AFTER VIOLENCE: 3R, RECONSTRUCTION, RECONCILIATION ...

The institutional breakdown, the absence of law and order, the
lack of governance. The land-mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO)
everywhere. People scavenging in the ruins.
And yet this is only what meets the naked eye. In another
context what to do before violence has been explored/2/. In that
connection a little triangle was found useful, the ABC-triangle
where A stand for attitudes/assumptions, B for behavior and C for
the contradiction underlying the conflict, the clash of goals held
by the parties; the issues. C is the root conflict. But as the
conflict runs its course A and B start taking ugly shapes:
anything from hatred eating at their heart to depression for A,
the inner state of the parties; anything from the most rabid
physical and verbal violence to withdrawal, apathy for B.
A and B, particularly B, constitute the meta-conflict, the
conflict that comes out of, or after, the root conflict, the over-
layer. Only B, the overt violent behavior, is visible.
The focus in Conflict Transformation By Peaceful Means was on
how to transform the root conflict so that the parties can handle
it, the thesis being that "it is the failure to transform conflict
that leads to violence". But then there was also another thesis,
that conflict mobilizes a reservoir of energy that can be used for
constructive, not only destructive purposes. In other words,
violence in general, and war in particular is not only a monument
over the failure to transform the conflict so as to avoid
violence, but also the failure to use the conflict energy for more
constructive purposes.
Before violence the emotions were more pent-up. It made
sense to approach the root conflict as an intellectual problem
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