In a recent post Samantha Atkins called for the creation of a non-violent
confliction resolution process in Afghanistan. The only alternatives I
know to conflict resolution processes that are backed by the threat of
violence are ones that are backed by the threat of economic sanctions.
I.e., everyone agrees that when there is a dispute, they will not to do
any business with the party in the wrong or anyone who does business with
those who are in the wrong, and so on.
But that doesn't work if some person or group is strong enough and/or
unproductive enough that what he/it gains by being in the wrong is worth
more than the lost opportunities from trade. Unfortunately this kind of
person or group seems to be quite prevalent in the world. Also, it can be
very difficult to know who is doing business with whom, leading to
widespread cheating.
So are there any other alternatives? If not it seems unlikely that
non-violent confliction resolution processes will work very well in
Afghanistan.
P.S. On the other hand, non-violent confliction resolution can potentially
work in cyberspace. See http://www.eskimo.com/~weidai/bmoney.txt for a
system I worked out.
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