Inter-Group Trust in the Realm of Displacement Suzan Kisaoglu
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Master’s Thesis in Peace and Conflict Studies Department of Peace and Conflict Research UPPSALA UNIVERSITET INTER-GROUP TRUST IN THE REALM OF DISPLACEMENT An Investigation into the Long-term Effect of Pre-war Inter-Group Contact on the Condition of Post-War Inter-Group Trust of Internally Displaced People SUZAN KISAOGLU Spring 2021 Supervisor: Annekatrin Deglow Word Count: 19540 ABSTRACT: Inter-group social trust is one of the main elements for peacebuilding and, as a common feature of civil wars, Forced Internal Displacement is creating further complexities and challenges for post-war inter-group social trust. However, research revealed that among the internally displaced people (IDP), some tend to have a higher level of post-war inter-group trust compared to the other IDP. Surprisingly, an analysis based on this topic revealed that only a small number of studies are focusing on the condition of IDP’s post-war intergroup social trust in the long run. Therefore, this study examines the inter-group social trust of internally displaced people to provide a theoretical explanation for the following question; under what conditions the internally displaced people tend to trust more/less the conflicting party in the post-war context? With an examination of social psychology research, this thesis argues that post-war inter-group social trust of IDP who have experienced continuous pre-war inter-group contact will be stronger than the IDP who do not have such inter-group contact experience. The reason behind this expectation is the expected effect of inter-group contact on eliminating the prejudices and promoting the ‘collective knowledge’ regarding the war and displacement, thus promoting inter-group trust. To analyze the research question empirically, this study collected data from two groups of internally displaced people of Cyprus; IDP displaced from heterogeneous areas and homogenous areas, using the method of qualitative single case analysis. The findings show strong support for the expected causal relationship. Keywords: Pre-War Contact, Inter-group Contact, Post-War Trust, Inter-group Trust, Social Trust, Forced Internal Displacement, Internally Displaced People 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Undoubtfully, this research would not have been accomplished without the precious support of a number of people to whom I would like to express my gratefulness. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Annekatrin for her great support throughout the semester. Many thanks also to my parents for their encouragement and effort to make all of this possible. Osman deserves special thanks for his numerous advice, guidance and for being such a supportive brother. I wish to extend my gratitude also to the people of Cyprus who have participated in this project and shared their special memories with me. Without their trust and generous support, this study would not have come true. Finally, I would like to express my gratefulness to Emir for his precious support and love. 3 ABBREVATIONS: EOKA National Organization of Cyprus Fighters TMT Turkish Resistance Movement FID Forced Internal Displacement HMIDP Internally Displaced People from Homogenous Areas HTIDP Internally Displaced People from Heterogenous Areas UN United Nations UNFICYP United Nations Force in Cyprus 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………...8 2. Previous Research……………………………………………………………………..12 2.1 Conflict Theory…………………………………………………………………......13 2.2 Contact Theory……………………………………………………………………..14 2.3 Collective Vulnerability Approach………………………………………………....15 2.4 Generalized Social Trust Findings………………………………………………….15 3. Theory………………………………………………………………………………….18 3.1 Conceptualizing the Pre-war Inter-group Contact (IV)…………………………….18 3.2 Conceptualizing the Partition of Societies through FID……………………………20 3.3 Conceptualizing Internally Displaced People………………………………………21 3.4 Conceptualizing Post-war Inter-Group Social Trust (DV)…………………………22 4. Research Design………………………………………………………………….........27 4.1 Method and Case Selection………………………………………………………....27 4.2 Time Period and Data Sources………………………………………………...........28 4.3 Research Ethics………………………………………………………………..........30 4.4 Structure of Analysis………………………………………………………………..32 4.5 Operationalization……………………………………………………………….33-34 Pre-war inter-group contact Partition Through Civil-war-related FID Post-war inter-group Social Trust 5. Cyprus …………………………………………………………………………………36 5.1 Social and Historical Background…………………………………………………..36 5.2 The Pathway to the Partition……………………………………………………..…37 5.3 Internal Displacement in Cyprus (1950s-1974)…………………………………….39 5.4 Post-war period of Cyprus (1974-onwards) …………………………………..........40 6. Presentation of the Data and Analysis……………………………………………….41 6.1 Inter-Group Trust Measurement………………………………………………...45-55 Expectations and Perceptions Perceptions for Cohabitation 5 7. Conclusions from within group analysis for HTIDP and HMIDP………………....56 7.1 Analysis on alternative explanations……………………………………………......57 7.2 Critical reflection…………………………………………………………………....59 8. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...61 8.1 Main conclusion…………………………………………………………………......61 8.2 Ideas to improve the post-war inter-group social trust……………………………...62 8.3 Future Research……………………………………………………………………..62 Epilogue …………………………………………………………………………….63 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………..64 Appendix………………………………………………………………………………...69-72 List of Interviews……………………………………………………………............69 Interview Question Guide…...………………………………………………………70 6 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLE Figure 1. Causal Mechanism……………………………………………………………………………..24 Figure 2. Causal Relationship in Detail…………………………………………………………………..25 Table 1. Participants’ perceptions regarding the conflicting party, in terms of characteristics, values and culture………………………………………………………………………………..44 Table 2. Participants’ definition of the conflicting party’s perception of the participants’ community…………………………………………………………………………………….....48 Table 3. HTIDP’s pre-war inter-group contact condition and their responses for cohabitation and inter-group relationship with the conflicting party………………………………………………49 Table 4. HMIDP’s pre-war contact condition and their responses for cohabitation and inter-group relationship with the conflicting party…………………………………………………………...51 Table 5. The source of out-group knowledge in regard to its impact on the post-war inter-group trust………………………………………………………………………………………………53 7 1. INTRODUCTION “Peace is more than just the absence of conflict. Peace is the presence of mutually respectful relationships among individuals and groups. Those relationships enable disputes to be handled with tact, understanding, and a recognition that everyone shares some common interests. At the heart of those relationships is trust.” -Colette Rausch 2012 The contemporary conflict studies highlight that peace is a vast subject having critical linkages with different branches. Among these branches, ‘trust’ is considered a milestone for both construction and the sustainability of peace (Fox 2014). In conflict studies, trust has a multifaceted manner; inter-group trust (cross-group social trust), intra-group trust (within-group social trust), and political trust. Each conflict has a unique feature; thus, it would be a vague assumption to address any of these types as the most or the least important in peace and conflict research analysis. All can be related to each other; thus, they can positively or negatively affect one another. However, depending upon the characteristics of wars, some can play more complex roles than the other(s). This study’s focus is on the post-war context of civil wars. In this context, inter-group trust needs special attention. Civil wars have a prevalent feature that affects their post-war condition, prolonging the conflict, violence, and inter-group peace-building: Forced Internal Displacement (FID). The global displacement database of Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) shows that millions of Internally Displaced People (IDP) fleeing from their homes because of conflicts worldwide, i.e., from the Syrian Arab Republic, Ethiopia, Somalia, Turkey, and Cyprus. FID creates further complexities and challenges for post-war inter-group social psychology, especially when it is applied as a policy of partition of the conflicting parties, and the displacement is prolonged. However, researches revealed that among the internally displaced people, some tend to have a higher level of post-war inter-group trust compared to the other IDP. Social psychology theories suggest that variation in pre-war inter-group contact can be considered as the main element in explaining this differentiation in the outcome. Surprisingly, an analysis based on this topic revealed that only a small number of studies are focusing on the intergroup trust of post-war societies in the field of peace research, and fewer of them are analyzing the long-term effect of pre-war inter-group contact on the post-war social trust of the internally displaced people (IDP). 8 The previous studies mainly used the two major social-psychological theories to examine the linkage of inter-group contact and inter-group (dis)trust: conflict theory and contact theory. Moreover, the previous research revealed that there is a correlation between pre-war contact and post-war inter-group trust. Nevertheless, the gap regarding the long-term effect of pre-war inter- group contact on IDP’s post-war inter-group social trust remained an open question. This thesis aims to explore this gap by asking the following