic case study analysis of events prior to and subsequent to the 'Arab Spring', augmented by a quantitative analysis of sample data on Arab disputes, compiled from a larger and newly augmented study comprising the years 1945-2000. Complementary data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program's (UCDP) data base of armed conflicts since 1975 is also utilized.

This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace and conflict studies, Middle Eastern politics and IR in general.

1 Introduction

Settlement of disputes – history and the Arab context

But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, (put your) trust in Allah. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.

Holy Quran, Surat Al-Anfal 8:61

There is no one-size-fits-all remedy for any conflict in this world; therefore, this book seeks to study what path of conflict dynamics might yield better conflict management. In doing so, we closely examine the patterns of conflict and conflict settlement among a specific cultural group in order to determine whether important insights are gained by looking comparatively at various cultures to see if conflict resolution significantly varies among them. Theorists such as Jean Paul Lederach (1995), for example, have forcefully argued for culturally appropriate approaches to conflict management, faulting the practitioner community for at times failing to be attuned to what methods will or will not be constructive and effective in cultural contexts. He noted for, example, that for some South and Central American native populations the concept of “conflict” itself takes on particular meaning which influences potential solutions; one such meaning, as compared with the “Western notion” of conflict as a contest, is akin to “finding one’s way out of a forest.”

Conflict management is defined as:

any steps taken to help resolve peacefully a conflict, from bilateral negotiation to third party mediation. Third party managers include a variety of different types, including nation-states, state coalitions, regional or international organizations, and individuals.

(Gartner and Melin, 2011, p. 2)

Generally, there are two outcomes of conflict management, either an agreement or resumed fighting; however, even achieving a temporary ceasefire may be considered an effective tool of conflict management (Gartner and Melin, 2011, p. 3). On the other hand, ceasefires might be used by one side of the contending parties to the conflict as a bargaining tool to extend its power on the ground and to improve its military capability and position to fight for a longer period (Gartner and Melin, 2011, p. 4).

As an important example of cultural conflict perspectives, we have chosen to consider “Arab” approaches to conflict and conflict resolution as a way of determining to what degree “special” conceptions and practices are necessary to deal with the far-flung populations of the Middle East, and what such practices might offer other parts of the world in being more sensitive and effective in resolving disputes. There are 22 Arab countries in what is called “the Arab world,” which cover a wide area stretching from Morocco and Mauritania in northwestern Africa to Iraq, Kuwait, and the sheikhdoms in western Asia. Ten of the Arab countries are located in Africa (an area heavily populated with Arabs), and the other 12 are located in Asia. Given the disparate nature of these states, and their considerable subcultures, minority groups and regional variations, people in the Arab world share a common history, culture and language that constitute the basic elements of Arab identity and culture.

The “Middle East” was a term coined by the British colonialists to refer to countries that are neither far (Far East) nor close (Near East) to Great Britain. This means that non-Arab countries are also included as part of the Middle East, such as Israel, Turkey and Iran. The Arab world constitutes 5% (367.4 million) of the total world population of around seven billion people. Of these, over 70 million people are youths between 15 and 24 (19.2%), with an expected rise to 72 million by 2015 (Abdoun and Chammah, 2011). Thus, the Arab world is relatively youthful, with all the potential and problems that entails, and with the prospect that culturally anchored approaches to conflict may be changing before our very eyes. For example, young people, including restless college-age youths frustrated by lack of career prospects, have played a very important part in the recent Arab Spring uprisings against encrusted 40+ year-old regimes and the corruption and lack of broad-based economic opportunities that they represent. The Tunisian symbol of the “Jasmine Revolution,” Mohammad Abouazizi, who died from desperation and self-immolation, stands as a prime example. Thus, as one key emerging element of conflict in the region, the present Arab governments are re-calculating the importance of appealing to the youth and creating more opportunities to contain their anger and frustration.

Adding further fascinating and possibly momentous complications for conflict, while young Arab men have been lacking in power for political participation, young Arab women face an even bleaker picture, due to their very low level of political participation (as compared with other parts of the world). Arab states were the lowest-ranking region in terms of female representation in parliaments (9.6%) as compared with the global average of 18.6% (Moghadam and Decker 2014, p. 103). Sima Bahouth, the Assistant Secretary-General of Social Affairs of the Arab League, has asserted that “Youth are an instrumental power in changing the world” (Abdoun and Chammah, 2011).

The Arab world is diverse in many other respects, including climate, level of education, income and urbanization. Despite shared cultural heritage and practices, the region is still a place with a huge amount of religious, ethnic (with different minorities such as Alawites, Druze, Yazidis and Zoroastrians), clan/tribal, class and even linguistic diversity. However, Arab people still have much in common even beyond their language, history and culture – all of which are known to promote a sense of shared vision and identity. In terms of ethnicity, the Middle East could be viewed as “a large circle with the Arabs at its core and the non-Arabs at the periphery” (Palmer, 2007, p. 3). Both Arabs and non-Arabs are deeply divided by religious, nationalistic and sectarian conflicts that mar the region and represent the leading factor in the present turmoil in the Middle East, as we shall see throughout the book. In addition to its geopolitical significance, evolved through the centuries as an international “crossroads” and in recent times through the “blessing and curse” of petroleum, the Middle East constitutes a unique cultural amalgam with a variety of cultural patterns from country to country, that contrasts sharply with other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and South Asia. These unique cultural values, including the way that people are expected to behave toward each other and outsiders, pre-date but also reflect the region’s pervasive religion, Islam (Palmer, 2007). As is well known, the Arab world is the birthplace of the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with the latest being the second-largest world religion after Christianity. Islam began in ad 610, when, according to Islamic beliefs, the prophet Mohammad was chosen by God (through his Angel Gabriel) to reveal the word of God (“ALLAH” in Arabic). The Quran is the holy book that Muslims are expected to follow as the rule of law, and Islam, as a law- giving religion (like Judaism in some respects), sets standards and expectations for how conflict should be viewed and handled. Christians and Jews are referred to as “People of the Book,” which necessitates respect and harmony in relationships despite differences in interpretations, for all believe in one God.¹

Islam, a religion originating among the Arabs, of course now applies its precepts to people on every continent, so it cannot be viewed as merely an Arabic cultural artifact. If we study Arab approaches to conflict and its resolution, then we must recognize that it will necessarily bear some resemblance to other regions through the spread of Islam, and as well through the spread of non-Arabic ideas into the Middle East from both West and East. While Samuel Huntington (1993) has posited a growing “clash of civilizations” as the key to future world conflict scenarios, we note that there is no pure cultural “civilization” any longer in any part of the world. If the revolution in travel had not seen to this, then the advent of the Internet and instantaneous communications certainly would have. Yet there are still persistent patterns of social expectations and practices which clearly differ across the continents of the globe, and this book is an effort to measure and assess the extent to which the Arab world can still be said to have a characteristic approach to conflict.

Paul Salem (1997, p. 11) stresses the importance of avoiding any “broad generalizations” about the Middle Eastern culture, on the one hand and Western culture on the other hand:

One must make clear from the beginning that any attempt to make broad generalizations about two diverse and loosely defined cultural and social groupings as the “West” and “the Arab world” is fraught with dangers of reductionism, essentialism, and simplification, to say nothing of Orientalism. The effort of finding general cultural patterns and tendencies … is well worth the risk and the effort; and the generalizations … are only intended as food for thought and signposts for further research rather than as definitive conclusions.

This book, then, is about Arab approaches to conflict and its management, including both traditional practices such as bargaining and intercession or adjudication by elders, and more modern forms of mediation, negotiation and settlement of political disputes; we seek to know to what degree Arab forms of conflict resolution might be distinctive from other cultural approaches in terms of processes and outcomes of conflict management. Since we primarily deal with political conflict, both within and between states, a particular sub-focus will be the role of cultural institutions such as the Arab League in their history of involvement in crisis and unfolding conflict situations, along with the roles of individual leaders and emissaries undertaking mediation initiatives either regionally or in conjunction with extra-regional actors such as IGOs. Indeed, it appears that IGO and Arab League activity has taken on new importance since the various intervention attempts in connection with the Arab Spring since 2011. Two clusters of independent variables are posed as potentially responsible for the distinctive nature of Arab conflict resolution in such situations: those linked with Arab political regimes and imperatives, and those linked with Arab and/or Islamic culture. Later in the book as well, two units of analysis are employed while using quantitative analysis: mediation as a conflict- management strategy and dispute outcomes.

Patterns of conflict management in the Arab world

Conceptions of conflict and conflict resolution in Arab culture have distinguishing features. As with other peoples, the source of conflict oscillates between the rational and the non-rational. The rational component includes economic and financial valuations that are negotiable and transferable by standard procedures, and contains the pragmatics of the conflict. Indeed, in the marketplaces and in business dealings throughout the Middle East, bargaining and negotiation are refined to a high art. The non-rational component, on the other hand, is non-negotiable, nontransferable and does not lend itself to standard treatment. It contains some of the “symbolic” such as “face” (dakhla, which means protecting self-image and dignity) as well as concepts such as “status” and “national pride” (Khuri, 1997, pp. 122–123). Many of these concerns of course are deeply reflected in what are considered “Eastern” cultures, reaching China and Japan. As we will see in discussing Islamic conceptions below, injustice is added to these concerns as a persistent conflict irritant.

Such “symbolics,” because they are highly sensitive, may require that any settlement be mediated through a third party which functions as a “face-saving device” (Khuri, 1997, p. 124). Therefore conflict-resolution approaches such as mediation are likely to be more effective when mediators take these sensitive “symbolics” into account. For example, Ellsworth Bunker (personal representative of President Kennedy in the Yemen crisis of 1963) was forced to act in accordance with the rules of the Arab wisata (mediation), which require more personalized diplomacy. Cohen (1996, p. 117) commented that “the Yemen civil war had become a supreme issue of sharaf – honor in a peculiarly elevated Arabic sense meaning purity of soul, nobility, and ethical righteousness – for both [Saudi] King Faisal and [Egyptian] President Nasser.” Sensitive points were left to verbal rather than written agreement, and “open pressure was never exercised (though presidential authority was invoked)” (Khuri, 1997, p. 124). Person-to-person arguments were prominent and persuasive. “The requirements of maintaining honor were always paramount. Conflict control seems then to be more effective in intra- than inter-group conflicts” (Khuri, 1997, p. 124). This matter is emphasized in the Quran, where al-sulh (peace) is to be spread among the believers of Islam and not between them and the non-Muslims (infidels) (Khuri, 1997, p. 124). Presumably, therefore, mediation should be more frequent in disputes between Arabs than in Arab–non-Arab disputes. Moreover, we might expect that Arab mediators will be preferred.

The wasta or wasit (mediator) is an influential figure in resolving conflicts in the Arab world. Usually, local notables with high prestige are chosen to act as mediators. In local disputes between clans over honor, property, etc., the wasta plays an essential part in maintaining the harmony of the community (Cohen, 1996, p. 113).“Tanazol,” which means concession in Arabic, may mean giving up one’s rights. Therefore, one should use the word “musawamaa” (mutual concession) to add justice and fairness to the mediation process. The process of reaching a compromise, meaning “hal wassat’ (middle solution) implies a reciprocal relationship when mediating a certain conflict (Cohen, 1996, p. 113).²

It is important to note the role of rank within an Arab and Muslim cultural context. Mohammed Abu-Nimer stressed the fact that “the legitimacy of conflict resolution processes and third party intervention stems from a negotiator’s religious, social and cultural rank” (Abu-Nimer, 2010, pp. 74–75). The Arab–Arab setting of conflict management is affected, more in some countries perhaps than others, by tribal or clan affiliation, with specific significance to age (elders’ status in the village); gend...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction: settlement of disputes – history and the Arab context
• 2 Context of conflict management in the Arab world
• 3 Arab culture and conflict management
• 4 Characteristics of conflicts, parties and conflict management
• 5 Patterns of conflict settlement: Arab versus Arab and non-Arab
• 6 The Arab League and multilateralism
• 7 The missing factor in international mediation/negotiation: women as peace-makers
• 8 Conflict resolution and the Arab Spring era
• 9 Is there an Arab mode of conflict resolution?
• References
• Index