All societies have a variety of traditional ways of managing and resolving conflict.
These may be informal or formal. Alternatively, formal systems of courts and administrative decision making bodies may be established to hear and decide a variety of cases. However, in the case of wars or other major social and political upheavals, the traditional dispute resolution mechanisms may not function effectively or be in existence at all. As the former Soviet states and Warsaw pact countries made the transition from communism to democracy, for example, they disbanded the old court systems and administrative dispute resolution mechanisms, and had to replace them with new institutions. This process has not been quick or easy, however, and in the interim, many disputes have gone unresolved.