Civilian Conflict Management The Role of Scenario Building in the Structural Prevention of Electoral Violence

Contributing to the general pursuit of constructive and sustainable conflict solutions, and the achievement of both negative and positive peace, this book highlights the valuable role of scenario building processes in formulating viable strategies for electoral violence prevention, through tackling the structural roots of the electoral conflict. Conceptual elements, pioneered and widely promoted by the individuals and organizations referenced throughout the book, are linked in a manner that creates a coherent strategy to be followed when selecting customized prevention tools for various violent, conflict-driven electoral contexts, by drawing inspiration from aggregated international, national and local achievements, challenges, and best practices. Chapter 1 sets out a sustainable vision of peace through the identification of preconditions to be met by every conflict management strategy that targets constructive and sustainable results. Building on these preconditions, Chapter 2 takes an in-depth look at structural violence prevention operationalized within the electoral cycle, as a cornerstone in the process of bringing into the collective consciousness violence-generating attitudes and contradictions and their potential to be transformed into peace enablers. Integrating the findings of the first two chapters, Chapter 3 explores the role of scenarios and scenario building processes in the prevention of election-related structural violence, and brings together concluding arguments to uphold the main hypothesis: that scenario building is a valuable tool of the election-related structural violence prevention toolbox, as it brings about constructive and sustainable conflict solutions as the result of a complex navigation process between the risks and opportunities of a given conflict life-line, while adhering to the process, content and infrastructural needs and best practices of early prevention programming. Due to the flexibility of the analyzed strategizing tool, the book will appeal to a wide range of practitioners engaged in the field of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, violence prevention, development, good governance and elections, scenario development, and strategy development.