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What is
Conflict?
Conflict
is as old as mankind and a general phenomenon to be encountered at all levels of
human relationships. Not the existence of conflict needs to be classified as
problematic or even threatening to peace, but ways of settling conflict which
promote violence, cheat individual parties, involve power struggles and
establish interests advantageous to one party where it is assumed that only one
party has access to the 'truth' and 'retains the right'. Ideas of this kind
easily lead to ways of thinking and acting similar to zero number games: one
side's loss is the other side's gain. The chain of associations, if pursued,
promotes the winner to a position of strength placing the law on his side.
In everyday life, conflict is frequently compared to dispute, contrasts of
interest, power and the use of violence. The peace researcher Ulrike C. Wasmuth
points out that it is imperative to view conflicts objectively, as social facts,
and not to confuse them with the manner in which they are settled; not to limit
them through appraisal and not to confuse them with their causality. She defines
conflict therefore as a social “condition, in which at least two
parties (individuals, groups, states) are involved who (a) pursue different,
incompatible aims, in relation to the originating point, or who pursue the same
aim, but one which can only be achieved by a single party and/or (b) who attempt
to use different, incompatible means, in relation to the originating point, in
order to achieve a specific aim.”
Conflict analyses can be used as an aid to understanding conflict.
Conflict analysis does not just make an attempt to understand the causes and
background, but incorporates initial indicators for solution strategies from the
outset in which the common aspects are queried of the conflict and the methods
of dealing with it are investigated (see
section on conflict analysis).
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Conflicts
go through specific phases. Latent or manifest conflicts are recognized
during an advance phase and (still) appraised as negative. A specific dynamic
takes effect in the escalation phase which intensifies the events of the
conflict. In the ‘Clarification Phase’, the issue is to redefine and (re)shape
life and relations. These phases are frequently termed the Conflict Spectrum.
Specific requirements and skills regarding the approach, de-escalation or
efforts towards reconciliation are required in each of the different conflict
phases.
The dynamics of the
conflict change the manner in which conflicting parties act as a rule.
Communication fails, and perception of factors which draw us apart as opposed to
bringing us together are perceived more clearly, distrust grows and finding a
solution is often no longer seen as a joint responsibility. Morton Deutsch
describes these changes:
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What is
Typical for a Conflict?
Communication
Communication
is closed and insincere.
There is a dearth of information or a proliferation of conscious
misinformation.
Secretiveness and insincerity grows.
Threats and pressure replace open debate and persuasion.
Perception
Differences in interests and opinions and value convictions come to the
fore.
Factors which draw us apart as opposed to bringing us together are perceived
more clearly.
Reconciliatory gestures made by the opposing party are seen as attempts to
out-manoeuvre, intentions are viewed as hostile and malicious, and the party
and his manner of behaviour is perceived as one-sided and skewed.
Attitude
Trust is diminished and distrust grows.
Covert and overt hostilities increase.
The readiness to advise and support diminishes.
The readiness to take advantage of, and expose and disparage the other party
increases.
Basic Tasks
The task is no longer perceived as a joint one, which can best be dealt
with in practical terms through a division of labour, where each party
contributes to the common aim according to his own best abilities and
strengths.
Each party tries to do everything on their own. This stops them having to
rely on others, promotes independence and avoids the danger of being used or
exploited.
[vgl. Morton Deutsch: Konfliktregelung. München 1976]
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Conflicts
are often perceived as battles required to be won. They often produce an
internal conflictual dynamic which makes peaceful, constructive and non-violent
settlement difficult or impossible. Studies analysing the behaviour of people in
conflicting situations have shown that the majority attempt to assert personal
advantage by doubling their efforts or sticking strictly to their principles,
even when failure crops in. This pattern of behaviour is accompanied by an
increasing reduction in perceptive and decisive ability.
Organiser of conflict seminars, Friedrich Glasl, writes that "conflict
impairs our ability to perceive and sphere of thought and attitude so
extensively, that we become no longer capable of seeing things as they are
personally or in the surrounding world. It is as if our eyes become increasingly
clouded over; our view of ourselves and our opponents, and the problems and
events becomes narrower, distorted and wholly one-sided. "Our sphere of
thinking and attitudes obeys compulsions which we are not sufficiently conscious
of."
The real problem of conflict lies in a consistent danger of it escalating,
because in settling the conflict, increasing emphasis is placed on power play
and violence. This makes the conflict more and more difficult to control, until
it spins out of control causing the threshold to violence to be crossed
resulting in destruction and suffering. This makes it difficult or impossible to
continue relations for a period of time.
Further
articles on ‘What is Conflict?":
[Autor: Günther Gugel, Tübingen
Institute for Peace Education; Editor: Ragnar Müller]
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