The Dynamics of Restraint in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

Research on conflict prevention has mainly focused on the causes of war and post-conflict reconstruction. Our knowledge on how civilians manage to contain violence in unstable and conflict environments is, however, very limited. This article aims to understand, in the context of the civil war in Côte d'Ivoire, how and why 'islands of peace' emerge during outbreaks of violence. It identifies both the local and structural conditions and mechanisms (including formal and informal) that help to mitigate violence and encourage restraint in conflict-affected and unstable situations. Our research and analysis has focused on the western region, which is the epicentre of violence. Semi-structured interviews with Young Patriots members, the military, the business community, representatives of women's NGOs, traditional leaders and representatives of the religious community, along with interviews in Abidjan, provided the primary data for our analysis.

Everyday peace in a ‘post‐conflict’ African metropolis: Radio encounters, indeterminacy, fugitivity

“…Others have documented practices of conflict mediation or resolution grounded in ritual forms and traditional modes of authority (e.g., Marongwe et al, 2019; Kabongo‐Mbaya, 2020). In urban studies, work on urban political settlements and social ecologies of de‐escalation (e.g., Allouche & Zadi Zadi, 2013; Beall & Goodfellow, 2014; Branch, 2013; Büscher, 2020; Rokem & Boano, 2018) has begun to document the vital role African cities can play in absorbing, dissipating and even transforming the pressures of war and other forms of violence.…”

Introduction: Enacting Peace Amid Violence: Nonviolent Civilian Agency in Violent Conflict

“…While nonviolent approaches and civilian agency remain under-represented in research on protection specifically as well as on security and conflict more broadly, growing evidence is showing that nonviolence and civilian agency can effectively change conflict dynamics, create security, and thereby contribute to sustainable peacebuilding (Allouche & Zadi Zadi, 2013;Allouche & Jackson, 2019;Baines and Paddon, 2012;Francis, 2013;Julian, 2020;Kaplan 2017;Krause 2018;Masullo 2021;Wallace, 2017). Far from being passive onlookers or recipients of the negative effects of war, local communities make choices between violence and nonviolence, conflict and peace, depending on their perceptions and calculations of risks and returns (Allouche & Jackson, 2019).…”

“…Another way in which scholars have attempted to centre the agency of civilians in violent conflict is through the ideas of islands of peace or zones of peace (see also Macaspac in this special issue). The study of 'islands of peace' , that is, spaces that have been able to broker local peace processes, is a strangely neglected subject (Allouche & Zadi Zadi, 2013). The idea of islands of peace does not follow a linear approach to conflict, but rather recognizes the different intensity of violence and whether and how it affects peacebuilding dynamics and processes.…”

“…A newer literature on the dynamics of restraint, by contrast, is showing that studying violence alone is insufficient to understand armed group behaviour without also studying restraint. This opens the potential of analysing the dynamics that lead to peace rather than conflict and what Straus (2012) calls the 'dynamics of restraint' (see also Allouche & Zadi Zadi, 2013). Strauss (2012: 344) defines factors of restraint as 'ideas, interactions, and institutions that provide incentives for leaders and/or citizens to abstain from or moderate the use of extensive violence against civilians ' .…”