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Roger Blench |
Conflict resolution
has become high on the agenda in recent years, not because conflicts are more
or less common, but because they are more visible. We see conflicts on
television, read about them in newspapers and are frustrated when disputes
which seem to have very little content are all the more bloody. One of the
consequences has been the initiation of standardised conflict resolution
strategies which can be transported from one situation to another. The extent
to which mobile experts can be parachuted into a situation and apply packaged
techniques seems at least open to question. In the case of local conflict,
such as over natural resources, access to land or discriminatory practices by
government, the alternative is to develop strategies for understanding the ground
situation through empirical investigation. This is best achieved through a
quasi-anthropological approach, in particular discussions with the various
groupings that do not focus narrowly on the conflict itself but seek
to explore broader issues of subsistence and identity. This is because
experience suggests that the underlying motives in such conflicts may be
quite different from the surface description. In addition, conflicts have a
way of mutating; just as the Mafia began as a movement of legitimate protest
against repressive landlords and became the criminal organisation it is
today, so many conflicts in |
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I have worked
principally on resource conflict in |
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a. The configuration of conflict has
changed significantly since 1980 and much older literature is of historical
interest only. |
b. The causes and local solutions to conflict
vary considerably from one area to another and we should be wary of
generalisations without a much larger database of case studies. |
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The conclusion I
draw from this is that in the case of resource conflict at the local level,
effective conflict resolution should be based on recent field materials.
These should be empirical and descriptive and should be written up first,
before considering practical solutions and proposing them to communities.
Going to the field with pre-packaged techniques and presenting them directly
to interlocutors seems to me to be highly problematic. |
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The following is a list of my publications and reports on conflict. I am also working on audio-visual materials which will be posted on this site. |
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Year |
Author(s) |
Reference |
2012 |
Stuart McGill & Roger Blench |
Documentation,
development, and ideology in the northwestern
Kainji languages. In: Peter K.
Austin & Stuart McGill (eds.) Language Documentation and Description, 11: 90-135. |
2006 |
R.M. Blench,
S. Longtau & Umaru Hassan |
Conflict studies in |
2004 |
R.M. Blench |
Natural
Resource Conflicts in North-Central Nigeria. London/Abuja: Mandaras Press/ DFID. With
integrated CD-ROM. |
1999a |
R.M. Blench |
Hunter-gatherers,
conservation and development: from prejudice to policy reform. Natural Resource Briefing Paper 43. |
1999b |
Charlotte Boyd, Roger Blench, David Bourn, Liz Drake and Peter
Stevenson |
Reconciling
interests among wildlife, livestock and people in Eastern Africa: a
sustainable livelihoods approach.
Natural Resource Briefing Paper 45. |
1999c |
Bourn, D. & R.M. Blench [eds.] |
Can wildlife and livestock co-exist?
An interdisciplinary approach. |
1998a |
R.M. Blench & S. Hall |
Conflicts
in protected areas of Africa: livestock and the conservation of the Rwenya
wildlife management area, North East Zimbabwe. AgREN Network Paper 82b. |
1998b |
R.M. Blench |
Resource conflict in semi-arid |
1997a |
R.M. Blench |
Resource conflict in semi-arid |
1997b |
R.M. Blench |
The History
and Future of Water Management of the Lake Chad Basin in Nigeria. In L’Homme et l’eau dans le Bassin du Lac Tchad. H. Jungraithmayr, D. Barreteau and U. Seibert eds.
143-166. |
1994 |
R.M. Blench |
The Expansion and Adaptation of Fulºe
Pastoralism to Subhumid and Humid Conditions in |
1985 |
R.M. Blench |
Pastoral labour
and stock alienation in the subhumid
and arid zones of West Africa. ODI network Paper, 19e. |
1984 |
R.M. Blench |
Conflict and
co-operation: Fulani relations with the Samba
and Mambila peoples. |
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Unpublished |
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2001 |
R.M. Blench |
The transformation of
conflict between pastoralists and cultivators in Nigeria. |
2003a |
R.M. Blench |
Resource conflict in the Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands.
Study and report of a workshop. Report to ITAD/DFID. Sections by R.M. Blench
from a larger workshop report |
2003b |
R.M. Blench, P. Daniel &
Umaru Hassan |
Access rights and conflict over common pool
resources in three states in Nigeria. Report to Conflict Resolution Unit, World
Bank. |
2006 |
R.M. Blench, S. Longtau, Umaru Hassan & M. Walsh |
The role of
traditional leaders in mediating conflict in Northern Nigeria. Report to DFID |