Modern Social Conflict

Revolutions are melancholy moments in history—brief gasps of hope that emerges from misery and disillusionment. This is true for great revolutions, like 1789 in France or 1917 in Russia, but applies to lesser political upheavals as well. Conflict builds into a state of tense confrontation, like a powder keg. When a spark is thrown, an explosion takes place and the old edifice begins to crumble. People are caught up in an initial mood of elation, but it does not last. Normality catches up. Why do revolutions occur? In this completely revised edition of The Modern Social Conflict, Ralf Dahrendorf explores the basis and substance of social and class conflict. Ultimately, he finds that conflicts are about enhancing life chances; that is, they concern the options people have within a framework of social linkages, the ties that bind a society, which Dahrendorf calls ligatures. The book offers a concise and accessible account of conflict's contribution to democracies, and how democracies must change if they are to retain their political and social freedom. This new edition takes conflict theory past the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and into the present day. Upon publication of the original 1988 edition, Stanley Hoffmann stated, "Ralf Dahrendorf is one of the most original and experienced social and political writers of our time. . . . [this book] is both a survey of social and political conflict in Western societies from the eighteenth century to the present and a tract for a new'radical liberalism.'" And Saul Friedlander wrote, "Ralf Dahrendorf has written a compelling book . . . the brilliant contribution of a convinced liberal to the study of conflict within contemporary democratic society."

"Ralf Dahrendorf has written a compelling book which, no doubt, will stimulate considerable discussion. It is the brilliant contribution of a convinced liberal to the study of conflict within contemporary democratic society."--Saul Friedlander, University of California, Los Angeles "Ralf Dahrendorf has written a compelling book which, no doubt, will stimulate considerable discussion. It is the brilliant contribution of a convinced liberal to the study of conflict within contemporary democratic society."--Saul Friedlander, University of California, Los Angeles

This book provides an alternative approach to the history of social conflict, popular politics and plebeian culture in the early modern period. Based on a close study of the Peak Country of Derbyshire c.1520–1770, it has implications for understandings of class identity, popular culture, riot, custom and social relations. A detailed reconstruction of economic and social change within the region is followed by an in-depth examination of the changing cultural meanings of custom, gender, locality, skill, literacy, orality and magic. The local history of social conflict sheds light upon the nature of political engagement and the origins of early capitalism. Important insights are offered into early modern social and gender identities, civil war allegiances, the appeal of radical ideas and the making of the English working class. Above all, the book challenges the claim that early modern England was a hierarchical, 'pre-class' society.

Is violent conflict inevitable? What is it in our social nature that makes us conduct wars, genocides and persecutions? The answer lies in how we are programmed to bond and form communities that demand loyalty in order to let us belong. The analysis in this book cuts through the social sciences in order to show the fundamentals of violent conflict. The book investigates conflict at the level of sociality. It reorganises existing theories of conflict under that perspective and brings them to bear upon the link between violence and togetherness. It introduces the key concept of closure to describe the conditions under which human groups start to perceive their position as similar and their reality as polarised. This is how normality starts breaking down and fault lines appear. Violent conflict is then analysed as a reaction that seeks change more rapidly than conditions seem to allow. Global comparative data from numerous studies – including M. Mousseau's works – are used to disentangle the factors that contribute to "democratic peace", that is, the fact that democratic societies do not go to war with each other. This inquiry reveals the new dimension of sociodiversity, which allows societies where individuality is strong to constantly produce alternatives and avoid closure. The book concludes with a coda on peace and sociodiversity which explains how contemporary societies can ensure durable peace and adequate social justice at the same time. Written in a clear and direct style, this volume will appeal to students, researchers and scholars with an interest in political sociology, anthropology, international relations, war studies, as well as conflict and peace studies.

Conflict and group boundaries; Hostility and tensions in conflict relationship; In-group conflict and group sctructure; Conflict with out-group and group sctructure; Ideology and conflict; Conflict calls forallies.

By bringing into dialogue modern systems theory and international relations, this text provides theoretically innovative and empirically rich perspectives on conflicts in world society. This collection contrasts Niklas Luhmann’s theory of world society in modern systems theory with more classical approaches to the study of conflicts, offering a fresh perspective on territorial conflicts in international relations. It includes chapters on key issues such as: conflicts and human rights conflicts in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa war and violence Greek-Turkish relations conflict theory the role of states in world societal conflicts legal territorial disputes in Australia hegemony and conflict in global law conflict management after 9/11. While all contributions draw from the theory of world society in modern systems theory, the authors offer rich multi-disciplinary perspectives which bring in concepts from international relations, peace and conflict studies, sociology, law and philosophy. Territorial Conflicts in World Society will appeal to international relations specialists, peace and conflict researchers and sociologists.

This volume develops and describes an ontology of modern conflict. Modern conflict is a complex adaptive system. As such, it exhibits emergent properties, or properties that are not predictable from simple descriptions of the system. The Modern Conflict Ontology (MCO) creates a structure for collecting and analyzing information regarding both conventional and unconventional conflict in the face of uncertainty. The first three chapters of the book begin the discussion of the MCO. The first chapter introduces the foundational concepts. The second chapter discusses modern conflict in detail. The third chapter provides an overview of ontologies in sufficient detail to make the rest of the book understandable, but without covering the minutia of the subject. The next ten chapters describe the parts of the MCO. Each part is a sub-ontology and is discussed in detail, including connections to the other parts. Instances are used very liberally to ensure that the concepts are made concrete. The final chapter consolidates the descriptions of the ontology into a discussion of “what we can know.” It describes the implementation history and changes from the predecessor Unconventional Conflict Ontology (UCO) to the MCO, plus some uses of the ontology and potential future enhancements. Providing an ontology that describes the entire modern conflict domain, this volume is appropriate for military professionals and academics and professionals in political science, computer science, and operations research.