What is Into-the-Sea Framing?
"Within a matter of weeks this past spring, the name 'Rwanda' became synonymous with carnage and violence on a massive scale. Images of executions and massacres flooded the media, shocking the international community. An organized campaign of violence was carried out, during which the Tutsi were referred to as 'cockroaches' and 'the enemy,' and Rwandan radio broadcasters exhorted every Hutu to kill Tutsi, complaining that 'graves are still only half full.' In less than four months, between 500,000 and a million people were killed." - United States Institute of Peace. Click here for article.
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Conflict scholars use the term "framing" to mean the process of describing and interpreting what a conflict is about. Conflict framing helps the parties understand what is going on in a particular conflict and what they should do about it.
The way individuals interpret conflict is based on many factors beyond what "actually" happened. This includes the history of what has happened to these people in the past, what values are important to them, and whether they see the situation as a threat or a potential benefit. Individuals' knowledge and life experiences serve as a background that shapes their view of the world and helps them to make sense of new events.
The way one frames a conflict is important, in part, because this helps to determine what one will do about a conflict situation. Often disputants frame conflicts in adversarial or win-lose terms. They assume that they have a conflict of interests and that the only way to get what they want is if the other party does not get what he or she wants. Rather than seeking a win-win solution, they therefore seek ways to build their power so that they can force the other side to give in. When both sides do this, the inevitable result is escalation, a hardening of positions, and an increased danger of destructive or violent confrontation.
The other consensus, shared by more people than I imagined possible, is the beilef that they" [Palestinians] just want us [Jews] out of here [Israel]. Remember that Arafat, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is the one who used to speak of "driving the Jews into the sea." He got the Palestinian Charter calling for Israel's destruction changed only under intense pressure from Clinton and, according to some Israelis, never took the steps to make those changes fully validated by the Palestinian "parliament." Now, it seems, it may be that not only does Arafat still hope to "drive the Jews into the sea," Israeli Arabas may want the same thing. Since we are not going to go voluntarily, some form of conflict is probably going to continue forever. No need to comment on how depressing that is. (Written by Daniel Gordis in December 2000, published in his collection of essays entitled Home to Stay. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003, p. 147.)
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When two opposing groups live in the same territory, they may either seek to find a way to live together, or one or both groups may decide that the only way to resolve their conflict is to make the other group just "go away" or "disappear." This results is what Guy Burgess has labeled "into-the-sea" framing (a reference to Yassir Arafat's threat to push the Israelis "into the sea"[1].)
Into-the-sea-framing often occurs in cases where ethnic and cultural distinctions result in the formation of extreme "in-group" and "out-group" thinking, where members of different races, religions, or cultures view each other, not only as separate, but alien, evil, and often less-than-human. The formation of rigid identity groups can lead one group to become convinced that many of its problems are the fault of the other group, and that all of those problems would be resolved if only the other group no longer existed, or at least didn't exist anywhere near themselves.
Results of Into-the-Sea Framing
Into-the-sea framing is the ultimate "zero-sum" or "win-lose" approach. The only way for one side to "win" is to eliminate the other side. Needless to say, this way of framing a conflict is a recipe for disaster. There is almost never a place for the other side to go, nor would they want to go if they could.[2] Framing the conflict in this way assures a highly destructive and protracted conflict that will not allow anyone to win.
This kind of framing can easily lead to genocide, "ethnic cleansing," or to efforts to force opponents into exile. In less extreme situations, this problem may lead a party to demand concessions that their opponent cannot possibly accept. One group may come to completely dominate or dehumanize an opposing group. When conflicts are approached in this way, protracted confrontation becomes inevitable. Once the contending parties have de-humanized one another, catastrophic confrontations become a real possibility.
For this reason, it is essential that peacemakers work with conflict parties to convince them to reframe the problem in terms of finding strategies for co-existence and abandon their wish to eliminate the other side.
How Can it be Avoided or Transformed?
Coexistence is a situation in which people embrace diverse identities constructively. Helen Chauncey explains this notion in the context of Cyprus.
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The principles of coexistence and tolerance are important as bases for building mutually acceptable relationships between highly diverse communities within a larger society. If people of different religious, ethnic, and racial groups are to live together peacefully, they must exhibit a certain level of tolerance and at least what Helen Chauncey (of the Co-Existence Initiative) calls "passive co-existence." Here parties must make a commitment to live together while respecting their differences and to resolve their conflicts nonviolently.
One of the key ways to transform intractable identity conflicts is to humanize people on the other side and to encourage parties on both sides to realize that their opponent is human and shares many of the same values, emotions, and concerns that their own side does. (This can be done as a preventive measure, before significant de-humanization takes place, or as a reframing and humanization effort after into-the-sea attitudes have taken hold.)[2]
Also important are conflict analysis, reality testing, costing, and trust building. If people are helped to analyze the nature of their conflict with a skilled mediator or facilitator, they may come to understand that the problem is not just the evil enemy, but is rather the social system that they are both caught up in and contributing to. They can then develop new approaches for transforming or modifying that social system to get out of the entrenched conflict.
[1] This quote has been circulating for years. We found it in print, however, in the excellent chronicle of life in Israel, Home To Stay, by Daniel Gordis. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
[2] In addition to the essay on humanization, see the interviews with Columbian peasants who described how they humanized the violent extremists in their country in order to reduce the level of violence and try to transform the conflict there into a nonviolent one.
Use the following to cite this article:
Burgess, Heidi, Guy M. Burgess and Michelle Maiese. "Into-the-Sea Framing." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2004 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/into-the-sea_framing/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Available at: http://hgs.oxfordjournals.org/.
The journal "Holocaust and Genocide Studies" features essays and reviews that discuss how insights into the Holocaust can be applied to other genocides around the world.
Prevent Genocide International.
Available at: http://www.preventgenocide.org/genocide/.
This website provides numerous links with information about genocide.
Stanton, Gregory H. "The 8 Stages of Genocide." , 1900
Available at: Click here for more info.
A discussion of how acts of genocide begin, how they gain momentum, and how perpetrators reflect on them after the fact. Includes historical examples.
Offline (Print) Sources
Krain, Matthew. "State-Sponsored Mass Murder: The Onset and Severity of Genocides and Politicides." Journal of Conflict Resolution 41:3, June 1, 1997.
The author analyzes whether changes in the political opportunity structure (POS) or the concentration of state power best explains the beginnings and severity of politicide and genocide. Using logic statistics, the author shows that the presence of a civil war is the strongest indicator for state sponsored murder of ethnic groups and political opponents. Other POS variables, particularly when combined together, are also influential. Negative binomial event count models also support that variability in the POS provides a better indications of severity. These results suggest that openings POS have a greater affect on state directed killing than does the influence of concentration of power.
Shaw, Martin. War and Genocide: Organized Killing in Modern Society. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, June 2003.
"This comprehensive introduction to the study of war and genocide presents a disturbing case that the potential for slaughter is deeply rooted in the political, economic, social and ideological relations of the modern world. Most accounts of war and genocide treat them as separate phenomena. This book thoroughly examines the links between these two most inhuman of human activities. It shows that the generally legitimate business of war and the monstrous crime of genocide are closely related." -Publisher's Description
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm.
United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. United Nations overview of genocide, including its definition and its inexcusability.
The Armenian Genocide. Loyola Marymount University.
Available at: http://www.cilicia.com/armo10.html.
A historical account of acts of genocide perpetrated against ethnic Armenians by the Ottoman empire.
The Ghetto Slaghters in Stolin, Rubel, and David-Horodok Through the Eyes of a Survivor. The Holocaust History Project.
Available at: Click here for more info.
This eyewitness account tells how Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews.
Offline (Print) Sources
Alverez, Alex. Governments, Citizens, and Genocide: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approach. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, April 1, 2001.
This book comprehensively describes what genocide is, how it is played out by the various government agencies and leaders, and how the population is slowly turned into complicit actors. It ends with ideas of how genocide can be prevented.
Gordis, Daniel. Home to Stay. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.
Staub, Ervin. The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence. New York: Cambridge University Press, January 1, 1989.
This book attempts to outline the social and psychological context that leads to an individual or society committing genocide and other similar crimes. The book also includes informative sections on the role of bystanders to genocide. The book outlines the 20th century's worst genocides and mass killings: the Holocaust, the Turkish genocide of Armenians, the Cambodian 'autogenocide,' and the disappearances in Argentina.
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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
Scared Again: Jews in Berlin, 1993 . Directed and/or Produced by: Hoepker, Thomas. First Run Icarus Films. 1993.
This film delves into the issue of German anti-semitism that is alive and growing today, five decades after German Nazis sought to annihilate all the Jews living in Germany and Eastern Europe. Click here for more info.
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