Pagpati'ut - Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

oader public, and if need be, concerned policy makers.
There are ‘peace supporters.’ The peace supporters can come from the
outside of the families involved. Civil society groups usually fall in this
supporters nonetheless play a key role in advocating for the settlement
and individually or collectively can exert some level of social pressure on
There are the ‘spectators’ – these are individuals outside of the groups
by the peace spoilers to drum up negative public opinion on a settlement
currently being worked out. Conversely, they can be enthused by peace
order to galvanize public opinion supporting an all-out-war or the use-
in the scheme of things. They are also the target audience of the peace
supporters, similarly, to sway public opinion to support the government’s
peace agenda.
P R E S E N T A T I O N & A N A L Y S I S O F F I N D I N G S
Finally, there are the ‘political actors.’ They are the decision makers who
policy makers. They have the
access to state resources – both coercive and economic – that can be
used to mitigate if not decide the fate of the contestation. This is done
through policy pronouncements. Political actors are most often sensitive to
public opinion in issuing their policy decisions; hence, they are the ultimate
target of both peace supporters and spoilers. Elected local and national
The military and police are instruments of policy. While they seemingly
policy makers.
The second type of political actors is the ‘traditional leaders/ elders/
persons of stature.’ The resources to which they have access to are the
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