Contemporary Conflict Analysis in Perspective
By João Gomes Porto
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Chapter Description:
In the conclusion, the author has three analyses about contemporary conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Three lessons are important to consider in relation to the design and implementation of conflict prevention and management policies. Those are (pp 32):
1. Conflict in sub-Saharan Africa is structurally and functionally open. Conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa operate within broader regional and international systems. Apparently isolated conflicts are in reality intimately linked to broader political and economic contexts involving multiple, and often times, competing individuals and group actors, and interests. The institutions, policies and legal regimes governing these, moreover, are overlapping and mixed. Policy makers, therefore, must explicitly recognize the role of external engagers, and incorporate their involvement in policy formulation and interventions.
2. Conflict systems in sub-Saharan Africa are operationally complex. The levels of engagement and the number of variables underlying conflict are many; and more often than not the operation of conflict is uncertain. Tracing the role of different conflict variables, including ecological, demands scrupulous policy attention to such operational vagaries.
3. The ecological variable is clearly an important factor in conflict. It is critical that policies consider how the ecological variable triggers and sustains conflict, as well as how it generates conflict. Moreover, it is also important that policy research and analysis trace the relationship of ecology to conflict through different pathways. Policies will vary depending on how the ecological variable is linked to conflict. Identifying and assessing linkages is critical to targeting effective policy interventions that have lasting impact.
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