Voice-oriented Approaches to Elicitive Conflict Transformation

Abstract

It is immediately evident that the human voice is a key tool of conflict transformation. From the perspective of modernity, conflict arises from the opposing interests of different parties, and their respective positions require expression before they can be understood and potentially negotiated. Services offered by mediators therefore include a speech component. Each modern, structured, and standardized language is a priori based on the availability of voice, even if it might subsequently be written down, coded, gesticulated, or expressed in some other form. Ever since the early stages of peace studies, these seemingly obvious matters have been a point of discussion, marking a difference between the academic discipline of peace studies and the modern attitudes that inform international law and international relations.