The importance of dialogical relations and local agency in governance initiatives for conflict resolution

This policy brief examines the role of dialogical relations and local agency in governance initiatives for conflict resolution on the basis of field research and analysis carried out within the project ‘The Role of Governance in the Resolution of Socioeconomic and Political Conflict in India and Europe (CORE)’. Because a sustainable conflict resolution process should be a collaboration among all conflict stakeholders, we focus on the importance of positive dialogical relations among all actors who are involved in conflict resolution initiatives, emphasizing the need to allow these actors to exercise their distinct local agency. We demonstrate that ensuring open and frequent communication and dialogue among different conflict stakeholders and acknowledging the importance of local agency in conflict resolution processes can notably improve the outcomes of governance initiatives in this field. We give specific examples from the cases under investigation within the CORE project. The examples presented in this brief are based on the field research carried out by other CORE project partners and may not be representative of all governance initiatives for conflict resolution within each case.

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