What is it about?
Many people immersed in protracted violent conflicts, such as the one in Israel-Palestine, believe the conflict is inherently irresolvable. This pessimistic perception is ingrained to an extant that when they read an academic article claiming the conflict is resolvable they remain hopeless. However, when their perceived enemy claims that the conflict would eventually end in an agreement, their hopes for peace increase. This holds true regardless of whether their perceived enemy identifies as a peace activists or as a militia member.
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Why is it important?
This study examines the role of hope for peace during severe violent conflicts and examined ways to induce hope in order to provide a pathway out of the tragic cycle of violence.
Perspectives
For most of my adult life I've been involved in peace and conciliation efforts in Palestine-Israel. Through the years I noticed that that the lack of hope for resolution, experience by both parties to the conflict, might be one of the main obstacle towards resolution. This study is my first attempt to study hope and ways to instill it. Yechiel, Thomas and myself designed and implemented two experimental studies that are reported in this paper. Other studies on hope for peace are on their way to publications. Stay tuned.
Oded Adomi Leshem
George Mason University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Instilling Hope for Peace During Intractable Conflicts, Social Psychological and Personality Science, May 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1948550615626776.
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