Amartya Sen launches publication on causes of conflict

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen launched a new publication on the causes of conflict at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in London on 20 June 2011.

Edited by Professor Sen, the publication “Peace and Democratic Society” is built on “Civil Paths to Peace” – the report by the Commonwealth Commission on Respect and Understanding, which was established to promote mutual communication and understanding among all faiths and communities. The report suggested that governments, media and educators must understand the complexities around violent behaviour and its causes, without prejudicing what these might be.

In an address to politicians, economists, journalists, human rights advocates, academics, and activists at an event sponsored by the Foreign Press Association in London and the Commonwealth Secretariat, Professor Sen identified the importance of shared human identities and civil approaches for the resolution of conflict and social disaffection.
Illustrating his argument, he pointed out that Bangladesh, a secular country borne out of a decade of violence, united its peoples not by discussing differences between Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims but by discussing what they had in common – the Bengali language.

“It’s really the history of Bengali unitarism connected with the language that we have to remember. Bangladeshi unification drew on what people had in common rather than how they were different,” he said.

Professor Sen also draws on the findings of the commission in the publication’s new essay - “Violence and Civil Society” - in which he explores ideas around war, genocide, terrorism and violence against the individual, and he makes a plea for a global, multilateral debate on the causes of conflict, and an understanding of the multiple identities of the individuals involved. 

He also calls for the removal of gross economic inequalities, social humiliations and political disenfranchisement; and suggests there is a necessity of understanding the “how” and “why” of adversities before any action is taken, as these demand intellectual engagement and not merely prompt action.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said Professor Sen’s thinking on human development, with its emphasis on multiple identities and capabilities, was reflected in the Commonwealth’s approach.

“In his understanding, human development should advance the richness of human life in all its diversity, rather than simply the richness of the economy, which represents only a part of the world we live in. In the Commonwealth, we strongly embrace and endorse that approach to development.

“I’m delighted that this publication will bring the report of the Commonwealth Commission on Respect and Understanding to a wider audience. Respect and understanding are powerful and evocative words, and we were fortunate indeed in having a figure of Professor Sen’s stature chairing the commission, and as a co-worker and champion.”

Multiple identities

Emphasising the importance of recognising the multiplicity of identities that people have, Professor Sen said: “When you are dealing with a single-focus division it can make you - out of really enormous good will - do things which are counterproductive.”

He added that dividing people into civilisations based on religion leads to situations where they are not connected on the basis of anything shared, but are instead defined by their differences. Such classifications lead to unreasonable suspicions: “The engagement through which we unite very often takes place through not emphasising where we differ, but where we agree.”

Professor Sen emphasised the importance of dialogue through the media, public discussions, education, exchanges across countries, and airing of points of view of different countries and places, as crucial to civil approaches to peace.

Professor Sen earlier addressed experts at a symposium, organised by the Foreign Press Association in London and the Commonwealth Secretariat, on ‘Women as Agents of Change’.