The essay highlights some inherent problems in turning to democratic governance after a protracted conflict and how different types of democracy may affect relations among conflicting groups.
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This essay explores the linkages between democracy and conflict management as an exit to deadly strife in societies deeply divided by intractable conflicts. From El Salvador (1994) to East Timor (2002), countries that were formerly trapped in violent conflict have become fledging - if not quite "consolidated" - democracies. Democracy as a system of political decision making is in many ways a system of conflict management in which the outcomes are unknown but the fundamental rules of the game provide a safe arena in which to compete.Īdditional insights into democracy and conflict management are offered by Beyond Intractability project participants.įor this reason, many deeply divided post-war societies in the 1990s have turned to democracy as a way to exit intractable conflict.
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Democracy provides predictable procedures in which collective decisions can be taken without the risk that losing a political battle will mean grave misfortune, imprisonment, or even loss of life. Democracy is promising because the principles, institutions, and rules associated with democratic practice seek to manage inevitable social conflicts in deeply divided and less conflicted societies alike. Of the range of tools available to conflict resolution practitioners to manage intractable conflicts, none of them is arguably more durable over the long term - yet risky - than the creation and nurturing of democracy.