Conflict and Conflict Intervention Strategies

2016-08-22 05:54:07 Written by  Published in EPDP News Read 4100 times

By Dr. Almaz Zerai

 

The topic of the presentation was Conflict and Conflict Intervention Strategies. It mainly  dealt with the causes of conflict, the basic types and stages of conflict: conflict triangle (attitudes, behaviour,context), the so called "circular definitions of enemy" as well as the different conflict intervention strategies: settlement, resolution, management, conflict transformation and ADR ( alternative dispute resolution). Further elaboration was worked out on the former concepts in regards to the influence on their outcome: Attitude - prejudices, beliefs, perceptions, feelings; Behaviour - statements, offences, insults, attacks;  Context - political, economical, cutural and historical backgrounds. The presentation put particular emphasis on the various forms of conflicts and elaborated the resulting consequences: competition (win/lose), accomodating (lose/win), avoidance (lose/lose), compromise (both parties win and lose slightly), cooperation (win/win). It  further cited references and opined that coercive violence creates "shared trauma" which becomes part of peoples core identity generating further conflict until the traumatic material is identified and dealt with.  The effects and mechanisms of conflict that are essentially linked to task performance were laid down.

Almaz Zerai 3 

 

The paper suggested that medium arousal level correlates with an optimum task performance, whereas an overload of arousal level (panic, anger, violence) leads to low performance level and pointed out that peacemaking involves justice and equality in the social system. It emphasized the urgent need for attitude change from "I can not" to " I'm determined to be able to/I can!".  As the process of conflict resolution is of crucial importance, it is mandatory that the conflict parties are determined and willing to solve their conflicts themselves and on their own merits; mediators could at best help through the process. Besides the need of effective parties in the opposition was elaborated.

Almaz Zerai 2

 

The presentation concludes that professionality should not disembody us from our humanity.

Last modified on Monday, 22 August 2016 08:12