Overcoming Intractable Conflicts

Despite considerable progress in research and practice in the constructive transformation of intractable conflicts beginning in the 1970s, many terribly destructive conflicts have recently erupted. New circumstances have emerged that have resulted in regressions. The contributions in this book examine many of the new challenges and obstacles to the transformation of intractable conflicts. It also offers an array of new and promising opportunities for constructive transformations. The book brings together analyses of U.S.-based conflicts with those from many regions of the world. International, intra-state, and local conflicts are explored, along with those that have been violent and non-violent. The diversity in disciplines among the authors provides a wide range of theoretical approaches to explaining how a variety of intractable conflicts can be transformed. Case studies of local, national, and transnational conflicts serve to illustrate this new landscape. These analyses are complemented by conceptual discussions relating to new conflict systems, actors, dynamics and strategies. Policy implications of findings are also presented.

This book provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, original, and holistic analysis of the socio-psychological dynamics of intractable conflicts. Daniel Bar-Tal's analysis rests on the premise that intractable conflicts share certain socio-psychological foundations, despite differences in context and other characteristics. He describes a full cycle of intractable conflicts - their outbreak, escalation, and reconciliation through peace building.

Some conflicts seem to defy resolution. Marked by longevity, recurrent violence, and militant agendas, these intractable conflicts refuse to be settled either on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. The longer they fester, the stronger the international community's inclination to lose heart and to turn away. But, explain the authors of this provocative volume, effective mediation in intractable conflicts is possible if the mediator knows what to do and when to do it.Written from the mediator's point of view, "Taming Intractable Conflicts" lays out the steps involved in tackling the most stubborn of conflicts. It first puts mediation in a larger context, exploring why mediators choose or decline to become involved, what happens when they get involved for the wrong reasons, and the impact of the mediator's institutional and political environment. It then discusses best mediation tradecraft at different stages: at the beginning of the engagement, when the going gets very rough, during the settlement negotiations, and in the post-settlement implementation stage.Forceful, concise, and highly readable, "Taming Intractable Conflicts" serves not only as a hands on guide for would-be mediators but also as a powerful argument for students of conflict management that intractable conflicts are not beyond the reach of mediation."

One in every twenty difficult conflicts ends up grinding to a halt. That's fully 5 percent of not just the diplomatic and political clashes we read about in the newspaper, but disputations and arguments from our everyday lives as well. Once we get pulled into these self-perpetuating conflicts it is nearly impossible to escape. The 5 percent rule us. So what can we do when we find ourselves ensnared? According to Dr. Peter T. Coleman, the solution is in seeing our conflict anew. Applying lessons from complexity theory to examples from both American domestic politics and international diplomacy--from abortion debates to the enmity between Israelis and Palestinians--Coleman provides innovative new strategies for dealing with intractable disputes. A timely, paradigm-shifting look at conflict, The Five Percent is an invaluable guide to preventing even the most fractious negotiations from foundering.

The partisan divide in the United States has widened to a chasm. Legislators vote along party lines and rarely cross the aisle. Political polarization is personal, too—and it is making us miserable. Surveys show that Americans have become more fearful and hateful of supporters of the opposing political party and imagine that they hold much more extreme views than they actually do. We have cordoned ourselves off: we prefer to date and marry those with similar opinions and are less willing to spend time with people on the other side. How can we loosen the grip of this toxic polarization and start working on our most pressing problems? The Way Out offers an escape from this morass. The social psychologist Peter T. Coleman explores how conflict resolution and complexity science provide guidance for dealing with seemingly intractable political differences. Deploying the concept of attractors in dynamical systems, he explains why we are stuck in this rut as well as the unexpected ways that deeply rooted oppositions can and do change. Coleman meticulously details principles and practices for navigating and healing the difficult divides in our homes, workplaces, and communities, blending compelling personal accounts from his years of working on entrenched conflicts with lessons from leading-edge research. The Way Out is a vital and timely guide to breaking free from the cycle of mutual contempt in order to better our lives, relationships, and country.

The Handbook of Conflict Resolution, Second Edition is written for both the seasoned professional and the student who wants to deepen their understanding of the processes involved in conflicts and their knowledge of how to manage them constructively. It provides the theoretical underpinnings that throw light on the fundamental social psychological processes involved in understanding and managing conflicts at all levels—interpersonal, intergroup, organizational, and international. The Handbook covers a broad range of topics including information on cooperation and competition, justice, trust development and repair, resolving intractable conflict, and working with culture and conflict. Comprehensive in scope, this new edition includes chapters that deal with language, emotion, gender, and personal implicit theories as they relate to conflict.

This volume works explores a transferable theory of a specific social-psychological infrastructure, based on the work of Dr. Daniel Bar-Tal, that develops from cultures immersed in intractable conflicts. The book's approach to this issue is different from approaches that are predominant in social psychology. This is because an important inspiration of many scholars that contributed to the book is their everyday experience of living in a region where intractable conflict shapes the life's of everybody who lives there. On the basis of this experience and on the basis of extensive research, an elaborate theory of intractable conflict was developed that deals with the origin of such conflicts, the mechanisms that maintain them and the processes that may contribute to their peaceful solution. In light of recent research and developments, this volume demonstrates, analyzes and reviews the theory of a social-psychological infrastructure formed in societies with intractable conflicts. It explores the contents of these elements of the infrastructure, the processes through which they are acquired and maintained, their functions, the societal mechanisms that contribute to their institutionalization, as well as their role in the crystallization of social identity and development of a culture of conflict. By demonstrating that it can be applied to various kinds of intractable conflicts in various places of world, the volume argues that the theory is transferable and universal. Moreover, the volume aims to exhibit new connections and integrations between Bar-Tal's theories and other prominent theoretical frameworks in social and political psychology. Presenting both a comprehensive overview of works that have been influenced by Bar-Tal's theories and research, as well as a wide gate to future studies that will connect Bar-Tal’s work to recent theoretical developments in related domains, Understanding the Social Psychology of Intractable Conflicts: Celebrating the Legacy of Daniel Bar Tal is an important text for all those interested in developing a sustainable, peaceful world.

"In the tradition of bestselling explainers like The Tipping Point, [this] book [is] based on cutting edge science that breaks down the idea of extreme conflict--the kind that paralyzes people and places--and then shows how to escape it"--