conflict resolution

Stages of conflict

differing goals, competition, blame, issue expansion, abandoned dialogue, hostility, stalemate/outburst, negotiation, settlement, peacebuilding

Conflict

the pursuit of mutually incompatible goals (non-linear)

Factors of conflict

economic, social, cultural, psychological, political

Types of conflict

interstate, intrastate, revolution, succession, resource, factional

types of violence

structural violence, direct violence, criminal violence, and gender-based violence

One-sided violence

terrorism and state violence

Instinctivism

lorenz; Destructiveness is inherited from ancestors (animals)

1. Ungovernable drive for aggression, which is biologically adaptive

2. All destructive and sadistic behavior is due to biology

Behaviorism

b.f skinner; Emotions and passions are irrelevant. It is social conditioning shapes behavior

1. There are no innate human traits since everything is the result of socialization

Ervin staub’s basic human needs needs (physical and psychological)

Security, effectiveness and control, positive identity, connection, comprehension of reality, autonomy

Rational choice theory of conflict

neo-classical economics (roots in machiavelli and hobbes b/c humans have an instinct for self-preservation and will to dominate)

paul collier’s greed theory

1. Two goals in war: greed or greivance

2. Paul collier said civil war is not actualyl greivance but greed

   1. Rebel movements embed actions in greivance

   2. Utility maximization drives wars

   3. People only conduct civil wars if the benefits seem to outweigh the costs

Evelin g linder’s theory of emotion’s role in conflict

Key emotions in conflict: fear, anger, humiliation, guilt, hope, confidence, warmth; Successful conflict resolutiton requires using negative emotions as an instrument

Fromm’s dichotomy of aggression

benign aggression is part of human nature and defensive, but malignant aggression is part of human character and isn’t instinctive

Realist conflict theory

Opposing claims to scarce resources create ethnocentrism and antagonism between groups; Low status of subordinate group intensifies its antagonism toward the high-status group (out-group hostility)

Social identity theory

1. Incompatible group goals are necessary for realistic competition, but mutual intergroup comparisons are necessary and often sufficient for social competition

Individuals strive for a positive self-concept (positive distinctiveness) through favorable comparisons with out-group

sources of intrastate conflicts

Decolonization from 40s-70s led to weak, poor states - new states have a higher risk of conflict; states w/ war tend to be more homogenous

Galtung’s violence triangle

the aspects of a culture can be used to legitimize and normalize physical and structural violence via religion, ideology, language, art, science

Realism

believe the fundamental cause of war is the anarchic structure of the international system; anarchy; security dilemma; deterrence; Distribution of power; Balance of power theory; Hegemonic stability theory

Liberalism

free exchange of goods in an international market economy are the best guarantors of peace;

Democratic peace theory

Division of power imposes institutional constraints on use of force

Diversionary theory of war

war is started to divert attention from domestic issues; rooted in social identity theory and out=group hypothesis (Scapegoating)

Prospect theory of decision-making

People make decisions by assessing gains and losses, prioritizing avoidance of risk; tend to over-weigh things they already own

Reference point bias

when the status quo is the reference point, decision making is biased towards maintaining it; leaders tend to take risks to protect rather than enhance

Transnational conflict (TNC)

1. onflicts that cross national borders, linking local conflicts to regional or global networks; dynamic and involves states and NGOs

Identity group and conflict party-level analysis

Psychological factors are critical components at the identity group and leadership levels; Natioanlism leads to more interstate war

Third generation (1970s-80s)

1. Drawing from wide range of disciplines with a sound institutional base

   1. Context: cold war with soviet takeover in afghanistan and iranian revolution

   2. Updated overarching projects: avoiding nuclear war, removing inequalities and injustices, and achieving ecological balance

2. To formulate a theoretical understanding of destructive conflict at three levels 

   1. Interstate level, state, and individul

Adam curle’s theory of mediation

Mediation process: mediator facilitates communication, provides information, befriends the conflict parties, and encourages willingness to engage in negotiation

Types of mediation

1. Track 1 - official, state-level diplomacy using carrots or sticks

2. Track 2 - unofficial/citizen’s diplomacy 

   1. Third parties may act as arbiters with or without the consent of the parties

3. Track 3 - multi-moda

hourglass model of conflict resolution

1. Narrowing of political space

2. Conflict containment

3. Conflict settlement

4. Conflict transformation

5. Widening of political space

 arrow of history (1991-2024)

1. Disintrigtaion of the soviet union in 1991 led to the new world order being announced by bush

2. problems:

   1. Many critics of liberal peace

   2. Global south’s skepticism towards western compliance with norms

   3. Rise to power of putin and xi jinping

   4. Russian irridentism over georgia and ukraine

   5. Chinese military expansion in south china sea + taiwan

   6. Chinese threat to american hegemony

   7. Us’s disengagement from the ir tools it created

Krauthammer 2016

1. if you want peace, prepare for war. What is required in the face of russian and chinese determinism is defence and deterrence, not appeasement

History of nonviolent resistance

1. early examples from abrahamic religions

   1. Secular nonviolence found in rome - plebs went on strike to obtain political rights

   2. Term “nonviolence” originates from 1900s from Gandhi’s “ahimsa”

Theory of nonviolent resistance

1. Power is dependent on consent; if you withdraw consent you take back power

2. Not a single action but sustained campaigns

Case studies of nonviolent resistance

1. Gandhi salt march

2. Civil rights movement in US

3. Tiananmen square

4. Tahrir square

nonvionlent resistance

political activity that bypasses normal poltiical channels and employs noninstitutional (usually illegal) forms of action

Gene sharp’s theory of power actions

protest and persuasion; social, economic, and political non-cooperation; non-violent intervention

Phases of nv resistance

1. Laying groundwork

2. Repression

3. Solidarity and discipline

4. Political jiu-jitsu 

5. Achieving success

6. Redistribution of power

Structural prevention

1. measures to promote capacity of societies to manage their own conflicts; proactive measures

Direct prevention

measures to head off violence when societies ability to manage their own conflicts breaks down

Nagel 2021

1. increases in sexual violence by rebels in peacetime are an indicator of likelihood of escalation of armed conflict

Barcelona

 77% of the countries in armed conflict in 2008 had serious levels of gender inequality, sexual vioelnce against women and children

Feminist criqitue of traditional conflict resolution

1. Susan willett and ann tickner - gender heirarchies are socially constructed and maintained through power structures to inhibit women fro participating in policymaking

   1. Conflict experience is gendered

   2. Gender blindness ignores gender as constituting and being constituted by gender

   3. Gender is a key variable in conflict, pre, during, and post

   4. Aid is distributed and reconstruction is planned according to traditional family rules

   5. Violent patriarchy is one of the key forms of structural vioelmce across social and political contexts

women’s roles in conflict

1. Victism of sexual violence

2. Combatants

3. Peace activists

4. Coping and surviign actors

5. Household heads

6. Employed in the formal or informal sectors

UNSCR 1325

1. two main ideas: women must participate equally in efforsst to maintain peace and security; women are more exposed to physical violence than men, especially in intrastate conflict