Understanding Conflict

Conflict can be defined with such words as clash, struggle, chaos, dispute, disagreement. Conflict is the pursuit of divergent and incompatible goals and interest without due consideration for other parties or a compromise when such situation call for it. To the laymen, conflict is bad (negative) but professionally speaking, it could be positive because it sometimes help to bring fruitful rewards of development, compromise,

agreements. The problem with conflict as negative is when it escalates to violent or armed conflict such as mass murder, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF) defines conflict as the contradiction in power relations and which manifests themselves in individual and group interactions with one another and with nature in the pursuit of limited resources or opportunities. It must be noted that conflict is an inevitable part of human existence. However, violent conflict is not inevitable and as such is an anomaly.  Armed conflict is the resort to the use of force and armed violence in the pursuit of incompatible and particular interests and goals.

Levels of Conflict

Conflict occurs at various levels such as intra-personal conflict which is conflict within oneself. It sometimes occur when there is a strong problem in trying to take decisions between two impossible alternatives or when what one decides to do is different from the action one actually carries out. Intra-personal conflict is normal when it is controlled which differentiates a normal person from a mad person. It is the smallest yet the biggest because it can determine the future and health of a person. In fact, to a conflict manager, you must first of all undergo a personal transformation (such as managing arrogance, anger) before you can manage the conflict of others.

The Inter-personal level of conflict is conflict between a person and another person and could be conflict over interests, positions and personalities. It could be among equal individuals or between un-equal individuals such as superior-subordinate conflict. It could arise out of jealousy, struggle for power, relationships, struggle over space. To manage inter-personal conflict, the cause of the conflict in terms of the character of the persons involved must be known.

Intra-group conflict is a conflict within a single group and could result from members of the group having clash of interests, desire to be recognized above others, leadership struggles, communication breakdown, and personality problem. Inter-group conflict is the conflict between two or more groups having clashes such as the intra-group conflict.

Communal conflict is a conflict that involves an entire community; National is conflict within a country such as apartheid in South Africa; international conflict is a conflict having impact on two or more countries  such as the Israeli-Palestinian war while global conflict has impact on the whole world such as WW I, WW II.

Causes of Conflicts

Resources- These are physical and non-physical resources. It could be wealth or position. It is struggle over scarce resources which lead to competition and allocation becomes a big issue. Conflict here arises as a result of classification of people in the society into the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’. The ‘have not’ would soon develop a feeling of deprivation, frustration and later on, aggression.

Values- values are what people hold dear in their thinking and philosophy (example, religion, tradition, belief system). When there is an abuse of this thinking or philosophy, conflict becomes inevitable. Here, primordial view of conflict says that when you bring two individuals from different ethnic or religious background together, they will surely have conflict. Instrumental view of conflict says that when you bring two individuals from different ethnic or religious background together, they will not have conflict as long as they are enjoying certain benefits from each other. The constructivism view of conflict says that there is bound to be conflict when one tries to force his/her values on others.

Psychological Need- This cause of conflict comes from the personal attributes and character of individuals since we all act differently and at different times. These could involve anger, aggression, greed, arrogance, intolerance and could arise from feelings of depression, frustration, deprivation, and inequality which could either be genetic or as a result of our relationship with the environment in which we live in.

Communication- This is how we exchange information and it determines whether we will have a peaceful society or not. Benevolent communication is a positive communication such that people have problems but they are communicated in a positive manner. In Ambivalent communication, people have problems but communicated with language having many meanings thereby leaving it to the hearer to decide its positivity or negativity. Malevolent communication is a negative communication such that people have problems yet communicate them in a negative manner.

Perception- This is how we view others in our mind. Our perception of others can lead to a conflict between us and them. Sometimes, from a distance, we can have negative perception of people but when we get closer to them, they are not what we perceive them to be.

Stakeholders of Conflict

In every conflict, there are stakeholders. Stakeholders are the parties involved at different stages of a conflict or have an interest in the matter. One way to characterize stakeholders is by their relationship to the effort in question. Stakeholders can be supporters, opponents or indifferent, basically, anyone who has an interest in the conflict can be said to be a stakeholder. They can also provide Atmosphere, expertise, financing and power to a conflict. 

Primary Stakeholders they are seen physically on the surface of the conflict or problem. They are people or groups that stand the chance to be directly affected either positively or negative. In trying to solve any conflict, they must be duly acknowledged because they are the major stakeholders. Their impact in escalating or de-escalating any conflict situation is enormous.

Secondary Stakeholders are sometimes called external stakeholders. Most of the time, they have a relationship with the primary stakeholder. They have a standing or hold on the primary stakeholders. Sometimes, they are more involved in the conflicts than the primary stakeholders. When necessary, the secondary stakeholders can also get involved in the conflict.

Shadow Party Stakeholders are actors in a conflict who fuel the conflict between the primary stakeholders by providing them with finance, ammunition or just by affiliating with them. While doing this, the actors who are involved try their best to remain anonymous. They mostly have hidden agenda and won’t reveal it to anyone. The shadow party stakeholder can’t be identified except through intelligence gathering.

STAGES OF CONFLICT

Ø  A problem occur

Ø  Sides are formed by parties to a conflict

Ø  Communication breaks down between conflicting parties

Ø  Positions hardened and tensions have risen high

Ø  Resources are mobilized by conflicting parties in order to help them work towards defeating one another.

Ø  Conflict goes outside the immediate environment which will now involve third parties in the conflict as a result of supporters for both sides.

Ø  Perceptions of conflicting parties towards one another become distorted.

Ø  A sense of crises emerges where the conflicting parties are already at logger heads with one another. It is at this point that conflicting parties result to declaring war on each other.

Ø  The Outcome varies which could be fatal, could lead to development at some points or could lead to massive destruction  of lives and properties.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Former United Nations Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his “agenda for peace” clearly defines the forms of peace in the international community as clearly stated in the United Nations Charter. The forms of peace are the various ways through which peace can be enhanced in any society. They are preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace enforcement and post conflict peace building.

Preventive diplomacy is actions taken to prevent disputes from arising between parties, to prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflicts and to limit the spread of the latter when they occurred. Peacemaking is action taken to bring hostile parties to negotiated agreement, especially through such peaceful means as those foreseen in Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter.

Peacekeeping is the deployment of a United Nations presence in the field, hitherto with the consent of all parties concerned, normally involving the United Nations military and/or police personnel and frequently civilians as well. It is through peacekeeping that cease fire is maintained between belligerent parties and agreements are signed. The peacekeeping armed forces use the blue helmet and are lightly armed for self defense and the protection of civilians.

Peace enforcement is used to enforce the will of the United Nations. It is used where there is total breakdown of law and order within a nation such that it has lead to many civilian deaths, total abuse of the constitution of the state and it is affecting neighboring states. In this case, peace enforcement is of utmost importance with the use of armed forces to bring peace to the nation by all means, dislodge the belligerent combatants and protect innocent civilians. In this case, there is no restriction to the activities of the armed forces to ensure peace.

Post conflict peace building is action taken to identify and support structures which would to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict. Under the post conflict peace building, issues are involved such as disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, reintegration, International tribunals to try war crimes, religious models focused on forgiveness and reconciliation, Liberal models focused on Human Rights and freedom, reparations, Order, conciliation and Justice.

Alternative Dispute Management Spectrum

These are optional ways to conflict resolution and they include the following:

Collaboration: This occurs when two parties to a conflict decides to use avoidance or denial strategy to manage their conflict temporarily. This is not the best way to manage conflicts because the parties involved might still harbor this in mind for a long period of time. Actually, there are situations where collaboration is needed to maintain a level of relationship.

Negotiation: Here, parties to a conflict sit together, discuss together to find solutions to their conflict or reach an agreement by themselves to ensure mutual benefit. No third party is involved. In negotiation, the focus is on the cause of the problem/conflict. It is a matter of sincerity of both parties to discuss the cause of the conflict. It is discussed in non-manipulative manner and resolving the conflicts depends on the attitude/behavior of the parties towards the negotiating process.

Conciliation: This involves both parties to a conflict changing their attitude and behavior. There is a conciliator to help parties change their attitude and behavior. Here, the conciliator is not so interested in the cause. The end of the conciliation does not restore perfect relationship because the real matter of the conflict is not handled.

Mediation: This can also be called facilitated negotiation because it involves a third party. The third party is not a judge but just to facilitate the negotiation of the peace process. The facilitator helps them discuss their problems and allow them come up with an agreement or solution which can never be imposed by the mediator/facilitator. It is a win-win approach to conflict resolution.

Med-Arb: It is a hybrid of Mediation and Arbitration. This happens when a third person acts as a mediator and then switches over to Arbitration. It is an increasingly popular dispute resolution mechanism in which the disputing parties and a third party who is neutral attempt to reach a voluntary agreement through mediation and then move to arbitration especially in cases where the conflicts are not solved in the mediation period based on the agreement of parties involved.

Arbitration: It is a formal process where conflict between parties is resolved using the instrumentality of the law, witness testimony and documentary evidence. It is a win-lose approach to conflict resolution. In Arbitration, the decision remains binding on all parties to the conflict without a choice to the outcome. Although, there is the risk of loss of neutrality, gap in competency and delay.

Conflict Resolution in Traditional African Society

ü  Cross examination.

ü  Collective responsibility not individual perpetrators alone.

ü  Truth Telling.

ü  Impartiality, neutrality and transparency are upheld.

ü  Forgiveness, Loving and Tolerating are upheld.

ü  Fairness, equity and Justice are upheld.

ü  The Scene of the conflict is in an open environment where the disputants, community members and elders will be present.

ü  The is celebration/ceremony to mark the end of the conflict.