Question: What is conflict?

INTRODUCTION
During our daily lives, we are all involved in a number of
conflicts. Whether the conflict is big or small, conflict is not confined only to a
person and the people around her/him. It can be between people one is not even
associated with. A conflict can, for example, be between people and the
prevailing laws. Conflict does not only occur at the personal level but also at the
national and even international level. Apart from external conflicts between
individuals or groups, there can also be internal conflicts within an individual.
Conflict is endemic to all social life. It is an inevitable part of living because it
is related to situations of scarce resources, division of functions, power relations
and role-differentiation. More specifically, conflict can be termed as a situation
in which two or more parties have incompatible objectives and in which their
perceptions and behaviour are commensurate with that incompatibility. In this
unit we will discuss various aspects and types of conflict and the need to contain
them.

DEFINING CONFLICT
Conflict refers to more than just overt behaviour. The three-
dimensional conception of conflict emphasizes the need to consider the situation
in which parties (individuals, groups, organisations or nations) come to possess
incompatible goals, their structure of interaction and the nature of their goals.
The perception of threat, or actual occurrence of conflict, is necessary for the
initiation of conflict prevention or management measures, and hence it is
essential to address the concept of conflict before exploring how to prevent and
manage such occurrences. As per the traditional definition of conflict, it is the
result of opposing interests involving scarce resources, goal divergence and
frustration.
Conflict is not defined simply in terms of violence or hostility but also includes
incompatibility or differences in issue position the concept of conflict, the
perception should be included as a central concept since the conflicts and the
opponent’s intentions often are defined according to subjective perceptions.
There could be an abundance of space for agreement in a conflict, but if the
parties perceive the conflict as being impossible to resolve or the opponent to be

1
untrustworthy this might not help in resolving the conflict. normative disputes
involve religion, values and beliefs and do not always have a military outcome
It assumes a violent dimension when: (i) there is no superior force or effective
regulatory mechanism to balance the struggle and thus prevent the situation
from becoming more intense, and (ii) the parties involved employ physical force
or lethal means to inflict injury and damage, or to eliminate the opponent in the
quest to secure the value at stake.

CONFLICT STAGES
There is general agreement on four basic stages of conflict.
These stages are not mutually exclusive and therefore, an
individual/organisation/nation may be involved in more than one at a time.
Intrapersonal: conflict within the individual/organisation/nation (for example,
who cannot make decisions).
Interpersonal: conflict among two or more individuals/organisations/nations
(for example, an argument between the two parties).
Intragroup: conflict within the members of same group.
Intergroup: conflict between two or more groups (for example, between two
different camps of groups or nations)

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A CONFLICT

An understanding of the conflict cycle is essential for an
understanding of how, where and when to apply different strategies and
measures of conflict prevention and management. Conflicts tends to be
described as cyclical in regard to their intensity levels, i.e., escalating from
relative stability and peace into crisis and war, thereafter deescalating into
relative peace. Most scholars agree that these cycles are recurring conflict
prevention, conflict management and conflict resolution are regarded as
applicable in different phases of a conflict.
The life cycle of conflict presented here includes both the conflict process itself
and possible prevention, management and resolution measures. There are five
levels of conflict intensity: stable peace, unstable peace, open conflict, crisis and
war). Stable peace is a situation where tension between the parties is low and
there exists different forms of connections and cooperation between them, often
including economic and environmental cooperation, as well as cooperation
within other non-sensitive issue areas. During a period of unstable peace,

2
tension has increased. An open conflict is when the conflict is defined and the
parties have taken measures to deal with it, even if militarised options are the
preferable or likely option. In the war phase, there is widespread and intense
violence.
Crisis Prevention
There are many conflict prevention measures. In peace times
preventive measures aim to strengthen the system structure, which is needed for
peaceful dealing with conflicts. Thus, peace is not simply equal to absence of
violence, but rather a situation of so-called “positive” peace. Conflict prevention
measures are effective at the levels of stable and unstable peace before a conflict
has become manifest. Here it is important to differentiate between structural and
direct preventive measures. The former are most applicable in the stable peace
phase and consist of structural measures that often aim at specific groups or
issues such as economic development, political participation or cultural
autonomy. In the unstable peace phase, the direct preventive measures are
directed at issues with a shorter-term goal in mind, i.e., to reduce tension and
create trust between the actors.

Conflict Management
William Zartman has argued that conflict management refers to
eliminating violent and violence-related actions and leaving the conflict to be
dealt with on the political level. Conflict management and crisis management do
involve tactics that are enforced when violent conflict is deemed likely (conflict
management) or imminent (crisis management), but before a situation escalates
into war. Conflict management can be enforced, as soon as the conflict has been
identified by the actors, as an effort to reduce tension and prevent further
escalation. Direct measures, such as reduction of military forces, third party
intervention, informal and formal communication of general confidence
building measures (CBMs), can be designed to handle the conflict and reverse
destructive behaviour into constructive.
Crisis Management
Crisis management is employed in the short timeframe before
a war is to erupt, when the conflict escalates rapidly and the time for
management measures is limited. Crisis management entails more drastic
measures than crisis management and aims at containing the outbreak of
militarised conflict with all available means. During the stage of war, neither
prevention nor management is possible. Military means are used as a primary
3
tool, even if political, economic and social tools are used simultaneously to
decrease the opponent’s willingness/or capability to fight.
Conflict Settlement
The concept of conflict settlement covers all conflict strategies
that aim a definite end of the direct violence, without necessarily coping with
the basic causes of the conflict. Most strategies incorporate a range of peaceful
measures like negotiations, mediation or facilitation, as well as coercive
measures as military, political or economic sanctions including the threat with
them. While latter measures usually are of short-term character, the peaceful
measures are the basis for a long-term perspective of the conflict settlement.
Conflict Resolution
The process of conflict management is the foundation for more
effective conflict resolution. A distinction between conflict management and
conflict resolution is, however, needed as a starting point as the concepts often
are confused or integrated. Conflict resolution refers to the resolution of the
underlying incompatibilities in a conflict and mutual acceptance of each party’s
existence, while conflict management refers to measures that limit, mitigate
and/or contain a conflict without necessarily solving it.
Conflict Transformation
The central thesis of this transformation model is based on the fact
that certain transformation’s capacity must be present among the conflicting
parties involved. By this the man recognizes the ability for mutual respect and
reciprocal understanding in respect of the interests in conflict that will lead both
parties toward sustainable and acceptable solution. The notion of conflict
transformation points out three conceptual deficits of the traditional conflict
dealing: the interdependence gap, the justice gap and the process-structure gap.
Peace Building
The focus is on separating the actors and preventing further mistake
or deliberate escalation (peace keeping). escalation phase and often involves
third party actors that assist with peacekeeping or monitoring. There is still a
risk for escalation, but no imminent threat of war. if the peace building efforts
meet with success, the conflict moves to the peace consolidation phase where
the aim is to make across more cooperative and create an inclusive peace for all
involved parties.

CONFLICT CATEGORIES
4
The subjectivist and the objectivist approach
The objectivist approach looks for the origin of conflict in the
social and political make-up and structure of society, and considers that the
goals at stake can be thoroughly compatible. On the contrary, the subjectivist
point of view focuses primarily on the perceived incompatibility. Once conflict
has emerged, it develops further with certain dynamic and intensity changing its
courses and stages. In that sense understanding developing stages of conflict
and their categorization is crucial because it may provide indications of what
might happen next and what can facilitate the conflict management. the
conflicts can be divided into two main categories: non-violent and violent
conflicts.
Non-Violent Conflicts
Absence of violence does not automatically mean absence of
conflict. Conflicting interests can be pursued without violence or coercion.
When the conflict already exists this means only an absence of violent methods
employed by parties in their struggle to resolve their incompatible differences
over issues that are of national relevance for them. Parties do not use force
against each other. the existence of non-violent conflict must be noticed and
recognized by the outside world, as well as at least by one of the involved
parties. In addition, it should be stressed that violent escalation in every conflict
evolves from a non-violent phase of the conflict. Non-violent conflict has been
termed as manifest conflict process and defined as a situation in which at least
two parties, or their representatives, try to pursue their perceptions of mutually
incompatible goals by undermining, directly or indirectly, each other’s goal
seeking capability.
Violent conflict
The existence of frustration of substantive or implemental needs
is essential condition for one non-violent conflict to escalate into violent:
“Violence as a response is produced when certain innate needs or demands are
deeply frustrated.” In political conflict analysis the use of force, physical
damages and human casualties are the characteristics of a violent conflict.
Battle-related human casualties’ thresholds are commonly used to define violent
conflict, particularly in respect of war.

5
CONFLICT ISSUES
Territory and Border-Conflicts
Conquering of territories and secession of territories have
continuously been subjects of political conflicts and central conflict issues of
countless disputes, confrontations and wars. Today’s territory related conflicts
are dominantly conflicts over disputed state delineation, rather than about
threats of annexation and conquest. Traditionally, borders have been seen as
physical lines and border conflicts were, therefore, conflicts of subordination
where rules were to be extended beyond the existing geographical borderline.
Geographically represented border conflicts are a particularly “stable form of
conflict because they provide a clear physical distinction between two easily
identifiable sides.” In such conflicts, borders have a ‘double function’ in that
they provide a means of both territorial inclusion and exclusion, but in parallel
also for ‘functional’ inclusion or exclusion.
Minority, Ethnic and Government-Power Conflicts
Minority conflicts are not necessarily related to ethnic
conflicts. ethnicity-related minority conflicts are the dominant one. That kind of
conflict can have domestic dimensions (minority – government) as well as
interstate dispute (one state – minority – another state). Minority conflict is
defined as a form of active antagonism between the government of a state and
representatives of a minority over the extent of opportunities of minorities to
influence the use and organisation of the sub-state territories they inhabit. For
ethnic conflicts there are many different definitions, particularly about what
drives these types of conflicts.
Conflicts over Resources
The struggle about access to and control over
important resources is the defining factor of the [Link] is intuitive that
natural resources could become conflict issues, but less obvious is the role that
resources may have in specific instances of a given conflict. Inequities in the
distribution, use, needs, desires and consequences of resources management
have been sources of tension and international and interstate disputes. Four
important conditions that influence the likelihood that resources will be the
objects of military or political action: 1) the degree of scarcity; 2) the extent to
which the supply is shared by two or more groups/states; 3) the relative power
of those groups; and 4) the ease of access to alternative sources. The most
recent approach in the resource conflict literature is “resource scarcity” as a
main conflict contributor.
6
CONCLUSION
conflict is one of the central terms of politics, just as power,
interests, war or peace. It is not the very existence of conflicts that is
problematic or even peace endangering, but rather their forms, which are
oriented to power or one-sided interests implementation. Conflicts can also be
different, namely carried out in a regulated way, and consequently contributing
quite positively within a certain society. As conflicts are understood as an
omnipresent part of human interaction, it is less about the question of their
elimination, but rather about their regulation or peaceful settlement. As already
known the possibilities for peaceful settlement of one conflict crucially depends
on its actual development stage and escalation dynamic. So, in the face of an
acute crisis or war outburst the peaceful conflict dealing means prove to be
relatively unsuccessful instruments. At the same time, it becomes clear that
fixation on such measures falls short in the case of direct forms of violence.
Conflict dealing is never completed, since old disputes prove to be a permanent
process, with conflict prevention as its surely most effective measures.