The Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation is Berghof Conflict Research’s key publication. Constantly evolving and developing, this online platform presents cutting-edge knowledge and experience for scholars and practitioners working on transforming violent ethnopolitical conflict.
Since its inception in 1999, the Berghof Handbook is designed to present state-of-the-art research and practice in conflict transformation to an international audience. It has three primary aims:
- fostering critical discussion both among and between academics and practitioners;
- bridging the gap between theory and practice in the field of conflict transformation; and
- including a wide range of voices and perspectives from different regions throughout the world, as well as from multiple disciplines and faculties.
The Berghof Handbook for Conflict Transformation is a comprehensive and cumulative website resource that provides continually updated cutting-edge knowledge, experience and lessons learned for those working in the field of transforming violent ethnopolitical conflict. The website content comes from two central resources: 1) commissioned Articles by leading experts from current practice and scholarship; and 2) a Dialogue Series on key issues, in which practitioners and scholars critically engage and debate with one another in light of their varying experience. Dialogues, along with a 2004 and a 2011 version of the main body of the Handbook, are also distributed in print.
The Berghof Handbook is not attempting to summarise the consolidated knowledge of a well-established discipline. It is an effort to draw attention to established practices and concepts, as well as to thorny issues and challenges. Instead of presenting a collection of recipes or ready-made tools, our goal is to put these established practices into a broader conceptual framework in order to understand their functions, strengths and weaknesses.
The Handbook’s topic structure is organised into five sections according to the various dimensions of conflict transformation. In the coming year, our special focus will be on post-conflict regeneration, reconciliation and the legacy of the past, and support for peace processes. To date, the Handbook includes:
- Preface & Introduction
- Section I: Concepts and Cross-Cutting Challenges
- Section II: Analysing Conflict and Assessing Conflict Transformation
- Section III: Third-Party Tools and Capacity Building
- Section IV: Structural Reforms, Institution Building and Violence Control
- Section V: Recovering from War – Post-Conflict Regeneration and Reconciliation
- Glossary
If you would like to see a complete list of articles, please click here.