Description
Violence is increasingly framed as a public health problem and medical approaches to violence prevention are progressively occupying centre-stage in global responses to violence. This article investigates the consequences of adopting an epidemiological approach in conflict and post-conflict environments. We do so by analysing the application of the Cure Violence (CV) model in Israel and Palestine. CV is unique in its approach as it sees violence as an actual disease that can be controlled and contained via epidemiological methods/strategies applied in disease control. Despite short-term success in reducing levels of violence, we argue that such an approach is at risk of de-politicizing conflict-resolution. Rooted in methodological individualism and evidence-based epistemology, this approach has the tendency to overlook structural causes and drivers of conflict, while concentrating its efforts on the individual alone. Conflict resolution, henceforth, becomes an individualized task, with the responsibility for success (or failure) entirely transferred onto the individual.
