Seminar - Tatsushi Arai: Syria: Coordinated Disengagement, Local Governance, and Functional Coexistence
 |
Session 1 – Syria: Coordinated Disengagement, Local Governance, and Functional Coexistence
Thursday, April 23rd
12:00 – 1:15pm
Conference Room 5145
As the war in Syria enters its fourth year, death tolls have risen to nearly 20,000 and the number of displaced people has reached 10 million out of the country’s total population of 18 million. The situation can deteriorate further if Syrian and international stakeholders fail to make concerted efforts to reverse the growing tides of violence. In-depth conversations with Syrians of diverse regional and community backgrounds, however, suggest that there are practical ways in which the polarizing relationships in Syria can begin to be managed and eventually transformed. Suggested action plans include: (1) coordinated disengagement among polarized stakeholders at the regional and global levels, (2) local governance in the absence of effective national governance, including in areas controlled by the Islamic State, and (3) functional coexistence between opposing forces that actively deny each other’s rightful status but still choose to suspend their use of force for an extended period of time. A sustained systematic effort for capacity-building at all levels of Syrian society and outside Syria is essential for the realization of these action plans. See the presenter’s recent article, “Syria, Lebanon, and the Middle East: Enabling a War-to-Peace Transition,” in Transcend Media Service at: https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/03/syria-lebanon-and-the-middle-east-enabling-a-war-to-peace-transition/
Tatsushi (Tats) Arai received his PhD from S-CAR in 2005. He is a fellow of S-CAR’s Center for Peacemaking Practice, an associate professor of peacebuilding and conflict transformation at the School for International Training (SIT) Graduate Institute in Vermont, and a research associate of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research in Hawaii. As a conflict resolution trainer, mediator, and dialogue facilitator, Tatsushi has extensive practical experience in Asia (East, South, and Southeast), the Middle East, the African Great Lakes, and the United States. Samples of his scholarship may be found at:http://works.bepress.com/tatsushi_arai/