This case study of Partners for Democratic Change's Local Ethnic Conciliation Program in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia examines: different social psychological processes and perspectives for resolving ethnic minority‐majority conflicts; the adaptation of a western conflict resolution model in Central and Eastern Europe; challenges and opportunities for strategic organic development of citizen‐based initiatives; and the role of conflict resolution efforts in social change and civil society development in these Central and Eastern European countries. The study suggests a theory‐based framework for evaluating interventions into ethnic conflicts and offers recommendations for future applied research and project development.

Allport
,
G.
1954
.
The nature of prejudice
.
Reading, Mass
. :
Addison‐Wesley
.
Google Scholar
 
Avruch
,
K.
1998
.
Culture and conflict resolution
.
Washington
:
U.S. Institute of Peace
.
Google Scholar
 
Avruch
,
K.
 and
P.
Black
1993
.
Conflict resolution in intercultural settings: Problems and prospects
. In
Conflict resolution theory and practice
, edited by
D.
Sandole
 and
H.
Van Der
Merwe
.
New York
:
Manchester University Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Brown
,
R.
1996
.
Tajfel's contribution to the reduction of intergroup conflict
. In
Social groups and identities
, edited by
W. P.
Robinson
.
Oxford
:
Butterworth‐Heinemann
.
Google Scholar
 
Dovidio
,
J.F.
 and
S.
Gaertner
1993
.
Stereotypes and evaluative intergroup bias
. In
Affect, cognition, and stereotyping: Interactive processes and group perceptions
, edited by
D. M.
Mackie
 and
D.L.
Hamilton
.
San Diego
:
Academic Press
.
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
Dukes
,
F.
1996
.
Resolving public conflict
.
New York
:
Manchester University Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Freire
,
P.
1970
.
Pedagogy of the oppressed
.
New York
:
Seabury Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Hewstone
,
M.
,
M.R.
Islam
, and
C.M.
Judd
1993
.
Models of crossed categorization and intergroup relations
.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
64
:
779
–
793
.
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
PubMed
 
Hyatt
,
J.
1998
.
From transition to development: the non‐profit sectors of Central and Eastern Europe
.
London
:
Charities Evaluation Services
.
Google Scholar
 
Kelleher
,
C.
1996
.
Indicators, implications, and policy choices
. In
Ethnic conflict in the post‐Soviet world: Case studies and analysis
, edited by
L.
Drobizheva
,
R.
Gottemoeller
,
C.
Kelleher
, and
L.
Walter
.
New York
:
M.E. Sharp
.
Google Scholar
 
Lederach
,
J.P.
1997
.
Building peace: Sustainable reconciliation in divided societies
.
Washington
:
U.S. Institute of Peace Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Lederach
,
J.P.
1995
.
Preparing for peace: Conflict transformation across cultures
.
Syracuse
:
Syracuse University Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Mikulincer
,
M.
1994
.
Human learned helplessness: A coping perspective
.
New York
:
Plenum
.
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
Nelson
,
D.
1996
.
Civil society endangered
.
Social Research
63
(
2
):
345
–
368
.
Google Scholar
 
Partners for Democratic Change.
1994
.
Partners for Democratic Change's organizational brochure
.
San Francisco
:
Partners for Democratic Change
.
Putnam
,
R.
1993
.
The prosperous community: Social capital and public life
.
The American Prospect
13
:
35
–
42
.
Google Scholar
 
Rubenstein
,
R.
1992
.
Dispute resolution on the eastern frontier: Some questions for modern missionaries
.
Negotiation Journal
8
(
3
):
205
–
213
.
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
Sadalla
,
G.
1993
.
Conciliation commissioner manual
. San Francisco :
Partners for Democratic Change
.
Google Scholar
 
Seidman
,
A.
 and
A.
Frederick
1992
.
Towards a new vision of self‐sustained development
.
Trenton, N.J.
:
Africa World Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Shapiro
,
I.
1998
.
New approaches to old problems: Evaluating an applied program to reduce minority‐majority tensions in four Central and Eastern European countries
.
Ph.D. dissertation, Charles University, Prague
.
Google Scholar
 
Sherif
,
M.
1966
.
Group conflict and cooperation: Their social psychology
.
London
:
Routledge & Kegan Paul
.
Google Scholar
 
Sisk
,
T.
1996
.
Power sharing and international mediation in ethnic conflicts
.
Washington
:
U.S. Institute of Peace
.
Google Scholar
 
Strauss
,
A.
 and
J.
Corbin
1990
.
Newbury Park, Calif. Sage
.
Google Scholar
 
Stubbs
,
P.
1995
.
Nationalism, globalization, and civil society in Croatia and Slovenia
.
Unpublished paper presented at the Second European Conference on Sociology, Budapest, Hungary
, August, 1995.
Google Scholar
 
Tajfel
,
H.
1978
.
The social psychology of minorities
.
London
:
Minority Rights Group
, Report no. 38.
Google Scholar
 
Uphoff
,
N.
1996
.
Why NGOs are not a third sector: A sectoral analysis with some thoughts on accountability, sustainability, and evaluation
. In
Beyond the magic bullet: NGO performance and accountability in the post‐Cold War world
, edited by
M.
Edwards
 and
D.
Hulme
.
West Hartford, Conn
.
Kumarian Press
.
Google Scholar
 
Vanbeselaere
,
N.
1991
.
The different effects of simple and crossed categorizations: A result of the category differentiation process or differential category salience
. In
European Review of Social Psychology
, vol.
2
, edited by
W.
Stroebe
 and
M.
Hewstone
.
Chichester
:
Wiley
.
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
Wildau
,
S.
,
C.
Moore
, and
B.
Mayer
 (
1993
).
Developing democratic decision‐making and dispute resolution procedures abroad
.
Mediation Quarterly
10
(
3
):
303
–
320
.
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
This content is only available as a PDF.
© 1999 Plenum Publishing Corporation. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
1999
Plenum Publishing Corporation
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the use is non-commercial and the original work is properly cited. For a full description of the license, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0.