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Kevin Avruch, Context and Pretext in Conflict Resolu- tion: Culture, Identity, Power, and Practice. 2012. Boul- der, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 228 pp., $34.95 paper (9781612050607)
Kevin Avruch introduced the concept of culture to the scholarly field and practices of conflict resolution in the 1980s. With his most recent book, Context and Pretext in Conflict Resolution, Avruch continues his contribution by bridging theoretical concepts and analysis with the more practical world of conflict resolution practitioners. By elaborating on his previous work and providing new conceptualizations of culture and power, Avruch successfully addresses the problems of context and pre- text that peacebuilders face in the field, suggesting alternatives to render conflict resolution practices more effective. Using a cultural sociological approach to conflict resolution and theories of international relations, Avruch's publication focuses on how culture has informed the practice of conflict resolution, and makes the important claim for the adoption of new conceptualizations of concepts, such as culture and power.
First, throughout Chapters 1-8 - chapters previously published in the aftermath of the book Culture and Conflict Resolution (1998) - Avruch elaborates on his previous discussions of culture and conflict, and demonstrates how the context, which affects our understanding of concepts such as culture and identity, remains problematic for conflict resolution. The author thus suggests an alternative understanding of cul- ture, where culture is a constructed, fluid, and changeable concept (p. 48). He is indeed sceptical of defining culture in a homogeneous,...