The field of mediation within peace and conflict studies has remained almost entirely focused on state-based armed conflicts and traditional non-state armed groups (NSAG). This restricts our ability to address other actors and emerging forms of conflict in non-conflict and post-conflict settings. This includes a certain classification of gangs who display strong similarities to typical NSAGs. This study analyses gang mediation and its effects on levels of violence in gang conflicts in El Salvador through the lens of traditional mediation theory from the field of peace and conflict studies. It seeks to answer the question, how does mediation influence levels of violence within gang conflicts? More specifically, addressing the hypotheses that, mediation between gangs, and government support for mediation, will likely lead to lower levels of violence. Using a qualitative comparative case study method, employing a structured, focused comparison between three different time periods in El Salvador, I find support for both hypotheses, showing that gang mediation leads to a significant reduction in violence albeit conditional on government support. In addition, factors such as dialogue, information sharing, leverage, concessions and the signing of an agreement are essential in the process between mediation and lower levels of violence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-352965 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Van Gestel, Gregory |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för freds- och konfliktforskning |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.0093 seconds