Conflict resolution

**Conflict resolution** is a set of ideas and ways to reduce sources of conflict. The term "conflict resolution" is sometimes used interchangeably with the term "dispute resolution". The terms _conflict_ and _dispute_ overlap. As a term, conflict is broader than dispute, more concerned with physical action, and less concerned with verbal arguments.

Processes of conflict resolution generally include negotiation, mediation, and diplomacy. The processes of arbitration, litigation, and formal complaint processes such as ombudsman processes, are usually described with the term dispute resolution, although some refer to them as "conflict resolution".

## Culture-based

Conflict resolution as both a professional practice and academic field is highly sensitive to cultural background. In North American cultural contexts, such as Canada and the United States, successful conflict resolution usually involves fostering communication among disputants and problem solving that meet their underlying needs. In these situations, conflict resolvers often talk about finding the _win-win_ solution, or mutually satisfying scenario, for everyone involved (see Fisher and Ury (1981), _Getting to Yes_). In many non-Western cultural contexts, such as Afghanistan, Vietnam, and China, it is also important to find "win-win" solutions; however, getting there can be very different. In these contexts, direct communication between disputants that explicitly addresses the issues at stake in the conflict can be perceived as very rude, making the conflict worse and delaying resolution. Rather, it can make sense to involve religious, tribal or community leaders, communicate difficult truths indirectly through a third party, and make suggestions through stories (see David Augsberger (1992), _Conflict Mediation Across Cultures_). Intercultural conflicts are often the most difficult to resolve because the expectations of the disputants can be very different, and there are many possibilities for misunderstanding.

## In animals

Conflict resolution has also been studied in non-humans, like dogs, cats, monkeys, snakes, elephants, and primates (see Frans de Waal, 2000). Aggression is more common among animal relatives and within a group, than between groups. Instead of creating a distance between the individuals, however, the primates were more intimate in the period after the aggressive incident. These intimacies consisted of grooming and various forms of body contact. Stress responses, like an increased heart rate, usually decrease after these reconciliatory signals. Different types of primates, as well as many other species who are living in groups, show different types of conciliatory behaviour. Resolving conflicts that threaten the interaction between individuals in a group is necessary for survival, so has a strong evolutionary value. These findings contradicted previous existing theories about the general function of aggression, i.e. creating space between individuals (first proposed by Konrad Lorenz), which seems to be more the case in conflicts between groups than it is within groups.

In addition to research in primates, biologists are beginning to explore reconciliation in other animals. Up until recently, the literature dealing with reconciliation in non-primates have consisted of anecdotal observations and very little quantitative data. Although peaceful, post-conflict behavior had been documented going back to the 1960s, it was not until 1993 that Rowell made the first explicit mention of reconciliation in feral sheep. Reconciliation has since been documented in spotted hyenas, lions, dolphins, dwarf mongooses, domestic goats, and domestic dogs.

## Careers

Conflict resolution is an expanding field of professional practice. The escalating costs of conflict have increased use of third parties who may serve as arbitrators, mediators, facilitators, and ombudsmen or conflict specialists to resolve conflicts. Relief and development organizations have added peace-building specialists to their teams. Many of the major international NGOs have seen a growing need to hire practitioners trained in conflict analysis and resolution.  Conflict resolution practitioners work in a variety of settings such as  in businesses, court systems, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions.

## Education

Universities worldwide offer programs of study pertaining to conflict research, analysis, and practice. The Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations houses the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, which offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional training on conflict resolution. Graduate programs are offered at Georgetown University, Eastern Mennonite University and Trinity College Dublin. George Mason University’s Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution offers undergraduate, certificate and masters programs in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and a Ph.D. program in The Philosophy in Conflict and Conflict Resolution.
 Many students completing a doctoral program enter the field as researchers, theorists, analysts, policy makers and professors in higher education. The Pax Ludens Foundation based in the Netherlands is an organization that puts together conflict resolution simulations set in an International Relations scenario to help students learn about the intricacies of where conflict emerges in the world of international politics.

Conflict resolution is a growing area of interest in pedagogy in the United Kingdom, with teachers and students encouraged to learn about mechanisms that lead to aggressive action and those that lead to peaceful resolution. In many schools in the country, conflict resolution has now become an integral part of the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) programme, chiming, as it does, with the SEAL principles of developing social skills and an understanding of ones own feelings.

In India, masters in conflict analysis and peace building is offered by Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace, in Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delh<nowiki/>i.

## Related pages

- Dispute resolution
- Collaborative law
- Collaborative divorce
- Dialogue
- Family therapy
- Interpersonal communication
- Mediation
- Negotiation
- Peace treaty
- Talaq – a last step in marriage, in Islamic jurisprudence.

## References

- Augsburger, D. (1992). _Conflict mediation across cultures._ Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster / John Knox Press.
- Bannon, I. & Paul Collier (Eds.). (2003). _Natural resources and violent conflict: Options and actions._ Washington, D.C: The World Bank.
- Ury, F. & Rodger Fisher. (1981). _Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in_. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
- Wilmot,W. & Jouyce Hocker. (2007). _Interpersonal conflict._ New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
- Bercovitch, Jacob and Jackson, Richard. 2009. _Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-first Century: Principles, Methods, and Approaches_.  University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
- de Waal, Frans B. M. and Angeline van Roosmalen. 1979. Reconciliation and consolation among chimpanzees. _Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology_ 5: 55–66.
- de Waal, Frans B. M. 1989. Peacemaking Among Primates. _Harvard University Press_, Cambridge, MA.
- Judge, Peter G. and Frans B. M. de Waal. 1993. Conflict avoidance among rhesus monkeys: coping with short-term crowding. _Animal Behaviour_ 46: 221–232.
- Veenema, Hans et al. 1994. Methodological improvements for the study of reconciliation. _Behavioural Processes_ 31:29–38.
- de Waal, Frans B. M. and Filippo Aureli. 1996. _Consolation, reconciliation, and a possible cognitive difference between macaques and chimpanzees. Reaching into thought: The minds of the great apes_ (Eds. Anne E. Russon, Kim A. Bard, Sue Taylor Parker), Cambridge University Press, New York, NY: 80–110.
- Aureli, Filippo. 1997. Post-conflict anxiety in non-human primates: the mediating role of emotion in conflict resolution. _Aggressive Behavior_ 23: 315–328.
- Castles, Duncan L. and Andrew Whiten. 1998. Post-conflict behaviour of wild olive baboons, I. Reconciliation, redirection, and consolation. _Ethology_ 104: 126–147.
- Aureli, Filippo and Frans B. M. de Waal, eds. 2000. _Natural Conflict Resolution_. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
- de Waal, Frans B. M. 2000. Primates––A natural heritage of conflict resolution. _Science_ 289: 586–590.
- Silk, Joan B. 2002. The form and function of reconciliation in primates. _Annual Review of Anthropology_ 31: 21–44.
- Weaver, Ann and Frans B. M. de Waal. 2003. The mother-offspring relationship as a template in social development: reconciliation in captive brown capuchins (Cebus apella). _Journal of Comparative Psychology_ 117: 101–110.
- Palagi, Elisabetta et al. 2004. Reconciliation and consolation in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus). _American Journal of Primatology_ 62: 15–30.
- Palagi, Elisabetta et al. 2005. Aggression and reconciliation in two captive groups of Lemur catta. _International Journal of Primatology_ 26: 279–294.
- Lorenzen, Michael. 2006. Conflict Resolution and Academic Library Instruction. _LOEX Quarterly_ 33, no. ½,: 6–9, 11.
- Winslade, John & Monk, Gerald. 2000. _Narrative Mediation: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution_. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
- Bar-Siman-Tov, Yaacov (Ed.) (2004). _From Conflict Resolution to Reconciliation._ Oxford University Press

## Other websites

- _Party-Directed Mediation: Helping Others Resolve Differences_ free book PDF download, at the University of California
- Search for Common Ground