Need help using Insight on Conflict? This page contains definitions, listed alphabetically, of a range of words and phrases commonly used within Insight on Conflict relating to armed conflict and peace-building.

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Accountability
Refers to the level that a group or institution in a position of power is answerable to those over whom they have power.

Actor
The group, individual, body, entity, or institution that takes actions in a particular context.

Adjudication
The process whereby a third party imposes a settlement on two (or more) adversaries in a conflict. More technically, it is an instrument of coercive conflict management or resolution. A neutral third party is required to make summary binding decisions without following the procedures of litigation or arbitration. Adversaries have no say in choosing the third party and only one party is needed for an intervention to take place. The result of adjudication is a win-lose outcome.

Advocacy
Refers to individuals or groups taking a particular side in a conflict and actively supporting that side, pleading its case and arguing for it. It is possible for disputants to be their own advocates.

Amnesty
A general pardon, normally issued by a government, for crimes committed in the past.

Appeasement
The process whereby one disputant concedes to another's demands in order to try to gain goodwill or overcome animosity.

Arbitration
A form of negotiation, in which adversaries agree to turn to an impartial referee for a settlement to their conflict. It is a traditional, private method of resolving a dispute or difference, whether actual or potential. There are two elements present in any arbitration: the presence of an impartial/neutral third party, who acts as the arbitrator; and the power of the arbitrator to impose binding decisions on the parties involved. This is usually enforceable in a court of law. The latter point makes arbitration fundamentally different from mediation.

Areas of Interest
One of the terms used to categorise initiatives on Insight on Conflict; it refers to the particular theme an initiative is seeking to address (for example, human rights).

Asylum Seekers
People who have moved across international borders in search of protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention, but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined.

Awareness Raising
The process of promoting knowledge and understanding of a concept or issue. An organisation might, for example, conduct ‘awareness raising’ on human rights, which is to say they might make more people familiar with human rights as a concept, or might support those who know about human rights in learning more.

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Best Practise
Refers to the methods and procedures within a given discipline or field that have been proven to be the most efficient and effective in achieving the goals of that discipline or field. Insight on Conflict aims to spread best practice in grassroots peace-building. We intend to enable grassroots peace-builders to learn about the most effective methods and procedures in their field by studying and promoting that which has been successful for other practitioners.

Brokered Talks
A form of negotiation, which is ‘brokered’ or secured by a third party. The talks can act as an impartial, creative force to kick-start discussion about further dialogue should resolution become deadlocked due to the sensitive and contested nature of the issues involved.

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Call out Box
The shaded box on the left hand side of every page on Insight on Conflict. It contains relevant internal and external links, and other supplementary information, such as contact details.

Capacity Building
Relates to help given to certain groups (or governments) that need a particular skill; the capacity building will aim to provide the 'raw material' in developing that skill.

Cease-Fire
An agreed temporary halt to armed (i.e. violent or ‘hot’) conflict.

Citizen Diplomacy
Refers to unofficial cross-border contact between citizens of different nations as representatives of their nations. It may occur intentionally (people may work to build contacts across nations for the purpose of diplomacy) or unintentionally (people becoming 'accidental' citizen diplomats through occasional cross-border contact). It provides an extra level to standard transnational interaction and may replace standard diplomacy when normal diplomatic channels are disrupted. It need not necessarily consist of formal discussions or direct negotiations, but can simply be exchanges of people, knowledge, sport, or culture.

Civil Society
Relates to all the voluntary civic and social groups, institutions, and organisations that are the core of a working society. It is distinct from the structures of a state (which are, ultimately, backed by force) or commercial institutions.

Community Building
The process of creating, strengthening, or fostering 'community' between people with a common interest or geographical location.

Community Organising
The process of helping a group of individuals to act collectively to address a social problem.

Conciliation
A form of negotiation, often synonymous with mediation. It often refers to mediation in which the parties are not physically present in the same room and the conciliator communicates separately with each side using shuttle diplomacy. Conciliators can take a more active advisory role on the content of a dispute or its resolution than the role a mediator holds.

Conflict Area
A region where different groups pursue incompatible goals through the use of armed means. Incompatibility (or at least the perception of incompatibility) may arise due to (amongst others) political, economic, social or environmental issues, which are often interconnected. The intensity of violence may differ according to the location of the conflict. Conflict may exist simultaneously across various levels of society from the family to the international arena and can manifest as anything from individual killings to war. In our definition social violence (e.g. organised crime, gang violence, murder, mugging, etc.) will be excluded from the definition of conflict unless employed as a strategic tool by the conflicting groups (e.g. kidnappings in the Colombian conflict, rape in the Rwandan conflict).

Conflict Expert
A member of the Insight on Conflict team who is an expert in a particular conflict area. Our conflict experts provide advice on the conflict area and on peace-building issues in that area. The conflict expert has four specific tasks, which are:

• To give an initial overview of groups and initiatives worth contacting;
• To help identify potential local correspondents;
• To review the database when completed for coverage, bias, etc.; and
• To write a brief introductory overview of the conflict following the guidelines provided.

Conflict Indicators
Relates to methods or models used to monitor and forecast developments in countries and crisis regions. There are three most widely used indicators: the first is the database model drawn from statistical indicators; the second are those models that use expert knowledge garnered from questionnaires and interviews to forecast trends; and the third are news-wire monitoring/analysis systems that assess the risk of conflict through systematic machine-coded coverage of news services such as Reuters.

Conflict Management
The process of attempting to achieve long-term management of conflicts and the people involved in them so that they do not escalate into violence.

Conflict Prevention
The process of attempting to avert the escalation of a dispute into violence. This usually involves a high degree of forward planning and establishing institutions and cultures that will help prevent conflict.

Conflict Resolution
The process of attempting to permanently solve a conflict. A permanent solution would need to provide for each sides' needs and interests in such a way that both are satisfied with the outcome. However, the concept has been increasingly questioned as more and more people believe that conflicts are long-term phenomena resistant to permanent solutions. (See conflict transformation).

Conflict Transformation
The process of attempting to change the nature of a conflict. Where organisations on Insight on Conflict pursue conflict transformation they aim for a positive change: a de-escalation or a reconciliation between parties. It differs from conflict resolution in that it recognises that long-term conflicts do not often allow for a single moment of resolution, but instead seeks to change the nature of relationships between the parties involved and (as a process) to be responsive to changes in the situation and people's mentalities.

Coordination
The process of synchronising efforts by separate actors who have a common interest but who use different methods. In peace-building this may include complementary initiatives run by humanitarian NGOs or civilian-military efforts to bring about an end to violent conflict.

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Dealing with the Past
Refers to reconciling people in conflicts with what has happened in the past.

De-Escalation
The process of attempting to allow actors to step back from situations where they are justifying present (irrational) actions by past (rational) actions or results. These situations discourage actors from disengagement and lead them into a rising spiral of increasingly confrontational behaviour. De-escalation should allow and encourage actors to take the opportunity to quit this spiral.

De-Humanisation
The process whereby one set of people demonises another set of people, asserting their 'superiority' over their enemies either subtly or overtly. This psychological process makes the enemy seem less 'human' and therefore beneath humane treatment. It may be consciously contrived, or an unconscious result of prolonged conflict.

De-mining
The process of removing landmines, booby traps and unexploded ordnance (UXO) so that affected land can be safely re-settled.

Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR)
The process of attempting to decommission armed groups and reintegrate their members back into civilian life; DDR is now a standard response to post-conflict situations. Transparency and external verification are often required when decommissioning armed groups and collecting weapons. For the process to work, it must be part of wider security sector reforms. Security has to be guaranteed when former soldiers are demobilised and civilian populations are asked to reintegrate them into the community. Rehabilitation, which aims to assist ex-combatants (particularly child soldiers) traumatised by the conflict to resume a normal life, is another common feature of DDR.

Democratisation
The process of encouraging the spread of democracy (or the representation of the will of the majority of the governed in government). Democracy exists in different degrees and manifestations; appropriate democracy is adapted to suit the conditions of the society in which it operates.

Dialogue
The process of learning about and communicating with another group without being adversarial. It can involve the help of a third party. It can be linked to mediation, which uses dialogue to reach a settlement, but its goal is less concrete; dialogue seeks to improve understanding and trust.

Diplomacy
An umbrella term referring to the conduct of international relations. Traditionally this has been founded upon negotiating relationships between nations. In the modern world it is more between actors in the international sphere (although normally only between formal representatives - i.e. not between NGOs and governments).

Displaced Persons
People that are forced to leave their homes. If a displaced person crosses an international border, their position in international law is a lot clearer (they may gain recognition as a refugee, for example, which entitles them to certain international legal protections). If they do not cross an international border they are known as an internally displaced person and their legal position is less well-defined.

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Early Warning
The systematic process of collecting and analysing the information coming from crisis areas for the purpose of anticipating the escalation of violent conflict; developing strategic responses to these crises; and presenting options to critical actors to assist decision-making.

Empowerment
The process of giving people the power and the ability to do something about their situation. When people feel powerless, they are more likely to abuse what little power (over the weak, for example) they do have. By empowering them to influence decision-makers, or to change what is going on in their communities, an organisation might both transform the nature of the conflict and reduce smaller abuses of power.

Environmental Security
Refers to the relationship between human activity and natural ecosystems (‘the environment’). In the fields of conflict resolution and peace-building, the significance of that security lies in issues such as the restoration of the environment damaged by military actions, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation.

Escalation
Refers to an increase in the intensity of a conflict, and can occur in distinct stages. Escalation often happens as sides seek to match or exceed the perceived threat from each other. It can become irrational as sides invest so much in the confrontation they feel they cannot back down.

Ethnic Groups
Groups whose members draw their identity from a presumed common genealogy or set of ancestors.

European Union (EU)
An institution representing 27 states in Europe. The EU is a supranational body established in 1992 that has an increasing role in international affairs both as an institution in its own right and as a representative of its members. It has considerable potential resources and is active in a number of areas. Learn more here.

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Faith Groups
Groups whose members draw their identity from a shared common religious belief.

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Governance
Broadly refers to the entire process of running a state, institution or other structure of authority. The difference between 'good' and 'bad' governance relates to issues of corruption, efficiency, accountability, transparency, and the extent to which the government or institution acts in the interests of its stakeholders.

Grassroots Peace-Builders
Local people working at the community level to build peace. Peace-building at the lowest possible level is important because this is the level at which most of us live our daily lives. To make a change for the better, it is vital to approach the majority of people at the level they normally work and in a way they can easily understand.

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Human Rights
Rights to which all people are entitled simply by being human. The doctrine of human rights is too complex for a simple definition, but seeks to guarantee a basic standard of existence equal to all people. Human rights may be used as a reference point for appeals ("we should all have a right to ...") or as a moral absolute ("it is clear that we all have a right to ..."). The most widely recognised declaration of human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Human Security
A concept growing in favour since the end of the Cold War. It emphasises the individual as the basic unit of international relations and therefore stresses that the aim of international relations is the security of individual humans, not of states. The UN's 1994 Human Development Report is a key publication suggesting that human security relies on freedom from want and freedom from fear. However, that security faces threats relating to economic factors, food, health, the environment, personal issues, community factors, and political security.

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Impartiality
One of the cornerstones of Insight on Conflict. We are aware that impartiality in and towards conflict is both difficult and rare. However, we try hard to achieve impartiality by choosing our staff carefully (both in London and in the field) and by being careful with the organisations whose information we upload. The views expressed in the organisation and initiative pages are not the views of Insight on Conflict, but the views of the organisations from whom we receive information.

Initiative
The term used on Insight on Conflict to describe peace-building projects. All of the initiatives listed on Insight on Conflict are individual programmes, run by organisations of varying size and scope. Links to the organisations running the initiatives are found in the call out box.

Insight on Conflict
A unique resource designed to bring attention to the many individuals and organisations working at a grassroots level for peace. For more information about what we do, what our aims are, and why we do what we do, please see the Frequently Asked Questions and About Insight on Conflict pages.

Institutions
Organisations or systems with a formally or informally defined structure orientated towards one particular subject area. On Insight on Conflict we normally refer to formal institutions, which can be governmental, national, international, or commercial. Less commonly referred to on our site are 'informal' institutions, which are established patterns of behaviour or social structures (for example "the institution of marriage", or "the institution of the family").

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
People who have been forced to leave their home, but who have not crossed an international border. There is - as yet - no legal definition of an IDP (unlike refugees who have a definition in international law), although the UN has established non-binding Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. There are far more IDPs worldwide than there are refugees.

International Community
Refers to the relationships linking nations, institutions, the media, and people together across the world. It is an unspecific term often used by people to mean different things. It is intentionally vague, but ‘The International Community’ is often described as approving or disapproving of things, as needing to have things brought to its attention, or as needing to act on things. What is meant by this is not always the same, but often it is an appeal to international institutions with a capacity for action such as the UN or the EU.

Intervention
The process whereby a state or an international organisation involves itself in the domestic affairs of another state, with or without its consent. This can include preventive intervention before the outbreak of a conflict; curative intervention that aims at the solution, limitation, control or regulation of an existing conflict; and de-escalating intervention that aims at reducing tension.

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Key Players
Refers to the people of significance within a particular conflict, area or level of focus. Key people are those in a position to influence the outcome and direction of a conflict. They may be political leaders, civil society leaders, warlords or militia leaders, rebel leaders, or others necessary to a peace agreement.

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Level of Operation
One of the terms used on Insight on Conflict to categorise organisations and initiatives, according to the scope of their activities: local, regional, national, and international. Through this we can group together those organisations that run programmes or initiatives that run at a similar level. Organisations and initiatives can work at more than one of these levels.

Light Weapons
Portable firearms usually requiring a team to be fired (for example, heavy machine guns or grenade launchers).

Lobbying
The process of trying to influence the actions or decisions of a person, group, or organisation. A peace-builder may lobby their own government to produce a change in policy, or might lobby a foreign government or even the UN to exert pressure to produce change.

Local Correspondent
A member of the Insight on Conflict team who collects the information from a specific conflict area and works with the London editorial team to produce the Insight on Conflict database. The local correspondents research, collect, and periodically review information on peace-building initiatives and organisations.

We rely on the local correspondent to research initiatives in their conflict area, particularly at the hard-to-access grassroots level. The London team compliment the local correspondent's work by editing and requesting more detail where necessary. More precisely, the local correspondent's role is:

• To collect information on initiatives according to suggestions from the conflict expert or the editorial team;
• To research other initiatives in the area and collect relevant information;
• To supply information to the editorial team in a specified format and within the timescale agreed with the project manager;
• To translate from the local language into English where required;
• To update the database on a six-monthly basis (adding new groups and initiatives, removing those that are no longer functioning, and adding or updating new information);
• To identify and write stories of interest that can be promoted to the media in the UK and elsewhere; and
• If possible, to be a local point of contact for overseas and local journalists wanting to cover stories relating to peace.

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Media
Refers to the general means of communication that reaches, influences, informs, or entertains a wide audience of people. Examples include the television, radio, online or digital news sources, and print (magazines and newspapers). The term 'media' tends to mean all or any of those in the above groups.

Mediation
A form of negotiation, in which a third party intervenes to help settle a conflict. The intermediary actor will work with the disputant parties to help them reach a peaceful solution (unlike arbitration, where they will make a decision for the disputants).

Minority groups
Groups whose members draw their identity from a different source to the majority of people in an area. Thus they may be an ethnic or religious minority, or even a political minority. Minority populations will differ from area to area; minorities in one part of the same country may be a majority in another, or may be a majority in their 'home' area but a minority in the country as a whole.

Mobilisation
The process of getting people together in such a way that they can make their views about a situation known. For example, a population may be ‘mobilised’ around the issue of child soldiers. They would thus be organised so they could make an important audience (militia leaders for example) aware of their disapproval of children being recruited as soldiers, hopefully in such a way as to convince the militia leaders to recruit less or no child soldiers.

Monitoring and Observation
The standardised process of collecting, organising, and (possibly) reporting of information about controversial events in a particular region. Impartial outsiders usually perform this work so as to limit repercussions and/or prevent violence.

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Negotiation
Mutual discussion between two or more actors who are trying to find a solution to a shared problem. The parties negotiate the details or terms of an agreement or transaction. The tone of negotiations can be greatly varied; co-operative negotiations might see both sides searching for a mutually beneficial solution whilst adversarial negotiations might see each side trying to secure an advantage for themselves and disadvantage for the other.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
An organisation not directly part of the structure or system of government; they are often charities or working for charitable aims (although some NGOs may be fronts for non-charitable organisations or governments). Many of the organisations on this site could be called NGOs. The NGOs referred to on Insight on Conflict are likely to be concerned with peace, humanitarian, or civil-society work. We may also refer to 'International Non-Governmental Organisations' or 'INGOs'. These are simply NGOs with an international footprint and concern (a classic example being the Red Cross).

Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA)
Refers to actions such as strikes, boycotts, sit-ins and workplace occupations that seek to obstruct or disrupt activity without causing harm to other people. The approach is largely inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, both of whom used non-violent protest to great effect.

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Organisation
The term used on Insight on Conflict to describe the groups that run grassroots peace-building initiatives. There are many different sizes of organisations on Insight on Conflict, ranging from groups which are so small that the line between the organisation and its initiatives becomes blurred, to organisations which run several national or even international initiatives. Although they all run peace-building initiatives, not all of the organisations solely focus on peace and many cover a wide range of fields.

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Peace Agreement Monitoring
A form of monitoring and observation that is directly concerned with the terms of a peace agreement.

Peace Direct
Peace Direct supports local peace-builders in areas of violent conflict. Peace Direct funds grassroots peace-builders' work, raises their profile, and brings their experience to bear on conflict in the UK. Insight on Conflict is a Peace Direct project.

Peace Process
A catch-all phrase for the work by all of the actors concerned to bring about a solution to a conflict. It is normally used in reference to a protracted process.

Peace-building
The process of creating or restoring normal peaceful relations between people in a conflict area. There are many elements to successful peace-building which defy simple definition, but include reconciliation, forgiveness, the establishment of cooperative relationships in place of adversarial ones, the establishment of good governance, the reconstruction of civil society, economic growth, and the repair of infrastructure. Perhaps the best definition of peace-building is that which will be made evident by reading what it is that peace-builders are actually doing on the Insight on Conflict pages.

Peacekeeping
The process of maintaining peace and security in an area, either by the deployment of military force or through the work of civilian observers. It is most often conducted by UN forces (comprised of troops or civilians volunteered by nation states) or by countries with a mandate from the UN.

Polarised Conflict
A conflict that has escalated to an extreme level. As increasing numbers of people become involved, or the original actors raise their stakes in a confrontation, positions on either side become stronger and more entrenched. The conflict becomes polarised as people move towards extreme positions leaving few people in the middle.

Police and Security Reform
The process of changing a security sector (those parts of a state's machinery that it depends upon to be secure - for example the police or army) from one that is not keeping a state secure into one that is. If a security sector collapses, it is a major source of instability and can often become part of the problem as the remnants (or dysfunctional elements) of the security sector become active actors in the conflict. 'Police and Security Reform' can also be called 'Security Sector Reform' or 'SSR'.

Policy Development
Refers to the creation and improvement of governmental policy relating to peace.

Policy Maker
A person who is in a position to have a direct influence on a major institution’s policies. A major institution in this context is a nation, or an international or even supranational organisation. Thus a policy maker might work in the Foreign Office in Great Britain, or a relevant department at the UN or EU.

Post-Conflict Area
Refers to areas that have only recently emerged from conflict. The peace in a post-conflict area is often fragile and still littered with the fragments of the previous discord. It is vitally important that peace-building (of a different sort) continues in post-conflict areas, and that post-conflict peace-building is planned for as the conflict draws to a close. That said, Insight on Conflict does not focus heavily on post-conflict areas.

Practitioner
A term used on Insight on Conflict to refer to any person working in a direct way for peace.

Preventative Action
An umbrella term referring to any measures to prevent disputes from arising, to resolve them before they escalate into conflicts, or to limit the spread of conflicts when they do occur. One form is structural prevention, which addresses the root causes of violence by promoting a level of good governance that meets the core needs of society such as security, well-being and justice. Governments that fulfil these needs clear a path for their citizens to live peaceful, productive lives, and they weaken the tendency of groups to redress grievances by resorting to violence. Another form is operational prevention, which responds to imminent conflict with either conciliatory measures to encourage cooperation among parties, or punitive approaches to deter aggression.

Preventative Diplomacy
A form of diplomacy undertaken to prevent disputes between actors escalating to conflict, or to restrict the growth and spread of conflicts when they occur.

Psychological Assistance
Refers to the support required by victims of conflict that have suffered psychological trauma. It may take many forms, and can be provided by trained psychological professionals, but is more often the simple support and care needed by people who are in or who have emerged from damaging situations.

Public Awareness and Advocacy
See Awareness Raising and Advocacy.

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Reconciliation
The process by which a dispute is settled and relationships between the disputants are returned to normal. The emphasis of reconciliation is on restoring amicable relations between former combatants or sides in a dispute.

Refugees
Have a clear status in international law dating back to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the State of Refugees and supplemented by the 1967 UN Protocol relating to the State of Refugees (both downloadable here). These state that a "refugee is a person who is outside one's country of origin (or habitual residence in the case of stateless persons) and who, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is unable or unwilling to avail oneself of the protection to which one is entitled." There are exceptions for people who are guilty of certain crimes. These conventions also lay the foundation for certain legal rights that refugees can expect within signatory countries.

Returnees
Those displaced persons (whether internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, or refugees) who have recently returned to their 'home', the place from which they initially fled.

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Shuttle Diplomacy
A form of diplomacy conducted by a mediator travelling back and forth ('shuttling') between the negotiating parties, who do not themselves meet face-to-face.

Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)
Refers to the 'lighter' weapons that proliferate in conflict areas. It is used to avoid the narrower definitions of small arms or light weapons.

Small Arms
A type of firearm (weapons firing a projectile via an explosive propellant) designed to be carried and fired by one person. This term is generally used to describe rifles, pistols, submachine guns, and the like.

Stakeholders
Those people with a 'stake', or investment (of interest, finance, livelihood, land and so on) who will be affected by a conflict or that conflict's resolution.

Structural Violence
Refers to the abuse of power by social or state structures in such a way that they systematically constrict people's access to basic needs. It is 'violent' in the sense that it causes distress or the shortening of life spans and is linked to physical violence, but need not necessarily consist of physical violence.

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Target Groups
One of the terms used to categorise initiatives on Insight on Conflict; it refers to those groups which an initiative aims to affect.

Transparency
Relates to the level of accountability, openness, visibility, and communication in a system or institution. A 'transparent government' is one that allows access to information regarding its decision-making process and thus makes itself accountable to its stakeholders.

Trauma Counselling
A form of counselling (a discussion sensitive to the needs of the counselled by a trained individual who offers help and advice) specifically tailored to people who have suffered a psychological or physical injury as a result of an experience or event.

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United Nations (UN)
An international organisation founded in 1945 with 192 members representing every recognised independent state. Its stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, and human rights issues. Learn more here.

United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
One of the first specialised UN agencies, with the goal of promoting development and peaceful collaboration in the areas of education, social and natural science, culture and communication. UNESCO primarily focuses its efforts on developing educational services around the world and supporting universal agreements on ethical issues. Learn more here.

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Vulnerable Age Groups
Refer to the youngest and oldest members of society - very young children and the elderly. They are grouped together as being particularly vulnerable to disruption and conflict. They are dependent on other members of society, most often their families but also organisations that cater to their particular needs.

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