Abstract
This special issue of International Social Work focuses on a wide ranging topic, but one rarely looked at in social work research, theory or practice.
Although armed conflict instances are increasing, the attention they receive in social work and in social work education, research, and in-service training is scant, not only in countries not formally involved in an armed conflict, but even in most of the countries in the midst or the aftermath of such a conflict.
This special issue is an attempt to bring to the reader some key issues that such a context gives rise to, such as the impact on local populations, on people who use social work services or who have to use them for the first time in their lives due to the impact of the conflict, on social workers themselves, and on social work education and research. The close connection between armed conflicts and disaster are also an integral past of this context.
As editors we were pleasantly surprised to receive a large number of papers, perhaps reflecting a growing interest among social work educators and researchers in this burning issue.
The nine papers selected for publication come from seven countries (and three continents) (Croatia, England, Israel and Palestine, Kashmir, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone). The issues they focus upon range from the impact of an armed conflict on women, families, young asylum seekers, young prisoners, migrants and refugees in the context of substance misuse, community development, peace building, and research issues to social work education.
Papers vary also in the research methodology and methods applied. Several include the use of the narrative approach and semi-structured interviews. Others look at the impact of policies through an analysis of the policy objectives vs. their impact on the policy recipients and on the workers engaged in implementing policy. Three of the papers report evaluated educational interventions, and one uses an in-depth reflection to investigate the impact of a political conflict on research ethics and practice.
Doucet and Denov have attempted to understand the impact of the armed conflict in Sierra Leone on women, many of whom have been treated badly by soldiers of each side of the conflict, from the perspective of the women themselves. They highlight not only the plight of these women but also their views about formal attempts to support them.
Rashid investigated the lives of young offenders in war torn Kashmir, by applying a narrative approach. His research highlights the politicised nature of the life trajectories of these young people, and the near impossibility of extracting oneself from the vicious circle the conflict and the partition have led to for this population.
Miljenovic and Zganc looked at the impact on community development in Croatia in the aftermath of the armed conflict in southeast Europe, by comparing the development of communities more and less affected by the conflict. Their analysis highlights the greater difficulties facing communities more affected, and the negative impact of the competition for scarce resources within a country living with the aftermath of a bitter conflict.
Mills, Cemlyn and Nye, as well as Guru, investigated different aspects of the long shadow cast by armed conflicts that initially took place in far away countries from the UK, but which is impacting UK policies and practice of welfare services and of research.
Mills looks at policies related to substance misuse as applied to refugees and asylum seekers and the implications of implementing these policies. Cemlyn and Nye focused on the implications for young people seeking asylum in the UK of policies aimed at preventing their entry to the country, and the ethical dilemmas these entail for practising social workers. Guru reflects on her attempt to research Moslem families of young men arrested on terrorism charges but not brought to trial in terms of the ethical issues it raises, the implications for research methodology, and the personal-political level of engagement as a researcher.
Baum, Duffy and Moshe look at a range of educational issues. Baum focuses on the implications of field supervision within an armed conflict context of supervisors and supervisees from the two sides of the conflict. Duffy outlines an evaluated educational innovation of systematic engagement of service users who were victims of political violence in Northern Ireland in social work education at the aftermath of this conflict.
Finally Moshe outlines an international project aimed at peace building in Israel and Palestine by encouraging social workers from both sides to explore together the issues this entails for them.
The papers present a rich, engaging, and thought provoking tapestry of the issues that armed conflicts bring about for all of us, whether we are service users, social workers, policy makers or researchers, whether we live in a country undergoing an acute armed conflict, its aftermath, or being impacted by the ripple effects of such a conflict.
We hope the readers of this ISW special issue will become both better informed and interested in learning about the impact of armed conflict on social work.