Peacemaking analysis & research : Peacemaking research - Focus on India

Why research conflict management in India?

India has a long standing experience in the use of dialogue to manage and resolve conflicts, both internally and regionally. This has been a consistent feature of the country's political culture. As India becomes an increasingly influential player in global politics, there is considerable interest in better understanding its conflict management processes.

Through this project, the HD Centre sought to identify and assess the use of dialogue by Indian governments at various levels in dealing with conflicts, to initiate both a debate on dialogue processes in the country, and to identify good practice for use by the wider peacemaking community.

What activities did the HD Centre undertake? 

In partnership with the Delhi Policy Group, the HD Centre sought to analyse approaches to dialogue in Kashmir, Manipur and with the Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh, to gain a better understanding of the conditions under which dialogue on peace and security is most effective and what processes and institutions are best placed to pursue it.

An annotated literature review on India with a particular focus on Kashmir, the Naxalites and Manipur, was undertaken to provide those interested with an overview of leading reports, key articles, studies and papers on conflict management issues in those regions.

The HD Centre and the Delhi Policy Group also organised a workshop entitled, ‘Parameters for a Government- Maoist Dialogue', in New Delhi on the 18-19 December 2009. It was attended by a number of prominent personalities including retired government officials, academics, senior journalists and civil society representatives. The 2004 dialogue process in Andhra Pradesh between the Maoists (known in the state as the People's War Group) and the state government was discussed in detail in an effort to draw out lessons that could be applied in any future dialogue attempts. There was firm consensus among participants that some form of dialogue is crucial, and that a military approach is not a sustainable solution. However, there were divergent opinions on what the structure, modalities and topics for discussion in any dialogue with Maoists should look like. 

In March 2011, a review meeting was also held in Delhi to discuss the case studies amongst peers. This meeting provided an opportunity to debate and discuss the content of the report.

Final Report

The final report, Conflict resolution: Learning lessons from dialogue processes in India, was published in July.

Donors to those activities

The HD Centre would like to thank the MacArthur Foundation (Asia Security Initiative) for its financial support to these activities from 2009 to mid-2011.