The Relevance of Traditional Mechanisms of Conflict Resolution to End Localized Communal Conflicts in Africa

Abstract

Though the “local turn” in peacebuilding increased interest in traditional methods of conflict resolution, a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of these methods vis-à-vis hybrid and modern approaches is only just emerging. This paper adds to this nascent body of research by analyzing the trends in the applications and effectiveness of different communal conflict resolution approaches to end localized conflict in Africa. The paper found out that in communal conflicts with an annual conflict-death of 25 or more, the type of conflict resolution method used and the intensity of the conflict influence the effectiveness of a communal peace agreement. This result is in line with the hypothesis that traditional mechanisms are comparatively more effective than hybrid and modern methods. In communal conflicts with less than 25 annual deaths, hybrid approaches appear to be as effective as traditional methods, though our confidence in this result is tempered by the limited size of our sample and the lack of control over ‘conflict intensity’ as a relevant variable.