Where is the Trust?– Conflict and Trust Assessment between Large-Group Conflict Parties for 3rd Parties Conflict Intervention

Abstract

“Parties cannot enter into a peace process without some degree of mutual trust, but they cannot build trust without entering into a peace process” (Kelman, 2005, p. 641)

Although the vast majority of research in the field of psychology and conflict resolution stresses the importance of building trust in post-conflict areas and assigning trust a crucial role for parties to move from conflict toward conflict resolution, there has been a lack of empirical research on exploring how exactly trust manifests in large-group conflicts, and how it can be built in a systematic manner. Trust is a multi-dimensional construct, which is determined through different conditions. While for dyadic and intra-group settings conditions were identified engendering trust, for the context of inter-group conflicts, attempts to identify and measure a comprehensive set of conditions leading to trust are missing. This dissertation aims to fill these gaps through (a) identifying a comprehensive set of trust conditions engendering trust between large-group conflict parties and (b) the development of a trust sensitive conflict assessment framework, the Conflict & Trust Map. It thereby addresses two aspects of trust in conflict: (1) Conceptual questions, such as what trust conditions constitute trust in the context of large-group conflict and what is the interplay between trust and conflict themes in the conflict setting; and (2) applied questions such as how can trust be measure in the context of conflict? These questions were addressed through two studies: An expert study, in which a set of 21 trust conditions were identified. These conditions were the base on which to develop the trust-sensitive conflict assessment framework, the Conflict & Trust Map, created in the form of an assessment kit consisting of two instruments for data gathering – two coding schemes for data structuring and the framework itself, for data interpretation. The Conflict & Trust Map and its instruments were tested for their feasibility in the case study of the Moldovan-Transdniestrian conflict, an Eastern European site of a 1992 civil war. In this real-world large group conflict between Moldova and Transdniestria, evidence was found for the relevance of the pre-identified 21 trust conditions and a more nuanced insight was gained about the circular relationship between trust with conflict themes. Additionally, the framework and its instrument proved themselves applicable.