ABSTRACT In the 21st century, many socio‐economic and political structures have been redefined, particularly amidst escalation of economic and military threats across the world. Under these circumstances, traditional approaches to conflict prevention and conflict resolution have limited success. Not only are some conflicts never fully resolved and continue to escalate intermittently, even older conflicts that were considered resolved are re‐emerging in newer avatars . Often conflicts are sustained due to cognitive and emotional dynamics that play a crucial role in determining attitudes of the people, based on their experiences as well as collective memory of previous transgressions. This collective memory is further re‐ignited through rhetoric of leaders and media as well as the lack of direct contact between adversaries. Historically in the case of Iraq and Kuwait, control over hydrocarbon reserves and access to shared waterways remained sensitive issues, ultimately culminating in the Gulf war of 1991. Although deep animosities of Gulf War experiences sustained the collective memory of both nations, consistent efforts at conflict transformation demonstrate a more proactive approach towards future collaboration between the two. Within the above contexts, this paper presents the Kuwait‐Iraq conflict as a case study on the implications of collective memory in 21st century conflict transformation.
Radhika Lakshminarayanan (Sun,) studied this question.