At the 2015 Sustaining Peace conference hosted by the Advanced Consortium on Conflict, Cooperation and Complexity (AC4) at the Earth Institute, Columbia University, nine speakers presented short talks about intractable conflict and sustainable peace through the lens of complexity. Complex challenges and their symbols surround us – war, protest, corruption, etc.
The adapt team gave a keynote presentation at the third annual Sustaining Peace Conference: Systems, Applications and Interventions, at Columbia University/Teachers College on Thursday, March 26, 2015.
This was the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity’s (AC4) landmark event which showcases leading-edge scholarship and practice in conflict resolution, violence prevention, peace and sustainability at Columbia University and beyond.
The talk – hidden patterns in peace and reform processes – was a challenge to deliver in ten minutes. Myanmar is a complex case study, and it was difficult to do justice to the convoluted dynamics of peace and reform in ten minutes. I hope we provided some value in showing the factors that are driving and constraining change in Myanmar, which of those are visible versus hidden, how they interact, and how this influences the efficacy of our interventions when we can’t easily diagnose what’s happening beneath surface appearances.
Included here is a the video of our presentation, as well as the animated version that was not ready in time for this gig!
Interested in learning more about our work in Myanmar?
Visit our Peacebuilding Programs page for more details.
