Author: Dominique Samantha S. Dulay (Manila, Philippines)
Stanton argues that ‘phronetic knowledge’ is important in its ability to allow actors effective navigation of complex and uncertain contexts. Moreover, the success of peacebuilding initiatives is improved by the skill of context-dependent judgment.[1] It is generally agreed that peace is sustainable only when driven by members of the affected community or country, who are knowledgeable of the context, capable of judging the relevance and potentiality of measures, and in possession of the motivation and the networks to ensure the long-term implementation of peacebuilding efforts.[2] Periods of active, ongoing, and/or protracted conflict test the mettle of such local peacebuilders and programs, but also emphasise the importance of this phronetic knowledge to navigate the assuredly challenging environment. This essay provides an initial analysis of the value of local practical wisdom in the effective implementation of peacebuilding measures particularly in the context of Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Theoretical Framework
Aristotle introduced in his ethical writings the concept of phronēsis, which is roughly translated into ‘prudence’, ‘practical knowledge’, or ‘practical wisdom’. In summary, this concept of ‘practical wisdom’ may be defined as sound decision-making that is apt for the context in which it is being made, cognizant of its consequences, and aimed at a ‘moral’ good.[3]
Local or indigenous knowledge, meanwhile, refers to the perceptions and understanding by community members of their specific environment and resources, and the ways by which these members apply such knowledge and resources. Furthermore, the perception and understanding of the local environment is borne of experience, experimentation, and adaptation typically by generations-long residents, who are assumed to largely share among them the same knowledge and beliefs and are thereby able to use these in maintaining community stability.[4]
The term ‘protracted’ conflict was coined by E.E. Azar[5] and is characterised by longevity, intractability, and mutability. While some ‘protracted conflicts’ refer to a single conflict stretched out over time, many more involve a compounding of various, overlapping and simultaneous conflicts.[6]
Background of the Conflict
Rakhine State is the westernmost state of Myanmar, and shares both a land and a maritime border with Bangladesh. The state is divided into five districts and 17 townships. It hosts a population of over three million, of whom approximately 58% are (predominantly Buddhist) Rakhine and 35% are (predominantly Muslim) Rohingya.[7]
Rakhine State has a long history of ethnic and religious tensions, with a number of notable incidents in the past decade alone. In 2012, the rape and murder of a young, female Rakhine Buddhist sparked a back-and-forth of violent retaliatory attacks by both Buddhists and Muslims.[8] Attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in 2016 and 2017 led to widespread Muslim-targeted violence by the Myanmar Military (hereafter referred to by its local name, ‘Tatmadaw’) as well as non-Muslim residents of the community. Finally, from November 2018 to 2020, Rakhine State was the site of armed conflict between an ethnic Rakhine insurgent group, the Arakan Army (AA), and the Tatmadaw.
Discussion
Local practical wisdom is crucial during situations of ongoing and protracted conflicts, particularly for the ability of peacebuilders to accurately detect tensions from contextual nuances and to respond effectively taking into consideration the situation on the ground. The protracted nature inevitably makes the conflict more complex, especially in cases wherein multiple, simultaneous issues are compounded. Intimate understanding of the context—including the language, the culture, the history, and the people—enables peacebuilders to accurately identify at least the main points of contention between parties, to prioritise the issues, and to determine the potential entry and exit points for intervention. Furthermore, an active conflict (whether violent or not) entails some amount of uncertainty. The ability of peacebuilders to make sound, appropriate, and quick judgment may prove the determining factor to the successful—and even more, the safe—implementation of an ongoing or soon-to-be-conducted project.
In the period from November 2018 to 2020, Rakhine State was racked by armed conflict between the AA and the Tatmadaw. There were an estimated 1,118 casualties including 464 deaths,[9] and almost 240,000 people were displaced.[10] During this time, there was a noticeable shift in the dominant discourse among the Rakhine, from anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim rhetoric to anti-Tatmadaw, anti-government, and anti-Bamar (which is the majority and politically dominant ethnic group in Myanmar) sentiments. The dramatic decrease in anti-Muslim narratives may be construed as an improvement in inter-communal relations between the Buddhist and Muslim communities, and therefore a weakening of the conflict. However, local community leaders admitted that the decrease in narratives reflected a preoccupation with the relevant parties to the armed conflict—in this case, the AA and the Tatmadaw—rather than a diminishing of their concerns about the Rohingya or Muslim communities.[11] For example, there had been little explicit objections by Rakhine Buddhists to the presence of Rohingya Muslims at public markets during the period of active fighting,[12] but some locals nevertheless stated that they are neither accepting nor comfortable with co-residing in the same villages as members of the latter community, whether at that point in time or in the (as yet) future.[13] In addition, the existing issue of the Rohingya Muslims may be used to further complicate the dominant conflict. There have been instances wherein some sought to politicise and mobilise the Rohingya community in support of the ethnic Rakhine and against the Tatmadaw;[14] conversely, there is the possibility that spoilers will take advantage of the active conflict to excuse if not justify violence against or the exacerbation of tensions with either community. The complexity of the situation therefore necessitates that peacebuilders are aware of enduring tensions, are not misled by the perhaps ‘louder’ discourse and media coverage during a certain period, and are able to navigate the nuances of the conflict, in order to effectively address the relevant issues.
The value of local practical wisdom is also important from a logistical standpoint. In any situation, implementers of peacebuilding projects and programs must be able to navigate local government and community regulations and customs. During active conflict, such processes become more difficult to manage, whether due to difficulties accessing and/or engaging relevant authorities or to the changing nature of regulations amid uncertainties caused by the conflict situation. To illustrate, international or even national-level organisations in Myanmar struggled to keep up with local government requirements for the conduct of activities in Rakhine State, which changed frequently and often without warning during the period from 2018 to 2020. On the contrary, a local women’s network was able to efficiently and successfully conduct simultaneous anti-hate speech campaigns in all 17 townships of Rakhine State in March of 2020.[15] The latter’s success may be attributed in part to ease of access to the necessary information but also intimate knowledge of the context and environment in which it operates, including but not limited to the openness of the local community to the activity and the security of the chosen venue—especially important when working in the midst of armed fighting. It should be noted that multi-ethnic and/or multi-religious environments such as Rakhine State may come with overlapping or competing beliefs, histories, and contexts; hence, even the concept of ‘local knowledge’ must be understood from a more nuanced perspective and logistical arrangements consequently conflict sensitive. At the same time, challenges to security (of either the participants or the peacebuilders) are inevitable during violent conflict. It is therefore vital that local practitioners are able to exercise quick yet sound judgment should the need arise, and phronetic knowledge enhances the adaptability of the peacebuilder and the program in response to both the mutability of and the uncertainty brought about by the ongoing, protracted conflict.
Conclusion
Active, ongoing, and/or protracted conflicts present additional challenges compared to non- or post-conflict environments. The effectiveness and subsequent success of peacebuilding initiatives in such situations will depend on the ability of practitioners to navigate the complexities of the conflict itself as well as the context in which they must operate. Local knowledge is therefore an advantage—if not a necessity—to the peacebuilder, and practical wisdom can only enhance the capacity for designing and implementing an effective and efficient program.
The case study of Myanmar’s Rakhine State confirms the value of local practical wisdom to the success of peacebuilding activities. An understanding of contextual nuances allows local peacebuilders to accurately and correctly identify the key issues and to address the actual needs of the beneficiary community. Local phronetic knowledge is also pragmatic: the feasibility of activities is assessed, and actors are able to adapt to sudden changes in the situation. Context-based and sound decision-making further ensures the safety of both practitioners and activity or program participants, whether this is from parties to the armed conflict or from hardliners opposed to particular peace projects.
Recommendations for Future Research
This paper provides a short, initial analysis of the value of local practical wisdom in the situation of active, ongoing, and protracted conflict in Myanmar. There is undoubtedly room to delve deeper into the analysis of the applicability of local and phronetic knowledge, not just in Myanmar but in other ongoing and protracted conflicts around the world. This may include violent protracted conflicts such as in Colombia, or perhaps (predominantly, for now) non-violent inter-communal conflict in Western Europe.
The relevance of this and future research to the design and implementation of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) practices, especially by (usually international) donors, should also not be overlooked. In line with this, it may be interesting to analyse the communication of local phronetic knowledge to ‘outsiders’ (whether international or external to the directly relevant community). The impact—positive or negative—of outsider engagement in local peacebuilding initiatives is another potential topic of study; this may include the influence of local perceptions of the outsider or their contextual knowledge on the former’s acceptance of the latter’s involvement.
Finally, in academia, an overarching theory to explain the value of local practical wisdom in peacebuilding is likely of interest. Furthermore, the acquisition and development of phronetic knowledge by local practitioners may offer explanatory power or otherwise enhance the value of phronēsis to the field of conflict management.
Bibliography
Albert, Eleanor, and Lindsay Maizland. ‘What Forces Are Fueling Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis?’ Council on Foreign Relations (blog), 23 January 2020. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rohingya-crisis.
Azar, Edward E., Paul Jureidini, and Ronald McLaurin. ‘Protracted Social Conflict; Theory and Practice in the Middle East’. Journal of Palestine Studies 8, no. 1 (1978): 41–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/2536101.
Castro, Alfonso Peter, and Kreg Ettenger. ‘Indigenous Knowledge and Conflict Management: Exploring Local Perspectives and Mechanisms for Dealing with Community Forestry Disputes’. In Compilation of Discussion Papers from the E-Conference on Addressing Natural Resource Conflicts through Community Forestry, Vol. 1, 1996. http://www.fao.org/3/AC696E/AC696E09.htm.
Slim, Hugo, and Ariana Lopes Morey. ‘Protracted Conflict and Humanitarian Action’. HUMANITARIAN ACTION. Geneva, Switzerland, 2016. https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/document/file_list/protracted_conflict_and_humanitarian_action_icrc_report_lr_29.08.16.pdf.
Stanton, Emily. ‘Using Phronesis to Progress Peace’, 146–72. in Theorising Civil Society Peacebuilding: The Practical Wisdom of Local Peace Practitioners in Northern Ireland, 1965–2015, Routledge, 2021.
Stanton, Emily, and Grainne Kelly. ‘Exploring Barriers to Constructing Locally Based Peacebuilding Theory: The Case of Northern Ireland’. The International Journal of Conflict Engagement and Resolution 3, no. 1 (May 2015): 33–52. https://doi.org/10.5553/IJCER/221199652015003001002.
Vernon, Phil. ‘Local Peacebuilding - What Works and Why’. Peace Direct (blog), 10 July 2019. https://www.peaceinsight.org/reports/whatworks//reports/whatworks/.
Wade, Francis. Myanmar’s Enemy Within: Buddhist Violence and the Making of a Muslim ‘Other’. Kindle. London: Zed Books, 2017.
‘Why Is There Communal Violence in Myanmar?’ BBC News, 3 July 2014, sec. Asia. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-18395788.
Endnotes
[1] Stanton, Emily. ‘Using Phronesis to Progress Peace’, 146–72. in Theorising Civil Society Peacebuilding: The Practical Wisdom of Local Peace Practitioners in Northern Ireland, 1965–2015, Routledge, 2021.
[2] Phil Vernon, ‘Local Peacebuilding - What Works and Why’, Peace Direct (blog), 10 July 2019, https://www.peaceinsight.org/reports/whatworks//reports/whatworks/.
.[4] Alfonso Peter Castro and Kreg Ettenger, ‘Indigenous Knowledge and Conflict Management: Exploring Local Perspectives and Mechanisms for Dealing with Community Forestry Disputes’, in Compilation of Discussion Papers from the E-Conference on Addressing Natural Resource Conflicts through Community Forestry, vol. 1, 1996, http://www.fao.org/3/AC696E/AC696E09.htm.
[5] Edward E. Azar, Paul Jureidini, and Ronald McLaurin, ‘Protracted Social Conflict; Theory and Practice in the Middle East’, Journal of Palestine Studies 8, no. 1 (1978): 41–60, https://doi.org/10.2307/2536101.
[6] Hugo Slim and Ariana Lopes Morey, ‘Protracted Conflict and Humanitarian Action’, HUMANITARIAN ACTION (Geneva, Switzerland, 2016), https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/document/file_list/protracted_conflict_and_humanitarian_action_icrc_report_lr_29.08.16.pdf.
[7] Rakhine State Government, ‘Population by Ethnic Group in Maungdaw District and Rakhine State’ (Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU), July 2017), https://themimu.info/sites/themimu.info/files/documents/Population_by_Ethnic_Group_in_Maungdaw_District_and_Rakhine_State_Jul2017.xlsx.
[8] Francis Wade, “The first wave: the murder, the smoke and the ruins,” in Myanmar’s Enemy Within [eBook] (London: Zed Books Ltd., 2017).
[9] Figures based on independent monitoring by the author from 15 November 2018 to 28 November 2020.
[10] As of 2 November 2020, a total of 236,229 persons were reported displaced, with 82,217 residing in formal camps and 154,012 in informal settlements. See: Rakhine Ethnics Congress, ‘စစ်ဘေးသင့်/ စစ်ဘေးဒုုက္ခသည် အရေအတွက်ကိုုတင်ပြခြင်’, Facebook, 2 November 2020, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=972846993240493&id=250589055466294.
[11] This information was extracted from an (unpublished) interview conducted by the Centre for Diversity and National Harmony (CDNH) with a hardline anti-Muslim community leader in August 2020.
[12] This information was conveyed by local sources to CDNH in May and June 2019.
[13] This information was conveyed by local sources to CDNH in September 2019.
[14] Free Rohingya Coalition, ‘ရခိုင်လူငယ်နှစ်ဦးနှင့် ဆွေးနွေးခန်’, Facebook, 8 June 2020, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=287611582285519; Ro Nay San Lwin, ‘FRC Genocide Podcast Series မြန်မာပိုင်းအစီအစဉ်’, Facebook, 8 June 2020, https://www.facebook.com/nslwin/posts/3651558821527334; Tun Tun Naing, ‘ရခိုင် နဲ့ ရိုဟင်ဂျာ ခေါင်းဆောင်တိ Ro Nay San Lwin ရို့၊ ထွန်းခင် ရို့ နဲ့ ပူးပေါင်း အဖွဲ့ တစ်ခု ဖွဲ့ရဖို့ယာ။’, Facebook, 18 May 2020, https://www.facebook.com/tuntun.naing.9/posts/2925836400863738; Aung Tin, ‘ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး သေသွားပြီ။ လက်နက်မကိုင်ရသေးသူတွေလည်း လက်နက်ကိုင်ကြရတော့မယ်။’, Facebook, 11 February 2020, https://www.facebook.com/AungTinBMA/posts/2744925408918646.
[15] Soung Hnin Wai, ‘သံတွဲမြို့နယ် “ဖြူ စင်သောတွဲလက်အမျိုးသမီးအဖွဲ့”မှဖိတ်ခေါ်ပါတယ်’, Facebook, 9 March 2020, https://www.facebook.com/soung.hninwai.10297/posts/785812718609100.
