Commonwealth Youth Programme

Diploma in Youth Development Work

Module 10

Conflict Resolution
Strategies and
Skills
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
London SW1Y 5HX
UNITED KINGDOM

© Commonwealth Secretariat, 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise without
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Secretariat.

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that minimise the destructive impact on the environment.

Copies of this publication may be obtained from:

Commonwealth Youth Programme
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5HX
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 20 7747 6462/6456
Fax: +44 20 7747 6549
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http//www.thecommonwealth.org/cyp

CYP Africa Regional Centre CYP Asia Regional Centre

University of Zambia Sector 12 (PEC Campus)
Great East Road Chandigarh - 160012
P O Box 30190 INDIA
Lusaka Tel: +91 172 2744482/2744463/274182
ZAMBIA Fax: +91 172 2745426/2744902
Tel: +260-1-252733/252153/294102 E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: +260-1-253698
E-mail: [email protected]

CYP Caribbean Regional Centre CYP Pacific Centre

Homestretch Avenue Lower Panatina Campus
D’Urban Park P O Box 1681
P O Box 101063 Honiara
Georgetown SOLOMON ISLANDS
GUYANA Tel: +677-38374/5/6
Tel: +592-2-268565 Fax: +677-38377
Fax: +592-2-268371 E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]

2 Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

The Commonwealth Youth Programme’s Mission

CYP works to engage and empower young people (aged 15–29) to enhance their contribution to development.
We do this in partnership with young people, governments and other key stakeholders.

Our mission is grounded within a rights-based approach, guided by the realities facing young people in the
Commonwealth, and anchored in the belief that young people are:
• a force for peace, democracy, equality and good governance,
• a catalyst for global consensus building, and
• an essential resource for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Acknowledgments
The Module Writers
Module 1 Dr G Gunawardena – Sri Lanka Module 8 R K Mani – India
Module 2 Lincoln Williams – Jamaica Module 9 Teorongonui Keelan – Aotearoa/New Zealand
Module 3 Louise King – Australia Module 10 Dr P Kumar – India
Module 4 Peta-Anne Baker – Jamaica Module 11 Steven Cordeiro – Australia
Module 5 Dr Mable Milimo – Zambia Module 12 Dr M Macwan’gi – Zambia
Module 6 Morag Humble – Canada Module 13 Paulette Bynoe – Guyana
Module 7 Anso Kellerman – South Africa

The CYP Instructional Design Team

Original version 2007 revision
Project manager Sid Verber – UK
Senior ID Melanie Guile and Candi Westney – Catherine Atthill – UK
Australia
Module 1 Hilmah Mollomb – Solomon Is Catherine Atthill – UK
Module 2 Ermina Osoba/RMIT – Antigua Catherine Atthill – UK
Module 3 Candi Westney – Australia Rosario Passos – Canada
Module 4 Rosaline Corbin – Barbados Julie Hamilton – Canada
Module 5 Judith Kamau – Botswana Catherine Atthill – UK
Module 6 Dr Turiman Suandi – Malaysia Chris Joynes – UK
Module 7 Evelyn Nonyongo – South Africa Evelyn Nonyongo – South Africa
Module 8 Melanie Guile – Australia Chris Joynes – UK
Module 9 Irene Paulsen – Solomon Is Rosario Passos – Canada
Module 10 Prof Prabha Chawla – India, Rosario Passos – Canada
and Suzi Hewlett – Australia
Module 11 Melanie Guile – Australia Rosario Passos – Canada
Module 12 Dr R Siaciwena – Zambia Dr R Siaciwena – Zambia
Module 13 Lynette Anderson – Guyana Chris Joynes – UK
Tutor manual Martin Notley / Lew Owen / Catherine Atthill – UK
Thomas Abraham / David Maunders
Typesetters Klara Coco – Australia Decent Typesetting – UK
Editors Lew Owen / Paulette Bynoe Lyn Ward – UK
Tina Johnson - USA
Proofreader RMIT Andrew Robertson

The University of Huddersfield for the Curriculum Framework Document and the Editorial work on the
module content – Martin Notley and Lew Owen.
Pan-Commonwealth consultant in development of the CYP Diploma – Martin Notley.
The Commonwealth of Learning for the provision of technical advice and expertise throughout the process.

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work 3

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The CYP Regional Centres and the following institutions for conducting the Regional Reviews:
• CYP Africa Centre; Adult Learning Distance Education Centre, Seychelles; Makerere University, Uganda;
Management Development Institute, The Gambia; Open University of Tanzania; The Namibian College of
Open Learning; National University of Lesotho; University of Abuja, Nigeria; University of Botswana;
University of Ghana; University of Malawi; University of Nairobi, Kenya; University of Sierra Leone,
Fourah Bay College; University of South Africa; Zambia Insurance Business College Trust.
• CYP Asia Centre; Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan; Annamalai University, India; Bangladesh Open
University; Indira Gandhi National Open University, India; Open University of Sri Lanka; SNDT Women’s
University, India; Universiti Putra Malaysia.
• CYP Caribbean Centre; University of Guyana; University of the West Indies.
• CPY Pacific Centre; Papua New Guinea Institute of Public Administration; Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, Australia; Solomon Islands College of Higher Education; University of the South Pacific, Fiji
Islands.
Graphic Art – Decent Typesetting.
Final Module review – Magna Aidoo, Lew Owen, Paulette Bynoe.
Guy Forster for the module cover designs.

The CYP Youth Work Education and Training (YWET) Team

PCO Adviser: Youth Development YWET PACIFIC
Cristal de Saldanha Stainbank Jeff Bost
Tony Coghlan
YWET Pan-Commonwealth Office Sharlene Gardiner
Jane Foster Suzi Hewlett
Tina Ho Irene Paulsen
Omowumi Ovie-Afabor
Fatiha Serour Pan-Commonwealth Quality Assurance Team
Andrew Simmons (PCQAT)
Nancy Spence Africa
Eleni Stamiris Joseph Ayee
Ignatius Takawira Linda Cornwell
Clara Fayorsey
YWET AFRICA Ann Harris
Yinka Aganga-Williams Helen Jones
Gilbert Kamanga Fred Mutesa
Richard Mkandawire Asia
Valencia Mogegeh Thomas Chirayil Abraham
James Odit Shamsuddin Ahmed
Vinayak Dalvie
YWET ASIA Bhuddi Weerasinghe
Seela Ebert Caribbean
Raj Mishra Mark Kirton
Bagbhan Prakash Stella Odie-Ali
Saraswathy Rajagopal Carolyn Rolle
Raka Rashid Pacific
Rajan Welukar Robyn Broadbent
Ron Crocombe
YWET CARIBBEAN David Maunders
Armstrong Alexis Sina Va’ai
Heather Anderson
Henry Charles YWET Evaluators and Consultants
Kala Dowlath Chandu Christian
Ivan Henry Dennis Irvine
Glenyss James Oscar Musandu-Nyamayaro
Richard Wah
YWET PACIFIC
Afu Billy
Sushil Ram

4 Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Module contents

Module overview.......................................................... 7
Unit 1: What is conflict? ............................................. 19
Unit 2: The conflict process ........................................ 45
Unit 3: Resolving conflict ........................................... 69
Unit 4: Inter-group conflict ......................................... 93
Summary ..................................................................113
Assignments..............................................................121
Readings ...................................................................123
Module overview

Introduction ................................................................. 9
Module learning outcomes ......................................... 10
About this module...................................................... 11
Assessment ................................................................ 13
Learning tips .............................................................. 15
Studying at a distance ................................................. 17
If you need help ......................................................... 18
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Introduction

Whenever two or more people interact, either as individuals or as part

of a group, there is always potential for conflict. It is no different
when you interact with young people in a work setting: the potential
for conflict is present. It is important that you are aware of that
potential so that you are able to identify a conflict situation and
intervene appropriately to control it.
Workers dealing with young people are often confronted with difficult
situations in which they may be asked to assist in resolving young
people’s problems and conflicts. These may be internal problems of
relationships within a youth group, or relationships between young
people and those in authority, or even conflict between yourself and
the young people you are working with.
This module has been designed to help you understand the nature of
conflict and its effects on people in a range of contexts, both at an
individual and at a group level. We will also look at the processes
involved in behaviour that occurs between different groups, called
inter-group behaviour, and its potential impact on group members.
You will become familiar with techniques designed to facilitate the
resolution of conflict, which will improve your ability to work
effectively with and through conflict. Conflict can lead to both
positive and negative outcomes, depending on how it is handled.
Handled effectively, conflict can become the catalyst for new ideas
and creative approaches for solving problems. It can also be the
starting point for developing more positive relationships among the
people that are party to a conflict.
Throughout the module, we will draw on practical examples from
within the Commonwealth that illuminate the theory and practice of
mediation and negotiation.
You are going to need examples of conflict to produce the
assignments on which you will be assessed later on in the module. To
do this, you might like to collect newspaper articles about current
interpersonal, social and political conflict in your country or
community. Other ways to collect material include listening to the
radio, talking to your family or friends and observing incidents in
your youth group – and making notes.
You need to practice the analytical skills you have been developing
throughout the course by identifying the causes and consequences of
conflict, working out what you might do as a youth development
worker in ensuring the resolution or positive outcomes of conflicts
and passing these skills on to others.

Module overview 9
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Module learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are statements telling you what knowledge and

skills you should have when you have worked through the module.

Knowledge
When you have worked through this module, you should be able to:
z identify examples of conflict in the region where you live,
understand their origins and describe the course the conflicts have
taken
z recognise the different approaches that have been used in
resolving conflict, and the strengths and weaknesses of these
approaches
z apply the insights gained from studying conflict situations to the
kinds of conflict that are encountered in youth development work
z outline the principles and practice of conflict resolution
z identify inter-group conflict and its underlying causes.

Skills
When you have worked through this module, you should be able to:
z recognise the existence of pre-conflict and conflict situations
when they are encountered in different youth and development
settings
z apply the theory you have studied to the analysis of conflict
situations and assist others to do the same
z employ negotiation and mediation skills in bringing together
conflicting groups or individuals
z consider strategies to resolve conflict when agreement cannot be
reached by consensus.

10 Module overview
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

About this module

The module Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills is divided into four
units:

Unit 1: What is conflict?

In this unit you will learn about some of the key theories related to
conflict and distinguish between functional and dysfunctional
conflict.

Unit 2: The conflict process

This unit aims to increase your awareness of the sources of conflict
and the conflict process. You will learn about the different ways that
people deal with conflict.

Unit 3: Resolving conflict

In this unit, you will learn about techniques designed to resolve
conflict between individuals and within groups.

Unit 4: Inter-group conflict

This unit examines conflict resolution in an inter-group context, and
looks at methods for successfully managing inter-group relations.
Each unit will address one or more of the module learning outcomes.

Module overview 11
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

This table shows which units cover the different module learning
outcomes.

Module 10 Learning outcomes 1 2 3 4

Knowledge

1 Identify examples of conflict in the region x x x x

where you live, understand their origins
and describe the course the conflicts have
taken.

2 Recognise the different approaches that x

have been used in resolving conflict, and
the strengths and weaknesses of these
approaches.

3 Apply the insights gained from studying x x

conflict situations to the kinds of conflict
that are encountered in youth development
work.

4 Outline the principles and practice of x x x

conflict resolution.

5 Identify inter-group conflict and its x

underlying causes.

Skills

6 Recognise the existence of pre-conflict and x x x x

conflict situations when they are
encountered in different youth and
development settings.

7 Apply the theory you have studied to the x x x

analysis of conflict situations and assist
others to do the same.

8 Employ negotiation and mediation skills in x x x

bringing together conflicting groups or
individuals.

9 Consider strategies to resolve conflict when x x x

agreement cannot be reached by
consensus.

12 Module overview
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Assessment

This module is divided into a number of units. Each unit will address
some of the learning outcomes. You will be asked to complete
various tasks so that you can demonstrate your competence in
achieving the learning outcomes. The study guide will help you to
succeed in your final assessment tasks.

Methods
Your work in this module will be assessed in the following two ways:
z A report of about 2,000 words – outlined at the end of the
module (worth 80 per cent of the final mark).
z A review of the learning journal you keep – see below (worth 20
per cent of the final mark).
The institution in which you are enrolled for this Diploma
programme may decide to replace part of the final assignment with a
written examination (worth 30 per cent of the final mark.)
Note: We recommend that you discuss the study and assessment
requirements with your tutor before you begin work on the module.
You may want to discuss such topics as:
z the learning activities you will undertake on your own
z the learning activities you will undertake as part of a group
z whether it is practical for you to do all of the activities
z the evidence you will produce to prove that you have met the
learning outcomes – for example, learning journal entries, or
activities that prepare for the final assignment
z how to relate the assignment topics to your own context
z when to submit learning journal entries and assignments, and
when you will get feedback.

Learning journal
Educational research has shown that keeping a learning journal is a
valuable strategy to help your learning development. It makes use of
the important faculty of reflecting on your learning, which supports
you in developing a critical understanding of it. The journal is where
you will record your thoughts and feelings as you are learning and
where you will write your responses to the study guide activities. The
journal is worth 20 per cent of the final assessment. Your responses to
the self-help questions can also be recorded here if you wish, though
you may use a separate notebook if that seems more useful.
For Module 4, Assignment 2 – The learning journal – requires you to
produce the following material:

Module overview 13
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

1 The notes and records from the activities included in each unit
2 At least 10 ‘reflective’ entries that record reflections on your paid
or unpaid face-to-face work with young people and/or other
aspects of your work as a youth development worker (e.g., staff
supervision, networking with other organisations). Each reflective
entry should use the following format:
(a) Brief description of what happened and what you did
(b) Brief reflection on why it happened and why you took the
action
(c) What ideas or theories explain (a) and (b)
(d) What would you do differently next time? What would you
do in the same way next time? Why?
Again, we recommend you discuss the assessment requirements with
your tutor before you begin, including how your learning journal will
be assessed.

Self-test
Take a few minutes to try this self-test. If you think you already have
some of the knowledge or skills covered by this module and answer
‘Yes’ to most of these questions, you may be able to apply for credits
from your learning institution. Talk to your tutor about this.
Note: This is not the full challenge test to be held by your learning
institution for ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’.
Put a tick in the appropriate box in answer to the following questions:

Yes No More
or less

Are you aware of conflict within the

region where you live, and can you
describe the origins and the course
events have taken?

Can you discuss different approaches

that have been taken or advocated
to resolve these conflicts, and the
strengths and weaknesses of these
approaches?

Can you explain how you would

apply the lessons learned in these
situations to the resolution of
conflict that can be encountered in
youth development work?

14 Module overview
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Yes No More
or less

Can you discuss the principles and

practice of conflict resolution?

Can you describe inter-group conflict

and its underlying causes?

Have you ever assisted a group of

young people to work successfully
through a situation of conflict?

Can you recognise conflict situations

in a variety of settings?

Can you assist others to apply

conflict resolution theory?

Can you describe and demonstrate

the negotiation and mediation skills
you used in that situation?

Can you describe the theory of

consensus?

Have you ever designed a strategy to

progress a conflict when a consensus
cannot be reached by the parties to
the conflict?

Learning tips

You may not have studied by distance education before. Here are
some guidelines to help you.

How long will it take?

It will probably take you a minimum of 70 hours to work through this
study guide. The time should be spent on studying the module and
the readings, doing the activities and self-help questions and
completing the assessment tasks.
Note that units are not all the same length, so make sure you plan and
pace your work to give yourself time to complete all of them.

Module overview 15
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

About the study guide

This study guide gives you a unit-by-unit guide to the module you are
studying. Each unit includes information, case studies, activities, self-
help questions and readings for you to complete. These are all
designed to help you achieve the learning outcomes that are stated at
the beginning of the module.

Activities, self-help questions and case studies

The activities, self-help questions and case studies are part of a
planned distance education programme. They will help you make
your learning more active and effective, as you process and apply
what you read. They will help you to engage with ideas and check
your own understanding. It is vital that you take the time to complete
them in the order that they occur in the study guide. Make sure you
write full answers to the activities, or take notes of any discussions.
We recommend you write your answers in your learning journal and
keep it with your study materials as a record of your work. You can
refer to it whenever you need to remind yourself of what you have
done. The activities may be reflective exercises designed to get you
thinking about aspects of the subject matter, or they may be practical
tasks to undertake on your own or with fellow students. Answers are
not given for activities. A time is suggested for each activity (for
example, ‘about 20 minutes’). This is just a guide. It does not include
the time you will need to spend on any discussions or research
involved.
The self-help questions are usually more specific and require a brief
written response. Answers to them are given at the end of each unit.
If you wish, you may also record your answers to the self-help
questions in your learning journal, or you may use a separate
notebook.
The case studies give examples, often drawn from real life, to apply
the concepts in the study guide. Often the case studies are used as the
basis for an activity or self-help question.

Readings
There is a section of Readings at the end of the study guide. These
provide additional information or other viewpoints and relate to
topics in the units. You are expected to read these.
There is a list of references at the end of each unit. This gives details
about books that are referred to in the unit. It may give you ideas for
further reading. You are not expected to read all the books on this list.
Please note: In a few cases full details of publications referred to in
the module have not been provided, as we have been unable to
confirm the details with the original authors.
There is a list of Further Reading at the end of each module. This
includes books and articles referred to in the module and are

16 Module overview
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

suggestions for those who wish to explore topics further. You are
encouraged to read as widely as possible during and after the course,
but you are not expected to read all the books on this list. Module 4
also provides a list of useful websites.
Although there is no set requirement, you should aim to do some
follow-up reading to get alternative viewpoints and approaches. We
suggest you discuss this with your tutor. What is available to you in
libraries? Are there other books of particular interest to you or your
region? Can you use alternative resources, such as newspapers and
the internet?

Unit summary
At the end of each unit there is a list of the main points. Use it to help
you review your learning. Go back if you think you have not covered
something properly.

Icons
In the margins of the Study Guide, you will find these icons that tell
you what to do:

Self-help question
Answer the question. Suggested answers are provided at the end
of each unit.

Activity
Complete the activity. Activities are often used to encourage
reflective learning and may involve a practical task. Answers are
not provided.

Reading
Read as suggested.

Case study
Read these examples and complete any related self-help
question or activity.

Studying at a distance

There are many advantages to studying by distance education – a full

set of learning materials is provided, and you study close to home in

Module overview 17
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

your own community. You can also plan some of your study time to
fit in with other commitments like work or family.
However, there are also challenges. Learning at a distance from your
learning institution requires discipline and motivation. Here are some
tips for studying at a distance.
1 Plan – Give priority to study sessions with your tutor and make
sure you allow enough travel time to your meeting place. Make a
study schedule and try to stick to it. Set specific days and times
each week for study and keep them free of other activities. Make
a note of the dates that your assessment pieces are due and plan
for extra study time around those dates.
2 Manage your time – Set aside a reasonable amount of time each
week for your study programme – but don’t be too ambitious or
you won’t be able to keep up the pace. Work in productive blocks
of time and include regular rests.
3 Be organised – Have your study materials organised in one place
and keep your notes clearly labelled and sorted. Work through
the topics in your study guide systematically and seek help for
difficulties straight away. Never leave this until later.
4 Find a good place to study – Most people need order and quiet
to study effectively, so try to find a suitable place to do your work
– preferably somewhere where you can leave your study materials
ready until next time.
5 Ask for help if you need it – This is the most vital part of
studying at a distance. No matter what the difficulty is, seek help
from your tutor or fellow students straight away.
6 Don’t give up – If you miss deadlines for assessment pieces,
speak to your tutor – together you can work out what to do.
Talking to other students can also make a difference to your study
progress. Seeking help when you need it is a key way of making
sure you complete your studies – so don’t give up!

If you need help

If you have any difficulties with your studies, contact your local
learning centre or your tutor, who will be able to help you.
Note: You will find more detailed information about learner support
from your learning institution.
We wish you all the best with your studies.

18 Module overview
Unit 1: What is
conflict?

Unit introduction ....................................................... 21

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 21
Definitions of conflict................................................. 22
Views on conflict ........................................................ 25
Analysing conflict....................................................... 34
Conflict in groups....................................................... 35
The conflict paradox................................................... 39
Unit summary ............................................................ 40
Answer to self-help question ....................................... 42
References.................................................................. 43
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 1 What is conflict?

Conflict is intrinsic to social life. During the course of your activity as

Unit 1
a youth worker, it is highly likely that you will be involved in conflict
situations. Many of these situations will consist of relatively minor
incidents: for example, an exhibition of bad manners by a young
person who turns her back on you when you are giving instructions
about where and when you will be meeting for a volleyball match.
Sometimes, however, these situations will consist of much more
serious matters: for example, confrontation with a member of a group
who has been stealing from other members.
As you learn about the origins of conflict in this unit, we will
compare and contrast the phenomenon of conflict from several
different views:
1 functionalist
2 structuralist
3 human relations
4 interactionist.
We will attempt in particular to distinguish between functional and
dysfunctional conflict.

Unit learning outcomes

When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z outline the four views on conflict: functionalist, structuralist,
human relations and interactionist
z differentiate between task and relationship conflict
z analyse a conflict situation, and determine the level of conflict
and whether the conflict is functional or dysfunctional.

Unit 1: What is conflict? 21

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Definitions of conflict

Conflict is an inevitable social occurrence because human beings have

widely varying needs, interests and viewpoints. One of the values of
conflict is that it sharpens our awareness of whether or not we are
committed to respecting the opinions of others and whether or not we
have the skills to work through and resolve our differences with
others.
At times, there will inevitably be areas of conflict between you and
the young people you work with. There may also be conflict between:
z you and your work colleagues
z youth development practitioners and the agencies they work for
z the prevailing laws and what the young people you are leading
feel compelled to do.
You may also face inner mental conflict that impacts on your work.
Conflict between and among groups is also very natural, given that
groups tend to be in positions of rivalry over relatively scarce
resources: land, wealth, jobs, territory, reproductive resources, etc.
Before further exploring the concept of conflict between groups, let’s
agree on what a group is.

Defining a group
A group is a social unit that:
(i) consists of a number of individuals who, at a given time, stand in
definite interdependent status and role relationships with one
another,
and
(ii) explicitly and implicitly possesses a set of values or norms
regulating the behaviour of individual members, at least in
matters of consequence to the group; thus shared attitudes,
sentiments, aspirations and goals are related to, and implicit in,
the common values or norms of the group (Hogg and Abrams,
2001).
There are various sociological perspectives of group conflict. Some
commentators will accept that there is a situation of conflict only
when there is open struggle such as fighting. Others require there to
be only the existence of competing claims to scarce resources. The
following definition of conflict illustrates this latter perspective:
“Conflict is...a process that begins when one party perceives
that another party has negatively affected, or is about to
negatively affect, something that the first party cares about.”
(Robbins et al, 1994, p. 565)

22 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Conflict thus represents a clash of ideas, interests, values, behaviours

or the competing needs of two or more individuals or groups (who
are the ‘parties’ to a dispute). It is not always a win–lose struggle
since most instances of conflict occur when individuals share the
same goals and simply disagree over the means by which these goals
can be achieved.

Unit 1
Regardless of the divergent perspectives of the concept of conflict,
one of two common themes can be found in most situations:
z the conflict occurs around tasks
z the conflict occurs around relationships.
These common themes will help you to understand and deal with
conflict in a youth development context. Because you will be working
in teams, it is important to recognise the two types of conflict that
affect team performance, based on the themes identified above:
1 Task conflict: This type of conflict concerns disagreements over
the content of the tasks being carried out – for example,
differences of opinion among the young people involved in a
project on how best to achieve the desired outcomes.
2 Relationship conflict: This type of conflict concerns
interpersonal hostility and tensions between individuals, rather
than conflict over the task being carried out.

Levels of conflict
Conflict occurs in many different spheres (ranging from the personal
to the broad social and environmental) and at different levels. We can
identify four levels of conflict:
z Intra-personal: conflicts that occur within the consciousness of
an individual
z Interpersonal: conflicts that occur between two or more
individuals (including family and friends)
z Intra-group: conflicts that occur within a particular group
z Inter-group: conflicts that occur between two or more groups
(e.g. ethnic or religious groups).
Sometimes inter-group and intra-group conflicts can be manifested at
the organisational, national and international levels due to political,
social, economic and even environmental factors. For example, tribal
conflicts can surface among government agencies over supposedly
non-tribal issues when governments are formulating social policy in
the national context rather than the local, tribal context.

Perceiving conflict
Whether a conflict exists or not is normally an issue of whether or
not it is perceived to exist. For a conflict to exist, the situation must be

Unit 1: What is conflict? 23

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

perceived as a conflict by the people or parties who are involved. If no

one is aware of a conflict, it is generally assumed that no conflict
exists, though a key tenet of Marxist analysis is that the working
classes are in structural conflict with the ruling classes in capitalist
society, whether they know it or not.
In your practice, you should be wary of entering into conflict
situations until you have fully ascertained whether the conflict has a
real basis. Perceived conflicts may not be real. For example, you may
have found yourself arguing with a friend and realised at the end of
the argument that you were both saying the same thing in different
terms. The initial perception of conflict may have been caused by
difficulty in communicating your ideas to each other. This would
sometimes appear to be the case when sects of the same religion are
in conflict over matters of small differences in the interpretation of
scripture, though sometimes these are very real conflicts of principle.
As Marxists have realised, many circumstances that could be
described as situations of conflict do not become conflicts, because
the parties involved do not perceive the conflict. For example, despite
equal pay legislation and commitment to the International Labour
Organization’s convention on equal pay, there are many examples of
women in Commonwealth countries who receive significantly less
pay than men for doing equal work. In some situations, women have
perceived this as a conflict and converted it into a real conflict in
order to address the inequity, especially when influenced by radical
feminism (see below). In other situations and in some industries, it
remains a potential conflict situation, but not one perceived by the
parties; hence it has not yet become an overt conflict situation.

Conflict behaviour
Let’s consider the example of resources: all resources are limited and
therefore relatively scarce. People’s needs (or wants) often exceed
resource availability. This imbalance between the available resources
and the needs (or wants) of the people often causes ‘blocking’
behaviour, with both parties trying to get more of the resources than
the other side. The parties are likely then to be in opposition. When
one party is perceived to block the access to the resources of another,
a conflict will most probably result.
To identify a conflict situation one should assess whether the conflict
is caused by an intentional act – that is, somebody does something on
purpose – or whether the conflict is caused by an unintentional act –
that is, somebody does something accidentally.
The question is then whether blocking behaviour is likely to be a
conscious and intended action, or whether it might have occurred as a
result of circumstances. For example, in many Commonwealth
countries, the eldest son in a family traditionally inherits more
resources from his parents than the other siblings. However, given the
modern democratic context, does this suggest to the other siblings
that the eldest son, in collusion with the parents, has deliberately

24 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

blocked their access to family resources? Today that might well put
the eldest son in a formal conflict situation with his siblings, one that
could end in court.

Activity 1.1
(about 20 minutes)

Unit 1
This exercise is to help you develop your own understanding of
conflict.
Reflect on a conflict situation in which you have been
involved. For example, it could be conflict within a staff team,
differences of opinion among youth workers, conflict between
members of a youth group, etc. It can be at any level (intra-
personal, interpersonal, intra-group or inter-group).
Discuss the conflict with your co-workers and/or your tutorial
group or your peers and then make some notes about the
nature and type of the conflict in your learning journal.
Reflect on the following questions to guide your group
discussion:
z How many people were involved?
z How did you feel (if you were personally involved)?
z Was the situation perceived as being one of conflict?
z Was it over scarcity of resources?
Note: Your responses to this activity will help you complete
your final assignment.

We hope you enjoyed the discussion with your peers and that you
were able to make good reflective notes in your learning journal. We
will get back to this activity further on in this unit. Next, let’s look at
how we can view conflict within a social context.

Views on conflict

Depending on what perspective we use to analyse society as a whole,

we can look at social conflict through four different lenses:
1 functionalist
2 structuralist
3 human relations
4 interactionist.
In Module 2 Young People and Society, you learned about three
perspectives to study society (functionalist, structuralist and
interactionist), so the names of these views will be familiar to you.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The views on conflict are closely connected with these social

perspectives, so now may be a good time for you to revise Unit 1 of
Module 2 so that you have the key concepts behind each one of the
perspectives in mind as you look at conflict.

1 Functionalist
The functionalist view of conflict is determined by the functionalist
view of society (refer to Module 2 Young People and Society).
Functionalist thinkers argue that the prevailing forms of social
behaviour and social structures in a given society have developed as
natural, manageable developments of the way that society has
evolved. Therefore, many social conflicts are functional for the
problems that that particular society has to resolve. When you point
to examples of caste or gender conflict, functionalists are usually able
to say that there are underlying social changes that are making the
existence of certain caste or gender relationships out of date.
Therefore, these traditional relationships are dysfunctional for
modern society. The caste and gender conflicts are therefore
functional because they will help the society to adapt to the change.
Where repeated patterns of conflict occur and are eventually
resolved, then those patterns of conflict function to ensure that the
society goes on adjusting sensibly to change. Such are the conflicts
between teenage children and their parents in capitalist societies, for
example. In rapidly changing social systems like capitalist societies,
teens are the ones who carry the seeds of social change, hence they
are the first to make the inevitable adjustments that their elders often
later accept. An example of this view on conflict in capitalist societies
is the sexual freedom of young people compared with their elders.
Eventually, as the conflict situation evolved, the whole society tended
to become more sexually permissive.
Functionalists interpret the many forms of conflict that we observe in
society as a natural part of the process of living together and
resolving our social problems. Capitalist societies are based on
competitive processes, so we inevitably see frequent struggles between
workers and managers, women and men, the old and the young,
those within the law and those outside the law. Functionalists argue
that these struggles can be resolved by intelligent leadership and good
management.
Over the years, the social structure has had to change in order to
accommodate the new forces that are at work within societies, groups
and individuals. Functionalists see this as a valuable response to
changed conditions – unlike conflict theorists, who tend to see it as
part of an ongoing social revolution. Functionalists point to societies
like Vietnam, for example, which won its freedom fighting as a
communist revolutionary society against the US capitalist
superpower, in a war that many people described as an ideological
struggle against world capitalism by poor people. Yet, today Vietnam

26 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

is developing as a very successful capitalist society, with America as

one of its major partners.
As a youth leader you may find that there are some people or groups
causing conflict that you can do nothing about. Functionalism says
that their behaviour is dysfunctional for the society in which they are
working, and/or it may be dysfunctional for them if they wish simply

Unit 1
to achieve more social prestige or success than they are getting. Your
skills may not be enough to deal with this, though social analysis will
help: either human relations analysis and/or structural analysis will
assist in examining the social class/ caste tensions. It may be that the
conflict theorists are right, and that what you are facing is part of a
revolutionary struggle to establish a new social order, based on very
different lines. This may well be what is happening among some
young Christians and some young Muslims.

2 Structuralist
The structural view of conflict starts from the idea that human
societies progress and develop primarily through social conflict: the
struggle between social factions who are basically hostile to each
other, even though for long periods they may co-exist peacefully. Let’s
look at social conflict under the following three perspectives:
z Marxism
z capitalism
z radical feminism.

Marxism
The main influence on structuralist conflict theorists is the work of
Karl Marx, though the essential ideas have now become strongly
influential in radical feminism, whose conclusions are very different
from Marx’s (see below). Marxists analyse societies, including the
history of pre-capitalist societies, in terms of structural conflicts for
control of the production and distribution of wealth in a society.
Marxists say that this conflict may sometimes take the form of a
religious struggle, but at base it is a political and economic struggle.
This conflict is fought out also in the world of ideas or ideology, and
each side will try to get control of the ideology of the mass of the
people in order to gain power.
In capitalist systems the basic conflict is between those who have the
control of production and distribution of wealth (the bourgeoisie) and
those who have to sell their ability to work to the capitalist system
(the proletariat). You will probably be able to see this for yourself if
you work with unemployed youth. They are likely to be unemployed
because, in a world where capital is free to go wherever it wants, the
people who have the money want to invest it where it creates most
profit. Today that will be mainly in places such as China, where the
costs of production are cheap but the economic infrastructure is
developed. It’s very difficult for working people to fight against this in

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

the global market because there are few barriers to rich people and
corporations who want to put their money where it will earn most for
them.
Let’s look at one example: in the summer of 2006 Peugeot Cars (UK)
decided to shut their major British factory so that they could
concentrate production where their costs would be cheaper. The trade
unions were unable to prevent this by discussion, so instead they
called on the British public to stop buying new Peugeot cars, in order
to put pressure on the company that way.
If you look at Reading 1 ‘Crushed by Well-Heeled Global Boots’,
which is an article by Michael Meacher in the UK Times of 8 June
2006, you will see the full nature of the problem.

Activity 1.2
(about 15 minutes)
In your learning journal, write a paragraph saying why, in your
opinion, the article you have read describes a conflict that is
structural in nature. Don’t forget to refer to the text in the
article to justify your reflections.

On the wider stage, these conflicts are having an enormous effect on

poor countries, particularly on the poorest groups. In the following
case study, you can see how the underlying structural conflict was
carried to European centres of power by activists from India and all
over the developing world.

Case study 1.1

The Inter-Continental Caravan
In 1999 several hundred activists from India and other developing
countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal and several countries in Latin
America, came to Europe to protest against the greed of
multinational companies and banks and the free market policies that
are directly threatening the world’s poorest people.
Under the aegis of the Inter-Continental Caravan, the activists
launched their civil disobedience protest – a form of agitation
favoured by Gandhi during the freedom struggle in India.
Those involved described it as the first time the poorest and the most
disadvantaged people in the world had demonstrated en masse in the
developed world against corporate greed and the unfair rules of
international trade.
The activists took part in gatherings and actions in Austria, France,
Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

28 Unit 1: What is conflict?

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Radical feminism
Radical feminism – ‘radical’ here meaning looking at root causes
rather than extremist – takes a structural conflict view of society, but
in this case, the two social factions in conflict are women and men.
The movement also points to the evidence for this struggle as the
main human struggle throughout history. Radical feminists explain

Unit 1
that, because men have usually come out on top as winners in this
conflict, the achievements of women have been hidden by male
historians. Just as the rich exploit the labour power of the working
classes and label them as intellectually and socially inferior, so have
men done this to women. Women’s labour in home-caring and family
development is unpaid in financial terms and badly recognised in
most societies, where men are usually in control. But this form of
labour is crucial in maintaining living standards and, through the
support of children, many of whom will be the organisers and leaders
of the coming generations, women are the gender mainly responsible
for overall social development. Women do the majority of the world’s
work, but have much less wealth than men and own a very small
proportion of the world’s property.
As a youth development worker you will most likely encounter these
conflicts between the proletariat and the rich, and between women
and men, in your practice. The conflict between women and men will
be visible in how the work is organised, what the distribution of
opportunities is between males and females, the nature of the gender
relationships in groups and so on. It can be difficult to deal with
because of social sensitivities and social norms, especially in societies
where women are supposed to show modesty. But it does require at
least partial resolution if you are to get the best out of your groups. If
the feminists are right, women are the key to social progress. You will
be able to help young women and men understand this concept, as
you work with them to build up women’s skills and enormous
potential.

3 Human relations
Human relations theorists have extended the ideas of functionalism
by a sophisticated analysis of what managers and leaders need to do
in order to manage conflict in human groups, as you have studied in
Module 2 Young People and Society. As a youth development worker,
you are being trained to mediate and manage: to recognise the signs
of dysfunctional behaviour among your clients, to analyse the likely
causes of it, and to make adjustments to the situation so that your
group can pursue and meet its objectives satisfactorily. The reason
behind this training philosophy comes from the ideas of functionalist
administrators, who posit that conflict is the result of poor
communication, narrow mindedness and lack of trust between
people. The functionalist human relations view of conflict is
consistent with the perspective of the local administrators who
replaced the old colonialist authoritarianism in many Commonwealth
countries.

Unit 1: What is conflict? 29

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The view that all conflict is the result of bad people management
provides a clear framework for analysing the behaviour of people who
create conflict, and for developing strategies to address that conflict.
According to a functionalist human relations view, most conflict can
be avoided if we direct our attention to identifying the causes of
conflict and focus on programmes that help people to avoid future
conflict.
Skilled leaders and managers can reduce and resolve local conflict to
a useful extent, depending on the nature of the conflict. While, for
example, you will be unable to resolve major issues of gender conflict
by confronting the local gender issues sensitively in your group work
and developing the right insights and skills in the young men and
women you work with, you can develop their skills to effectively deal
with these issues in the real world.
Recent research indicates that the human relations approach to
conflict reduction does not necessarily lead to improved long-term
relationships between groups or individuals. Often the conflicts are
structural, as in the case of the Mau Mau struggle against the colonial
seizures of traditional Kikuyu land holdings in Kenya. Not even
bodies as powerful as the United Nations can resolve structural issues
very easily and effectively, as the ethnic conflicts in Somalia show.
The human relations view on conflict maintains that many conflicts
cannot be avoided, and therefore have to be faced up to and worked
through. Moreover, this view sees conflict is an opportunity; it offers
a challenge to personal growth and development, as well as a means
of promoting change or social cohesion, clarifying an issue or finding
a solution to a problem. To this end, we can say that conflict can be
an honest confrontation that respects diversity, and creates
environments where differences can be expressed non-aggressively.
Those who endured the kind of savage political conflicts that took
place in Nazi Germany, in wartime China following the Japanese
invasion, in Rwanda and in Darfur have undoubtedly found it
extremely difficult to achieve any kind of resolution. And it seems
almost insulting to view conflict through a human relations lens, as a
means to resolving those post-conflict traumas that are so horrific.
However, the social and psychological damage done by such trauma
needs to be undone if that is possible.
Social healing is clearly demonstrated in the Amnesty Committee of
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, where
people who have committed even the most horrendous of racialist
and political crimes are enabled to face their accusers in open court.
With the prospect of amnesty and therefore without threat, they are
enabled to acknowledge their guilt through a full confession, and to
plead mitigation if there is any, while the evidence for and against
them is made public. The end of the process is moral and public
forgiveness. The alternative is a life of hiding, fear and reprisals, and
bitterness and revenge. In the words of Tanya Glaser of the Conflict
Research Consortium (at the University of Colorado, USA):

30 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

“Amnesty also suits the Commission’s philosophical approach

to justice. Justice is achieved not by retribution, but by the
restoration of community. Healing communities requires truth-
telling, forgiveness, acceptance and trust.”
Conflict Research Consortium, 2006

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a visionary form of

Unit 1
human relations conflict resolution at work. It has been proven as an
immensely practical way of resolving one of the most horrific
conflicts in human history, caused by the exploitation of native
African labour by a ruthless elite and its doctrine of apartheid.

Activity 1.3
(about 20 minutes)
Take some time to consider whether the underlying elements
of the human relations approach might be employed in
conflicts that you know about that currently lack resolution. In
your learning journal, describe how an approach similar to the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission could be used to resolve
the conflict you have identified. At the next opportunity,
discuss your views with your peers or with your tutor.

Human relations theorists defend the position that conflict is a

natural process in all relationships: individuals and groups have
different values, interests, goals and needs, which more or less trigger
conflicts. Given that it is inevitable, it should be accepted – though we
need to learn how to deal with it. Conflict cannot be eliminated from
human interaction, and there are times when conflict will benefit
those who are a part of it. The following case study shows how the
human relations view can work in practice. In this case study, Sir
George Lepping skilfully converts a damaging conflict between
himself and Nathaniel Waena into a public relations triumph, used to
demonstrate how unified their party is and how it can readily cope
with differences of principle.

Unit 1: What is conflict? 31

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Case study 1.2

Conflict as a tool
Everywhere in the world, conflict between politicians and/or
community leaders is something we are constantly made aware of by
the media. A closer look at the story below shows how politicians use
conflict to achieve their goals and develop policy positions for their
parties and countries. The key to electoral success for many political
parties lies in their ability to:
z unite people who may hold conflicting views, under one set of
principles
z use that tension to develop creative responses to problems.
A falling out between the leaders of the People’s Alliance Party (PAP)
parliamentary and party wings was solved in the Melanesian way,
according to party President, Sir George Lepping. He confirmed to
The Solomons’ Voice that there had been some differences of opinion
between himself and the parliamentary wing leader, Mr Nathaniel
Waena, over their public statements on the resignation of the Prime
Minister from his own party SINURP.
“I did not think our supporters were hearing a realistic view of the
situation. MPs tend to go on the attack to other MPs, whereas the
party has to look at issues within a wider context,” said Sir George.
He says that after he received a letter from Mr Waena outlining the
differences of opinion, he held an executive meeting followed by an
evening function.
“We shook hands and did it in a Melanesian way,” he says. “Now we are
stronger for it and have come together better to fight the coming election. The
party is the entity, with appointments given at the wish of the party,” he
says. “I think we need to become more mature and admit to the need for
discussion and dialogue instead of jumping up and down.”
Mr Waena says the matter was an internal one, venturing into the
private concerns of the party, and should not attract too much
attention. The PAP executive includes the party president, four vice-
presidents and an executive of which the parliamentary wing leader is
a member.

32 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

4 Interactionist
The interactionist view on conflict has many similarities with the
human relations view. Both rely on social interaction and
relationships between groups and between individuals to perceive
conflict.
The core of the interactionist view is that the processes of social

Unit 1
interaction have a powerfully influential effect on the behaviour of the
members of an interacting group. Where a group interacts over a
period of time, this may be very influential in deciding members’
long-term characteristics, such as the intelligence and skill of their
interactive behaviour, their self-beliefs and so on. In managing groups,
interactionists can very usefully encourage creative conflict on the
basis that an over-friendly, cosy set of group relationships can be
prone to stand still, becoming dull and unresponsive to the need for
change. The interactionist approach encourages group leaders to
preserve an ongoing undercurrent of conflict to ensure the group
remains innovative, self-critical and self-developing so that individuals
can increase their open-ended potential in a given situation. Module 1
Learning Processes talks about this potential at length.
Skilled teachers make use of the natural conflicts of views and
opinions in groups in order to stimulate new thinking and to get their
students searching underneath their opinions for evidence and logical
argument. This can even be done in science classes, where students
can be stimulated to explore and challenge each other over the
reasons for the phenomena they are investigating. Knowing that
people can build up their insights and skills themselves by these
processes enables the teacher to teach in greater depth.

Activity 1.4
(about 20 minutes)
Now that you have studied the four different views on conflict,
explain your understanding of the similarities and differences
between them.
Once you have reflected on these ways to look at social
conflict, if possible discuss your views with a tutorial group or
fellow students.
In your learning journal, write down the key aspects that
surfaced in your discussions.

Unit 1: What is conflict? 33

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Analysing conflict

There are many variations on the basic positions presented in the

previous section. The variations in these views have their roots in
different answers to the difficult question of whether conflict is
inherent in human life or not. Those who think that it is inherent look
for the causes of conflict either in the genetic structures of the human
mind laid down by evolution or in the dynamics of social structure,
whereas others look for the causes in the patterns of human
interaction. Those who believe in random outburst theory refuse to
accept that there are any causal patterns to conflict, as you can
conclude from reading the following article.
Now read Reading 2: ‘Theories to analyse conflict situations’ at the
end of this module. Reflect on your reading and complete the
following activity.

Activity 1.5
(about 20 minutes)
In your learning journal, briefly synthesise each of the theories
described in the article by Dr Pramod Kumar that you have just
read. In bullet format, make a list of what you think are the
key characteristics of each one.

Before you can contribute to the resolution of conflict, it is necessary

to:
z develop an understanding of conflict situations
z be aware of any theoretical perspectives to help you to construct a
theoretical framework for analysing and interpreting conflict
situations for yourself.

Activity 1.6
(about 15 minutes)
1 Refer back to the conflict situation that you described in
your learning journal in Activity 1.1. Based on what you
have learned in this unit so far, try to apply any relevant
aspect of the theories as the basis for interpreting that
situation. Describe how you would go about it in your
learning journal.
2 In your own words, write down in your learning journal
your definition of conflict.

34 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

As you have learned, most conflict can be a danger or an opportunity;

as such, it is inappropriate to say that all conflict is either good or
bad. Whether a conflict is good or bad depends on the type of
conflict and the way it is handled. In other words, one’s attitude and
reaction to most conflict makes it either constructive or destructive. In
the next section we will look at the difference between functional
conflict and dysfunctional conflict.

Unit 1
Conflict in groups

The functionalist distinction between functional (good) and

dysfunctional (bad) conflict is not exact. There is no set framework
against which one can evaluate whether a level of conflict is
acceptable or unacceptable, under all circumstances, to all people. For
example, many people perceive violence differently in war and in
peace. The so-called ANC ‘terrorists’ who fought against the tyranny
of apartheid have become recognised as members of a liberation
struggle in the post-apartheid world. Like the Viet Cong in Vietnam
and others in liberation struggles, they are perceived as functional
when they have achieved the success of eradicating unjust systems,
and dysfunctional in the eyes of those who benefited from the unjust
system that these people were struggling against.
While the interactionists believe conflict is an essential part of human
relations, it doesn’t necessarily follow that all conflict is good. If the
conflict improves a group’s performance in achieving its goals, then it
is a functional, constructive form of conflict. If a conflict between
members of a group hinders the achievement of goals, then this is
destructive or dysfunctional conflict. But how can you tell if a conflict
is valuable for the group?

Group performance
The measure that differentiates functional from dysfunctional group
conflict is group performance. As groups exist to achieve goals, the
impact that a conflict has on the group – not the impact that it has on
any individual member of the group – defines whether it is functional
conflict.
To evaluate the impact of conflict on group behaviour, individuals’
perceptions of whether the conflict was good or bad are therefore
irrelevant. A group member may perceive an action as dysfunctional
for her or him personally, but if the action contributes to the
achievement of the group’s goals, it is functional.
Now read the following case study and then answer the questions in
the self-help section.

Unit 1: What is conflict? 35

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Case study 1.3

Handling conflict
A youth group in Apoteri decided to produce a pamphlet showing
young people how to put on a condom, as part of a programme to
promote safe sex practices among school children. It was funded by
the Department of Health in Guyana. They wanted to use a very
talented cartoonist who was in their group, and who had produced
promotional materials for street kids on the same issue.
The group talked to the principals at the local high schools about the
pamphlet, and gained their support to go ahead, on one condition.
The principals requested that the group use another cartoonist as they
felt the language and pictures in the previous materials were too
controversial. After much discussion, the group agreed to the
condition, and the initial cartoonist left the group after a huge
argument.
Another artist was employed and the pamphlet was produced, and
distributed throughout the schools. Feedback from the principals on
the pamphlet was very positive. However, a year later, the number of
school children with new STD cases recorded at the health services
was the same as the previous year.

Self-help question 1.1

(about 20 minutes)
Discuss the case study with your fellow students or a tutorial
group and then make some notes in your learning journal to
answer these questions.
z Do you think this is an example of functional or
dysfunctional group conflict? What determines
functionality in this case?
z How do you think the original cartoonist perceived the
situation?
z Do you think the group handled this situation well?
z Do you think there were alternative ways of handling this
situation? If so, describe the alternatives.
z How responsible is the youth group for the lack of change
in behaviour of the school children in relation to safe sex?
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Well done! To continue applying the ideas you have learned, read the
case study we present you next and then resolve Activity 1.7.

36 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Case study 1.4

Moderating conflict
Trinamul Congress, which supports the BJP-led ruling coalition from
outside government, refused to join the Government if it was not
given an important Ministry like Railways. Railways, India’s largest

Unit 1
public sector employer, is now held by the SAMATA Party, another
coalition partner.
Earlier, the BJP President, Mr Thackeray, had said that he could not
annoy SAMATA to please Mamata. Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamul
leader, continued to breathe fire over being rebuffed by the SAMATA
Party and the BJP, on her demand for the Railways Ministry.
She turned down the mediation offer from the Defence Minister, a
SAMATA Party leader. At Trivandrum, Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee said today he didn’t see any threat to his minority
government.
Asked to react to Mamata’s rejection of his offer of talks, he declined
to comment, but stated: ‘We would like to have both Mamata and
SAMATA’. In a subsequent development today, the Trinamul
Congress stated that it would continue to support the ruling coalition
from outside and would not join the Ministry. The issue is a closed
chapter now.
From The Indian Express.

Unit 1: What is conflict? 37

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Activity 1.7
(about 30 minutes)
Discuss Case study 1.4 with your tutorial group, co-workers or
peers and then respond to the following questions in your
learning journal.
z Who were the main parties involved in this conflict?
z Was it an inter or intra-group conflict? Explain your answer.
z What was the cause of the conflict?
z Do you think that this is a case of functional or
dysfunctional conflict? Explain why.
z Were there any benefits gained as a result of this conflict?
By whom?
z Were there any losses due to the conflict? By whom?
z Explain the conflict from each of the following views:
functionalist, interactionist, human relations and
structuralist.

Now review the concept of functional and dysfunctional conflict

again, then resolve the following activity.

Activity 1.8
(about 15 minutes)
Reflect again on the conflict situation that you chose to discuss
in Activity 1.1 and then again in Activity 1.6.
In your learning journal, explain how this conflict is either
functional or dysfunctional. If there are both functional and
dysfunctional aspects, explain them.

38 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

The conflict paradox

If we are to acknowledge and accept the interactionists’ position that

conflict is necessary for a group to achieve its goals, why are so many
of us uncomfortable with conflict? The answer is that many societies
in the Commonwealth are founded on the traditional functionalist

Unit 1
view.
Tolerance of conflict is counter to many cultures in the
Commonwealth, where home, school and religious institutions are
generally the most influential during our childhood years when we
are developing our attitudes. For the most part, these institutions have
traditionally reinforced the importance of getting along with others
and avoiding conflict.
Parents generally set the standards that they expect their children to
observe and comply with. School systems reinforce this model of
authority. Teachers provide education to children, have codes of
conduct and set exams in which students are rewarded for getting
their answers to agree with those that the teacher has determined are
correct.
Most religious institutions have also supported anti-conflict values,
emphasising peace, harmony and obedience to authority. For
example, when the head of the Roman Catholic Church, or the
Shankaracharya of the Hindus or the Imam of a Mosque speak
officially on religious matters, they are generally held to be infallible
by their congregation.
It is not surprising, therefore, that this traditional perspective on
conflict continues to receive wide support, although conflict is
manifested daily in a most dangerous form. Others may be
experiencing conflict at home, in their community or organisation, or
maybe with the law.
As you will have seen in Module 6 Commonwealth Values, some
organisations, like the Commonwealth, recognise this paradox and
deal with it in the following way. On the one hand, members
encourage creativity and functional conflict, while on the other hand
they insist on continuity, consistency and commitment to common
values. In the Commonwealth, open communication and expression
of the diversity of views is actively encouraged but, at the same time,
members support a consensual approach to decision-making. The
special strength of the Commonwealth lies in the combination of the
diversity of its members with their shared inheritance in language,
culture and the rule of law. The Commonwealth way is to seek
consensus through consultation and the sharing of experience.

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Unit summary

The tensions among the different theories we have described are

symptomatic of the division between the macro and micro levels of
analysis and explanation characteristic of social science.
On the basis of this brief review of these theories, it may be
concluded that a study of conflict behaviour needs to take into
account the macro or social structural factors on the one hand, and
the micro or behavioural and attitudinal factors on the other. Social
conditions do have a significant impact on people, but it is their
perceptions that make them see certain social conditions as
undesirable or as being the underlying cause of their problems.
All these theories have strengths and weaknesses. Each theory also
has a radically different implication for the types of intervention to
resolve conflict. Each theory makes different assumptions about the
parties to the conflict, and has different implications for the scope and
effectiveness of the change expected to result from intervention.
Improving the communication skills of young people and their
parents may improve their relationships, but it will not have an impact
on their economic situations, which may be a more significant factor
in their situation of conflict.
Any attempt at resolving conflict that ignores one or the other of
these factors fails to provide a comprehensive understanding of a
conflict situation. Several dimensions of the problem need to be
considered: structures, individual characteristics of the parties and
social attitudes. A multi-faceted approach to problem-solving and
conflict resolution is necessary to successful resolution.
In this unit you have covered the following main points:
z Definitions of conflict, including levels of conflict, how conflict
is perceived and conflict behaviour
z Different views on conflict – functionalist, structuralist, human
relations and interactionist
z Ways of analysing conflict in order to develop an understanding
of conflict situations
z Conflict in groups
z The paradox that if conflict is necessary, why so many of us are
uncomfortable with conflict.
To check on how you have done with your learning in this unit, look
back at the learning outcomes and see if you can now do them. When
you have done this, look through your learning journal to remind
yourself of what you have learned and the reflective thoughts you
noted down.

40 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

In Unit 2, we will move beyond the definitions and theories of

conflict, to look at the conflict process from potential for conflict to
the outcomes of conflict.

Unit 1

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Answer to self-help question

Self-help question 1.1

As mentioned in the text, it is often very hard to ascertain whether a
conflict in a group has been functional or dysfunctional.
Obviously, the conflict in the case study has been dysfunctional
personally for the original cartoonist. He missed out on a job he
would obviously have liked to do.
The group did achieve its objective of producing a pamphlet on safe
sex practice, so the conflict for the group was functional. But if the
goal of the group was to have an impact on the safe sex practices of
young people, and the production of a pamphlet was merely a vehicle
for the information, it was dysfunctional because it didn’t yield an
effective result.
We have no indication from the case study as to whether the group
attempted to address the concerns of the principals regarding the
cartoonist. Maybe spending time addressing this at the beginning
would have yielded a better solution. They could have kept the
cartoonist, and the pamphlet might have been more successful. But
maybe the problem wasn’t the second cartoonist – maybe it was the
key messages in the pamphlet.
Do you see what we mean? It isn’t easy to analyse whether conflict is
functional or dysfunctional.

42 Unit 1: What is conflict?

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

References

Hogg, M. and Abrams, D. (eds) (2001) Intergroup Relations: Key

Readings in Social Psychology, Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, PA.
Robbins, S., Waters-Marsh, T., Cacioppe, R. and Millett, B. (1994)

Unit 1
Organisational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, and Applications,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Conflict Research Consortium (2006)
http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/index_orig.html (article summary
on the internet)

Unit 1: What is conflict? 43

Unit 2: The conflict
process

Unit introduction ....................................................... 47

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 47
The conflict process model ......................................... 48
The five stages ............................................................ 48
Unit summary ............................................................ 65
Answers to self-help questions .................................... 66
References.................................................................. 68
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 2 The conflict process. In this unit we will outline the
conflict process and summarise the sources of conflict. We will also
look at five styles or strategies that people use to handle conflict.
The common perception is that conflict is usually destructive. This is,
however, a simplistic view, and we will examine both the benefits and
disadvantages of conflict.

Unit 2
Unit learning outcomes

When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z describe the conflict process in your own words
z identify at least one characteristic of each of the five stages of the
conflict process
z outline the five conflict handling styles and give examples of
conflict situations where each style could be used effectively.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

The conflict process model

The conflict process can be modelled around five stages:

1 potential for conflict
2 recognition of conflict
3 conflict handling styles
4 conflict behaviour
5 conflict outcomes.
The following flowchart offers a representation of how these five
stages relate to each other as well as what happens at each stage.

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Potential Recognition Conflict Conflict Conflict
for Conflict of conflict handling behaviour outcomes
styles
Preceeding Perceived Increased group
© – competing Overt conflict ©
circumstances: conflict performance
– collaborating – party’s
– communication
© – compromising © behaviour
– structure
– avoiding – other’s Decreased group
– personal ©
Felt conflict – accommodating behaviour ©
variables performance

(Thomas, 1974)

The five stages

Stage 1: Potential for conflict

The first stage in the conflict process is the presence of circumstances
that have the potential for conflict – that is, a pre-conflict situation.
The circumstances do not necessarily result in conflict, but at least
one of these circumstances needs to be present if conflict is to occur.
The sources of conflict can be categorised into three groups of issues
where problems can arise:
z communication
z structure
z personal variables.

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Communication
While communication problems are clearly not the cause of all
conflicts, they are the most frequently cited source of interpersonal
conflict. Barriers to effective communication can include:
z the use of language that is incomprehensible to the receiver of the
message
z the emotional states of the sender and receiver
z filtered or inadequate information from the sender
z selective hearing and perception by the receiver.

Unit 2
Good communication can make the effective resolution of conflict
possible; poor communication can block people from collaborating
and can perpetuate misunderstandings.
Research has established that conflict can occur not only when there
is too little communication taking place, but also when too much
communication takes place. An increase in communication is
functional up to a certain point. After that point an increase in
communication becomes increasingly dysfunctional, with more
potential for conflict. Both information overload and lack of
information can cause conflict.

Communication channels
The communication channel chosen by the sender can also cause
friction when it is not the channel to which the receiver is
accustomed. Many of the countries in the Commonwealth have an
oral tradition, where history and culture are communicated to the
next generation by word of mouth, sometimes in the form of myths
or stories with a deeper moral or practical meaning. Unless you are
accustomed to the style of oral transmission being used, there is
always the possibility of not really hearing what is being said.
The same is also true of writing. Many cultures have a written
tradition, where information is passed on through books and
newspapers. But where this writing is taking place, and the traditions
that have been built up in the writing medium, will determine how
well you can decode what is being said. When you first look at social
science writing, for example, you will probably be puzzled by what is
being said. Then, when you get used to it, it becomes part of your
thinking and no longer baffles you.
Preferred communication channels should, as far as possible, be
employed to avoid causing friction. This issue was taken into
consideration when developing the Diploma in Youth Development,
as people’s preferred communication channel affects their favoured
learning style. To some extent, learning techniques appealing to a
range of students have been built into the modules.
A major part of your role as a youth development worker is
communicating with a wide range of people in a variety of different

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circumstances, including young people, co-workers, government

officials, parents, other members of the community, volunteers,
journalists and teachers. Different groups will have somewhat
different preferred modes of communication – ranging, for example,
from informal and intimate when dealing with young people in your
group to socially distant and formal when reporting to funding or
management committees.
One of the skills youth workers need is to be clever at working out
what is the best way to communicate with the different groups and
individuals they meet. It is important to be able to adapt your
communication style to each situation, particularly when there is a
potential conflict situation. If you have completed Module 7
Management Skills, this would be a good time for you to review the
section on managing communication in Unit 3.
In your workplace, try listening to and observing groups and
individuals at work, and see what you can learn from those who are
good at communication. It takes time to develop real skill.
Reading 3 at the end of the module will provide you with a resource
for basic communication skills.
Read Reading 3: ‘Directions – A training resource for workers with
young people in New South Wales’, by the NSW Department of
Community Services.
It’s a resource paper about:
z basic listening, questioning and feedback skills
z communication in conflict and crisis.
We hope you found the reading interesting. Now we suggest you
engage in the role play activity that follows.

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Activity 2.1
(about 40 minutes)
Role play
Work with two other people from your tutorial or peer group.
Take turns acting out the following roles while you explore
each of the scenarios described below:
z a youth development worker
z an observer

Unit 2
z the person who has the problem or who is causing the
conflict.
Scenarios:
z You need to remove a young person who is drunk and
becoming violent at your fund-raising dance.
z You need to speak to a parent who is angry that you have
provided information to her unmarried daughter about the
planned parenthood association in town.
z You need to speak to a colleague who is not pulling her
weight in conducting her share of the consultations with
young people that you are jointly responsible for.
z You need to defuse, with the property manager from the
town council, a conflict situation provoked by the damage
done to the community hall by your youth group.
z You need to console a young person who wishes to continue
her education but is unable to do so because of lack of
available places.
Discussion:
At the end of each scenario, the observer and the person with
the problem should offer some constructive feedback to the
youth worker on her/his communication skills, including
listening, body language, questioning, feedback, reflecting.
The youth worker needs to be debriefed on how s/he felt and
how successful s/he thought her/his management was of the
situation (including managing her/his own emotions). Write the
results of the debriefing session in your learning journal.

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Structure
The word ‘structure’, as one of the groups of issues where conflict
can arise, is used in the context of interpersonal relationships to
describe, for example:
z an asymmetrical relationship between individuals (e.g., teacher
and student, parent and child)
z important differences in power (e.g., the differences in social
power between oneself and one’s peers, the youth development
worker and a young person)
z the roles and role-related activities that are assigned to people.
In a group context, the term is used to include:
z the size and organisation of the group, including definitions of
roles and the authority allocated to each group member in a
specific situation
z style of leadership
z range and compatibility of group members’ goals (e.g., there is a
potential for conflict if members of a netball team have vastly
different goals in being part of the team, such as some wanting
just to socialise and others to compete and win, particularly when
the team is failing to perform in the league).
Groups within organisations, associations or communities have
diverse goals. Within a youth organisation, some groups may be
primarily interested in sporting activities – and would like, for
example, to see the acquisition of a volleyball net. Other groups may
be interested in conducting a fund-raising event to send a
representative to a United Nations Youth Forum, and others may
want to run training workshops on environmental issues.
This sort of diversity of goals between different groups in an
organisation is potentially a major source of conflict. Due to limited
resources, when one group achieves its goals it is likely to frustrate the
other groups who have lost out in gaining the available resources. In
addition, reward systems have been found to create conflict when one
group member gains something at the expense of others. For
example, the selection of one particular representative to the United
Nations Youth Forum could cause friction in the group that has
achieved that goal. Also, if one group is dependent on other groups to
gain resources (the sports group needs everybody to participate in the
fund-raising to get their equipment), the potential for conflict is
increased.
Research shows that an authoritarian style of leadership, where the
group leader has a great deal of control over other group members’
behaviour and makes most of the decisions without consultation,
increases latent conflict. However, other research shows that
encouraging participation by group members in decision-making can
also stimulate conflict.

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Geert Hofstede is a Dutch researcher who has contributed a great

deal to our understanding of the role of socio-cultural factors in the
management of groups. Hofstede administered a survey to 116,000
employees with similar occupations in over fifty different national
subsidiaries of the same multinational corporation. The questionnaire
contained value statements that reflected four indices or dimensions
along which the cultures of various countries differed. One of those
dimensions was large/ small power distance (Hofstede 2001).

Power distance
Large power distance describes a situation in which people accept

Unit 2
that power is distributed unequally in organisations. Small power
distance describes a situation in which people want power to be
equally shared and will always require justification for any differences
in power distribution. The former condition entails greater acceptance
of hierarchy than the latter.
The following table shows the value of the index for thirteen
Commonwealth countries in which Hofstede conducted research.
The higher the number, the greater the tendency to large power
distance.

Country Power distance index

Australia 36
Britain 35
Canada 39
India 77
Jamaica 45
Malaysia 104
New Zealand 22
Pakistan 55
South Africa 49
Singapore 74
West Africa 77
(Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone)

Strategies of group leadership that emphasise democratic

consultation and decision-making with young people are more
congruent with small power distance cultures than cultures with large
power distance. This understanding can make a difference in the use
of planning techniques for youth programmes. In spite of the aim to
democratise youth work, this suggests that youth development
workers in India and Malaysia may have to begin work with a group
using rather more authoritarian methods than they would in Jamaica
or New Zealand. Otherwise this could be a source of latent conflict.
Of course, the aim of the Diploma is to increase democratic skills
among young people, but you may have to do this more carefully and

Unit 2: The conflict process 53

Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

slowly in some situations, depending on the cultural values of the

communities.

Self-help question 2.1

(about 20 minutes)
The Commonwealth Youth Programme has defined three main
principles that underlie the practice of youth development
work as enabling, ensuring and empowering young people.
1 Review the first section in Unit 1, Module 3 Principles and
Practice of Youth Development Work and briefly explain
these three principles.
2 Where do you think an organisation based on these
principles would be on the Hofstede scale?
3 Where do you think your country would be on the Hofstede
scale?
4 What challenges and opportunities does this present you
with?
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Personal variables
Obviously, within a particular cultural norm, each individual has a
unique value system and personality characteristics that are an aspect
of individual differences. Differences in both value systems and
personality characteristics are significant potential sources of conflict
within any group.
Read the following case study and then answer the questions in
Activity 2.2.

Case study 2.1

Perception, reality and communication
Joseph thinks that the young women at the youth club should have a
separate cricket competition, whereas Bernadette believes they should
have mixed sex teams and one league.
Sithole believes the local media portray young people in a very
negative fashion, but Celeste thinks that it reflects the reality of what
is happening in their community.

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Activity 2.2
(about 15 minutes)
In your learning journal, write your answers to the following
questions:
1 What are the different value systems suggested in the two
situations described in the case study?
2 What sorts of conflict might they generate?

Unit 2
Stage 2: Recognition of conflict
The kind of situations described in Stage 1 can generate feelings of
disappointment, frustration or anger. But the circumstances described
only lead to conflict when one (or more) of the parties identifies the
grounds for conflict and is affected by it. The latent conflict in a
situation must be perceived by the parties involved for conflict to
develop. However, just because they perceive the source of conflict
does not mean that this will affect them enough emotionally to cause
them anxiety and provoke pre-conflict behaviour.
Referring back to Case study 2.1, debating the role of the media in
their community may be a very enjoyable and important aspect of the
interaction between Sithole and Celeste up to a point. It is only if
they become emotionally aroused that the parties to a dispute
experience distress, tension, frustration and then perhaps hostility.
It is at the end of this stage that the conflict tends to come out into the
open: latent conflict becomes overt conflict. Overt conflict
incorporates a wide range of antagonistic behaviours, both on micro
and macro levels. For example:
z co-workers arguing about having a desk in their office, then
coming to blows
z national strikes turning into riots
z disputes leading to wars between neighbouring countries.
This emphasises the point that conflicts have the potential to intensify,
to escalate and to erupt into extreme violence when the conditions
are appropriate. We have seen this in, for example, Rwanda, Sierra
Leone and the Solomon Islands.

Stage 3: Conflict handling styles

How do people deal with conflict? Which conflict handling styles or
strategies are successful at defusing conflict? Which are inappropriate
and unsuccessful? These styles or strategies are the bridge between
people’s perceptions and feelings, and their actual behaviour. Such
strategies may result from conscious decisions that people make to
handle a particular conflict in a certain way, and may result from their

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

training in conflict resolution. But they could also be intuitive

strategies that may or may not be appropriate.
It is important to recognise that there is no one correct way to handle
conflict: it depends on the specific conditions of the situation.
Nevertheless, depending on the situation, a particular type of conflict
management style is likely to be the most appropriate.
It is important to recognise that making a deliberate choice of conflict
handling style is a distinct and necessary stage in successfully
managing conflict. Before responding to the behaviour of the other
protagonist/s in a conflict situation, you need first to hypothesise
quickly about what their intentions are likely to be and to base your
strategy on that analysis. Careful analysis is necessary because many
conflicts are intensified by one party inferring the wrong intentions
from the other party’s actions. You need to remind yourself also that
a person’s behaviour does not always accurately reflect their
intentions, particularly when emotions are running hot.

Dimensions of conflict handling styles

Kenneth Thomas, in his book Conflict and Negotiation Processes in
Organisations, developed a model with five conflict handling styles
using two dimensions. These dimensions are:
1 cooperativeness – the degree to which one party will attempt to
satisfy the needs or wants of the other party involved in the
conflict
2 assertiveness – the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy
her or his own needs or wants.
The five conflict handling styles that can be used to resolve conflict
include:
z competing
z collaborating
z compromising
z avoiding
z accommodating.
The following diagram represents how the conflict handling styles are
situated in the spectrum of the cooperativeness and assertiveness
dimensions. Analyse it carefully and note, for example, that an
accommodating conflict handling style functions in the realms of the
cooperative dimension.

56 Unit 2: The conflict process

 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Uncooperative Cooperative

Competing Collaborating
Assertive

Compromising

Unassertive Avoiding Accommodating

Unit 2
Competing
The aim is to win the conflict at all costs.
When one party strives strongly to satisfy their needs and shows a
corresponding unwillingness to consider the needs of the other party,
regardless of the consequences, it means they are competing. In these
win-lose contests, a party will use all their resources to gain a victory
in their favour.
For example, consider a situation in a workplace where there are
frequent minor disputes among staff members about things like the
layout of the office. In an attempt to resolve this conflict, the office
manager requires that each staff member put forward a proposed
office layout. In this situation, each member involved in the conflict
will invest all their resources into producing a layout that will ‘win’
the conflict. This type of competition is an appropriate way to handle
the conflict situation over the office layout.
This is an example where a competing approach to handling conflict
is appropriate, without any arbitration. There is a conflict – a
competition for something that will put involved people in a conflict
situation. Each goes at it with all they have to solve this conflict and
win. This is seen as appropriate and acceptable in some situations.

Collaborating
Win/win – both parties strive for a solution that fully satisfies the
needs and concerns of both.
When the parties to the conflict seek to explore their different
perspectives and clarify differences, with a view to satisfying the
concerns and needs of both parties, this is known as collaboration or
confluence. In the process of clarifying differences, attention is
devoted to developing and considering a full range of alternative
solutions that may not have been canvassed initially by either party.
This approach is considered by many behavioural scientists to be the
best conflict handling style, and is certainly an important foundation
to the conflict resolution process.

Unit 2: The conflict process 57

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Marriage guidance counsellors, for example, use this tool in their

work with couples experiencing marital conflict.

Compromising
Both parties settle for a partial satisfaction of their needs, and give up
something of value.
In compromising, no one party is the clear winner. Both parties
intend to give something up and accept a solution that provides
incomplete satisfaction of their needs.
Negotiations between employer bodies and workers’ unions are an
example of situations where a compromise may be required to reach
a settlement on workers’ conditions. (In these sorts of negotiations
people often submit an ‘ambit claim’, where their starting position is
actually in excess of their more serious demands – see Unit 3.)

Avoiding
The desire of one of the parties to withdraw from the conflict is
stronger than the desire to engage and resolve it, or to meet the needs
of either oneself or the other party.
One or both parties recognise that a conflict exists but want to
withdraw from the situation or to conceal their feelings about it.
For example, you may have two young women in your youth group
who have fought over the same young man, and who now avoid each
other, because he has chosen one of them. They have different sets of
friends and rarely come at the same time. If withdrawal is not
possible – for example, they may be in the same class for maths at
school – the conflict may have to be recognised but suppressed in that
environment.

Accommodating
One party is willing to place the needs of the other party to the
conflict above their own needs.
When one party to a conflict puts the needs of the other party above
their own, and seeks to help their opponent meet their needs, this is
known as accommodating. In this particular conflict situation,
maintaining the relationship is more important to the self-sacrificing
party than continuing the conflict to achieve a personal or group goal.
For example, there may be somebody in your group who is very
worried about speaking out in a public forum. When one day they do,
you may support them by not speaking out against them – even
though you don’t agree with their opinion – because you want to help
them in overcoming their fear of public speaking.
Note that any of these styles may be appropriate to use in a given
scenario. It depends, to a large extent, on the specific situation.

58 Unit 2: The conflict process

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Self-help question 2.2

(about 30 minutes)
From your own experience, briefly describe in what typical
social or work situations you would favour each of the five
conflict handling styles.
z competition z compromise z accommodation
z collaboration z avoidance

Unit 2
Follow the example:
When both parties have equal power in a conflict situation,
I would handle the conflict by using a compromise conflict
handling strategy.
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Stage 4: Conflict behaviour

When most people think and talk about conflict situations, they tend
to focus on this fourth stage, because it is where conflict becomes
visible. It is the first time that there is interaction between the parties
after the conflict has been recognised.
Minor disagreements, challenging another person’s perspective or
position, verbal attacks, threats, fighting and bloodshed are all types
of conflict management style. They are overt manifestations of
peoples’ attempts to implement their conflict management goals. But
once embarked upon, these behaviours have a life of their own. They
can heighten the conflict – as a result, for example, of inadequate
communication of intentions – and may press the other party’s anger
and hostility buttons.
Steven P. Robbins (1974) has developed a ‘Conflict Intensity
Continuum’, which provides a way of visualising the development of
conflict behaviour.
No Annihilatory
conflict conflict

Minor Overt questioning Threats Agressive Overt efforts

disagreements or or and physical to destroy
misunderstandings challenging ultimatums attack the other
party

All conflicts exist somewhere along this scale. To the left of the scale,
we have conflicts where the parties are self-possessed and controlled:
for example, when a student questions his/her teacher.

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Conflict intensifies as it moves to the right of the scale until it

becomes highly destructive: for example, when students riot because
their voices are not heard in their academic institutions; governments
may use police or soldiers to curb the demonstration, property is
damaged and peoples’ lives may even be lost. The closer the conflict
gets to the far right of the scale, the more likely it is that the conflict
has become dysfunctional.

Activity 2.3
(about 20 minutes)
Think of a situation of conflict – one either that you were
involved in or that you have read or heard about – that you
feel got out of control and became dysfunctional.
Was anything done to decrease the intensity of the conflict, to
bring it back onto a more functional level? If so, what was
done and who did it? What would you have done (if it was not
you) to de-escalate the conflict?
Remember to write your thoughts in your learning journal.

You may have organised a face-to-face meeting of the two parties, or

two members of opposing groups, away from the situation of conflict.
You may have found additional means, so that there is no longer a
conflict over scarce resources. You may have used your position of
authority as a youth leader to help the opposing parties develop an
alternative win/win solution.
All of these approaches are conflict management techniques or
strategies, known as conflict resolution.

Stage 5: Conflict outcomes

The consequences and end results of interaction between conflicting
parties are many and varied. Sometimes these outcomes are
functional: for example, the conflict has resulted in the group being
more effective than it was before the conflict, or there may be an
improved relationship between countries that are in conflict. This
may, for example, have happened in the case of North Korea and its
conflict with America, though it is possibly too early as yet to be
certain. Sometimes the results are dysfunctional, as is the case when
conflict results in armed struggle and subsequent civil terrorism, as in
Iraq.

Functional outcomes
Conflict is functional when it enriches the quality of decisions, when
it stimulates people to look for new, more creative strategies, when it
encourages an environment of self-evaluation and when it stimulates
change. Conflict is positive when the views of the minority groups are
encouraged and their opinions included in important decisions.

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Conflict can stop stagnation and ensure that all aspects of an issue are
covered in the decision-making process of a group, which makes for
better decisions. On a macro level, conflict challenges the status quo
and causes countries and political parties to reassess their policies and
programmes in response to the needs of their people.
For example, Namibia is a multi-racial society that has made a
smooth transition to democracy after many years of violent conflict.
In 1993, three years after achieving independence, the country had
already embarked on developing a national youth policy, years before
many other countries in the Commonwealth that had not undergone
such upheaval and turmoil were even thinking about it.

Unit 2
The former Director of the CYP Africa Centre, Dr Richard
Mkandawire, interviewed the then Minister of Youth and Sport in
Namibia, Ms Pendukeni Ithana, about the problems of implementing
a national youth policy. You should now read the interview in
Reading 4 at the end of this module. Once you have completed your
reading, carry out the activity that follows.
Read Reading 4 ‘Namibia: Unravelling the Legacy’ from the
Commonwealth Youth Programme (1993).

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Activity 2.4
(about 20 minutes)
Discuss Reading 4 with your tutorial group or peer group and
then make some notes in your learning journal in response to
the following questions.
z How has your government responded to situations of
conflict involving young people?
z Outline any legislation, policies or programmes that you
are aware of that have been established in response to
these situations.
z Do you think these are functional interventions? Why?

Dysfunctional outcomes
The destructive consequences of conflict on interpersonal
relationships or inter-group relationships are illustrated by the
following story.

Case study 2.2

A meeting with the local council
‘You should have waited until we got there before you started telling
them about your ideas. Because of you, all we got out of that was a
promise that they would come and have a look at the poultry farm.
You got all that money to do up the screen printing factory,’ said
Uyen.
‘Look, it’s not my fault that your bus broke down,’ countered Lisa,
‘and anyway, you have to grab every opportunity to get what you
want in this world.’
‘You could have talked about our ideas as well before we got there,’
replied Uyen. ‘Because of what you did we now have so-called best
friends fighting with each other, and threatening to pull out of the
youth group altogether. Nobody from our area is coming to the dance
on Saturday night, and Seeta and Joseph have stopped speaking to
me. Is that what you wanted?’
Lisa and Uyen were discussing the recent youth consultation with the
local council. After several months of lobbying by their group, the
local government agreed to hold a consultation with young people
about the lack of employment opportunities in the area. Due to the
lack of a large enough facility, not all members could attend, so the
group went through an election process to select representatives to the
consultation. They were careful to ensure that people living in both
the rural part of the area and the town were represented on the

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delegation to the meeting. Uyen and Lisa were elected as

spokespeople for their respective areas. Prior to the meeting, the
representatives held discussions with their members on the types of
issues that they would like to see talked about, with possible
assistance programmes the Council could initiate. Both the rural
group and the town group developed discussion papers.
The day of the meeting came. The town group arrived first, as they
live closest to the Council building. They were able to drink tea and
informally chat to the Councillors about the area they live in, and
began to discuss their suggested programmes. The bus bringing the
young people who live out of town broke down, and they were half

Unit 2
an hour late. The townies were all sitting in the best seats, closest to
the Councillors, when the others arrived. The Mayor invited Lisa to
make her presentation first. As the Councillors had already had time
to discuss and think about the projects suggested for the town area,
they were happy to commit some financial support to the screen-
printing project. Uyen’s presentation attracted a large number of
questions and interest, but he was unable to gain any financial
commitment from the Councillors at the meeting.
Since the consultation, the people from the rural area think that they
are paying the price for Uyen’s ‘useless’ presentation. Babar will no
longer give him a lift home on the back of his bike. One of the people
living out of town tore down and ripped up one of the screen-printed
curtains in the community hall.

Activity 2.5
(about 30 minutes)
Discuss the case study with your tutorial or peer group and
then use the following questions to reflect on the issues
addressed in the case study. Make some notes in your learning
journal.
1 Whose viewpoint do you support – Uyen’s or Lisa’s? Why?
2 What are the causes of conflict in this situation?
3 What do you think of the way the Councillors handled the
consultation? Did this contribute to the conflict?
4 What recommendations would you make to resolve or
reduce the level of conflict in the youth group?

Unresolved conflict produces dissatisfaction that breaks down the

links and relationships between members of the group, and it may
eventually lead to the disintegration of the group. During that time,
people’s energies are diverted to in-fighting and gossiping rather than
focused on achieving the objectives of the group itself.
This brings you to the end of Unit 2. It’s time to for a consolidating
activity that will help you to reflect on what you have learned.

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Activity 2.6
(about 30 minutes)
What are the components of the conflict process model? In
your learning journal, describe an example that you have
experienced of a conflict that proceeded or could have
proceeded through the five stages.
Note: You may use the conflict situation you chose in Activity
1.1.

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Unit summary

In this unit, we analysed conflict in terms of the five stages of the

conflict process model – potential, recognition, handling strategies,
behaviour and outcomes.
The importance of effective conflict management in interpersonal
relationships, and particularly within and between groups, is
becoming increasingly recognised. In this context you learned that
there are five conflict-handling styles: competing, collaborating,
compromising, avoiding and accommodating.

Unit 2
If we are to survive and prosper in today’s world, we desperately need
our young people to be skilled managers of conflict at all levels.
See how you have done with your learning by looking back at the
learning outcomes for this unit and seeing if you can now do them.
When you have done this, look through your learning journal to
review what you have learned and the reflective thoughts you
generated.
In the next unit, we look at strategies to support effective conflict
resolution.

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Answers to self-help questions

Self-help question 2.1

1 The principle of enabling is about creating conditions that help
young people to become more independent rather than relying on
others to do things for them.
The principle of ensuring promotes the core Commonwealth
values and principles (democracy, liberty, justice and equity)
because these give a sense of meaning and moral and social
purpose to the ways in which young people can use their skills
and knowledge.
The principle of empowering encourages young people to think
about democratic principles and practices and to have the insight
and skills to influence the decisions that affect them and their
communities.
2 It would be at the low end of the Hofstede scale, indicating a
small power distance and a participatory approach.
3 If your country’s government is authoritarian, with little power
given to the people and where questioning is not tolerated, it
would be rated high on the Hofstede scale. If your country
encourages participation in decision-making, has fair elections
and a free press and tolerates freedom of speech etc, it would be
rated low on the Hofstede scale.
4 Youth work that is based on the three principles of enabling,
ensuring and empowering encourages young people to act on
their own behalf and on their own terms, rather than relying on
other people and professionals to do things for them. It aims to
create a situation where young people can play an assertive and
constructive part in the decision-making that affects them at all
levels of society.
In countries that tend towards a large power distance, this may be
a little more challenging than in countries that accept a higher
degree of questioning from subordinates and young people. The
opportunities for youth workers include working at all levels of
society towards the empowerment and participation of young
people in the decision-making processes of the country. The
challenge is to try and do this in ways that ensure progress can be
made without alienating or threatening the ‘establishment’,
which might cause a backlash and lost ground.

Self-help question 2.2

Competition – when quick decisive action is vital; on important issues
that are vital to the group’s welfare or survival and where unpopular
actions need to be implemented.

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Collaboration – to merge insights from people with diverse

perspectives; to gain commitment from parties to a solution by
incorporating concerns into a consensus; to work through feelings
that have damaged a relationship that is important to you.
Compromise – when both parties have equal power and mutually
exclusive goals; to achieve expedient solutions in a limited timeframe.
Avoidance – when an issue is trivial and more important things need to
be decided; when you feel you might be wrong about something and
want to go away and gather more information before you put up an
argument; or if you feel peoples’ tempers and emotions are clouding
their perspective, you might want to avoid conflict.

Unit 2
Accommodation – when an issue is more important to the other party
than to you and you want to maintain cooperation to resolve other
matters; to minimise your losses when you know you are
outmatched!

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References

Hofstede, G (2001) Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors,

Institutions and Organizations Across Nations, revised edition, Sage
Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. Also see http://www.geert-
hofstede.com/index.shtml for country scores.
Robbins, S. P. (1974) Managing Organizational Conflict: A Non-
Traditional Approach, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Thomas, K. W (1974) Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument,
XICOM, Tuxedo, NY.

68 Unit 2: The conflict process

Unit 3: Resolving
conflict

Unit introduction ....................................................... 71

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 71
Dealing with conflict .................................................. 72
Ending conflict........................................................... 73
Bargaining strategies................................................... 74
Negotiation skills........................................................ 79
Third party negotiations ............................................. 83
Practicing conflict resolution skills .............................. 87
Unit Summary ........................................................... 90
Answers to self-help questions .................................... 91
References.................................................................. 92
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 3 Resolving conflict. In this unit we will explore

techniques designed to facilitate the resolution of conflict at both an
individual and a group level.
We will also contrast distributive and integrative bargaining, and
discuss the role of negotiation and mediation (or third party
negotiations) in bringing conflicting groups or individuals together.

Unit learning outcomes

Unit 3
When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z apply both distributive and integrative bargaining skills in
resolving interpersonal conflict, taking into consideration the
advantages and disadvantages of using one over the other
z describe the principles and practice of conflict resolution
z discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the basic negotiation
processes in third party conflict resolution
z employ negotiation and mediation skills in bringing together
conflicting groups or individuals
z devise strategies towards functional resolution of conflict when
agreement cannot be reached by consensus.

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Dealing with conflict

There are basically three approaches to dealing with the conflicts we

face in any social situation:
1 Conflict prevention: this is a process by which individuals and
groups select from a wide range of actions, interventions,
programmes, activities, mechanisms and procedures that can be
used to prevent destructive and potentially violent conflict. These
may be used at any stage prior to conflict taking place.
2 Conflict transformation: this is a process by which a conflict is
changed in a creative way to become a constructive and
functional process.
3 Conflict resolution: this is a process of finding a long-lasting
solution to a conflict, by using the situation to address each
party’s interests to the extent where both sides are satisfied with
the outcome.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne argue that if we accept
that a conflict situation may also create new opportunities, then we
should conceptualise conflict resolution as being not only about fixing
things, but also about finding and capitalising on constructive options
inherent in the situation. Nevertheless, because in the context of your
practice as a youth development worker you will be encouraged either
to avoid or resolve conflicts, the sections that follow will focus mainly
on ways in which to do this.
Very often conflict transformation and conflict resolution work in
harmony with conflict prevention. As the United Nations notes,
while prevention entails maintaining peace before a possible incident
of violence by correctly interpreting and acting on early warning
signs, conflict transformation involves managing an existing situation
of violence so that it turns into constructive dialogue. Sometimes, you
may find the terms ‘conflict transformation’ and ‘conflict resolution’
used interchangeably in peace literature: they are, after all, both based
on similar elements of trust building and reconstruction in their
modes of application (United Nations, 2002).
As mentioned in the introduction of this Unit, we will be focusing on
techniques to be employed in the process of conflict resolution.

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Ending conflict

The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes

(ACCORD) in Conflict Management, Negotiation and Mediation Skills
(1998), argues that there are only three basic approaches to ending
conflicts:
1 The use of power – the ‘might is right’ approach, which is so
familiar to us all that it ends up widely regarded as legitimate, is
an approach that rarely produces outcomes that are satisfactory
to all parties.
2 The application of rights or standards – the use of legislation
and the law courts to moderate the force of power-based
decision-making is grounded in the moral principle that a
decision should always be made on the merits of a particular

Unit 3
situation rather than on the relative power of the participants.
This is the main reason why, in democratic systems, there is
supposed to be a separation of powers between the law givers and
the state, since the state may come under the control of a
particularly powerful group at any one time. Any parties involved
in conflict should always have a guarantee that the law, not the
people in charge, should decide what happens to them. In
practice of course, the state often attempts to manipulate the
boundaries of the law to give itself more power. This appears to
be happening in the case of the USA and its actions in
imprisoning without trial in Guantánamo Bay people that the
Government claims may be terrorists. This position has been
attacked powerfully within the USA itself as well as world wide.
Of course, the authority of the court is usually backed up by the
power of the state.
The law courts have been the major forum for this kind of
decision-making, but many social groups and communities have
well-defined standards that moderate the behaviour of both the
powerful and the not so powerful in the community. Examples
include the Catholic Church and Islamic groups, both of which
have shown that they have the power to control tyrannical and
lawless elements within their areas of influence: the Catholic
Church in Central America and an Islamic group in Somalia that
beat the corrupt and powerful local war lords in 2006 and
brought relative calm to the capital city.
3 Agreement – conflicting parties get together to work something
out by finding an option that is mutually agreeable. These
outcomes tend to be functional, because the parties themselves
have contributed their perspectives to the process and can see the
benefits of carrying out the decision. It is only recently that these
types of decisions have become a formal option for conflict
resolution. Over the last twenty years or so, we have seen the
growth in negotiation and mediation programmes (facilitated by

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a third party) to support the joint decision-making process. One

example is that of Bosnia, where extremely serious ethnic
conflict, of several centuries’ standing, broke out into war
following the break up of Yugoslavia. The war was ended by
armed NATO intervention, but peace was negotiated with the
support of a number of UN mediators.
Joint decisions are not the only outcome of conflict resolution.
Unfortunately, they are not even the most common outcome of
conflicts. However, such decisions yield the most valuable
outcomes in resolving conflict in a functional manner.

What is negotiation?
We tend to think on a macro level when we consider conflict – unions
negotiating with management, or student unions in conflict with
university administration and teachers. In reality, negotiation
pervades our daily interactions with friends, family, at the market, and
in our dealings with institutions in our communities.
Negotiation involves managing a conflict of interests. It refers to that
process of bargaining between two or more parties to reach a solution
that is mutually acceptable.

Bargaining strategies

Within the negotiation process, we can highlight two contrasting

strategies – distributive bargaining and integrative bargaining.

Distributive bargaining
Whether it is an individual bargaining for the use of her/his time in a
personal relationship or for a fair price in business where both the
buyer and seller will be content, or a union of workers fighting for a
wage increase for clothes-makers in a poor country, distributive
bargaining is a part of our daily lives. See an example of distributive
bargaining in the following case study about Kara and Simeon as they
attempt to ‘negotiate’ a business deal.

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Case study 3.1

Distributive bargaining
Kara works in a kiosk in Iringa, Tanzania, which she started with a
group of young women with funds received from the Commonwealth
Youth Programme (CYP). In addition to selling popcorn, ice, soup
and their specialty – home-made jam and peanut butter sandwiches –
they also sell embroidered tablecloths and pillow cases. Simeon, who
works for a department store in Dodoma, contacts Kara and offers to
buy a large consignment of pillow cases.
Kara and the other women are very excited about the order, but there
is one issue that causes a great deal of conflict in their group. Simeon
has offered them a price that is way below the price they normally
charge for the pillow cases. Kara argues that the bulk order makes up
for the difference. Razaan acknowledges her point, but indicates they

Unit 3
should still not take the order unless the price goes up by a couple of
shillings for each pillow case.
After a lengthy negotiation process within the group, Kara goes back
to Simeon, saying that they will accept the order but only at an
increased price. Simeon comes back with another price that is above
his initial offer, but below the price the group had agreed on.

And so this sort of negotiating process continues until you come to

an agreement. Distributive bargaining operates under what are known
as zero-sum conditions, which refer to situations in which a gain is
offset by an equal loss. This type of bargaining is also often referred
to as win-lose bargaining. In the case study you have read, there is a
finite amount of a resource. Any gain that Kara makes is at Simeon’s
expense. Any gain that Simeon makes is at the expense of the group.
So one party will always ‘lose’.
Essentially, distributive bargaining is negotiating over who gets what
proportion of a fixed resource, such as an amount of money. The two
parties assume that there is not enough to be shared around equally,
therefore each party has to bargain aggressively, and has to treat the
other party as an opponent from whom you must gain as much as
you can. Your bargaining power is dependent on the information you
have about the other party, the clarity of your own goals, the limits
within which you can safely bargain and the possibility of any
alternatives.
Within a distributive bargaining strategy, unions often present an
‘ambit claim’ in negotiations with management about wages and
working conditions. This means that the union delegates present a
high claim for wages, not anticipating that they will be successful in
achieving that level of benefits, but hoping that a high target starting
point will ensure that they make some gains above their bottom line

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(their lowest limit). The bottom line is the point at which they would
break off negotiations rather than accept a settlement.

The settlement range in distributive bargaining

The following diagram illustrates Kara and Simeon’s bargaining
process. It has been adapted from a model developed by Kenneth
Thomas (1993).
Kara’s
Target

Kara’s
aspiration Settlement
range Range

Kara’s
bottom line

Simeon’s Simeon’s
bottom line Target

Simeon’s
aspiration
range

Notice that the settlement range for Kara and Simeon is determined
by their bottom line. A settlement will not be possible outside of what
both consider their bottom line, regardless of their targets.

Self-help question 3.1

(about 20 minutes)
If you were Simeon, what tactics would you use to get Kara to
agree to your price?
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

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Integrative bargaining
Let’s continue with our story about Simeon and Kara.

Case study 3.2

Integrative bargaining
A few years down the line, after a very successful business
partnership, Kara rings Simeon to ask him for his monthly order. He
orders 100 pillow cases. Kara goes back to the group with the order.
However, Razaan will not agree to the group making the pillow cases
– Simeon still has not paid them for last month’s order.
Kara calls Simeon, who tells her that he has had a very expensive
month: he has had to pay for his sister’s wedding and do some repairs
to the shop. Kara and Simeon discuss their options. They agree that

Unit 3
Simeon will pay 12.5 per cent of his debt to the group every month
until he has paid off the amount he owes them. Kara talks to Razaan,
who agrees to the strategy.

This is an example of integrative bargaining, where one can negotiate

a win-win solution to a problem. It is based on the premise that both
parties to the conflict believe that there is more than one solution to a
problem. More importantly, in integrative bargaining the particular
goals of the parties are not mutually exclusive, meaning that if one
party pursues their goals, it does not necessarily preclude the other
from achieving theirs. Integrative bargaining produces more long-
lasting, harmonious relationships.

Self-help question 3.2

In terms of inter-group relationships, which approach to
bargaining do you think is preferable? Why do you think this?
And why do you think we do not see more integrative
bargaining in conflict resolution?
Compare your answers with those provided at the end of the
unit.

Now that you have learned about negotiations and bargaining

strategies, you are ready to engage in a role-playing activity. Get
together with some of your peers and enjoy the following activity.

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Activity 3.1
(about 45 minutes)
Role play each of the following scenarios in your tutorial group
or with your peers.When you have rehearsed the role plays in
this way, you can then use them with a group of young people
that you work with for role play and discussion of bargaining
strategies.
1 You are a member of a honey producing co-operative. You
would like a local store to sell your honey. What would you
say to convince the store owner?
2 Several customers have asked you to open your store
earlier. Others want you to stay open later. How would you
keep all your customers happy (and, of course, buying from
your store)?
3 A young man, whom you do not know, offers to watch your
shop after closing hours to protect it from vandals. He says
other businesses pay him for this service. What would you
do?
4 The Health Inspector says you must close down. What can
you do?
5 You ran out of products after customers waited for a long
time. They are angry and say they will buy from another
shop. What would you do?
6 You have an idea for a new product that may not be easily
accepted in your community. How would you promote it?
7 A local merchant with a truck buys vegetables from you
and your neighbours and sells them in a nearby town. You
think that he is not paying enough. How would you
approach this situation?
Make sure you write notes in your learning journal describing
the approaches you would follow to handle all these situations.
Don’t forget to include the comments you got from your peers
during the role-playing activities, including a brief description
of how you reached consensus in determining what was the
best approach to use in each scenario.

It is worth noting that the processes of distributive and integrative

bargaining may be constrained by a number of issues. Chief among
these are gender differences, cultural differences and personality traits.

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Negotiation skills

Even though we may have been negotiating outcomes throughout our

daily lives, this experience has not necessarily turned us into effective
negotiators, because we may not have properly developed the specific
skills needed. However, if we want to deal effectively with conflicts,
we will have to take action to improve our negotiating skills. Reading
5 at the end of this module offers principles of negotiation that will
allow you to develop some of these skills. Read it now.
Reading 5 ‘Six Principles of Negotiation’ from ACCORD (1998)
Conflict Management, Negotiation and Mediation Skills, University of
Durban-Westville.

Activity 3.2

Unit 3
(about 15 minutes)
In your learning journal write down the six principles of
negotiation that are addressed in Reading 5, along with a brief
description of each principle.

In The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution, Dudley Weeks (1992)

has developed an eight-step process for effective negotiations in
interpersonal relationships:
1 Invite a partnership atmosphere – Create an atmosphere in
which the feeling is that the parties in conflict are really partners
in solving a problem. This is a very important step in the conflict
resolution process. It is more likely that mutual agreement will be
reached when you have given careful consideration to creating
this sort of atmosphere. Think about preparing the setting and
yourself, the timing and location of the meeting, and the exact
wording of the opening statements to create the right mood as
you engage in conflict resolution.
2 Clarify perceptions – Clarify the perceptions of everybody
involved in the conflict. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t
know exactly what it is about. Also, avoid stereotyping the other
party and really hear what they say. Properly recognise the other
party’s needs and respect their values even if you don’t agree with
them. Try to empathise with their position. In particular, clear up
any misconceptions early on in the discussion.
3 Focus on individual and shared needs – Expand on the needs
you and the other party have in common. Realise that you need
one another in order to successfully resolve the conflict. Make
one of your aims meeting the other person’s needs. When you
take the time to look, you will recognise that you often share
needs in common.

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4 Develop shared positive power – Try to think in terms of power

with each other rather than power over the other person. When
parties in conflict have this outlook, they can encourage each
other to use shared positive power. This gives an ultimate
advantage to all involved, because each person’s positive energy is
being drawn on for a worthwhile solution.
5 Focus on the present and future and learn from the past – Don’t
dwell on negative past conflicts or you won’t be able to deal
positively with each other in the present or the future. Try to
understand what happened in the past, rather than ignoring it,
and avoid repeating the same mistakes again.
6 Generate options – Beware of preconceived answers, look for
common ground and make sure the options explored are
workable for all the parties involved. Set any disagreements to
one side and focus first on the options that seem most workable.
Finally, bypass the options that won’t work for all the people
involved. This avoids spin-off conflicts.
7 Develop and agree on ‘doables’ – Doables are specific actions
that have a good chance of being successful. They are ideas that
have the best chance of success, strategies that do not promote
unfair advantages on either side. Doables are founded on sharing
the ideas and information that come from all the parties involved;
they are therefore actions that meet shared needs.
8 Develop mutual benefit proposals and agreements – Mutual
benefit agreements should give you lasting solutions to specific
conflicts and are the culmination of an effective negotiation
process. These agreements are not the end but the beginning of
an improved relationship in which differences can be dealt with
in a more functional way.

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Activity 3.3
(about 60 minutes)
Identify a current problem that you are facing in your
workplace, at home or in your community. Discuss with your
peers a strategy for dealing with the problem using approaches
from what you have read and from Week’s eight-step process.
Record the strategy agreed to with your peers in your learning
journal.
This means you are now ready to implement your strategy in
attempting to resolve the conflict you are part of. Good luck!
Remember that it is important to choose a problem for which
you have responsibility. Don’t forget to record the outcomes of
implementing your strategy.

Unit 3
After you have engaged in the conflict resolution activity,
reflect on the following questions and write notes in your
learning journal with your answers.
z How effective was your conflict resolution? Evaluate your
outcomes against your problem-solving plan.
z Did everything go according to the plan?
z What worked? What didn’t work?
z How would you modify your approach if you were to come
up against this situation in the future?
Note: You wish to continue using the situation from Activity 1.1

Factors of successful negotiations

There are several factors that contribute to successful negotiations.
These are:
z experience
z demands and concessions
z precedents
z personality traits.

Experience
As negotiators gain more experience, research shows that they:
z are better listeners and ask more questions
z focus their arguments more directly
z are less defensive
z have learnt to avoid emotive words and phrases that can irritate
other negotiators.

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Demands and concessions

Research suggests that consistently high demands and low
concessions by one party will lead to the same behaviour by the
opposing party. Therefore, we can expect competitive bargaining from
one party to generate competitive bargaining in the other party.
Research has not, however, shown that low demands and high
concessions (accommodating behaviour) necessarily generate the
same in an opposing party, although it is likely to soften the
competitive stance. Based on the research, Robbins et al (1994)
suggest that negotiators should commence by bargaining with a small
concession and then reciprocate their opponents’ concessions.

Precedents
You are rarely in a position of conducting a negotiation with
someone that you do not know, and therefore have usually witnessed
a history of past interactions and practices that they bring to the
bargaining table.
We looked previously at the most appropriate conflict handling style
for a given situation, but people often resort to their preferred style to
manage their conflicts, even though it may not be the most
appropriate for that particular issue. So, before entering into a
negotiation, they will probably use the same style again, and that will
probably reflect their bargaining standards. If you know them, this
gives you an advantage in that you can work for a cooperative
solution knowing the limits likely to be present.

Personality traits
Although one might be tempted to think that personality traits are a
good indicator of preferred bargaining technique – for example, that
high risk takers are more likely to be aggressive bargainers – there is
no evidence to suggest that this is the case. This finding indicates that
you should focus on the issues in each bargaining episode, not on
your opponent’s psychology and her/his personal characteristics.
Reading 6 presents some reflections on conflict and achieving peace
in the context of development. Enjoy!
Read Reading 6 ‘Overview of conflict, conflict resolution and peace
in relation to development’ by Dr C.M. Namafe, School of
Education, University of Zambia.

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Third party negotiations

Up until this point in the unit, we have been looking at bargaining in

terms of direct negotiations between parties. When individuals or
groups reach a deadlock and are unable to continue, so that a conflict
remains unresolved, they may involve a third party in the process.
There are four basic negotiation processes that involve third parties:
z mediation
z arbitration
z conciliation
z consultation.

Mediation

Unit 3
Mediation involves the intervention of an acceptable and impartial
third party who facilitates the negotiation of a solution by using (1)
reasoning, (2) persuasion and (3) suggestions for alternatives. The
mediator has no formal, binding authority in a dispute or negotiation.
Mediation works best in situations where the conflict has not
escalated too far, and where both parties are committed to bargaining
and actually resolving the conflict.

Functions of mediators
Before engaging in mediation during the conflict resolution process,
and before the mediation session, mediators are responsible for:
1 gathering information and data
2 getting the parties to the negotiating table
3 analysing the conflict
4 facilitating consciousness raising of the parties
5 arranging a venue for the session
6 setting up the physical environment appropriate for mediation.

Steps of mediation
The process of mediation typically includes three steps:
z orientation
z gathering information on what the parties want
z managing interaction.

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Orientation
During the orientation step, mediators should:
z introduce the parties if they do not already know each other
z establish and insist on ground rules and explain the mediation
process, including the objectives of the session
z explain the role of the mediators – particularly their lack of
power to decide on a binding solution, and stress that they are
there to facilitate the development of the parties’ own bases for
agreement.

Gather information on what the parties want

During the gathering information step, mediators should:
z encourage each party to explain the relevant facts and feelings
from their perspective (story-telling)
z promote good communication by encouraging active listening
and by asking open-ended questions.

Managing interaction
During the managing interaction step, mediators should:
z assist the parties to identify the nature of the problem/s as well as
their own needs and interests
z guide the generation of options or a range of solutions
z encourage understanding and explain the role of venting and of
silence
z assist in identifying common ground
z consider alternatives if there is no agreement.

Mediation – a cost effective approach

The overall effectiveness of mediated negotiations is fairly impressive,
as shown by the following excerpt from Negotiation Journal, a
publication of the Harvard Program on Negotiation.

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Case study 3.3

Advantages of mediation

More disputes should go to mediation, researchers find

by Lauren Frank

Mediation holds time and cost advantages over arbitration and yields
a higher level of satisfaction for participants, according to a survey
evaluating the two approaches to alternative dispute resolution
(ADR). The technique also proved useful for resolving a wide variety
of conflicts, said authors of the recently completed study.
Based on a mail survey sent to clients of five major ADR service
providers nationwide, ‘ADR in the Private Sector’ examined 449
cases dealing with contract, construction, personal injury, property

Unit 3
damage and environmental disputes that arose in Los Angeles,
Dallas, Seattle, New York, Florida and San Francisco.
Results showed that mediation led to settlements in 78 per cent of the
cases studied. More specifically: voluntary mediation cases, where the
parties chose mediation, reported a settlement rate of 79 per cent,
while involuntary cases, those where mediation was stipulated either
by the court or a contract clause, settled 76 per cent of the time.
And mediation cases took considerably less time to settle. The
median time span for mediated cases (from initial conference to the
final resolution) was one day, while arbitration cases, from
commencement of the hearing to issuance of the award, took a
median of 60 days.
Moreover, mediated cases engendered more satisfaction than those
sent to arbitration, the researchers said. Parties reported more
satisfaction with the outcomes and implementation of mediation, as
well as with the fairness of the neutrality in mediated cases and the
fairness of the process itself.

However, reservations about mediation have been expressed by

women’s organisations, who argue that it may not be the best solution
when there is unequal bargaining power between the two parties –
something that is often the case in family disputes, especially where
violence is involved.

Arbitration
Arbitration involves the intervention of a third party who has formal,
binding authority to dictate an agreement in a dispute or negotiation.
The authority of the arbitrator varies according to guidelines
established by the negotiators or by the requirements of the law. The
major advantage that arbitration has over mediation is that it always
concludes with a settlement. However, it is not guaranteed that both

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parties will come out of arbitration feeling they have a win/win

resolution.

Conciliation
Conciliation involves a trusted third party who provides an informal
communication link in an attempt to establish a friendly relationship
between two parties involved in a dispute or negotiation.

Consultation
Consultation involves employing a neutral third party, with known
expertise and skill in conflict resolution, who uses skilled
communication techniques, and is able to investigate and analyse
matters relevant to the dispute. In this manner, this third party is able
to facilitate a creative approach to solving the remaining problems.

Consolidating the process

You have now learned about resolving conflict by using direct
negotiation between conflicting parties as well as by using third
parties. Both strategies can be employed to resolve issues in a
functional way. Traditionally, parties attempt to resolve conflict
directly and, when faced with an impasse, resort to bringing in a third
party. However, this is not a rule.
Spend some time next to read an article that consolidates the conflict
resolution process within the context of youth.
Turn to the end of the module and read Reading 7 ‘Youth groups,
conflict prevention, management and resolution’, by Yinka Aganga-
Williams, Senior Programme Officer, Commonwealth Youth
Programme Africa Centre.

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Practicing conflict resolution skills

The following activity is a role play that will allow you to practice the
skills you have been learning in this module. Read the instructions
carefully, and if you have any questions, seek the assistance of your
tutor. Have fun!

Activity 3.4
(about 1 hour)
Biagudia logging exercise
The Biagudia logging exercise is a role play that simulates a
conflict situation and is something you can undertake with
your youth group, other youth workers or students in your

Unit 3
tutorial group. You can do this activity even if you only have
one person representing each of the four groups in the
exercise.
You will be facilitating the process, so it will also be a good
opportunity for you to practise your group work skills! We have
provided only a skeleton story – please feel free to add to it or
adapt it so that it is relevant to the group you are working
with.

Facilitator instructions:
1 Have the participants break into four groups (traditional
land owners, young people in the community, government
officials and loggers).
2 Hand out printed role instructions (given below), one for
each group, and say: ‘After you read your roles, spend
about 15 minutes discussing your course of action with
your colleagues. You may meet with any other player after
that time. You are advised to pick a spokesperson to
undertake the negotiations, but you may wish to undertake
the negotiation as a group. I am available to perform the
role of mediator if you decide it would be useful to use
one. After approximately half an hour, you will need to
negotiate your desired outcomes with the other groups’.
3. Whether they pick you to be the official mediator or not,
you will need to manage the negotiations by setting time
limits, ensuring people understand the exercise, keeping
the group task-focused, etc.
Role instructions:
z Group 1 – Traditional landowners
You are the traditional owners of the remaining forest in

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Biagudia. You are primarily interested in making a profit

and are intending to sell your logs to the highest bidder.
z Group 2 – Young people in the community
You are concerned that your parents are selling off the
assets of the community, without thinking about the
environment and the long-term impact that selling off non-
replaceable resources will have on you and your children.
z Group 3 – Government officials
You’re keen to see a deal go ahead with the traditional
land owners in Biagudia. The logging company has
promised to build roads, bridges, permanent housing and a
school in the village as part of the deal, which you do not
have the money to do at the moment. But you have heard
rumours that this company has not always kept its
promises.
z Group 4 – Loggers
There are fewer and fewer sources for you to get your
tropical timber stock these days, so you’re very keen to
get the logs from Biagudia. Maybe it’s time to start
thinking more seriously about sustainable development and
replanting.
Possible debriefing questions:
1 Had all the groups developed a plan and established their
preferred positions prior to commencing negotiations? If
not, why not?
2 What was the trust level like – intra-group and inter-group?
Were people withholding information from each other? Did
stereotyping play a role in the way that you dealt with one
another? Would you work with each other again?
3 How creative was the solution?
4 Did you ascertain at the beginning of the exercise if all
your goals were mutually exclusive – or did you
immediately fall into competition mode?
5 Did you spend most of your time trying to work out how to
get the better of all the other groups?
6 And how did it feel being the mediator and/or facilitator?
Did you use any of Weeks’ eight steps to create a positive
framework for negotiation?
Make notes in your learning journal in response to the
debriefing questions. Also, keep notes about your experience
as a mediator and the implementation of the role play activity.
You will find them useful to reflect on as you prepare to write
your final assignment for this module.

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Before you complete your studying of this unit, complete the

following activity that will allow you to reflect on all the content you
have learned about conflict resolution. Good luck!

Activity 3.5
In your learning journal, describe five conflict resolution
techniques and highlight at least two strengths and two
weaknesses of each. Reflect again on the conflict situation
from Activity 1.1.
What conflict resolution strategies were used in this situation?
Describe the outcomes in your learning journal.
If no conflict resolution strategies were used, what strategies
would you use if this situation occurred again?

Unit 3

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Unit Summary

In this unit, we discussed the principles and practice of conflict

resolution. We looked at approaches to dealing with conflict,
including negotiation. In studying negotiation, you learned that there
are two key bargaining strategies:
z distributive bargaining
z integrative bargaining.
Additionally, you learned that effective interpersonal negotiations
follow an eight-step process:
1 invite a partnership atmosphere
2 clarify perceptions
3 focus on individual and shared needs
4 develop shared positive power
5 focus on the present and future and learn from the past
6 generate options
7 develop and agree on doables
8 develop mutual benefit proposal and agreements.
You also learned about conflict resolution involving the use of a third
party and that there are four basic negotiation strategies that can be
used in this context:
1 mediation
2 arbitration
3 conciliation
4 consultation.

Through a range of activities and case studies, you spent time reading
about and practicing negotiation and mediation skills in bringing
conflicting groups or individuals together.
We hope you have enjoyed your study and found it useful.
Before moving on to the next unit, make sure that you have
successfully learned about conflict resolution. Look back at the
learning outcomes for this unit and see if you can now do them.
Then, look through your learning journal to review the reflective
thoughts you generated.
The next unit is the last one in this module. It will cover inter-group
relationships and how to manage conflict between groups.

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Answers to self-help questions

Self-help question 3.1

Possible strategies include persuading Kara of her unrealistic target
price (there are many other pillow cases that are cheaper) and the
advisability of accepting your price before you offer the contract to
someone else; arguing that your target price is fair (you know the
wholesale price of pillowcases); and attempting to get Kara to feel
emotionally generous towards you: business has not been good
recently and you will not be able to afford her price and stay in
business.

Self-help question 3.2

Integrative bargaining is a good foundation for long-term

Unit 3
relationships. Both parties leave the table feeling successful and that
they have communicated well with the other party. Both have taken
each other’s interests to heart, and will probably be happy to work
together again in the future.
Distributive bargaining, on the other hand, can leave one party feeling
like a loser, which tends to build animosity. Distributive bargaining
may be a good strategy for buying a second-hand car, or in situations
where you will never see your opponent again, but it is not productive
for on-going relationships.
Even so, it is very difficult to create the conditions that are necessary
for integrative bargaining to take place. Both parties need to be open
with their information, honest about their aspirations and concerns,
able to listen and remain sensitive to the needs of the other party,
trust each other and be prepared to seek alternative options. These
conditions do not always exist in groups, and it takes awareness on
the part of group leaders to create an environment in which this type
of negotiation can flourish.

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References

ACCORD (1998) Conflict Management, Negotiation and Mediation Skills,

University of Durban-Westville.
Commonwealth Youth Programme, Africa Centre (1998) Youth,
Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Frank, L. ‘More disputes should be mediated’, Negotiation Journal
(issue and date not known).
Robbins, S., Waters-Marsh, T., Cadoppe, R. and Millett, B., (1994)
Organisational Behavior: Concepts, Controversies, and Applications,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Thomas, K.W. (1993) ‘Conflict and Negotiation Processes in
Organisation’, in M. D. Dunnette and L. M. Hough (eds), Handbook
of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Ed. 2, Vol. 3.
Weeks, D. (1994 reprint) The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution,
Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc, New York, NY.
United Nations (2002) ‘World Youth Report 2003: Report of the
Secretary-General’, A/58/79 and E/CN.5/2003/4, United Nations,
New York. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/wyr03.htm.

92 Unit 3: Resolving conflict

Unit 4: Inter-group
conflict

Unit introduction ....................................................... 95

Unit learning outcomes .............................................. 95
Inter-group relations ................................................... 96
Conflict among groups ............................................... 96
Impact of conflict on group dynamics........................101
Managing conflict among groups...............................104
Unit summary ...........................................................110
References.................................................................111
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Unit introduction

Welcome to Unit 4 Inter-group conflict. So far, most of the concepts

and activities in this module have focused on intra-group and
interpersonal conflict. In this unit we consider the processes involved
in behaviour that occurs at a macro level between different groups:
inter-group behaviour.
Inter-group conflict is a constant in human affairs. This unit offers a
conceptual framework for understanding certain aspects of such
conflict and explores strategies for diagnosing and managing different
conflict situations. Of course, some of the strategies we discussed in
the earlier units are also appropriate for dealing with conflict in inter-
group relations.

Unit learning outcomes

Unit 4
When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:
z identify inter-group conflict and its underlying causes
z discuss strategies to resolve a conflict when inter-group
agreement cannot be reached by consensus
z distinguish between the various forms of intervention used to
resolve inter-group conflicts.

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Inter-group relations

Inter-group relations are interactive relationships between two or

more social groups and their respective members. Whenever
individuals belonging to an identifiable social group interact
collectively and individually with another group, we have an instance
of inter-group relations.
Inter-group relations tend to exhibit a certain range of identifiable
characteristics, as highlighted by Muzafer Sherif, cited in Hogg and
Abrams (2001). They stress one main point in inter-group relations:
that inter-group behaviour is more often than not group-competitive,
where members behave in ways aimed at gaining or maintaining a
relative advantage for their group over other groups. The authors also
cite Summer, who observed that each group nourishes its own pride and
vanity, boasts itself superior, exalts its own divinities and looks with contempt
on outsiders (p. 65). These inter-group characteristics are the ideal basis
for the creation of conflict.

Conflict among groups

Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, rich and poor, governing

political parties and their oppositions, women and men, young people
and the police are all examples of interacting sets of groups that have
a potential for conflict, as they may have very divergent goals.
Considering inter-group behaviour as characterised by Hogg and
Abrams in citing Summer above, the relationship between these
groups may often be oppositional. This influences the quality of life
and behavioural characteristics of the people involved in these groups.
Conflict among groups can come from many sources and take many
different guises. As the young are usually the ones who suffer most
during violent conflicts, it is important that you are aware of the bases
for such conflicts. There are several overarching factors that, in
various combinations, give rise to conflicts at various levels. The
factors that can originate inter-group conflict can be broadly
categorised as:
z political
z social and cultural
z economic
z geopolitical.
These categories overlap, of course, and also work together to create
or to intensify conflicts. Let’s look at each one of them in more detail.

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Political
Political factors can have an enormous influence on inter-group
conflict. Lack of democracy (as a basic human right) and political
instability are two conditions that provoke and intensify conflicts
around the world. For example, in Sierra Leone the violation of
human rights led to a civil war, characterised by savage and brutal
armed conflict, lasting more than 40 years. This conflict started from
a situation of political inequity, exploitation of the masses by a
military dictatorship, lack of government accountability and anti-
democratic government. The situation worsened in 1991 when the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF), from near the border with
Liberia, started an armed insurrection to overthrow the government.
When the rebels succeeded in overthrowing the government, this did
not solve the problems of the people of Sierra Leone. In fact, the war
escalated. Other factors – such as inequitable distribution of
resources, poverty, the lack of primary health care and high levels of
illiteracy and unemployment – helped to fuel continued
dissatisfaction and revolt. In all, more than 200,000 people were
killed and countless others were maimed and mutilated, with
thousands of mainly young people enduring the effects of rape and

Unit 4
extreme distress (United Nations, 2002). Large numbers of the
population were displaced and much of the country’s already feeble
infrastructure was destroyed.
One of the most hopeful things to have emerged from the Sierra
Leone tragedy is the degree to which the resolution of the conflict has
been used creatively to develop the position of women and young
people as the keystone for the development of the whole society. It is
one of the best examples available of the ways in which conflict
resolution processes can be used positively as a major development
strategy. The recommendations of the May 2001 National
Consultation for post-conflict reconstruction begins with the ‘Vision
of the Women of Sierra Leone’ (Baksh-Soodeen and Etchart, 2002).
The women’s vision is a possible model for a civilised twenty-first
century society. Women were able to take the lead in the
Consultation’s recommendations because they had been among the
foremost groups attempting to resolve the crisis in the country.
It’s also important to note that this conflict could not have been
resolved without the willingness of the international community to
insist on the necessary conditions for its resolution and to be prepared
to support this by armed intervention if and where necessary.
However, that display of force was never used to compel any ethnic
or social group into submission. The conflict seems to have been
resolved based on mediation and consultation, in an attempt to build
relationships among all groups and their members.

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Social and cultural

Social and cultural factors also greatly influence conflict among
groups. This problem is evident in various countries where two
dominant groups live in separate communities, especially when one is
an indigenous group. Let’s take the example of Guyana. This is a
society whose potential development has been limited because of the
lack of ethnic integration and socialisation and hence the
exacerbation of serious ethnic insecurities. For example, during
national elections, there is a prevailing ideology that claims that only
members of one’s own ethnic grouping can adequately address the
concerns of one’s social class. Consequently, for more than a decade
there has been civil unrest along racial lines after elections.
Ethnic insecurities are worsened by the economic realities of the
country, in which one particular ethnic group dominates business and
enterprise, while another ethnic group to a large extent constitutes the
civil service. Additionally, politicians tend to exploit ethnicity for their
own purposes. Generally, the ethnic conflict in this Commonwealth
country can be linked to both historical and institutional factors. It
may be useful, in the light of this, to recall that patterns of cultural
discrimination resulted in ethnic insecurities and ultimately genocide
in Burundi and Rwanda.
Another social factor that creates conflict is related to gender. All over
the world gender differences and inequalities give rise to conflicts and
should therefore be among the first things to consider in any conflict
situation. You may recall that in Module 5 Gender and Development,
we stated that gender dimensions transcend discussions about
differences in sex to raise important issues about the manner in which
young women and men are treated by society, within specific socio-
economic, cultural and political contexts. In many rural societies in
the Commonwealth, for example, men are consulted and participate
in the decision-making processes regarding development of their
communities, while women are often simply ignored, even though
they may be the ones who will be most affected by the outcomes of
the decisions. Moreover, in many parts of the Commonwealth
women live under repressive conditions and are the subject of special
forms of human rights abuse, including violence, sexual abuse and
other gender-based crimes.
The social and cultural disparities between groups can cause serious
dysfunctional conflicts among them.

Economic
The current global economic system is a major cause of growing
dissatisfaction and tensions, which have led to both violent and non-
violent conflicts at both the national and international levels due to
the widening gap between the rich and the poor. One of the most
glaring examples is Nigeria, a country that has been receiving
considerable attention from conservationists, human rights groups
and fair trade advocates. You may recall the trial and hanging of

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environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the

Ogoni tribe, following their intended peaceful struggle with the then
ruling military regime over the exploitation and proceeds of the oil
industry in the traditional territory of the Ogoni. This conflict in
Nigeria is extremely complex of course, with roots in the colonial
manipulation of tribal territory and a result of a combination of
historical, economic, social and political factors.
Another disturbing example of economic factors creating conflict is
sub-Saharan Africa’s huge debt burdens. These are the products of
debts incurred by the colonisers, ill-advised borrowing from the
international banks during the period of the international oil crisis in
the 1970s and 1980s, compounded by IMF/ World Bank policies
(particularly structural adjustment) that have worsened conditions in
the areas of health, education and other social services. According to
a report by UNIDO (2004), absolute poverty rose in the region from
42 per cent in 1981 to 47 per cent in 2001, when countries were
following the advice of rich country specialists on the development of
their countries.
Many local communities have been pushed into conflicts as a result
of their livelihoods being threatened by conservation projects such as

Unit 4
protected areas or ecotourism or by development projects such as
large scale drainage and irrigation projects. Such conflicts arise
because people are displaced or are dispossessed of their traditional
rights to the use of natural resources and their only sources of
income, without any viable alternative being offered – as, for
example, in the privatisation of water in Bolivia and Tanzania. The
concerns of the people, individually or as members of a group, are
frequently ignored during project planning processes. In Module 8
Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, you can learn more about
local participation in project planning and implementation.

Geo-political
Because the world’s resources are shrinking in terms of their capacity
to meet growing demand, conflict between nation states due to
scarcity of resources is gaining increasing attention. Very often geo-
political conflicts are related to disagreements over land: border issues
are usually about border assets – for example, marine resources
within claimed Exclusive Economic Zones.
A current Commonwealth example is the Guyana-Venezuela border
issue involving Venezuela’s 1788 claim to over 75 per cent of the land
area of Guyana. In the Note of Recognition of the Independence of
Guyana on 26 May 1966, Venezuela stated:
“Venezuela recognises as territory of the new State the one
which is located on the east of the right bank of the Essequibo
River, and reiterates before the new State, and before the
international community, that it expressly reserves its rights of
territorial sovereignty over all the zone located on the west bank
of the above-mentioned river. Therefore, the Guyana-Essequibo

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territory over which Venezuela expressly reserves its sovereign

rights, limits on the east by the new State of Guyana, through
the middle line of the Essequibo River, beginning from its
source and on to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean.”
Venezuelan maps, produced since 1970, show the entire area from the
eastern bank of the Essequibo, including the islands in the river, as
Venezuelan territory. On some maps, the western Essequibo region is
called the ‘Zone of Reclamation’. Currently, the United Nations is
acting as arbitrator and is in the process of finding a final solution to
this ongoing conflict.
Although these factors are discussed here at the macro level, we can
observe similar sources of conflict at both national and community
levels. Yinka Aganga-Williams, in her 1998 article on Youth, Conflict
and Peace (Reading 7), identifies seven potential sources of conflict
that are specific to youth groups. The first of these hints at geo-
political issues:
z competition for scarce resources (economic or social)
z differences in goals
z differences in perception and values
z disagreements in role requirements
z nature of work activities
z individual approaches
z internalised conflicts.
You may want to read the article now to get the full details on each of
these sources of conflict among youth groups.
Turn to Reading 7 ‘Youth Groups, Conflict Prevention, Management
and Resolution’ by Yinka Aganga-Williams, Senior Programme
Officer, Commonwealth Youth Programme Africa Centre.

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Impact of conflict on group dynamics

The impact of conflict on group dynamics, both intra-group and

inter-group, is dramatic. Inter-group conflict that is not addressed
tends to reappear, and each time it does the situation becomes
susceptible to rapid escalation. Within a group, conflict with another
group tends to increase solidarity and compliance with group norms,
following the group’s policy line. A good example of this type of
group behaviour is seen in political parties just before elections.
“This is noticeable in the immediate period preceding a national
election. Intra-party debate over policy positions is diminished.
A united front is presented to the public. Between groups,
conflict is characterised by an increased propensity to negatively
stereotype the other group’s members, an emphasis on
differences between the two groups, and decreased direct
communication that results in an increased likelihood of
misunderstanding of intentions.”
(Brown, 1991)

This combination creates a vicious cycle of defensive aggression and

Unit 4
defensive counter-aggression by the other group, until it is
counteracted by external factors.

Power imbalance
More often than not, power and status inequalities are the most
critical problems of inter-group relations. The low-power group is
more vulnerable, so it censors communication that might invoke
retribution from a high-power group, such as on dissatisfaction with
working conditions. As a result, the high-power group remains
ignorant of information considered sensitive by the low-power group,
which in turn experiences frustration and relative deprivation as a
result of their own group discipline. Such a situation is particularly
true in cases where there is intense competition over scarce resources,
and can be best described as a self-reproducing cycle of fear and
ignorance. This is the sort of case you might meet in a non-unionised
factory, where workers lack the formal structure and legitimacy of a
trade union to enable them to voice their grievances without hostility.
The long-term outcomes of this cycle of fear and ignorance are either
a heightened feeling of being oppressed (a very destructive form of
too little conflict) or scattered outbreaks of violence and guerrilla
tactics, as individuals lose any feeling of social and personal
commitment to the workplace.

Overt and covert inter-group conflict

The extent to which potential conflict among groups becomes overt
varies. As mentioned in previous units, cases of conflict between
unions and employer bodies are usually transparent. In Unit 1, Case

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study 1.1 – The Inter-Continental Caravan presents a good example

of a transparent inter-group conflict.
The conflict between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples has
usually been very obvious in places like Australia, Fiji Islands, New
Zealand and South Africa. Sometimes it is less explicit but has still
been a real factor – as, for example, the presence of immigrant Irish
workers in the heavy industries of England and Wales in the inter-war
and post war years.
Gender conflict is often less obvious but still real enough: for
example, when the legitimate upward mobility of women is
interpreted by men as the ‘colonising’ of professions such as school
teaching.

Social roles, power distribution and history

Inter-group relations also differ depending on the defining
characteristics of the groups and their relationship. The roles of
government and opposition are functionally defined as essential
components of the democratic process, so conflict is organised and
structured in a systematic way. The government has been elected to
implement its policies, and the opposition is there to create functional
conflict by questioning the government’s position and exerting
political pressure so that as much as possible of its own policy
position can be incorporated into any new legislation, giving it
political authority.
Because trade unions are usually formally constituted, there is a legal
structure and a pattern of behaviour that can generally be relied on to
resolve problems. This was not the case with the year-long Miners’
Strike in 1984 against the policies of pit closure by the right-wing
Thatcher Government in the UK. The strike was not immediately
resolved because the Government was determined to reconstruct the
British economy. The distribution of power is of course critical to the
union/ employer type of conflict, and the Thatcher Government’s
political activists provoked the strike in order to use it as an excuse to
lessen the power of the unions. Five years earlier the country had
been close to serious economic trouble, which was exacerbated by
chaotic political conditions produced by numerous public sector
strikes. Eventually, the Government won the struggle, but only by
using the army, the police and the civil and criminal judicial systems
to force the miners back to work.

Societal differences
Conflict between groups that involves societal differences may be
even more complicated. Divisions that are grounded in societal
history are likely to be reinforced by a network of social mechanisms
(political, economic, educational) that institutionalise the differences.
Societal differences do not necessarily imply power differences
between the groups, but very frequently the effect of

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institutionalisation is to enshrine the dominance of one group over

another.
In the following reading, the conflict occurs not only at an inter-group
level – between the wider society and young, displaced people – but
also at an intra-group level, between the younger and older
generations within communities.
Take some time now to read Reading 8 ‘Community Response to
Law and Order Problems’ by Lynn Giddings.

Activity 4.1
(about 45 minutes)
After reading the article, discuss the following questions with
your peers. Then write the answers and any notes in your
learning journal.
1 Briefly describe the conflict situation:
a) Who are the conflicting parties?

Unit 4
b) What has caused the conflict situation?
c) How have the parties dealt with the conflict? (Explain
the conflict handling styles of each party, and the
behaviours and conflict outcomes.)
2 Briefly outline the two approaches to conflict resolution
that are described in the reading.
3 Comment on the effectiveness of each.
4 Reflecting on your own practice, what conflict resolution
strategies might you use in such a situation?

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Managing conflict among groups

There are many aspects to managing conflict among groups:

z diagnosing the conflict
z intervention
z changing attitudes
z changing behaviours
z changing structures
z managing power differences
z managing societal differences
z encouraging participation.

Diagnosing the conflict

In medicine, accurate diagnosis is essential to assisting patients to
regain their health. It is also crucially important in conflict
management, but is often neglected or not done well. In situations
where conflict has remained covert for a long period of time, it is
often very intense when it does surface. The need for immediate
resolution may be overwhelming, but if the conflict is poorly
understood, the intervention is unlikely to provide a long-lasting
solution.
Diagnosis of the conflict by a third party starts with asking:
1 At what level is the source of the conflict – intra-personal,
interpersonal, inter-group, intra-group?
2 What relationship should the third party have with the two
parties?
3 What is the optimum state of relations among the parties needed
to achieve the goals of the relationship?

Intervention
If a manager/mediator understands the following, s/he is more likely
to develop an intervention that is appropriate to resolving conflict
among groups:
z the contribution of the different levels of relationship to the
conflict
z the impact of her/his own personal biases in the situation
z the seriousness of the conflict – is an intervention really
necessary?
Intervention intended to make a conflict functional rather than
dysfunctional usually involves trying to develop strategies to reduce

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the conflict. Sometimes, however, as mentioned earlier in the module,

it is necessary to stimulate more conflict to bring about positive
change. In these situations, the role of the catalyst is to intervene in
the rigid, ongoing conflict process that is produced by the mixture of
attitudes, behaviour and social structure. Interventions often start by
impacting on one key aspect of the conflicting behaviours.
In the 1984 Miners’ Strike mentioned above, the tactic of the
National Union of Mineworkers was to use ‘flying pickets’, groups of
skilled strikers who drove from one location to the next supporting
local mineworkers. The Thatcher Government made this process
illegal, thus making it easy for the police to reduce picketing to a
manageable process. However, long-term change usually needs to
address all aspects of the conflict: attitudes, behaviours and
structures. Eventually the Government created an unwilling but
workable peace with the mineworkers that allowed it to gradually
reduce the industry so that it became profitable in the global
economy.

Changing attitudes
Changing attitudes involves influencing the ways in which the parties

Unit 4
perceive the conflict situation. Altering the way groups perceive the
differences or similarities between them may impact on the way they
relate to each other. For example, traditional hostilities between
Muslims and Hindus in Maharashtra, India, were suspended when a
mixed group of migrant workers came into conflict with local
workers, causing them to coalesce into a unified group. Sharing a
common goal, the achievement of which required co-operation
between these two religious groups normally in conflict, reduced their
own escalating conflict.
Educating people about group dynamics and inter-group conflict may
also help people to reduce their unintended contributions to
increasing a conflict. When they study attitude-changing strategies,
this helps parties who are in potential conflict to understand and
explain to themselves the positive relations between themselves and
the other groups.

Changing behaviours
Changing their destructive behaviours requires groups to study and
consciously adopt actual strategies that enable them to act more
positively: they need to focus on the actual modes of behaviour in
which they act currently and work on improving them until they
become more constructive. This can be achieved by:
z Changing intra-group behaviour – when a group is preoccupied
with resolving internal differences, its energy for fighting with
other groups may be diminished. When the group has resolved its
internal differences, it may become more prone to re-engaging in
conflict with other groups, and hence need behaviour
modification strategies at that point.

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z Training group members in conflict management/ resolution

skills – when there is too much conflict, training in problem-
solving or communication skills may benefit group members by
developing conflict management expertise.
z Third party management of inter-group behaviour – mediators
skilled in behaviour management, trusted by both sides, can
reduce the escalation of conflict.
To better understand issues around changing group behaviour to
allow for effective conflict resolution, read the following articles.
Read Reading 9, which is in two parts: ‘Formal and Informal Actions
for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution’ by Charles
Namafe, School of Education, University of Zambia and ‘Formal
and Informal Action in Dealing with Conflicts’ by Razaan Bailey,
Trainer, Future Links, South Africa.

Activity 4.2
(about 15 minutes)
In your learning journal, outline the aspects for managing
conflict that are referred to in Reading 9. Give examples of
conflict situations you are aware of that could use some of the
conflict management strategies described in the article.

Changing structures
Changing structures means modifying the communication and social
infrastructural relations between groups, at least those that affect
long-term relations between groups. An example is the relationship
between the Muslim asylum-seekers from Indian Jammu/ Kashmir
who seek refuge among Pakistani Kashmiris in Muzaffarabad and the
Neelam Valley. The asylum seekers are small business people,
teachers, mullahs and farmers who have lost all their possessions in
the fighting in Kashmir. While the local people are in principle very
favourable to them, conflicts arise because the newcomers need
homes and education for their children and the opportunity to work
and start small businesses, which puts them into rivalry with local
people. Moreover, because of the conflict in Jammu Kashmir some of
them join mujahideen groups, which attracts Indian Army retaliation
through shelling of the villages and towns near the line of control.
The shelling is feared by local people.
The structural interventions needed to deal with this conflict require
large investments of time and resources – both human and capital –
from bodies such as the UN. These interventions tend to take much
longer to be effective than attitudinal or behavioural interventions.
However, they are more likely to produce long-term change. In this
case, part of the problem is resolved by asylum seekers maintaining
local farms throughout Pakistani Kashmir that had been left
unfarmed by families when the younger people left to work in

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Canada, the Middle East and the UK. They also bring technical
expertise in the area of education and health and offer valuable new
resources. But all that has to be structurally analysed and managed to
be effective.

Managing power differences

Managing conflict where there are power differences between the
parties is difficult. There is a potential for extremely dysfunctional
outcomes in a situation of conflict between a very powerful group
and a low-power group. As mentioned earlier, the relationship is
sometimes characterised by poor communication, resulting from fear
on the part of the low-power group and ignorance on the part of the
high-power group. This can result in extreme oppression caused by
there being too little overt conflict, or unexpected incidents of
violence caused by too much suppressed conflict. Both groups will
have a preference for minimising conflict, but because the inter-group
problems are not addressed, the low-power group will eventually be
forced to adopt high profile strategies to get their voices heard. These
strategies are likely to be dysfunctional for both groups and may
involve violence.

Unit 4
This has become an issue in a number of British schools in lower
class areas of the country, where many pupils undoubtedly sense that
the odds are against them achieving very much educationally and,
therefore, having any real opportunity for permanent jobs and full
family lives, given the effects of the global economy on the British
employment situation and housing. This seems to result in failure to
accept school discipline as well as in challenges to teachers, frequently
ill-mannered and sometimes violent. The state has developed a policy
of identifying very skilled and successful head teachers who are
assigned to difficult schools to resolve the conflicts that are evident
and to develop new working relationships between pupils and
teaching and administrative staff.
In managing conflict between high- and low-power groups, it is
important that the power differential is made transparent in some way
and acknowledged in negotiations, or there will be barriers to the flow
of information between the groups. Brown (1991) advocates that
interventions must be preceded by some balancing of the
psychological odds, so that both groups feel able to communicate
without risking too much. While it is not often possible to change the
power differential, a mediator may reduce the fear in the minds of the
low-power group and may be able to educate the high-power group.
This is what the best head teachers are able to do. Failure to do this
on a city scale has resulted in some major cities being divided into
two groups – the affluent living behind high gates and fences and
protected by police and army, and the poverty stricken living in slums
and protected from the police by gangsters. On occasions, this may
erupt into savage class warfare. The case of São Paulo in Brazil
several years ago is particularly revealing. Unfortunately, the

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unevenness of development of the global economy may well be

making conflicts like São Paulo more likely.

Managing societal differences

The case of Sao Paolo and some British lower class schools show that
societal differences that result from systemic discrimination inevitably
affect inter-group relations. People bring their mindsets, their
prejudices and their stereotypes to the group, and the group must deal
with these issues if it is to achieve its goals. Differences that involve
histories of exploitation – such as blacks by whites and women by
men – are the most difficult to deal with.
Successful resolution of conflicts of this nature again involves
acknowledging the power differential and actively balancing the odds
in some way, as the Africanisation programmes in post-colonial
African countries have attempted to do. Society’s institutions, such as
education and the law, have in many cases reinforced those
differences. External pressure may be required to get any access for
some people to essential public services. For example, equal
employment opportunity legislation is needed to get women into
certain sectors of the workforce, or special assistance programmes are
required to ensure that disadvantaged young people have access to
education and training. Counter institutions, such as affirmative
action agencies, can be established to attempt to dismantle systemic
discrimination gradually. This has been a major issue in South Africa,
which is attempting to undo the years of damage done to black and
coloured people under apartheid.

Encouraging participation
In the following reading, we re-visit a recurring theme – the
importance of encouraging participation. For example, in the
Solomon Islands, where ethnic conflict and violence have affected
women and children most, women formed a group called Women for
Peace (WFP) that actively supports and encourages women’s
initiatives at all levels, with a view to finding a peaceful solution
between the two militant groups.
As Kofi Annan pointed out at a WFP meeting on 20 September 2002:
“We must make greater use of women’s potential in this area,
and bring more women to the negotiating table and into
decision-making positions. We must action the understanding
that women’s full participation in preventing and resolving
conflicts is essential for the maintenance and promotion of
peace and security in the twenty-first century.”
The participation of women in conflict resolution processes has been
called for by the UN in Security Council Resolution 1325 on women,
peace and security – which called for the full involvement of women
in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and
security – as well as by the Commonwealth Plan of Action for

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Gender Equality 2005–2015, endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of

Government.
Likewise, young people must be allowed to participate not only in
peace processes, but also in the general decision-making processes
concerning issues affecting different aspects of their lives. This is
critical for the prevention of violent conflict, as emphasised in the
reading that follows.
Look now at Reading 10 ‘Good Governance and Students’
Leadership in Tertiary Institutions in Africa’ by Carlson Anyangwe,
School of Law, University of Zambia.

Activity 4.3
(about 20 minutes)
Think about your own situation and experiences, then write
two paragraphs on how participation may be employed as an
appropriate method for identifying differences and resolving
conflicts. Having written your answer in your learning journal,

Unit 4
have a discussion about the issues raised with your colleagues
or co-workers.

Before concluding your study of this unit, complete the following

research activity.

Activity 4.4
(about 1 hour)
This activity will require you to do some research – for
example, through visiting the library, reading the newspaper,
going to talk to people in your community, etc.
In your learning journal:
1 Identify two conflicting groups in your community that you
believe are locked into a pattern of dysfunctional conflict.
Describe the conflicting groups. What is the socio-
economic status of the two groups? What is the nature of
the conflict, and how has it manifested itself? (Explain the
conflict process that has occurred.)
2 How do the members of each group perceive the situation?
How do they justify their acts in this situation of conflict?
3. What strategies would you use as a mediator to try and
change the attitudes of the protagonists?
Note: You may continue using the example of conflict that you
chose in Activity 1.1 or work with another example.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Unit summary

In this unit, we have explored the following issues:

z inter-group relations can be characterised by too much or too
little conflict
z effective management of inter-group conflict requires
understanding and appropriate action
z action includes influencing attitudes and changing behaviours
and structures
z power differences between groups can promote fear and
ignorance, which can result in reduced communication between
the two, with the potential for oppression or violent outbursts
z institutionalised societal differences may further complicate
relationships between groups: legislation and the establishment of
counter institutions may reduce the pressures created in inter-
group relations by systemic discrimination.
This concludes your study of Module 10. Well done! Before moving
on to working on your final assignment, make sure that you have
learned the key concepts in this unit. Look back at the learning
outcomes and see if you can now do them. Then, look through your
learning journal to review the reflective entries you generated and the
issues that were relevant to your learning process.

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 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

References

Brown, L. D. (1991) ‘Managing conflict among groups’ in J. Osland,

D. Kolb and I. Rubin (eds), The Organizational Behavior Reader, 5th
edition, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Baksh-Soodeen, R. and Etchart, L. (eds) (2002) Women and Men in
Partnership for Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Report of the Sierra Leone
National Consultation, Freetown, Sierra Leone 21–24 May 2001,
Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Hogg, M. and Abrams, D. (eds) (2001) Intergroup Relations: Key
Readings in Social Psychology, Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, PA.
UNIDO (2004) Industrial Development Report 2004: Industrialization,
Environment and the Millennium Development Goals in Sub-Saharan
Africa, United Nations, Geneva.
United Nations (2002) ‘World Youth Report 2003: Report of the
Secretary-General’, A/58/79 and E/CN.5/2003/4, United Nations,
New York. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/wyr03.htm.

Unit 4

Unit 4: Inter-group conflict 111

Summary

Module summary ......................................................115

Glossary....................................................................117
Further reading .........................................................119
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Module summary

In this module – Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills – you have

learned about the nature of conflict and its effects on people in
different contexts, both at an individual and at a group level. You
have studied:
z the nature of conflict from several different perspectives –
functionalist, interactionist, structuralist and human relations
z a model of the conflict process and the five stages of the process –
the potential for conflict, recognition of conflict, conflict
handling styles, conflict behaviour and conflict outcomes
z techniques designed to help the resolution of conflict at both an
individual and a group level, which will enable you to work more
effectively with and through conflict – these include distributive
and integrative bargaining and negotiation and mediation
z the processes of conflict at a macro level between different groups
– inter-group behaviour – with a framework for understanding
such conflict and strategies for diagnosing and managing such
situations.
You have also seen how conflict can become the starting point for

Summary
new ideas and more positive relationships.
If you have successfully completed this module, you should now be
able to:
z identify examples of conflict within the region where you live,
and understand their origins and the course they have taken
z recognise the different approaches that have been used in
resolving conflict, and the strengths and weaknesses of these
approaches
z apply the insights gained from studying conflict situations to the
kinds of conflicts that are encountered in youth development
work
z outline the principles and practice of conflict resolution
z identify inter-group conflict and its underlying causes
z recognise the existence of pre-conflict and conflict situations
when they are encountered in different youth and development
settings
z apply the theory you have studied to the analysis of conflict
situations and assist others to do the same
z employ negotiation and mediation skills in bringing together
conflicting groups or individuals

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

z consider strategies to resolve conflict when agreement cannot be

reached by consensus.
We hope that your learning from this module and the knowledge and
techniques you have gained will help you as a youth development
worker. When you are confronted with conflict situations – within the
groups you work with, between young people and authority, between
yourself and the young people you work with – we hope that you will
now be able to take action to resolve the conflict. Now you will need
to apply your learning to complete your assignment for this module.
Good luck.

116 Summary
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Glossary

Below is a list of words that are frequently used in discussions about

conflict resolution. You may have come across them before, perhaps
in a different context, but because they are used to mean specific
things in conflict resolution, they are defined here. Some are also
defined in the text, but it’s useful to have an easily accessible list that
you can refer to whenever you need to.
advocate Someone who speaks in favour of, or pleads
for, another person or cause.
arbitration Involves the intervention of a third party to a
dispute, who has formal binding authority to
dictate an agreement in a negotiation.
catalyst A thing, process or person that provokes
change.
consensus A decision-making process in which all parties
involved openly agree to the final decision. It
does not mean that everybody is completely
satisfied with every aspect of the decision, but
rather that the decision is acceptable to
everybody because no-one feels that her or his
most important or valued needs have been

Summary
ignored.
conciliation Involves a trusted third party who provides an
informal communication link to reconcile two
parties and promote conflict resolution in a
dispute or negotiation.
divergent Tendency to generate a variety of different
solutions when analysing a problem.
dysfunctional Anything that prevents a person or a group
from achieving their goals.
empathy The ability to understand and share the
feelings of another person.
emotive Tending to excite emotion or arouse feelings.
functional That which serves in a conflict situation to
enable the parties in a dispute to achieve their
goals.
functionalist Theory that society is essentially nearly as
effective as it could be and that all conflict that
does not re-establish its essential harmony is
harmful and must be avoided.
humanist Theory that the key to all social problems lies
in the knowledge and conduct of the people

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

involved, and that conflict is a natural and

inevitable process in any group or
relationship.
interactionist Theory that communicative processes are an
essential and influential part of group
interaction, and that conflict is not only a
positive force in a group but also necessary for
a group to perform effectively.
inter-group The behaviour that occurs between different
behaviour groups.
intervention The strategy developed to prevent or modify
the results of a conflict between two or more
people.
intra-group The behaviour that occurs between members
behaviour within a group.
mediation Intervention of an acceptable and impartial
third party who facilitates the negotiation of a
solution by using reasoning, persuasion and
suggestions for alternatives but who has no
formal binding authority in a dispute.
negotiate Confer with others to bring about agreement
or compromise.
party One of the two sides in a dispute or conflict.
semantic Relating to meaning in language.
structuralist Theory of conflict in terms of the social
structures that underpin it.

118 Summary
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Further reading

This is a list of some of the books and articles referred to in the

module and suggestions for exploring topics further. You are
encouraged to read as widely as possible during and after the course.
We suggest you discuss follow-up reading with your tutor. What is
available to you in libraries? Are there other books of particular
interest to you or your region? Can you use alternative resources like
newspapers and the internet?
ACCORD (1998) Conflict Management, Negotiation and Mediation Skills,
University of Durban-Westville.
Auvine, B., Densmore, B., Extrom, M., Poole, S. and Shanklin, M.
(1978) A Manual for Group Facilitators, The Center for Conflict
Resolution, Wisconsin.
Bolton, R. (1987), People Skills, Simon and Schuster Australia,
Brookvale, NSW.
Borck, L. and Fawcett, S. (1982) Learning Counselling and Problem
Solving Skills, Haworth Press, New York.
Brown, L. D. (1991) ‘Managing conflict among groups’, in Osland, J.,
Kolb, D. and Rubin, I. (eds.), The Organizational Behavior Reader, 5th
edition, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Summary
Commonwealth Youth Programme, Africa Centre (1998) Youth,
Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Dana, D. (2001) Conflict Resolution, Mc Graw-Hill Inc., Sydney.
Filley, A. (1975) Interpersonal Conflict Resolution, Scott Foresman and
Co, Glenview, IL.
Hogg, M. and Abrams, D. (eds.) (2001) Intergroup Relations: Key
Readings in Social Psychology, Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, PA.
Mayer, B. and Mayer, B. S. (2000) The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution:
A Practitioner’s Guide, Jossey Bass Inc, San Francisco, CA.
National Association of Youth Clubs (1984) Fieldwork: An Aid to the
Support of Youth Workers, Leicester.
Robbins, S., Waters-Marsh, T., Cacioppe, R. and Millett, B. (1994)
Organisational Behavior: Concepts, Controversies, and Applications,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Schellenberg, J. (2000) Conflict Resolution: Theory, Research and Practice,
SUNY Press, New York.
Thomas, K. W. (1993) ‘Conflict and Negotiation Processes in
Organisations’, in M. D. Dunnette, M.D. and Hough, L.M. (eds.),
Handbook of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, 2nd edition, Vol. 3.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Weeks, D. (1994 reprint) The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution,

Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc, New York.
For more information on the Sierra Leone conflict described in
Unit 4, see: http//:www.un.org/youth or Pemagi, J. (2002) ‘The
Challenge to Democracy in Sierra Leone’ in Baksh-Soodeen, R. and
Etchart, L. (eds) Women and Men in Partnership for Post-Conflict
Reconstruction: Report of the Sierra Leone National Consultation Freetown,
Sierra Leone, 21–24 May 2001, Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

120 Summary
 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Assignments

Your work in this module will be assessed through the two

assignments outlined below:
1 A report of about 2,000 words (worth 80 per cent of the final
mark).
2 A review of the learning journal you keep (worth 20 per cent of
the final mark).
The institution in which you are enrolled for this Diploma
programme may decide to replace part of the final assignment with a
written examination (worth 30 per cent of the final mark.)
Note: make sure you discuss the assessment requirements with your
tutor so that you are clear about what you are expected to do and
when, and any particular requirements in your institution.

Assignment 1

Summary
This assignment counts towards your final assessment in this module
and is worth 80 per cent of the final mark. You should discuss with
your tutor the exact requirement for your institution.
Write a 2,000 word report about a conflict of which you have
detailed knowledge. This knowledge need not be first hand – it could
be gained from reading, research or talking to the people directly
involved.
The report should describe the conflict and analyse its root causes and
its consequences, utilising the ideas studied during your work on this
module.
It should also critically assess the role youth development work might
play in helping to resolve the conflict, and it should outline strategies
to resolve it.

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Assignment 2

This assignment counts towards your final assessment in this module

and is worth 20 per cent of the final mark. You should discuss with
your tutor the exact requirement for your institution.
The assignment takes the form of your learning journal, which
contains the notes and records from the activities included in each
unit.

122 Summary
Readings

The readings in this section will help you develop your understanding
of Module 10 Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills. The reading
numbers, their titles and author(s) and the unit in which they appear
are listed below.

1 ‘Crushed by Well-Heeled Global Boots’ by Michael Meacher

(Unit 1).............................................................................124
2 ‘Theories to Analyse Conflict Situations’ by Dr Pramod Kumar
(Unit 1).............................................................................127
3 ‘Directions – A Training Resource for Workers with Young
People in New South Wales’ by the NSW Department of
Community Services(Unit 2) .............................................143
4 ‘Namibia: Unravelling the Legacy’ from In Common
(Unit 2).............................................................................148
5 ‘Six Principles of Negotiation’ by ACCORD (Unit 3).........152
6 ‘Overview of Conflict. Conflict Resolution and Peace in Relation
to Development’ by Dr C. M. Namafe (Unit 3) ..................155
7 ‘Youth Groups, Conflict Prevention, Management and
Resolution’ by Yinka Aganga-Williams (Unit 4).................161
8 ‘Community Response to Law and Order Problems’
by Lynn Giddings (Unit 4).................................................172
9 ‘Formal and Informal Actions for Conflict Prevention,
Management and Resolution’ by Charles Namafe (part 1);
and ‘Formal and Informal Action in Dealing with Conflicts’
by Razaan Bailey (part 2) (Unit 4) .....................................198
10 ‘Democracy, Good Governance and Students’ Leadership in
Tertiary Institutions in Africa’
by Carlson Anyangwe (Unit 4) ..........................................201
Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

Reading 1: Crushed by well-heeled global boots

By Michael Meacher, Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton

The poorest countries need tariff walls to protect

them from international competition
‘Embracing globalisation,’ according to Gordon Brown in his CBI
speech on Monday night, ‘is the best way to growth, jobs and
prosperity.’ Looking at the facts, however, might prompt a rather
different response: is globalisation, once thought unstoppable,
actually now in decline?
Politically, the acrimonious collapse of the Hong Kong World Trade
Organization negotiations in December, the stranding of the so-called
Doha development round, and the increasing resistance to the
Washington Consensus by which the international financial
institutions have dominated the last century, all suggest the first
stirrings of a shift to a new world order. This is also reflected in the
downturn of global foreign direct investment, which fell 41 per cent
in 2001, 13 per cent in 2002 and another 12 per cent in 2003.
There are other uncomfortable facts. First, a system that has given
unprecedented power to today’s private global capitalists to scour the
world for the highest profit return has led to a drastic hollowing out
of the manufacturing base of the US-UK economies. This has led to a
current account deficit in the US now approaching 7 per cent of GDP
and to net foreign debt of over $4 trillion, a colossal 40 per cent of US
GDP and still rising. This is unsustainable. In the UK we are losing
130,000 manufacturing jobs a year. Thirty years ago only a fifth of
manufactured goods sold in the UK were made abroad; today it is 60
per cent and rising. No economy can survive on the service sector and
high tech alone.
The conventional answer is to move up-market to counter the
sucking-out of manufacturing jobs to China and other fast-developing
countries. But this won’t work either. While information technology
and call-centre jobs were the first to move to Asia, the trend is now
spreading to areas long thought to be safe from outsourcing, such as
financial services, legal services and even the media. The unpalatable
fact is that China and India are already competing both with very low
wages and in high tech as well.
The Chinese share of GDP devoted to research and development is
growing 10 per cent a year, while Europe’s is virtually stagnant (0.02
per cent). That’s why in the US, as in the UK, there has been no net
job creation in high-productivity sectors. The jobs created are in
lower-paid public and private services that cannot be traded
internationally. But the average pay in many of them – retail sales,

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customer services, cashiers – is below the poverty line for a family of

four.
Secondly, the global economy has not improved economic
performance. Since 1980 world GDP has grown only slightly more
than half as fast as it did in the period before 1980. And in some
respects its impacts have been quite malign.
Joseph Stiglitz, as chief economist at the World Bank, identified the
uncontrolled flow of ‘hot money’ as the main culprit of the East
Asian tiger economy crisis of 1997–98, since footloose capital so
often generates instability. The same instability of a global economy
operating to a single set of monetary criteria lies behind the recurrent
crises in Mexico, Argentina, South Korea, Indonesia and Brazil.
For the poorer developing countries the impact has been stark. The
share of global income of the poorest fifth of the world has actually
halved since 1960 to a paltry 1.1 per cent today. World inequality has
grown drastically. The richest 20 countries now have 125 times higher
GDP per head than the 20 poorest countries.
The main reason for this impoverishment is that a global economy
has locked developing countries into the role of primary producer of
basic commodities, forced to open up their markets to transnational
competition that they cannot resist as the price of receiving the
investment that they cannot do without. What is needed is the right
for the poorest countries to erect tariff walls to protect their infant
industries, at least until they are strong enough to meet the full force
of international competition.
The key is to be allowed to tailor economic policies to domestic needs
– which is why for example Vietnam, subject for decades to a US
trade embargo, has had a growth rate five times higher than Mexico

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fully plugged into the world economy via NAFTA. But this is
precisely what a globalisation run by the transnational corporations
in their own interests will never permit.
Even, therefore, on the economic front the case for globalisation, at
least in its current form, is clearly not made. But there is a darker side
too which cannot be ignored. That is the global drug trade, the global
trafficking of women and minorities, the more rapid transmission of
Aids, diseases such as malaria, TB and perhaps avian flu, increasing
migrant flows, and above all the relentless intensification of climate
change. None of these was caused by globalisation per se, but it has
exacerbated all of them.
The global economy is here to stay. But today’s, monopolised by
international capital for its own interests, is not serving us well. A
new model could achieve a fairer shift of power and opportunity to
losers in the South, and entrench all economic activity within the
limits of sustainability.
Nor is this a mere pipedream. The resistance to reinforcing the status
quo at the WTO conferences at Seattle, Cancún and Hong Kong, and
the emergence of a group of 21 vanguard developing countries to lead

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the opposition, suggests there is a powerful constituency for real

change.

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Reading 2: Theories to Analyse Conflict

Situations

By Dr. Pramod Kumar, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh

1998, for the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Ethological theories – Konrad Lorenz, Desmond

Morris and Robert Ardrey
Attempts have been made to understand social evils in terms of the
allegedly innate nastiness in human nature. Ethologists propose that
human destructive impulses are genetically endowed and thus linked
to the same innate predisposition in animals, particularly to animal
aggression.

Basic features
Studies of animals in their habitats have led ethologists like Conrad
Lorenz to conclude that the aggressive drive in animals is innate in
the same manner as are the instincts of hunger, sex and fear, and that
it has a value in the processes of natural selection. In spite of all our
cultural achievements and our marked capacity to reason, ‘human
behaviour’, Lorenz points out, is also subject to all the laws prevailing
in all phylogenetically adapted instinctive behaviour.1 To summarise
the ethological and ethnological theories proposed by Lorenz, Morris
and Ardrey, briefly and simplistically, they argue that there is ample
evidence to show that our animal ancestors were instinctively violent
beings, and that this has had a value in the survival of our species,
therefore it has become built into our genetic inheritance. We have a

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range of possible behavioural responses, one of which is animal
aggression, and we switch these on as the situation requires.
If the ethologists are right, then resolving conflicts in which animal
aggressive energies have been activated requires us to defuse these
energies as a matter of urgency. In the animal world the basic
techniques range from ‘fight’ turning to ‘flight’ (when animals run
away) to ‘submission’, when they use a behaviour pattern that reduces
the aggressive drive in the creature with more effective aggression,
such as dropping the head.
These behaviours do work in a lot of human interaction, from
showing that you are not going to attack by opening or dropping your
hands, to the symbolic method of using words that indicate you are
prepared, at least for the moment, to negotiate on the attacker’s
terms.

Psychoanalytic theories – Sigmund Freud

The propensity of human beings to be violent is explained here in
terms of instincts.

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Basic features
The Freudian analysis, observed Grimshaw, is likely to see social
violence more generally as the acting out of sexual traumas suffered
in infancy, or as the sublimation of sexual impulses of adults rather
than as direct competition for sex as a commodity.2
Freud described the nature of the human being in terms of flows of
energy, the basic drive being what he called the ‘Id’, the instinctual
energy that seeks to survive and reproduce (Eros), then die
(Thanatos). Because the human being has to survive in a world with
others, then this instinctual energy system rapidly becomes overlaid
by a monitoring and checking system, a sort of ‘reality’ system which
channels the flows of instinctual energy in such a way that we can
control them (the Ego). Gradually, as we grow up, both these systems
become overlaid by a third system (the Super-Ego) which is a type of
ethical, language-based system that allows us to monitor our
behaviour in terms of broader moral principles, the sort that give us a
guilty conscience when we know that we have offended against our
species in some way. These systems are always potentially in
contention with each other, and the aim should be to balance them,
not allowing any of them to have too much control.
Where the Ego is undeveloped, this allows the aggressive force of the
Id to drive our behaviour, which therefore becomes hard to control,
something we see in toddlers of about two years of age, where the
instinctual survival and goal driven energy is blocked. When this
happens, Freudian theory suggests that it is extremely difficult to
resolve conflict by negotiation. Some psychotic conditions are
described in terms of an undeveloped Ego control system, whereby
the psychotic behaviour bears no relationship to the reality of the
situation. This may lead those with such a condition to be unable to
respond even to the most friendly of circumstances. This may not of
course result in conflict, but where it does, submission techniques
may work to defuse the force of the Id, but we have then not to
assume that it won’t be aroused again very easily, as the Ego system is
so weak, so we must monitor and control the situation very carefully.
Youth workers dealing with young people using strong psycho-active
drugs may well experience something like this, in that LSD, for
example, can liberate powerful, seemingly instinctual, energies.

Critique
Many scholars have sought to rebut the arguments which have been
offered for the innateness of violence in human behaviour. Hannah
Arendt maintains that violence need not be either beastly or
irrational. Conceding that violence often erupts from rage, she points
out that it is possible to create conditions which are so dehumanising
that people become animal-like. She cites examples of concentration
camps, famines, tortures, etc., as instances of such dehumanising
conditions. To quote Hannah Arendt:

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“Violence is neither beastly nor irrational – whether we

understand these terms in the ordinary language of the
humanist or in accordance with scientific theories... that
violence often springs from rage is commonplace, and rage can
indeed be irrational and pathological, but so can every other
human affect. It is no doubt possible to create conditions under
which men are dehumanised – such as concentration camps,
torture, famine – but this does not mean that they become
animal-like; and under such conditions, not rage and violence,
but their conspicuous absence is the clearest sign of
dehumanisation. Rage is by no means an automatic reaction to
misery and suffering as such; no one reacts with rage to an
incurable disease or to an earthquake or, for that matter, to
social conditions that seem to be unchangeable”.3
A report submitted to the US National Commission on Violence has
pointed out that ‘neither genetic nor non-genetic abnormalities
specifically determine violent behaviour’.4 Etzioni observes that some
researchers have found that intra-species violence is less frequent
among animals than among human beings.5 It has been observed that
ethological theories tend to obliterate the crucial differences between
human beings and animals in order to extrapolate the results of the
studies on animals and apply them to human beings. Ashley Montagu
has rightly pointed out that:
“Those who speak of innate aggression in man appear to be
lacking in any understanding of the uniqueness of man’s
evolutionary history. Unacquainted with the facts or else
undeterred by them, they insist on fitting whatever facts they are
acquainted with into their theories. In so doing, they commit
the most awful excesses. But, as is well known, nothing succeeds

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like excess. Lorenz’s assumptions and interpretations are
typical.”6
The violence that human beings indulge in among themselves is far
more brutal than animal violence within any particular species. The
sociologist George Herbert Mead stresses the crucial point that we are
symbol users. When we use violence our modes of doing so are
rooted in our interpretations of the threats posed by particular socio-
cultural contexts rather than being merely innate patterns of
aggression. When we look at the violence perpetrated by both Hutus
and Tutsis in Rwanda, it is a response to people’s interpretations of
their historical experience of violence against them, and their
interpretations of the dangers that now face them. The practicalities
of the situation might well have required some aggression but they
also required that people should resolve the conflict before everyone
got hurt. Within their limitations this is what animals would have
done. What both groups did was not like any kind of animal
behaviour, though the willingness to strike out at anything posing an
immediate threat does bear a resemblance to animal patterns of
behaviour. The latent conflict here lies in the increasing poverty of
states in Africa, due to global conditions, and the struggle between

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rival tribes over rapidly diminishing resources, all of which is overlaid

by a particular history and particular social conditions. Reports from
Rwanda showed that people were highly aware of this, though
expressed it also in terms of the traditional animosities.
In animals, aggression appears to consist of a structured pattern of
behaviour, one routine among many, switched on by particular
circumstances. It occurs very much more frequently among some
species, such as the Siamese Fighting Fish, than others, and this is
linked to the niches in which species live. The propensity for
aggression among humans may well have some similar genetic basis,
but the expression of this is profoundly affected by culture and by
language and other symbolic forms of representation. This means
that it is possible both to intensify and to reduce feelings of violence
and aggression by symbolic means such as language. This is why
strategies of conflict resolution make such extensive use of discussion
and linguistic reconstruction of situations.

Frustration aggression theory – John Dollard,

Leonard Berkowitz
Some behavioural psychologists, in contrast with psychoanalysts and
ethologists, focus their attention on the dynamics of an individual’s
interaction with her environment rather than on the instinctual
characteristics of the human personality. If ethologists and
psychoanalysis consider conflict tendencies to be innate, the
behavioural psychological theories, in general, consider them to be
responses triggered by environmental stimuli.

Basic features
Aggression, including violence, can be regarded as an emotional
response to frustration. The underlying assumption of this theory is
that frustration provides the basic stimulus for feelings of anger,
which are channelled into aggressive behaviour. Frustration is defined
in terms of ‘Thwarting of, or interference in, the attainment of goals,
aspirations or expectations. Aggression is a behaviour designed to
injure physically or otherwise those towards whom it is directed.’7

Critique
However, there are others who suggest that aggression may not
simply be the outcome of frustration. A frustrated individual may
indulge in fantasies or he may start believing in supernatural powers
but does not necessarily turn aggressive. Klineberg observes that
aggression may be due to a desire or need for social approval or self-
assertion rather than due to frustration.
Stanley Milgram, in his various accounts of his ‘shock-generator
experiments’ points out that aggression could also be a function of
obedience. His studies suggest that sometimes human beings engage
in aggressive behaviour of the sort that characterised the behaviour of

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concentration camp guards in Nazi Germany, out of a desire to serve

those whom they believe to be in authority rather than because of
frustration.8 This places Milgram in the domain of social psychology
rather than psychology.

Social psychologists – Eric Fromm, Ted Gurr

While psychologists9 tend to look for attitudes and behavioural
patterns located in an individual for the explanation of social conflict
and violence, they differ from psychoanalysis and psychologists in
their emphasis on structural features of society, embedded in social
interaction, owing to which socialisation into prejudice takes place.
Social psychologists share with them their emphasis on an
individual’s psychological attitudes, which may be responsible for
social conflict, tensions and violence. They differ from them in that
they show how these attitudes are intrinsic elements of the fabric of
social life.

Basic features
Eric Fromm takes into consideration both the factors, i.e. the
individual’s need to live and the features of social structures. To quote
Fromm:
“Human nature is neither a biologically fixed and innate sum
total of drives nor is it a lifeless shadow of cultural patterns to
which it adapts itself smoothly; it is the product of human
evolution, but it also has certain inherent mechanisms and laws.
There are certain factors in man’s nature, which are fixed and
unchangeable; the necessity to satisfy the physiologically
conditioned drives and the necessity to avoid isolation and
moral aloneness.”10

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He describes a number of behaviour patterns which apparently have
been developed as a solution to the sense of isolation and
powerlessness. One such mode of adjustment is masochism: an
individual can avoid the isolation of taking responsibility for her
actions by surrendering the individual self to some higher authority in
the name of love or loyalty. Another method or way of adjustment is
sadism, in which one’s resentments are released upon persons too
weak to defend themselves. ‘Both masochistic and sadistic strivings,’
observes Fromm, ‘tend to help the individual to escape his unbearable
feelings of aloneness and powerlessness.’11 This happens when sadism
and masochism appear in a combination of sado-masochism. Such
an individual surrenders himself to the more powerful whole outside
of himself, displacing his resentment on to those below him. He finds
the escape he requires, and a means of venting his frustration.

Relative deprivation – Ted Gurr

Ted Robert Gurr in his book, Why Men Rebel, uses both psychological
and societal variables to study conditions which may lead to conflict

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situations. Discontent arising from ‘Relative deprivation’ is the basic

instigating condition for participants in collective violence.12 Gurr
defines relative deprivation as:
“... a perceived discrepancy between men’s value expectations
and their value capabilities. Value expectations are the goods
and conditions of life to which, people believe, they are
rightfully entitled. Value capabilities are the goods and
conditions (value positions), they think they are capable of
getting and keeping.”13
Gurr defines values as the desired events, objects and conditions for
which men strive. He described three categories of values:
(i) Welfare: Welfare values contribute directly to physical well-being
and self-realisation.
(ii) Power: Power values determine the extent to which men can
influence the actions of others and avoid unwanted interference
by others in their own actions.
(iii) Interpersonal: Interpersonal values are psychological
satisfactions, seeking non-authoritative interaction with other
individuals or groups.14
Three of the many possible distinct patterns of deprivation have been
suggested by Gurr:
(i) Decremental: Group-value expectations remain relatively
constant, but value capabilities are perceived to decline.
(ii) Aspirational: Capabilities remain relatively static, whereas
expectations increase.
(iii) Progressive deprivation: A substantial and simultaneous increase
in expectations and a decrease in capabilities.15
Gurr observes:
“... the intensity and scope of relative deprivation and
magnitude of violence are undimensional. Theoretically and
empirically, one can conceive of degrees or quantities of each in
any polity. The forms for violence, however, are attributes that
do not form a simple dimension. A society may experience riots
but not revolution; revolution, but not coups d’etat; coups
d’etat, but not riots.”16
There are authors who have used the term ‘deprivation’ to
represent the impetus to conflict. Davies suggests that ‘revolution
is most likely to take place when a prolonged period of rising
expectations and rising gratification is followed by a short period of
sharp reversal during which an intolerable gap develops between
expectation and gratification’.17 This formulation is better known
as ‘progressive deprivation’. The formulations of Davies and
Gurr are only elaborations and reformations of the ideas of De-
Tocqueville and others, who suggested that revolutions were

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perpetrated during periods of relative prosperity and

improvement.18

Critique
Conflict behaviour must be understood as adaptive and learned
behaviour, which is not emphasised by ‘relative deprivation theory’.19
What the critics of the theory have somehow ignored is that social
perception itself is a learnt behaviour. Gurr rightly points out that it is
not miseries but the perception of miseries which leads to conflict.
Nevertheless, Gurr adds the qualification that the inhibitions and
norms of a society may not permit the members to act violently.20 The
qualification makes Gurr’s theory infallible and therefore implausible.
Even if there are disparities and miseries, they may or may not be
perceived, and even if they are perceived, the person may or may not
act, because he may have been inhibited. Therefore, it is only
retrospectively that his indulgence in conflict behaviour may be
interpreted in terms of his perception of relative deprivation. At the
micro level, the theory cannot be verified.
Nieburg has also pointed out that the relative deprivation theory fails
to explain the behaviour of those who lead the revolutions. The
leaders of a revolution may or may not be relatively deprived. Quite
often, the movements for total reorganisation and restructuring of
society have been advocated by people who have not experienced
relative deprivation and frustration in the sense Gurr understands
them. These leaders may have been dissatisfied with the existing
situation. They may have even been exasperated by the status quo.
Even if we call it frustration, it is not exactly the same as frustration
due to relative deprivation. The latter is incremental. If someone sees
his neighbour’s salary going up or his having a television, etc. and

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consequently experiences frustration, such a frustration has nothing
to do with the visionary idea of creating a new society.
The relative deprivation theory has also been accused of taking an
anti-historical stance by certain critics.21 Bayard Rustin has argued
that what needs to be understood is not the minds of individuals who
participate in a conflict situation, but the precise historical conditions
which make it possible for these particular individuals with their
particular standpoints and attitudes to form a conflict situation and
give a specific character to it.22 Ralph Dharendorf observes that it is
the task of sociology to derive understanding of conflicts from the
specific social structures and not to relegate these conflicts to
psychological variables or descriptive historical ones or chance.23
The relative deprivation theory as propounded by Gurr and some
variations presented by Davies, De-Tocqueville and others
concentrate on value capabilities of the system and the individual, but
neglect the roots of conflict among different classes which determine
the pattern of regime coercion and dissident violence which
constitutes the bulk of political violence.24

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These theorists fail to compensate for their lack of historical

perspective, inability to deal quantitatively with value expectations at
the micro level and the inadequacy of their account of the nature of
leadership in situations of conflict.

Structural theories – Johan Galtung, Alien

Grimshaw, Ivo K Feierabend, Arnold S Feldman,
Samuel Huntington
A recognition of the weaknesses of the socio-psychological theories
has led some social scientists to look for the causes of conflict in the
structural dislocations or disequilibrium in a society.

Structural disequilibrium
Basic features
Galtung is of the opinion that persons, groups or nations, resort to
conflict behaviour as a possible way out of frustration if they are
experiencing rank disequilibrium. To quote Galtung:
“It may, for instance, stand for high on power, low on income,
high on occupation, high on education, low on ancestry (for
individuals or groups) or high on military power, low on income
per capita, high on industrialisation, high on educational level,
low on past glory (for nations). This is an unstable configuration
in a society, as compared to the stable one in which some
groups are high and some others are low on each of the criteria
of power, education, income etc.”25
Here also the emphasis is on frustration, though the cause is argued
to be social and structural.
Alien Grimshaw, arguing in the same strain, points out that social
conflict and social violence should be understood in terms of social
conditions, for the likelihood of violence is greater in a society which
is unstable. To quote Grimshaw:
“Super ordinate/ subordinate relationships, in which the parties
are classified by social categories, are fundamentally unstable,
and social violence is likely to occur when such an
accommodative structure loses its viability. Accommodative
structures can lose their viability in a number of analytically
separable but theoretically integrated ways. There may be real or
perceived changes in the distribution of power: (i) when super
ordinate groups lose their vitality (as in Pareto’s ‘circulation of
elites’); (ii) when subordinated groups gain in power, either
through internal growth and organisation or through outside
assistance; (iii) when subordinated groups come to realise latent
power they already possess. There may be a decline even in the
regime itself. This can occur: (i) when those previously accorded
legitimacy are perceived as having abused their power, (ii) when

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new perspectives on legitimacy are introduced to a social

system, partly from outside.”26
Thus Grimshaw emphasises the point that sources of social conflict
and social violence lie in differential access to power in the structure
of a society. For him, social conflict occurs when individual members
of society do not perceive the power structure as legitimate.

Critique
Grimshaw does not raise the basic questions regarding the grounds
on which the accommodative structures lose their viability and
vitality. Nor does he examine in detail the factors which bring about
changes in the perception of the people regarding the legitimacy of
the power structure.

Feierabend and Nesvold

Another variation of the social structural theories is to be found in
Feierabend and Nesvold.

Basic features
These authors adopt two basic propositions from the frustration-
aggression theory. They hold that: (i) systematic frustration
instigates violent political behaviour (ii) systematic frustration
may stem from specific characteristics of social change. They
define systematic frustration in terms of the formation rather
than the existence of social wants, and maintain that the higher
the social want formation in any given society and the lower the
social want satisfaction, the greater the systematic frustration and
the greater the impulse to political instability.27 According to

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them, the frustration index is shown by a ratio of combined
coded scores on satisfaction indices which include the per capita
GNP, caloric intake, telephones, physicians, newspapers, radio
divided by a country’s coded literacy rate or urbanisation score.
They believe that the notion of systematic frustration makes the
concept applicable to the analysis of aggregate conflict behaviour
within the social system. Feierabend holds that new wants are
created by modernisation and a gap between wants and their
satisfaction results in systematic frustration. They advance four
general hypotheses for empirical investigation:
a) systematic frustration at any given time is a function of the
discrepancy between present social aspirations and expectations
on the one hand, and social achievements on the other;
b) present estimates (i.e. expectations of future frustrations or
satisfaction) determine the level of present frustrations or
satisfaction;
c) uncertainties in social expectations (i.e. whether the future will
bring disaster or salvation) in themselves increase the sense of
systematic frustration;

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d) conflicting aspirations and expectations provide another source

of systematic frustration. According to them systematic
frustration is more evident in transitional societies.

Critique
It is difficult to measure ‘systematic frustration’. ‘In its generality’,
according to Khan ‘it is ambiguous and in its specificity it is neatly
academic – sort of a “laboratory formula” that cannot be tested at the
industrial level’.28 Nevertheless, the general notion seems sensible and
applicable to some situations.

Huntington
A similar approach to the study of transitional societies is adopted by
Huntington.

Basic features
The causes of violent conflict and instability are analysed on the basis
of the process of political change and social development in Asia,
Africa and Latin America, in rapid social change and the rapid
mobilisation of new groups into politics, coupled with the slow
development of political institutions. For him conflict is the result of
a lag in the development of viable political institutions, on the one
hand, and socio-economic changes, on the other. Huntington argues
that politicisation of the masses, urbanisation, literacy, mass media,
all expose the traditional man to new forms of life. The gap between
the increasing aspirations, expectations and the capabilities of
fulfilling them lead to frustration. This is what Huntington calls the
gap hypothesis.29

Critique
The major criticism against Huntington’s gap hypothesis is that it
does not give adequate attention to types of violence endemic in
feudal, tribal and in developed industrialised societies. It has also
been pointed out by some authors that the hypothesis that the poor
are too poor for politics and protest runs counter to the experience of
India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc.30
Feierabend and Nesvold also state that an extensive, rapid and abrupt
change moves people physically into a new environment and exposes
them to new ideas, and casts them in new and unfamiliar roles, thus
creating ‘collective bewilderment’ which, in turn, strains the psyche
of the individual and creates the crisis in the social order.31 The roles
of urbanisation and migration in creating a violent situation have,
however, not been settled. Even Huntington states in the latter part of
his book that slum-dwellers and rural migrants are likely to support
the government and count the blessings arising from their conditions
having been improved. Only after a generation or two would they
shed their rural passivity and aspire to vertical mobility. To quote
Huntington:

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“Slum-dwellers in their natural concern for immediate benefits

in food, jobs and housing, which can only be secured by
working through rather than against the existing system ... The
first generation of slum-dwellers imports into the slum
traditional rural attitudes of social difference and political
passivity. Their children grow up in an urban environment and
absorb the goals and aspirations of the city. While the parents
are content with the geographical mobility, the children demand
vertical mobility.”32
In the Third World countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the
processes of urbanisation and modernisation are linked with the
phenomenon of colonialism which brought in new political and
economic values and institutions into traditional societies. The gap
that Huntington speaks of may be responsible for the eruption of
conflict, but the more important issue is to understand the causes of
the gap itself, for in order to eradicate violence and to resolve conflict,
one would have to change the conditions which are responsible for
this gap. The role of ideology in congregating, articulating and
activating the people for change, upsurge and revolt, is also
underplayed or mentioned in a pejorative way.33
The major weakness of this type of social structural theory is that
these theories overemphasise the deterministic role of social factors in
the shaping of conflict situations and do not give adequate
consideration to the interplay of social and psychological factors. The
social structural theories fail in particular to account for the divergent
perceptions of people towards their conditions, which plays an
important role in conflict behaviour.

Random outburst theory – Gary T. Marx, L. W.

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Milbrath
The theory which denies any significance to patterns of conflict is
usually labelled as ‘random outburst theory’, for it views conflict as
merely a chance occurrence or as having its basis in people
deliberately conspiring to create conflict.34

Basic features
Sears and McConhay have summarised the theory in the form of the
following, what they claim to be ‘testable’ propositions:
1 Conspiracy: a particular act of violence is often triggered by small
conspiratorial groups such as Black Muslims or communists.
2 Social contagion: most rioters become involved simply through
social contagion, either through their proximity to other rioters or
through watching a riot on television.
3 Youthful male animal spirits: most rioters are young males,
letting off their exuberance and rebelliousness, just as young
males always have done, from the time of Alcibiades’, when

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youths were accused of defacing temples, to the modern day

‘panty raids’.
4 ‘Post facto’ rationalisation: post-riot interpretations of violence
as a protest or as based on legitimate grievances, are simply
rationalisations of behaviour engaged in for the far more
mundane reasons just mentioned.
5 Undifferentiated hostility: the correlations between grievance
levels and riot participation merely reflect the rioters’ blanket
hostility and rebelliousness against all forms of authority rather
than a discriminating response to specific legitimate grievances.
6 Lack of sophistication: rioters’ lack of faith in conventional
mechanisms of grievance redress tends to reflect their ignorance
of these mechanisms rather than any major faults in the
mechanisms themselves.35

Critique
Sears and McConhay have pointed out that none of the above six
propositions have been empirically confirmed. On the basis of their
study, they have offered a detailed critique of the theory and shown
its untenability.
Not only is ‘random outburst theory’ limited to consideration of
manifest conflict but Sears and McConhay also point out that most of
the human actions, whether individual or collective, spontaneous or
organised, are usually performed in response to the exigencies of
social situations as viewed by the agents, in order to fulfil certain
goals and interests that they have.

References and reading list

Arendt, Hannah (1970) On Violence, Penguin Books.
Banifield, E. O. (1970) The Unheavenly City, Boston, Little Brown.
Bayard, Rustin (1976) ‘A way out of the exploiting ghetto’, New
York, Time Magazine, (Aug. 13).
Berkowitz, Leonard (1969) ‘Aggression Cues in Aggressive Behaviour
and Hostility Catharsis’, Psychological Review, 71.
Dharendorf, Ralph (1955) ‘Towards a Theory of Social Cones’,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2(2).
Davies, James C (1967) ‘The Circumstances and Causes of
Revolution: A Review’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2.
De-TocquevilIe, Alexis (1955) The Old Regime and the French Society,
New York, Doubleday.
Etzioni, Amitai (1971) ‘Violence’ in Robert K. Merton and Robert K.
Nisbet (eds), Contemporary Social Problems, New York, Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich.

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Feierabend, Ivo K.; Rosalind, L. and Nesvold, S. (1969) ‘Social

Change and Political Violence: Gross National Patterns’ in Hugh
Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr (eds.), Violence in America:
Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Washington, DC, US
Government Printing.
Fromm, Eric (1969) The Fear of Freedom, London, Routledge and
Kegan Paul Ltd.
Galtung, Johan (1964) ‘A Structural Theory of Aggression’, Journal of
Peace Research, 1.
Goldstein, Jeffery (1970) Aggression and Crimes of Violence, New York,
Oxford University Press.
Grimshaw, Alien D. (1970) ‘Interpreting Collective Violence’, The
Annals of the American Academy, 391 (September).
Gurr, Robert Ted (1970) Why Men Rebel, New Jersey, Princeton
University Press, Princeton.
Huntington, Samuel P., 1968, Political Order in Changing Society, New
Haven and London, Yale University Press.
Jenkins, R. (1972) The study of violence’ in Robert Benewick and
Trevor Smith (eds), Direct Action and Democratic Politics, London,
George Allen and Unwin.
Khan, Rasheeduddin, Relation Between Violence and Social and Economic
Development, New Delhi.
Klineberg, O. (1940) Social Psychology, New York, Holt Rinehart and
Winston.
Lorenz, Conrad (1971) On Aggression, New York, Bantam Books.

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Marx, Gary T. (1970) ‘Issueless Riots’, The Annals of the American
Academy, 391 (September), pp. 21–23.
Milbrath, L.W. (1965) Political Participation, Chicago, Rand McNally.
Milgram, S. (1963) ‘Behavioural Study of Obedience’, Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology, LXVII
Milgram, W. and Hans, Toch (1969) ‘Collective Behaviour: Crowds
and Social Movements’, in G. Lindzev and E. Aronson (eds), The
Hand Book of Social Psychology, 2nd edition, Vol. IV., Reading Mass.,
Addison Wesley.
Montagu, Ashley (1973) ‘The New Litany of Innate Depravity’, in
Ashley Montagu (ed) Man and Aggression, New York, Oxford
University Press.
Mulvihill, Donald and Turmis, Melvisin (eds), 1969, ‘A Biological
Explanation’, a staff report submitted to the National Commission on
Causes and Prevention of Violence, Washington, DC.
Neiburg, H.L (1969) Political Violence: The Behavioural Process, New
York, St. Martin’s Press.

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Nelson, John (1970) ‘The Urban Poor: Disruption or Political

Integration in the Third World Polities’, World Politics, 22.
Sears, David O. and McConahay, John B. (1973) The Politics of
Violence, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company.
Tilly, Charles (1975) ‘Revolutions and Collective Violence’, in Fred
Greenstein and Nelson Polshy (eds), Handbook of Political Science, Vol.
III, Reading Mass., Addison Wesley Publishing Company.

Notes
1 Lorenz, Conrad (1971) On Aggression, New York: Bantam Books,
p. 229.
2 Grimshaw, Alien D. (1970) ‘Interpreting collective violence’, The
Annals of the American Academy, Vol. 391 (September), p. 14.
3 Arendt, Hannah (1970) On Violence, Penguin Books, p. 63.
4 Mulvihill, Donald and Turmis, Melvisin (ed) (1969) ‘A Biological
Explanation. A staff report submitted to the National
Commission on Causes and Prevention of Violence’, Washington
D.C., .p. 418. However, the US Commission task was not to use
its understanding of violence to formulate a theory of violence
which would try to generalise causes and consequences of
violence. The report was designed to meet a social crisis and to
provide a therapy.
5 Etzioni, Amitai (1971) ‘Violence’ in Robert K. Merton and
Robert K. Nisbet (ed.) Contemporary Social Problems, pp. 714–715.
Also see Goldstein, Jeffery (1970) Aggression and Crimes of
Violence, New York: Oxford University Press.
6 Montagu, Ashley (1973) ‘The New Litany of Innate Depravity’
in Ashley Montagu (ed) Man and Aggression, New York: Oxford
University Press, p.11.
7 Berkowitz, Leonard (1969) ‘Aggression Cues in Aggressive
Behaviour and Hostility Catharsis’, Psychological Review, 71, pp.
104–122; Dictionary of Psychology also defines frustration as the
condition of being thwarted in the satisfaction of motive.
8 Klineberg, O. (1940) Social Psychology, New York: Holt Rinehart
and Winstor Milgram, S. (1963) ‘Behavioural Study of
Obedience’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol.
LXVII.
9 This term has been used by Charles Tilly (1975) in his article
‘Revolution and Collective Violence’ in Fred Greenstein and
Nelson Polshy (eds), Handbook of Political Science, Vol. III,
Reading Mass., Addison Wesley Publishing Company, pp. 483–
555.
10 Fromm, Eric (1969) The Fear of Freedom, London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul Ltd. p.17.

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11 Ibid., p. 130.
12 Gurr, Robert Ted (1970) Why Men Rebel, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, Princeton, p. 12. To Gurr there are two
intervening variables: the potential for collective violence and the
potential for political violence. Potential collective violence is the
scope and intensity of disposition among members of a
collectivity to take violent actions against others (p. 29). The
potential for political violence is a subset of potential for
collective violence focused on political objects (p. 155).
13 Ibid., p. 24.
14 Ibid., p. 24. Gurr’s analysis of values implicitly assumes a
hedonistic and utilitarian approach. Those who do not share this
view of values and maintain that ‘valuable’ need not necessarily
mean ‘useful’ but ‘intrinsically worthwhile’, may find difficulties
in accepting Gurr’s approach.
15 Ibid., p. 46.
16 Ibid., p. 8.
17 Davies, James C. (1967) ‘The circumstances and causes of
revolution: a review’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 2.
18 De-Tocqueville, Alexis (1955) The Old Regime and the French
Society, New York: Doubleday.
19 Neiburg, H.L. (1969) Political Violence: The Behavioural Process,
New York: St. Martin’s Press, pp. 41–45.
20 Gurr, Robert Ted, op.cit., pp. 201–231.
21 Jenkins, R. (1972) ‘The study of violence’ in Robert Benewick

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and Trevor Smith (ed) Direct Action and Democratic Politics,
London: George Allen and Unwin, pp. 100–108.
22 See Bayard Rustin (1976) ‘A way out of the exploiting ghetto’,
New York: Time Magazine (Aug. 13) quoted in Henry Beinen’s,
Violence and Social Change, Chicago and London: University of
Chicago Press, p. 16.
23 Dharendorf, Ralph (1955) ‘Towards a theory of social conflicts’,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2(2), pp. 170–183.
24 For details, see Charles Tilly, op.cit., p. 495. The concept of
relative deprivation is more applicable either to cases of
individuals or to compact groups and sub-segments rather than in
the case of numerically large segments or heterogeneous groups,
and much less in the case of societies as collectivities.
These theories and concepts appear more as an extension of
individual psychology to social levels, assuming a constancy of
stimuli and responses in these otherwise two different categories,
i.e. the individual as a unit and society as a collectivity.

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The J-curve principle of Davies has validity in certain specific

socio-political situations. But it appears wanting in its universal
applicability. Cross-national case studies of revolutions would
refute some of the basic premises of the principle. It does help to
explain the occurrence of coups d’etat, particularly in the Latin
American context, but is inadequate in explaining revolutionary
outbreaks proper.
25 Galtung, Johan (1964) ‘A Structural Theory of Aggression’,
Journal of Peace Research, 1, p. 97.
26 Grimshaw, Alan D. (1970) ‘Interpreting Collective Violence: An
argument for the importance of social structure’, The Annals of
the American Academy, 39 pp. 17–20.
27 Feierabend, Ivo K., Rosalind, L. and Nesvold, S. (1969) ‘Social
Change and Political Violence: Gross National Patterns’ in Hugh
Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr (eds) Violence in America:
Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Washington, DC.
28 Khan, Rasheeduddin, Relation Between Violence and Social and
Economic Development, New Delhi, p.14.
29 Huntington, Samuel P. (1968) Political Order in Changing Society,
New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 52–56.
30 Khan, Rasheeduddin, op.cit., p. 15.
31 Feierabend, Ivo K., Rosalind, L. and Nesvold, Betty (1969)
‘Social Change and Political Violence: Cross-National Patterns’,
op.cit.
32 Huntington, Samuel P., op.cit., pp. 280–281; Hibbs and John
Nelson also find little evidence that imbalance of urbanisation
and economic development has much bearing on levels of mass
violence. Nelson also says that the urban migrants are neither
traumatised nor fixed by higher aspirations and they are not
likely to be a source of violence or radicalism. For details, see:
Hibbs, Douglas A. Jr, (1973) Mass Political Violence: A Cross-
national Causal Analysis, New York: John Wiley; Nelson, John
(1970) ‘The Urban Poor: Disruption or Political Integration in the
Third World Polities’, World Politics, 22, pp. 393–414.
33 Khan, Rasheeduddin, op.cit., p.16.
34 Marx, Gary T. (1970) ‘Issueless Riots’, The Annals, Vol. 391
(September), pp. 21–23; Milbrath, L.W. (1965) Political
Participation, Chicago: Rand McNally; Banifield, E. O. (1970) The
Unheavenlv City, Boston: Little Brown, Milgram, W and Hans
Toch (1969) ‘Collective Behaviour: Crowds and Social
Movements’, in Lindzev, G. and Aronson, E. (eds.) The Hand
Book of Social Psychology, 2nd ed., Vol. IV, Reading Mass:
Addison-Wesley.
35 Sears, David O. , McConahay, John B. (1973) The Politics of
Violence, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, pp. 106–107.

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Reading 3: Directions – A Training Resource for

Workers With Young People in New South Wales

By the NSW Department of Community Services.

Basic listening, questioning and feedback skills

These broad communication skill areas can be broken down into
attending, paraphrasing, summarising, clarifying, questioning,
reflecting and giving feedback.

Attending
Involves:
z use of eye contact
z noting non-verbal messages
z being aware of posture of those involved
z noticing gestures
z listening for verbal behaviour
z focusing on relevant material
z paying close attention
z remaining open minded
z not interrupting.

Paraphrasing and summarising

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Paraphrasing involves re-telling what has just been said in a different
way but retaining the same amount of content. Summarising involves
giving a much briefer account of what has been said to the worker.
Both can help because they:
1 test the worker’s understanding of information
2 confirm or deny the accuracy of the information
3 can expose or clarify double messages (the worker must both pick
up messages and give them in the paraphrase)
4 can re-state complex problems in a simpler way, using fewer
words.

Clarification
When a worker seeks clarification they can:
z make vague messages clear
z say they don’t understand and ask for a repeat of the information.

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Questioning
Should not be an interrogation, and leads to further exploration.
Initially it is usually better to ask how, what, when rather than why
questions.
It can be either open-ended (allowing the young person to describe
issues they think are important), or closed-ended (providing detailed
information, e.g. how often). It should not be used too frequently if
the person is really involved in telling their story, as it interrupts the
flow of information.

Reflecting
This can involve paraphrasing and summarising and be used to:
z break through rambling
z pick out highlights
z give the person feedback that the worker is really listening and is
involved
z tie behaviours, experiences and feelings together and finish up a
conversation.

Feedback
Is used to let others know that you understand them or that you know
that they have certain feelings. Feedback involves the use of
statements in the following way:
z state the problem or observation (fact)
z express your feelings about it (feeling)
z ask for the desired action (action)
z give the reasons why they should do it (purpose).

Guidelines for giving feedback

z select the right time and place
z be sure the receiver is ready
z comment on facts, not your interpretations of their intentions
z be specific
z focus on one thing at a time
z give feedback as soon as possible after the event
z request their co-operation
z focus on what can be changed
z be helpful
z encourage feedback yourself.

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No matter how good a worker is at using these skills, they will appear
false and mechanical unless accompanied by a genuine interest in and
concern for the person seeking help.
In the professional jargon this is called empathy or the ability to
understand and feel where the other person is coming from. It is
sometimes easy for workers to forget what it costs others emotionally
to seek help and to admit to a problem that they feel they are having
difficulty with.

Communication in conflict and crisis

There are some basic communication principles of which workers
must be aware and practise, if they are to handle in an appropriate
fashion situations of conflict or crisis. Communication involves much
more than words, and even remaining silent can have an effect upon
another person through the influence of non-verbal cues.
Thus, the worker’s role in their communication is to choose the
appropriate mix of verbal and non-verbal means of communication
(channels) at the right time, in order to communicate most
meaningfully to the person at their current level of distress. The
following are some guidelines for choosing the right mix of
communication channels.

Verbal channels
In an escalating situation the worker should use simple, non-abstract
words in a clear and concrete way. During a crisis intervention
situation, sentences used should be limited to no more than five
words, and the words used should be limited to five letters or less.
Two particularly useful verbal techniques for defusing situations are

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those of by-pass and broken record.
By-pass involves the worker acknowledging the other person’s
statement in a non-defensive manner, without reflecting emotion and
without responding to any abusive or insulting language. The worker
then goes on and says in a controlled manner what they wish to say. It
is difficult for a person to maintain a feeling of high emotion for long
when there is no emotion being returned for their own emotions to
feed on. To be effective, by-pass must never sound flippant or like a
put down or an attempt to avoid the issue.
The broken record technique is simply that of repeating the basic
message that needs to be communicated until the other person
responds to the message. The reason for doing this is to get that
person’s mind operating again at a reasonably rational level. At first
the person’s conscious mind may not register the message but it will
lodge in the subconscious level, especially where used in conjunction
with the by-pass technique.
By-pass aims to set the emotions aside in order to allow the broken
record technique to have its effect. When such techniques are used,
workers must show great self-control and not become upset or

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diverted from their task. Also their tone of voice and body language
must match their spoken message or these techniques could backfire
and make the situation worse.
Such techniques obviously should not be used or continued if they
are likely to further irritate the other person.

Non-verbal level
A calming or limit-setting style of voice tone, speed and inflection
should be chosen to defuse situations of conflict. Speaking in a slow,
controlled fashion, without raising the voice is best. At times lowering
the volume of the voice may be an appropriate response.

Personal space
The other person should be allowed to define what is comfortable
personal space for them in a public and private situation. Both the
worker and the other person should not feel trapped or cornered in a
contact situation. This trapped feeling can be both a physical and
emotional reality.

Touch
Touch can have a powerful calming and healing effect. However,
when applied at the wrong time, it can be misinterpreted by the other
person as a threat. Victims of previous physical or sexual abuse may
react negatively to any attempt at close physical contact.

Communication during conflict

The greatest resource in any confrontation is the worker’s mind
willing the body to be outwardly calm and then inwardly so. Self-
control must come before situation control. In a situation of
confrontation it is normal for a worker to tense their muscles ready
for a fight or flight response as the situation develops. Therefore, the
worker must consciously question and control what is happening
physically and talk themselves into a state of calmness. With this self-
talk, the worker needs constantly to be monitoring crucial aspects of
their non-verbal behaviour: stance and posture, distance, eye contact,
breathing, voice modulation and clarity.
Alongside this self-monitoring, the worker must then behave in
certain ways and use verbal and non-verbal approaches appropriate to
the situation. These can include:
z dealing with the here and now, not being sidetracked or paralysed
z make the unknown the known, try and relieve fear and anxiety
z commenting on the other’s behaviour not their motivation
z set limits on the other’s behaviour in a positive way
z get a commitment from the other to act

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z offer a face-saving way out, aim for a win/win alliance

z acknowledge the importance of the problem to the other
z within reason allow the other person to express their emotions.
Note: In situations of conflict or crisis, the worker’s ability to think
clearly and speak convincingly is often impaired as the body readies
itself for fight or flight. The same decline in reasoning and speaking
ability is experienced by others in the conflict. So don’t expect of
others what you yourself are finding difficult to do.

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Reading 4: Namibia: Unravelling the Legacy

An interview by the former Director of the CYP Africa Centre,

Dr Richard Mkandawire, of the then Namibian Minister of Youth and Sport (MYS),
Mrs. Pendukeni Ithana, In Common, Issue 11, 1993.

CYP: Honourable Minister, Namibia has been independent for

just over three years and the country has already
embarked on a National Youth Policy. What prompted
you to formulate it?
MYS: I have personally realised that, in as much as the
Government may have realised the problems faced by youth
in Namibia, there are always more pressing issues that are
given priority. Resources devoted to addressing youth
problems are, therefore, always too little to make any
meaningful impact.
Formulating a youth policy is the first step in committing
the Government towards helping its youth to overcome
some of the preventable societal problems. Such a policy, if
supported and accepted by the Government, could be used
as one of the guiding documents during planning,
programming and project formulations by government and
non-government institutions.
CYP: What are the specific problems facing youth in Namibia?
MYS: Namibia became independent at a time when the world
economy was going through a recession. This had a direct
bearing on our economy as it depends heavily on export
earnings from raw materials, which consequently led to the
retrenchment of workers and unemployment. The
unemployment problem was further aggravated by the
demobilised fighters from both PLAN (SWAPO) and
conscripted Namibians who fought on the side of South
Africa.
In addition, the Bantu Education that accompanied the
heinous system of apartheid did not give young Namibians
the education necessary for survival. The Ministry of Youth
and Sport was therefore created, a year after Independence,
in 1991 as a response to the problem of unemployment.
Illiteracy among young people under the age of 23 stands at
65 per cent, and is a major contributory factor to
unemployment. Naturally, a population that is less educated
is more susceptible to adopting unhealthy habits. The
dangers of HIV/AIDS, STDs and teenage pregnancies
among young people are just some of the problems the
Ministry is addressing. Alcohol and drugs have also
penetrated our society due to idleness and frustration

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caused by unemployment, which in turn increases the crime

rate and anti-social behaviour.
CYP: What programmes and strategies have you got in place to
address these specific problems?
MYS: One major battle won here is the finalisation of the
National Youth Policy, which outlines the areas of concern
to youth and methods of addressing them. The Ministry is
now in a better position to formulate programmes and
projects to meet these needs, which are:
z education and training;
z health-related concerns
z creating employment opportunities.
A centre for training youth in the various trades will shortly
be operative. The training to be carried out will complement
the training of the Ministries of Education and Culture and
Labour and Manpower Development, with the only
difference being the age of our trainees limited to that of 30
and below. The curriculum is otherwise the same.
The issues of HIV/AIDS, STDs and teenage pregnancies
are receiving the undivided attention of this Ministry in
collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social
Services. The question of employment is a sticky one in the
sense that, for young people to start small-scale enterprises,
they definitely need the initial capital. The financial
institutions demand what young people cannot produce, i.e.
the collateral. There is, therefore, no easy solution and
many proposals are still on the table for consideration. The

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idea of creating a youth revolving fund seems to be gaining
favour, but still, the question of management of the fund is
problematic. Similar projects in other countries have not
been successful. Nevertheless, we are determined to try our
luck.
CYP: Honourable Minister, Namibia is a multi-racial and
multi-ethnic society which has made a smooth transition
to democracy. Are there any special problems you are
facing in the implementation of youth programmes as a
result of the multi-racial and multi-ethnic character of the
Namibian society?
MYS: The problem of Namibia is not so much the question of
race or ethnicity, but the legacy left behind due to the
prolonged practice of apartheid and divide-and-rule. The
problems facing Namibian youth are predominantly
economically oriented, resulting in unemployment,
delinquency, alcohol and drug abuse, where the majority of
young people affected are the black youth.

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Although blacks were divided according to ethnicity, no one

group was spared from the system of apartheid and racial
discrimination. As a result of this policy, a large proportion
of black children are uneducated, unskilled and
unemployed. On the other hand, there is not a single white
unemployed youth in Namibia. All of them have without
exception passed the ‘matric’ and the majority have finished
their university or technical studies, or are attending school.
It is natural, therefore, that the clients of this Ministry are
predominantly black, not by design, but due to the facts I
have already mentioned above.
The smooth transition made to democracy is forged
through political acceptance of each side’s point of view.
Economic democracy will still have to come when the
majority of our people have equal access to resources for
the empowerment of the blacks, in particular, who have
been economically downtrodden for decades.
CYP: Are there any lessons that post-apartheid South Africa
can learn from Namibia’s experience?
MYS: Each country has its own peculiar problems and therefore
the approach in solving such problems may differ. However,
Namibia and South Africa have so much in common in
terms of the colonial systems and its off-shoots of apartheid
and racial discrimination. Namibia has successfully restored
peace after years of violent conflict. This is one aspect for
which I feel proud of my country’s achievement. It is
unfortunate, however, that the situation in South Africa
may not be resolved through a similar way. As that situation
resolves itself, areas of common interest where Namibia has
succeeded will obviously be identified, but, in the current
situation, it is difficult for me to pin-point those lessons I
can term as ‘successful’, for South Africa to learn from.
CYP: I understand your Ministry is in the process of
undertaking research on a profile of the Namibian youth.
What prompted you to undertake this type of research?
MYS: The main reason for such research is that it will assist the
Ministry in planning youth activities. There is no
comprehensive information on youth in Namibia, thus it is
difficult for planers and managers to effectively plan for the
future. The Ministry is currently undertaking research to
gather data in the areas of:
z total number of youth between the ages of 15–30
z employed youth
z unemployed youth
z skills training needs

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z literacy levels
z health related data, and
z needs assessment.
This research will also highlight areas to be focused on. The
data will be used in the Youth Information Centres by all
those interested in youth matters, as well as providing the
regions with baseline information in their own areas,
regions and districts.
CYP: Thank you very much, Honourable Minister.

References and reading list

Bolton, R. (1987) People Skills, Simon and Schuster Australia,
Brookvale, NSW.
Borck, L. and Fawcett, S. (1982) Learning Counselling and Problem
Solving Skills, Haworth Press, New York, NY.
National Association of Youth Clubs (1984) Fieldwork: An Aid to the
Support of Youth Workers. Leicester.
Robbins, S., Waters-Marsh, T., Cacioppe, R. and Millett, B. (1994)
Organisational Behavior: Concepts, Controversies, and Applications,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
W. Thomas (1993) ‘Conflict and Negotiation Processes in
Organisation’, in M. D. Dunnette and L. M. Hough (eds) Handbook of
Industrial and Organisational Psychology, 2nd edition, Vol. 3.

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Reading 5: Six Principles of Negotiation

By ACCORD, 1998, Conflict Management, Negotiation and Mediation Skills,

University of Durban-Westville.

Effective negotiation is often simply considered common sense or

intuition. Some have even said that good negotiators are born, not
educated. Furthermore, we have all had a whole lifetime of
negotiating experience, so many think that practice makes perfect.
Unfortunately experience does not translate directly into ability. The
fact that I play tennis every day does not make me a great tennis
player. Negotiating is a skill like playing tennis. You may have natural
talent but unless you study the process, and practise the correct
methods, you will be unable to use your negotiating ability to its best
effect.
Six principles serve as a theoretical framework for understanding
negotiating practice. These principles are not intended to describe
how negotiators negotiate; they are intended to help you develop the
best negotiating skills possible.

Divide people problems from merits, and work on each

separately and simultaneously
People problems may include:
z emotions – anger, fear, bitterness, vengeance, distrust, worry
z miscommunication – not talking, not listening, misunderstanding
z misperception – different role expectations, cultural variations
and ideas of fairness.
Do: resolve people problems by improving the working relationship
among the participants.
Don’t: threaten the relationship between people to achieve a
substantive point.

Give up a substantive point in order to buy a better

relationship
A good working relationship may have a significant and positive
effect on how the participants define a fair outcome and how easily
such an outcome is achieved. Inversely, serious problems in
relationships can poison an otherwise satisfactory deal.

Focus on interests, not positions

Interests are the basic needs, wants or values held by a party within a
disputing situation – the ‘whys’ for the positions developed.
Bargaining from positions concentrates attention on possible
solutions without expressly acknowledging the interest or needs of

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the parties. The terms of any resulting agreement are often dependent
on the relative willingness of parties to concede. But it is difficult to
concede once you have established a position and argued for its
reasonableness. Positional bargaining rewards those who are more
stubborn, less willing to listen and less concerned with a good
working relationship.
Interests are less tangible and specific than positions, and they are
more flexible subjects for a bargaining situation. Parties frequently
have not analysed their interests, needs and values in detail and are
therefore more open to identifying and defining them.

Invent options for mutual gain

Use shared understanding of the basic interests of both sides to
generate options which will satisfy those interests to the maximum
extent possible. Separate the act of brainstorming options from the
process of evaluating the options which result. Judgement inhibits
creativity, and creativity is the foundation for truly integrative
solutions.

Search for criteria for evaluation

Criteria is plural. For each issue within a negotiation, there is usually
more than one relevant criterion or standard by which to judge the
fairness or wisdom of various options. In addition, in each
negotiation there are normally different issues. Brainstorm criteria in
the same way as options, leaving evaluation until after generating the
list of possible standards to apply.

Know the Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement

(BATNA)

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An alternative is different from an option: the option is one possible
solution for agreement; an alternative is a possible course of action if
an agreement is not reached e.g. possible court action.
Analyse carefully the benefits and cost of the best alternative.
Develop an evaluation of this alternative in a way that is consistent
with, and therefore comparable to, the evaluation of the benefits and
costs associated with a negotiated agreement.
Use the BATNA as a bottom line or reservation price. It is an
excellent standard for judging whether a proposed option is an
acceptable solution. Your BATNA is a dynamic factor in a
negotiation. Work on improving the consequences of resorting to the
BATNA at the same time as you focus on interests, options and
criteria for the negotiation. Improving the BATNA increases your
bargaining power and in some cases adds to the other side’s
motivation to arrive at a negotiated agreement.
Analyse your bargaining power carefully. Bargaining power is often
understood as the power to hurt the other side (‘If you don’t agree

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with these conditions, I will not only foreclose but also see to it that
you can’t get credit anywhere else.’)

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Reading 6: Overview of Conflict, Conflict

Resolution and Peace in Relation to Development

By Dr. C.M. Namafe, School of Education, University of Zambia. Chapter 1 in

Youth, Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth Youth Programme Africa Centre, 1998,
Commonwealth Secretariat.

Introduction
Like any concept, the word ‘conflict’ has almost as many definitions
as the number of people trying to define it. This situation in itself
presents part of the problem to development. The multi-dimensional
character of conflict has continued to trouble scholars, policy makers
and researchers in their attempt to scientifically define it.
Some of the key words often used to understand conflict are that it is
pervasive, everlasting and inevitable. Conflict is said to be pervasive
because it occurs at all levels of the environment. It is believed to be
everlasting in the sense that it is permanent and almost as old as
humanity itself, when this is historically understood in the form of,
say, the creation story in the Bible or, indeed, Noah’s flood story.
Finally, conflict is thought to be inevitable, partly because this is
thought to be an essential ingredient of being alive as a human. But,
as Bonta (1996) argues, conflict understood in these three underlined
terms is ideological and not given.
Most definitions of conflict include elements of struggle, strife or
collision. The struggle could, for instance, be over values, territories,
power or scarce resources in which the aims of the group or
individuals involved would be to gain and, at the same time, to

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neutralise, injure or eliminate opponents. The basic requirements for
a conflict are actors, incompatibilities (issues) and actions.
Conflict may be categorised into three main types, that is, conflict
occurring in the natural, social or the personal environment. These
three conflict types are interacting and interdependent and should not
be seen as separate or competing. Moreover, conflict occurs at the
global, regional, national, familial or personal levels. The historical
origin of conflict is linked directly to the fragmentation of traditional
kinship society in ancient Greece and Rome (Nisbet 1974).
Conflict may be contextualised as being merely one of the many
subsidiary concepts of the ‘enemy’ idea.

Overview of conflict resolution

It will be wrong to assume that the very words of conflict resolution
necessarily imply that conflict is universally considered to be a
problem that needs resolution, after which a stable peace will reign.
This assumption is wrong partly because some people actually
consider conflict, or its violent form, to be positively necessary for

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conflict resolution. In other words, violence is one way of resolving

conflicts.
Conflict resolution can be understood as a process that involves one
or several of the following four strategies:
a) Shifting actors, issues and actions away from a focus on
incompatibility towards compatibility.
b) Minimising destructive action and changing the conflict from a
violent to a non-violent type.
c) Solving the basic incompatibilities as they are understood by the
parties in order that the parties (actors) voluntarily express
satisfaction with the outcome.
d) Transforming entire conflict formations and relationships
between parties from ones of conflict to ones of peace.
Conflict resolution usually entails four principal phases:
(a) Conflict development.
(b) Settlement process.
(c) Agreement.
(d) Post-agreement.
Some scholars maintain that the implementation of agreement must
fit somewhere in the above stages. Conflict resolution skills and
techniques will differ depending on the scale of conflict as well as on
whether the conflict occurs in the natural, social or personal
environment.

Overview on peace
Over the years, there has been a slight shift from concern over the
issue of peace and war to that of peace and development. Despite this
intellectual shift, the chief problem in peace studies continues to be
that of war.
One statement summarises Western thinking on war, violence and
power. This is that ‘in the beginning was Machiavelli’. The
importance of this statement lies in the point that it describes one of
the origins of the contemporary interest in peace, namely, a
continuous battle with Machiavelli and his legacy in the study of war
and peace. In this battle, however, the weapons are pens and paper,
the strategies involve methods and interpretation and the goal is to
find a common truth.
Although the ideas of Machiavelli (an Italian Renaissance
personality) do appear earlier in Greek and Roman writings, an
interest in the issue of peace partly arose as a criticism of
Machiavelli’s ideas. Therefore, an understanding of peace must first
deal with the ideas of Machiavelli. Six basic issues from Machiavelli
are fundamental for peace thinking and these are as follows:

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a) Violence is Omnipresent and Inevitable. ‘If I do not use violence,

somebody else will’, Machiavelli writes. There is no avoiding war,
it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.
b) Violence is instrumental for successfully ruling people.
c) In politics, violence is the ultimate source of power. As a result,
military matters are more important than other political
questions. In fact, for Machiavelli, politics was as much an
extension of military practice as the latter was, in different
circumstances, an extension of politics. Thus, for Kabila in Zaire,
democratic politics was as much an extension of his military
practice as the latter, by some other means, is an extension of
democracy. War and politics are two sides of the same coin.
d) Conflicts are resolved through power and violence. This is
because the victory of one is the defeat of the other. Only one can
be the ruler, the others are his/her subjects.
e) The state and the government are the primary actors of
importance. In other words, the state is the legitimate employer
of violence (e.g. the Police, Army, Intelligence and soon.
f) The state is independent, vis-a-vis other states. This situation is
the foundation of the concept of ‘sovereignty’ and the so-called
‘national interest’. Violence is the central issue of peace. In this
sense, one understanding of peace differentiates between
‘negative peace’ and ‘positive peace’. The former refers to the
absence of violence, war, weapons or conflict. The latter means
the presence of co-operation, justice or conflict resolution.
Almost every culture or person has his or her own definition of
peace.

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Conflict, conflict resolution and peace in relation
to development
Who has ever talked to elderly men or women in the African villages
concerning their opinion on change: is the world moving from a good
to a better situation, or from a good to a worse state of affairs? In
other words, in developmental terms, are young men and women
inheriting a world which is getting better or worse?
One elderly woman I talked to, in response to the above question,
categorically said, that young men and women are living in a world
that is changing from good to bad. In her opinion, the world is
deteriorating in quality because:
z It is moving towards destruction.
z Morals are changing for the worse.
z The economic situation was too harsh for her.
z Academic standards in institutions of learning were falling.
z Her daily diet was getting worse.

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z AIDS/HIV was leading to destruction.

z The negative impact of war was everywhere.
It is important to accept that the world is ever-changing. And the root
source of transformation in today’s world is the concept of enemy.
The enemy idea is a central influence in the political history of the
world.
Most people today confuse development with change (i.e.
transformation). In this regard, many cultures globally seem to
admire the West and to want to attain the type of development the
West has reached.
But, rather than developing, many so-called Third World countries
and communities are changing from one situation to something else.
Thus, community A could be said to be more or less changed from its
former situation than community B only when a particular standard
is used. Such a yardstick, for now, is taken to be the Western culture.
For instance, Cameroonians can claim to be more or less changed
than, say, Kenyans only when measured against the Western cultural
yardstick of, amongst other things, industrial infrastructure, road and
rail network, schooling or the adoption of democracy/ religion. In
this sense, the Western culture, through the central concept of the
enemy, is changing other cultures to itself rather than developing
them.
Arguably, we can never talk of development, but change, when:
(a) in politics, battles (wars) are raging between different political
parties set within the so-called democracy;
(b) in the economic sphere, the prescription for economic ills from
the Western world are medicines that actually kill other people
(e.g. Structural Adjustment Programmes leading to
retrenchments, liquidations, redundancies and the accompanying
suffering of the majority);
(c) in the field of entertainment, many of the Western-derived films
or videos depict killings, shootings and fights among people;
within sports, violence such as in boxing, karate or wrestling is
perceived to be a form of entertainment;
(d) in the field of security, actual bloody battles, fuelled by Western-
made military hardware, are wiping out whole families,
displacing communities and massacring others, as in Iraq,
Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
etc.;
(e) in the religious sphere, religious wars between different religious
denominations (e.g. Christian versus Moslem, Believer versus
Pagan, Protestant versus Catholic etc) are raging. The use of
terms like Victory Ministries, Holy War, Crusade, Jihad, etc. all
depict enemy conditions of some kind;

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(f) in the legal sphere, battles for opposing sides are manifested in
attacks (prosecutor) and defences (lawyers) and the punishing of
the defeated to sub-human conditions of prison, remand and so
on;
(g) in the field of medicine or health, new diseases allegedly meant
to wipe out a proportion of humanity are reportedly
manufactured from laboratories (e.g. AIDS/HIV, biological
warfare, etc.).
It is evidently clear, therefore, that much of the world is experiencing
an unpleasant type of change. This change, and not development, is
one that favours or serves a few at the expense of the suffering or
dying many. In practice, it is the enemy idea which, on the one hand,
is associated with concepts such as suffering, calamity, sacrifice,
unemployment, underdevelopment, Third World, poverty, and
vulnerability as well as victory, happiness, wealth, Developed World,
on the other hand.

Conclusion
This begs the question of what, therefore, is development?
Participants will debate and try to formulate their own responses to
this question. Suffice to alert participants to the pivotal place of the
‘enemy vision’ in issues of conflict, conflict resolution, peace and
development.

References
Bonta, B.D., 1996, ‘Conflict Resolution Among Peaceful Societies:
The Culture of Peacefulness’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 33,
November, pp. 403–420.

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Nisbet, R., 1974, The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in
Western Thought, Heinemann, London.

Participants’ concerns
How do you solve a problem when the other party does not want to?

Participants’ opinions:
z Forget about it.
z Understand them and give them time before you address the
problem.
z Use a mediator, preferably a mutual friend.
z Find out if the issue is just as contentious with the other person.
It may not be an issue with them after all.
Conflict resolution is not about being right or wrong. It is resolving
the conflict. Participants saw conflict as being positive if it meets the
following criteria:

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z When it brings out sound understanding.

z If it is part of the decision-making process.
z If it results in positive social change.
z If it shows the need for change.

The Marxist concept of conflict is that progress in societies comes

about as a result of conflict. Progress in labour and industrial
relations has been achieved through conflict. It is through
antagonistic interactions that progress can be achieved. The bourgeois
and proletariat classes are by nature in conflict. People therefore, will
always have conflicts depending on which way one looks at it.
Participants observed that sometimes a dual approach to conflict may
be adopted: negotiation is used first, and, if it fails, violence is
deployed as a last resort.

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Reading 7: Youth Groups, Conflict Prevention,

Management and Resolution

By Yinka Aganga-Williams, Senior Programme Officer, Commonwealth Youth

Programme, Africa Centre. Chapter 2 in Youth, Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth
Youth Programme, Africa Centre, 1998, Commonwealth Secretariat.

1 Introduction
Conflict has been defined as a social situation in which a minimum
of two parties strive at the same moment in time to get hold of the
same set of scarce resources. In this definition, scarcity is the key to
understanding conflict. But scarcity does not work alone to generate
conflict. There are three other basic requirements that work together
with scarcity to produce conflict: namely actors, issues and actions. For
any conflict to become manifest, there have to be actors or parties.
Although social actors need issues of contention if conflict is to
occur, it is not necessary that all parties consciously perceive the issue
as contentious. It is sufficient for one party to recognise the issue in
order to have conflict. Issues may fall into material and non-material
categories. Border disputes, control of water resources and
distribution of wealth, for example, may fall into the former category
while issues of language, ideology and so on belong to the latter
realm.
Conflict only becomes manifest when there is organised behaviour on
the part of the actors to achieve their goals. Often such actions are
buttressed by attitudes to issues that are uncompromising. The above
situation is applicable to youth organisations, and issues of conflict in

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organisations can fall in both categories mentioned above. Although
conflict does take place at the interpersonal level, focus on conflict
resolution studies has laid emphasis on collective entities such as
states, social groups and organisations.

2 The youth and conflict

Because of their disproportionate share of the global population,
young people everywhere are often caught up in conflict situations
both as participants and victims. As citizens of their respective
nations, they have rights to the basic needs of life, which
unfortunately most developing nations in Africa can no longer
provide. With the global economic recession and the crippling foreign
debts of many developing nations, millions of young people become
recipients of the resultant poverty of their nations. They are caught
up in problems of hunger, unemployment, drugs/ substance abuse,
reproductive health, environmental degradation and HIV/AIDS, to
mention a few. In many parts of the world where there are armed
conflicts, the energetic potentials of young men and women are also
exploited as they are forcibly conscripted into armies, often without a

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voice or choice and without any participation in the decision-making

that led to the conflict. They are, while the strife lasts, deprived of
opportunities to pursue education and a normal transition from
adolescence to adulthood under a conducive environment.
Young people, particularly women, also fill the ranks of wandering
refugees fleeing from conflict. Long after the conflicts have been over,
they continue to suffer the aftermath as economies devastated by wars
are unable to deliver health, education, employment services and
other forms of social services.
This scenario thus leaves many youth in situations of conflict both as
individuals and as members of communities. Such grim situations
make it impossible for young women and men to be indifferent to
conflicts within their communities and the larger society. Hence,
resolving these conflicts both with the individual youth and groups of
youth becomes the responsibilities of all stakeholders in youth
development.
As young people the application of the strategies mentioned in this
paper in mediating conflicts becomes a tool. A successful conflict
resolution approach would be one that is multi-faceted; one that
ensures that all stakeholders and those that are victims are involved.
Very often it is the victims who seek to establish the peace process,
but solutions so sought may only be temporary if root causes are not
tackled in conjunction with all stakeholders. Paramount to this
approach in dealing with young people is their involvement in
dialogues on issues that concern them. They should be given
opportunities to analyse conflicts, their views should be well heard
and their inputs on means/ ways to change taken seriously. They
should be actively involved whether as mediators or facilitators of
information.

3 Sources of conflict
The sources of conflict in youth groups include:

(i) Shared resources

When there is a limited amount of resources in the group that must
be shared by the members, lack of co-operation and eventually open
conflict can result because everyone strives at the same time to get
hold of the same set of scarce resources.

(ii) Differences in goals

Conflict can be generated when individual’s goals in the youth group
are inconsistent with those of the group. At times this could lead to
formation of different ‘camps’ (sub groups) within one association or
club.

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(iii) Differences in perception and values

This occurs when individuals in the group have different perceptions
and value systems. For instance, a member of the group may place
high value on his time. He may really want to work on the group’s
activities but at the same time may accord a lot of importance to
spending time with his family. This is an obvious value system
conflict. In the same vein, a leader and some of his members may
have conflicting perceptions of a situation, yet their goal remains the
same.

(iv) Disagreements in role requirements

An individual member of a group may have conflicting demands
placed upon him/her by both the group and other institutions he
belongs to. For instance, a female member may be required by the
group to work on an activity on a Saturday when she is supposed to
attend the Seventh Day Adventist Church Service on the same day of
the week.

(v) Nature of work activities

This concerns the quantity of work assigned in the group in
performing the group’s activities. Individuals may compare workloads
relative to the other. If there is inequity, conflict can result. This type
of situation would be more manifest in a youth enterprise group.

(vi) Individual approaches

People have different styles and approaches in their interaction with
others in a group situation. One person may be reflective, speak little,
but deliver words of wisdom when ready to talk about a topic.

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Another member in the group may adopt an argumentative approach.
This may generate conflict.

(vii) Internalised conflict

The mountainous challenges encountered by young people today
leave them with internalised conflicts. A displaced young person, for
example, worried about his family, not assured of a meal in a day,
would wish to have further education or find a job, but these are far-
fetched.
Empowering such young persons requires information, education,
communication and provision of the wherewithal to facilitate
improvement of their welfare. Information, education and
communication (IEC) can be provided along the lines of guidance
and counselling.
It is very important that the leader in a youth group not only knows
the potential sources of conflict but also develops strategies for
resolving potentially disruptive or dysfunctional situations.

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4 Concept of conflict resolution

Conflict resolution has been defined as consisting of ‘Changing reality
(by reducing scarcity or by changing the causal links), changing the demands
of the actors (by compromise, horse trading, persuasion, or sheer
manipulation), such that a distribution of values is found that is subjectively
acceptable to all the actors and therefore, can be agreed to.’ Another author
has defined conflict resolution to mean ‘finding a solution to the basic
incompatibility between the relevant parties in such a way that they
(voluntarily) express their satisfaction with the outcome’.
As understood in the above sense, conflict resolution goes beyond
conflict management. The latter does not do away with the basic root
of conflict, but serves to keep it within manageable bounds so that it
does not escalate. For example, the United Nations peace-keeping
mission in Bosnia and the Economic Association of West Africa
States’ (ECOWAS) intervention in Liberia could both be said to fall
within the realm of conflict management. Another example will be
that of two factions within the same youth organisation not resolving
an issue and the intervention of the Youth Ministry or Department or
Youth Council to keep the conflict in check pending when issues can
be resolved.
Conflict resolution can further be distinguished from conflict
prevention, which aims at diffusing simmering conflicts, before they
get into uncontrollable situations. Preventive diplomacy is probably
the most well known strategy used to achieve this end. An example of
this at state level would be the intervention in 1995 by Malawi’s
President Bakili Muluzi in the tension that had built up between
Uganda and Sudan. An example at a youth club level would be when
the election period for a new executive committee draws near, and the
board senses a division in members’ interests, the board calls for a
special meeting of all members to forestall election conflicts.

5 Methods of conflict resolution

Conflict resolution is one of the most serious challenges facing
mankind today with shifts from inter-state conflicts to intra-state
conflicts. Armed conflicts in places such as the former Soviet Union,
former Yugoslavia, Liberia, Somalia, Zaire, Sri Lanka and Rwanda,
to mention only a few, serve as a grim reminder that the quest for
world peace is far from over.
Article 33 of the United Nations Charter provides for a wide range of
methods that could be employed in conflict resolution. A brief
summary of these methods would include: early warning systems,
negotiation, good offices, conciliation and mediation, peace-making,
humanitarian assistance, arbitration, judicial settlement, and resort to
regional agencies or arrangements.
There are some general problems which are attendant to these
strategies: the fact that most of the methods are employed after
conflicts have already blown up, the ad hoc character of most peace

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efforts, and the principle of national sovereignty which rules out

intervention, unless invited.
Going by the number of conflicts raging in the world today, it is quite
clear that the above strategies are not fully utilised and if they are,
they contain serious weaknesses that reduce their effectiveness.
But it is also true that the relative peace enjoyed by the world can
partly be attributed to ‘behind the scene’ efforts which do not enjoy
public limelight.

5.1 Early warning system

The above concept has been widely used in weather forecasting. In
recent times, organisations such as the Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO), have extended it to forecasting crop yields; the
concept is used to detect and avert looming weather disasters.
In conflict resolution studies, early warning carries the same essential
meaning found in weather and agricultural forecasting. It is meant to
be a system of detecting potentially violent conflicts before they could
develop into explosive situations.
The success of an early warning system in conflict resolution depends
on information gathering. Often fact finding and observer missions
have been used to appraise relevant authorities of potentially
dangerous situations. In the event that parties to a conflict agree to
seek a peaceful solution, the early warning system personnel may
prove to be very useful in providing non-partisan information that
would facilitate negotiations.
An example in a youth group would be that of the Youth Ministry/
Department or the Youth Council making use of techniques and

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methods of youth work in analysing a prevailing youth-related social
situation which, though government or the authorities concerned may
not foresee, is predictable. The early warning from the Youth
Ministry/ Department/ Council would be the advocacy that all
stakeholders in the issue at hand take a critical look and analyse as
appropriate before the resultant predicted conflict occurs.

5.2 Mediation
Throughout human history, skilful mediation by third parties has
repeatedly succeeded in nipping potential conflicts in the bud and
helped build peace. It is therefore worth exploring the role mediation
plays in diffusing conflicts. Mediation has been selected for closer
scrutiny because it is amenable to use in a wide variety of conflict
situations. Mediation is a widely employed strategy in inter-/ intra-
state, group and interpersonal conflicts.
Mediation in conflict resolution is a process involving a third party
who is acceptable to the warring parties. Being non-partisan is thus
considered a critical quality of any mediator. Despite its potential,
however, mediation can only exert influence on a conflict within the

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confines of certain parameters. The resources commanded by the

mediator, his/her competencies, as well as the context of mediation,
are all factors that bear on the outcome of the process. Mediation is
therefore a dynamic and adaptive process. It has been defined as a
third party dispute settlement technique integrally related to the
negotiation process whereby a skilled disinterested neutral party
assists parties in changing their minds over conflicting needs, mainly
through the non-compulsory applications of various forms of
persuasion, in order to reach a viable agreement on terms at issue.
However, claims of neutrality in mediation have been challenged, as
most observers believe that neutrality in a conflict is most unlikely
although mediators should strive to be non-partisan. Three principal
strategies adopted in mediation are: communication, facilitation and
manipulation. The issues under each of these strategies can briefly be
listed as follows:

5.2.1 Communication
z make contacts with parties
z gain the trust and confidence of parties
z arrange for interactions between the parties
z identify issues and interests
z develop a framework of understanding
z offer positive evaluations.

5.2.2 Facilitation strategies

z choosing meeting sites
z control pace and formality of meetings
z control physical environment
z establish protocol
z structure agenda
z help parties save face.

5.2.3 Manipulation strategies

z change parties’ expectations
z take responsibility for concessions
z make substantive suggestions and proposals
z make parties aware of costs of non-agreement
z reward party concessions
z offer to verify compliance with agreement.
It is evident from the above listing that mediational strategies are not
mutually exclusive. There is a great deal of overlap and it is possible

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to employ all the strategies within the same process of mediation. A

successful mediational outcome should include several things: an end
to violence or hostilities; agreements that allow each party to save
face; good precedents in the eyes of observers; and arrangements that
can be implemented. Above all results should improve the climate of
relations between the former disputants.
A novel form of mediation is what Kelman (1992) has called
‘interactive problem solving’. This strategy is based on the use of
problem-solving workshops that are not accorded the official status of
negotiations. The mediators in this case comprise a team of skilled
individuals, whose role is limited to facilitating interaction among
carefully selected participants from the warring factions. The
workshops are not designed to produce binding solutions. The major
objective of the workshops is to help participants change their
perceptions of each other and the formulation of issues.
This form of mediation is also applicable in the example of a youth
club election conflict cited above.

5.3 Negotiation1
Disputing parties agree to solve their problem by talking about their
concerns face to face and working together to find a solution that is
mutually acceptable. It is in this form of conflict resolution that the
disputants maintain the greatest degree of control.

5.4 Conciliation
A conciliator is a third party that encourages disputing parties to
solve their problem. For example, s/he may make suggestions on how
to approach the other party to the conflict, help the person

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understand her or his underlying interest, and/or provide shuttle
diplomacy (act as a ‘go-between’).

5.5 Arbitration
An arbitrator is a person appointed by two disputing parties to settle
their dispute. In arbitration, the third party makes a judgement after
hearing both sides of the dispute. Disputants no longer have decision-
making power.

5.6 Adjudication
In adjudication, attorneys represent disputants and their control is
minimal. The courts are well established as a form of dispute
resolution in the West. Their popularity in the public mind is reflected
in statements such as:
‘You’ll hear from my lawyers!’

1
The rest of section 5 is based on Mediation Services Canada (nd).

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‘I’ll take it to the highest court!’

Such statements often make it difficult for people to think of
alternatives.

6 Leadership and conflict resolution in youth

groups
Conflict among individuals in a group setting is inevitable, as
wherever people work together there will be degrees of conflict. This
is so because it is not possible for people to always agree on all goals,
issues or perceptions.
Conflict in a group may be created by the evolution of any of the
stages of a group’s development. It should however, be mentioned
that conflict is inherently neither positive nor negative. For instance, if
a leader in a group is able to handle conflict correctly, conflict can be
functional in meeting the goals and aspirations of the members of the
group. But on the other hand, conflict can have negative
repercussions if the leader and members do not properly manage it.
In order to manage conflict in a youth group, the leader should ask
him/herself the following questions:
(i) What is the type of conflict? In other words, is it between
individuals or between an individual and a group, or between
groups?
(ii) What is the source of conflict? Is it from shared resources,
differences in goals, role conflict, etc?
(iii) What is the level of conflict? How heated is it?
After analysing the foregoing factors, the leader may be in a better
position to select the appropriate strategy to resolve the conflict.
Some of the strategies that may be employed include:
(a) Initiating Compromise: Here each party is required to give up
something and the parties involved realise that there are no win-
lose outcomes. Unfortunately, the approach does not remove the
root cause/s of the problem, hence the problem may occur again.
(b) Initiating Integrative Problem Solving: Here the group leader has
to focus on mutual problem-solving by the parties involved. The
conflicting individuals or groups are brought together with the
idea of discussing the issues. At times the group may work
towards a consensus, seeking agreement by all on the best
solution to the problem. Another approach is for a confrontation
session. In this process, the conflicting parties verbalise their
positions and areas of disagreement. The hoped-for outcome is to
find a reason for the conflict and resolve it.
Whatever strategy the group leader selects there will be need for
conflict management skills. It is also apparent that when conflict is
allowed to escalate, the quest for change becomes more difficult and
can make a situation less constructive.

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7 Conflict escalation and change (where is it at?)

(i) Problem solving. CONSTRUCTIVE
Disagree, but share problem*

(ii) Shift from disagreement

to Personal Antagonism.
The opposing person is seen as
the problem rather than the issue.*

(iii) Issue Proliferation.

With time issues move
from specific to general.*

(iv) Triangle
Talks about it with other people
go on, but not with the person
directly concerned.
(Rumours, & interpretations)*

(v) Eye for Eye

Reaction and Escalation*

(vi) Antagonism > Hostility*

(vii) Polarisation
Change in the social structure* DESTRUCTIVE

From John Paul Lederach, Conflict Transformation, MCS, 1989, Peace Education.

8 Conclusion
This paper has discussed some of the complex issues involved in
conflict resolution. However, a number of the issues dealt with can
find wide application in different conflict settings apart from inter-
state and intra-state conflicts. One point to have come out of the
discussion is that young women and men cannot afford to be

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indifferent to conflicts raging in their communities and the larger
environment. For this reason conflict resolution should rank
alongside challenges young people encounter in their daily lives as
enumerated. More so in developing nations, where poverty continues
to place them in positions of personal and group conflicts; hence
unemployment, lack of adequate social welfare facilities including
health services and education, compound young men/ women’s
insecurity.
When young people’s socialisation is within a violent environment,
they also develop a culture of violence, and violence becomes the
norm for resolving disputes. The same can be said for other values,
such as insincerity, injustice, tolerance, good governance, etc. In the
same vein, it is incumbent upon young people to join efforts in the
search for ways to contain socially destructive behaviour and promote
measures for order and peace on our planet, if their future is to be
better secured.
Many young people today find themselves in leadership positions at
various levels within society, and should take responsibility to model

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a new attitude to showcase their potentials for leadership, democratic

principles, good governance and non-violent behaviour.
Formation of youth interest groups is one form of mobilisation that
could give opportunities for young people’s voices to be heard. To a
large extent, formation of a strong ‘Youth Voice’ both at national and
regional levels, has eluded Africa, as many forms of conflict cloud or
disrupt youth organisations even at the grassroots. Conflicting values,
adult manipulation/ exploitation and quest for leadership are some of
these. Rather than being dogged to the goals of association, divisions,
which lead to fragmentation of groups and which can be
disempowering are allowed to simmer. If leadership training, and
good governance are encouraged in youth groups, they could serve as
benchmarks for internalising leadership development for these ‘future
national leaders’.
Hearing young people’s voices also requires that they possess
advocacy and lobbying skills with which to communicate their
concerns to the larger society. But this requires that they denounce
violence and injustice and lobby for improved socio-economic
conditions, and thus avoid sowing seeds that could result in conflicts.
Finally, it is crucial to note that young people have a great stake in the
peace process because it is their future that is at risk; they are the ones
whose future is being torn away, and who must be given opportunities
now for building that future in order to value it. It is important that
they are involved in any peace process on issues that affect their lives
if solutions are to be meaningful.

Participants’ concerns
Where a third party mediates between two disputing parties, each legitimately
laying a claim to the same throne, how does a mediator handle the situation?
Both parties must have agreed to negotiate and there is need for both
to recognise and respect each other’s potentials. The mediator must
sort out all protocol issues appropriately and facilitate respect for the
agreement reached.
The pre-mediation stage is also crucial as both parties must agree
upon the mediator and have trust in the mediator even before the
actual mediation begins.
Which of the strategies that have been mentioned is preferable or most effective
in case a conflict could not be prevented?
This depends on the level of conflict, but where it is still at the initial
stages, negotiation is advisable.
Do you really think all that is being learnt at this workshop can be applicable
to our youth clubs/ organisations when the examples we see from national
leaders is that they want to remain in power?
Note that the concept of change is a crucial factor in the process of
this workshop. It is in order that young people can be enabled to

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make informed choices that a workshop like this one is organised to

equip them with necessary skills. If multiplier effects are achieved
through follow-up national workshops, then your peers in youth
organisations/ clubs and institutions, would also be equipped. In this
manner young people become empowered to bring about change
where and when necessary.
If young people’s socialisation process is through a structure that
recognises good governance, justice and respect for one another, then
the tendency is that they practice the same when they become ‘future
leaders’.

Works cited and further reading

Bercovitch, J. (1992) ‘The Structure and Diversity of Mediation in
International Relations’, in J. Bercovitch and J. Z. Rubin (eds),
Mediation in International Relations, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
Galtung, J. (1969) ‘Violence, Peace and Peace Research’, Journal of
Peace Research, Vol. 6.
Kelman, C. N. (1969) ‘Informal Mediation by the
Scholar/Practitioner’, J. Bercovitch and J. Z. Rubin (eds), op cit.
Lederach, John Paul (1989) Conflict transformation, MCS, Peace
Education.
Mediation Services Winnipeg (nd) ‘Peace Education’, Mediation
Services Winnipeg, Canada, http://www.mediationserviceswpg.ca/.
Sueskind, L. and E. Babbit (1992) ‘Overcoming the Obstacles to
Effective Mediation of International Disputes’ in J. Bercovitch and J.
Z. Rubin (eds), op. cit, p.11.

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Wallensteen, P. (1988) ‘Understanding Conflict Resolution: A
Framework’, in P. Wallensteen (ed) Peace Research Achievements and
Challenges, Westview Press, London, p. 120.
Westas, B. (1988) ‘Peaceful Conflict Resolution’ in O. Dahlen et al
(eds) Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts: Non-Governmental Organisations,
The International System, Life and Peace Reports, No. 1.
Wiberg, R. (1988) ‘What is the Use of Conflict Theory?’, in P.
Wallensteen (ed), op cit, p. 107.

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Reading 8: Community Response to Law and

Order Problems

by Lynn Giddings. Chapter 9 in O’Connors, M. (ed), Youth and Society: Perspectives

from Papua New Guinea, Dept. of Political and Social Science, Research School of
Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, 1986.

Part 1: The Eastern Highlands Provincial

Rehabilitation Committee
Introduction
By sheer coincidence, in February 1981, I found myself talking with a
so-called ‘rascal’ gang in Goroka (the term ‘rascal’ is better avoided as
it conveys a sense of naughtiness or harmless roguery, when in fact
people are juvenile delinquents or criminals. However, it has been
adopted into common usage in Papua New Guinea and so seems the
more appropriate word to use). Within two weeks they had
introduced me to two more gangs, and within as many months I had
met six. The word had spread around town there was someone who
would talk with them, listen to their problems, allow them to ventilate
their grievances and discuss their futures, but I was unprepared for the
challenge and wished it would go away. The Eastern Highlands
Provincial Rehabilitation Committee was not planned, perceived or
instigated by me, but it was the youth, the ex-gangs who pushed,
pressured and demanded a response (see Giddings 1981 for a
description of the backgrounds of members).
To give these young people something to do and keep them out of
further trouble, contract work, permanent jobs or economic projects
had to be found. A short-term contract, or an application to the
Provincial Youth Council, were openings for establishing a project.
Economic projects could not be discussed only with the youth in
town; there was a need for consultation with village leaders and the
communities from which the youths came. These were the people
with wisdom and expertise, and the people who could give the youth
access to land, or withhold it. Indeed one of the problems is
reluctance of the village leaders to make the land available. They say
it was not traditional to give land to people before they were married,
but school-leavers who have been unable to find jobs interpret the
withholding of permission to use land as punishment for not finding
work. The parents consider they have made considerable sacrifices,
sometimes for many years, to raise the money for school fees in
anticipation that when the youth find work they will send money
back to the village to look after them in their old age. Parents see
education as an investment, and a school leaver without a permanent
job is a poor investment on the ‘share market’. The youth, therefore,
pressured me to visit their communities saying, ‘our parents will not
believe us when we say we cannot find work, but they might listen to you’.

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After numerous excursions into the rural areas to talk with the
parents and communities of the youth, it became apparent that the
task was too big for one person alone. About this time both national
and provincial government leaders were stating that law and order
was not just a problem for the police and courts, but was a
community problem. I decided to put it to the test, and through the
Provincial Youth Council suggested that the Goroka Town
community form a rehabilitation committee as a response to the
problems surrounding us. The work had to be preventive as well as
curative so that it was not interpreted by the youth to mean they must
participate in a life of crime before help would be forthcoming to
them.

Projects and volunteers: 1981–1984

The seed that was sown by my interview with the first gang
germinated in September 1981 when a small committee was formed
to attempt a new approach in Goroka to the problem of the
rehabilitation of youth. The initial core group members were
predominantly church workers but some public servants also showed
interest. Private enterprise in Goroka was, and still is, not interested.
The following table shows the occupations of members of the
inaugural committee:
Table 9.1: Occupations of members of the inaugural Eastern
Highlands Rehabilitation Committee

Place Public Church Private Village Other Total

servant worker enterprise official
(spouse)
Goroka 2 7 1 10

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Henganofi 1 2 2 5
Kainantu 1 1
Watabung 1 1
Total 3 10 Nil 3 1 17
Source: Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee records.

Of the seventeen inaugural members, nine were nationals and eight

were expatriates. Of the ten Goroka town members, eight were
expatriates and two were Papua New Guineans. One expatriate was a
Solomon Islander (see Giddings 1982 for a description of the initial
activities of the Committee).
The committee was established none too soon, for in March 1982 a
large number of young people from the Unggai census division
marched through town carrying placards asking for forgiveness, and
surrendered themselves at the Goroka police station. This idea was
not entirely without precedent: during the late 1970s the newspapers
had occasionally reported criminal gangs in Port Moresby

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‘surrendering their lives to the lord’ at evangelical meetings. It seemed

there was good publicity and a considerable degree of prestige to be
had from a surrender as some of the ex-criminals in Port Moresby
had been feted around the country with ‘testimony tours’. Unless
there has been a genuine change of heart, there is invariably an
element of blackmail about a surrender but the Rehabilitation
Committee was able to ensure that the Unggai surrender did not
degenerate into this.
Although approximately one hundred youths surrendered, the police
finally laid charges against only eight of them. Committee members
went to court and spoke on their behalf requesting a short prison
term, followed by a long suspended sentence so that we still had
control over them for some time. The national court took up the
suggestion and sentenced the eight who had been charged to three
years imprisonment of which they were to serve the first eight months
in jail, and the remainder was suspended. This meant that there were
about ninety supposedly ex-rascals not imprisoned and wanting
immediate assistance to keep them out of further trouble, so the
committee went on an emergency recruitment campaign for more
members.
The real work now began. None of the committee members had
qualifications in social or community development work, although
some, being church workers, had some counselling and pastoral
experience. The bulk of the committee had little more than good will
and commonsense on which to rely. From the outset we decided that
community involvement did not mean the town community acting
like a benevolent society; it had to mean community involvement at
the local level including the parents and village leaders of the youth.
So we recruited further members from among the village
communities with whom we are working (see Eastern Highlands
Rehabilitation Committee 1982 Annual Report).
As the process of applying for and receiving grants for projects
through the Provincial Youth Council was often slow, we saw a need
to be able to act promptly, and so we raised some money overseas to
use as ‘soft’ loans to start groups with projects. Within a year we had
raised K40,000 from overseas voluntary aid sources and local
donations of seed potatoes. We found that help could be obtained
from overseas funding agencies for voluntary groups working at the
grass-roots level, although it is more difficult to raise money for
administrative costs. This is where provincial governments should be
prepared to step in with assistance, as the Eastern Highlands
Provincial Government has done for us. Overseas funding agencies
want to see some local component and if it can be shown that the
administrative costs will be met by the receiving country, they will
fund the project at the community level.
We did not charge interest when youth groups were given a loan, and
we did not ask for capital assets as backing. We simply asked for
community support as a ‘mortgage’. We were willing to carry a high-
risk factor that banks will not entertain, and initially the majority of

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the groups began repaying their loans, although sometimes slowly

and irregularly. With this loan policy, groups had the option of
waiting for a Provincial Youth Council project grant, which was free
but could be slow, or contracting for a loan through our committee
which could be approved promptly (see Office of Religion, Youth and
Recreation 1982 for a description of the National Youth Movement
Program grants scheme). The money was lent to village leaders for
the youth, and the leaders had to be prepared to sign the contract with
the committee and take responsibility for its repayment. In this way
we hoped to enlist their support for the project, and by making the
youth indebted to their leaders, some control could be exercised over
the young people and the generation gap might be reduced.
By December 1983, after two years’ work in Unggai, a total of thirty-
seven projects had been established. These included nine trade store
projects, and thirteen other projects involved with sheep, coffee, cattle,
goats, chickens, bees, scone ovens and sewing. There were also fifteen
potato projects and these were the most successful of all, bringing
K2,000 into the area in one harvest. Not all projects ran smoothly, but
law and order had certainly improved in the Unggai. Unintentionally,
we had broken up the gangs by suggesting projects. The Unggai gangs
had been formed by frustrated, like-minded youth from all over the
census division. Their solidarity had not been based on village or clan
affiliations, but on age, economic circumstances and shared anger. No
landowners would give land to youth from other clans, so each
individual had to return to his own community, a more stabilising
situation than if the former gangs had retained their own identity for
the economic project.
While individual trouble-makers could still remain in the Unngai, the
gang raids in the town which had persisted for the previous two years

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ceased.
The expectations of the Committee had never been high regarding the
projects. We expected problems from the youth: idleness, dishonesty
and waning of interest. What we had not anticipated was problems
from the village leaders. In fact the picture that unfolded to us was
that about one third of our projects ran smoothly with youth and
village workers co-operating. About one third failed because of the
restless and irresponsible attitude of the youth. But the remainder
failed because the village leaders took over the project to become
businessmen. However, the fact that we were talking with people and
establishing relationships meant that law and order seemed to
improve whether the project was successful or not. What happened is
best summed up by an Unggai seminarian at the Bomana Catholic
Seminary who said to me:
“Please do not feel discouraged. I come from a group in the
Unggai whose project failed because a village leader stole it. But
when I returned home recently, the members of that group had
ceased their rascal activities and had all found work to do at
home or in a nearby coffee plantation. Don’t think your work

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has failed, you have shown these young people that there are
alternatives to being members of a rascal gang.”
In December 1982, because of success in Unggai, we were asked to
do the same work on Daulo Pass, a notorious trouble spot for
highway robbery. Committee members were exhausted from the work
in Unggai, which was over difficult and rough terrain, and were afraid
that if we spread ourselves too thinly, nothing would be a success.
While we were wondering what to do about Daulo Pass, we heard of
an Australian volunteer couple who had one year of a three-year
work permit left and were looking for a project to complete their time
in the country. The Eastern Highlands Provincial Government agreed
to provide K3,600 as their married allowance. The committee
obtained an equivalent amount from a funding agency in Germany to
employ a national understudy to work with them during 1983, and
take over the work entirely in January 1984. The committee members
pulled out of the Unggai at the beginning of 1983 and moved into
Daulo Pass to repeat our work there. The volunteer took over
monitoring the Unggai work and extended the work by answering
requests from Henganofi, Kainantu and Upper Asaro areas. By the
beginning of 1984, the committee had grown to 136 members. The
following tables show the location and occupation of members:
Table 9.2: Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee:
Location and occupation of members in January 1984

Location Public Church Private Village Other Total

Goroka 26 31 1 1 1 1 4 4 63

Henganofi 2 2 1 1 3

Kainantu 2 2 9 9 7 7 18

Watabung 1 1 1

Marawaka 1 1 1

Lufa 3 3 3 3 6

Oka pa 1 1 1 1 2

Unggai 3 3 2 2 17 22

Daulo Pass 1 1 19 20
Total 39 46 1 1 46 4 4 136
Source: Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee Records

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Table 9.3: Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee:

Occupation of national and expatriate members in January
1984

Occupation National Expatriate Total

Public servant 27 12 39
Church worker 20 26 46
Private enterprise 1 1
Village official 46 46
Other (e.g. spouse) 4 4
Total 94 42 136
Source: Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee Records.

By the beginning of 1984, the volunteer had been replaced by his

understudy, a graduate of Yangpela Didiman (a ‘young farmer’ or
village motivators’ scheme with an emphasis on integrated human
development, run very successfully by the Lutheran Church; see
Tietze 1980 for a description of this organisation). A Catholic
seminarian completed his year’s fieldwork with our committee
instead of being placed in a parish, and the involvement and co-
operation of church workers is an important aspect we hope to
continue and expand.
Having no model on which to build, the Committee has developed its
own philosophy and methods through ‘trial and error’. It recognised
from the outset that in traditional Melanesian society wealth was
more equally distributed than it is today, and that the seeds of
discontent have taken root as society has become divided between the
urban elite and the peri-urban and rural people. School-leavers,

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although educated to have the same expectations as their urban
neighbours, are often unable to share the opportunities that economic
development should provide. However, it did not take us long to
realise that, while economic problems were paramount, economic
wealth was not the panacea for all the ills of society.

Reflections on integrated human development

The Committee saw the wisdom in the concept, which at times can
appear to be no more than an idle cliché, of ‘integrated human
development’: the need for economic, social, political and spiritual
development to go hand-in-hand. It rejected the term ‘drop-out’ for
school leavers as a dis-integrating label: school-leavers have neither
‘dropped’ nor should they feel ‘out’. Here was the root of one of the
problems: they need to be ‘in’, to be included in their communities, to
feel that they belong and have a contribution to make. A sense of
belonging is an important factor facilitating the exercise of social
control.
We saw, too, that those involved in youth work very often do not
bring integrated development. The government brings mostly

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economic development, but almost no spiritual development. Yet

there is a real need for development of young people, so that they
learn how to handle a project with integrity, and work together in
relation to the project. Even at community school level, much more
could be done to develop the child with a stress on ethics and morals,
integrity, a sense of responsibility, motivation to pursue a task
through to its completion, and above all, a respect for others.
On the other hand, most church youth work concentrates almost
exclusively on spiritual development, with perhaps some recreational
activities to maintain interest, but ignores economic development,
seeing it as secular and a cause of disruption from jealousy and
associated problems. Most young people coming through the courts
have had some association with the church. This means the churches
are losing their young people because they are not fulfilling felt-needs,
particularly economic needs. So often church youth groups only pick
up the ‘good’ people and reward them. Projects are frustrating and
often bring tension and disappointment, but, as the Unggai
seminarian pointed out, they can also be learning experiences.
Churches could at least lend support to Provincial Youth Council
projects rather than distancing themselves from them or even
attacking and opposing them (see the ‘Christian Declaration on
Youth and Development’ accepted by the participants at the July
1982 Ministers of Religion Workshop on Youth and Development,
Youth on the Move 1(3), June/July 1981:1–4).
It is not hard to determine the problems of youth and their needs if
we look at their responses, but the difficulty is in finding appropriate
solutions. So many of these young people are reacting to their social
reality in either one of two ways: lethargy or crime; but, if youth are
ignored by society, then they will ensure that society at least takes
notice and defers to their trouble-making capacity. Formation of
powerful gangs is compensation for their powerlessness and sense of
failure. These needs and these factors must be kept in mind when we
start thinking of youth work. Somehow our work has to meet at least
one of these needs and bring a sense of dignity in work to the young
people, remembering that while there is a desire for the Western cargo
and technology, there is not an equal desire for the Western ethic. If
both the urban and rural sectors make the youth feel unwanted and
unwelcome, then both sectors are edging them down a one-way road
to a life of crime, and education is a graduation certificate into a
rascal gang.

Community education and youth projects

One component of youth must be ‘awareness building’ with both the
youth and their communities. If there is not on-the-spot, non-formal
education, we cannot correct the imbalance and unequal opportunity
between those who are successful in the school system, or become
one of its casualties. Parents need help as much as their children.
They need help to see that they have a responsibility to their young
people beyond merely finding the school fees and educating them.

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Traditional communities adjusted to the sweet potato, and cash

cropping, and they can adjust to the school-leaver problem too. They
can adjust by making land available to young people at an earlier age
than was traditionally the norm.
There has been some discussion with Unggai village leaders of
developing youth coffee gardens. The idea is that school-leavers could
attend to sections of the gardens and pick the coffee for themselves.
When they get married they would leave the garden, and new school-
leavers would fill their place. No particular youth would have
permanent rights over his or her section of ground. It is hard to know
if this is one answer for the rural youth problem, but it certainly is a
move in the right direction for community leaders to think creatively
about the changing times and their ensuing problems. Youth should
maintain their communal obligations in the traditional economy, but
parents and leaders should not expect youths to become merely
‘cheap labour’ in the cash cropping sector. If communities do not
want their young people to become ‘rascals’, they must open up
avenues for them to obtain money legitimately – through contract
work such as coffee picking or cutting copra. Our experience with
youth groups who run successful projects is that the parents and
village leaders may try to take the project over as their own and
exclude the youth from it. Quite often they are jealous and threatened
by a youth project.
At the end of June 1984, the Committee was in contact with 142
youth groups, most of whom had projects:
Table 9.4: Youth groups in contact with the Eastern Highlands
Rehabilitation Committee

Location Number

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Unggai 35
Daulo Pass/Upper 73
Asaro
Kainantu 14
Henganofi 1
Lufa 1
Lowa 3
Bena Bena 1
Goroka Town 2
Watabung 11
Wetsan 1
Total 142
Source: Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee Records.

An important element of the Rehabilitation Committee has been that

of non-formal education with communities, to discuss problems,

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listen to their ideas and together try to find some solutions. In doing
this we are building up relationships. This has become the central
philosophy of the Committee: the establishment of relationships with
individuals, groups and communities. Our success and strength has
been this aspect, more so than any money that has been poured into
our work. Time and interest have been the important features,
coupled with concern, and we are using the Melanesian tradition of
systems and relationships which create obligations. The implication is
that: ‘we will support you, if in return you control your young people
and improve the law and order situation in your area’. The
Committee formulated the following general guidelines:
1 We are a BRIDGE between offenders (gangs and delinquents)
and the police and courts, remaining neutral ourselves.
2 We provide information and expertise to people, and assist them
to get in touch with the appropriate authorities.
3 We assist first offenders to try and keep them out of jail for a first
offence, and support them in their rehabilitation.
4 We assist genuine appeals for help from criminals or gangs who
wish to reform. This means encouraging them to surrender,
facing their outstanding charges, and supporting them through
their court cases, and after their release.
5 We work with the community, not just the youth, and encourage
village leaders, councillors, village court magistrates and parents
of the young people to participate in the rehabilitation of their
youth.
6 We assist groups to find contract employment to earn money to
commence a project.
7. We work with and through the Provincial Youth Council.
8 We offer interest-free ‘soft’ loans when other sources of income
are unavailable, and when our funds permit. We will only lend
money if the community will go guarantors for the group
receiving the loan. In this way the youth become obliged to the
community, and the community can exercise some control over
their youth.
9 We listen to people’s problems, grievances and articulation of
their frustrations. We ask them what they recommend as
solutions. We make suggestions, and encourage people to seek for
solutions themselves.
10 We work for an improvement of law and order, and a better
society at the village level.
However, by 1984 it became clear that there were considerable
problems with the management of the interest-free ‘soft’ loans and it
was decided to discontinue this part of the program. The 1984
Annual Report described some of the problems in these terms:

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“1 Our work has grown beyond manageable limits for a

voluntary committee. Because we have money to offer as
‘soft’ loans, we feel we cannot turn away youth who have
not been in trouble with the law. If we did, they would
interpret the situation to mean that the way to get help is
to become a criminal first! This meant that we were
assisting church groups, youth groups, women’s groups
and almost anyone who put in an application, as well as
the criminals to whom our work was originally directed.
Without the offer of a loan, we feel we will be able to
return to the original objective of working with criminals
and ex-prisoners and assisting their rehabilitation and be
free of the other people who came to us only for the
money.”
“2 The majority of groups to whom we lent money have been
remiss in repaying their loans according to the terms of
the contract. A few groups made no repayments at all.
Usually this meant that one of the youth had stolen the
money, or a village leader had taken the project over to
promote his own business interests. In these cases where
no money at all had trickled back, we have seen the need
to take offenders to court as an example to other groups
that ‘crime does not pay’. This put the Committee in the
anomalous situation of taking people to court when our
stated aims and objectives are to keep people out of
court!”
“3 Because of the problems with the repayments of the loans,
our relationship with our groups was often damaged. On
visiting a project, the issue of money had to be raised as

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well. Without the money, we feel we will have happier
contact with the groups.”
“4 One of our objectives was to create a self-help response
from communities to the law and order situation: to try to
educate parents to be responsible for their youth beyond
the mere raising of school fees. The ‘soft’ loans, instead of
encouraging this attitude, sometimes had the reverse effect
and parents and communities became more dependent on
looking to outside help to solve their problems, instead of
looking to themselves to discover what they could do.”
“Although it is disappointing to have to acknowledge that not
every area of the work is a marvellous success, it must be
remembered that this work is a new concept and the Committee
had no real model on which to work. We ourselves are
becoming a model and therefore we can only learn by ‘trial and
error’. Each previous report has honestly pointed out these
difficulties, so it should not be surprising that after two and half
years we should pause and critically review what has been
happening. At least we are in a position of being of assistance
to any future groups which should arise in the country and

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advise them of the pitfalls to avoid. On balance... it seemed that

discontinuation of the ‘soft’ loans policy was the wisest move”
(Annual Report 1984:11 ft.).

Reflections on the first three years

The birth and growth of the Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation
Committee has been in response to the needs of youth at a particular
period of time. The following excerpt from the 1984 Annual Report
describes how the committee has tried to meet these needs:
“Since the inception of the EHP – Rehabilitation Committee in
September 1981, each year has had its own emphasis. In each
case, the emphasis has not been the result of a carefully laid
plan or programme devised by the Committee, but a response to
the need of that year. 1981 could have been called ‘The Year of
First Contact’ (i.e. with criminal gangs). Several gangs in
Goroka showed that the great majority of people in trouble with
the law are responsive to reasonableness if someone takes the
time to show an interest in them, listen to their frustrations, and
encourage them to redirect their energy into productive legal
activities as against illegal activities. This has been confirmed
over the past three years. In almost every contact with criminal
gangs, around 10 per cent are incorrigible and can only be
handled by the police, courts and prisons. But the other 90 per
cent have responded well to the ‘hand shake’ offered to them by
the Rehabilitation Committee, and it is to this 90 per cent that
we direct our efforts.”
“1982 was ‘The Year of The Unggai’. In February 1982
approximately one hundred gang members from the Unggai
surrendered at the Goroka Police Station. Following the
surrender and the jailing of the gang leader, the year saw the
energy of the Committee being directed to the Unggai youth
who had not gone to jail and twenty-four youth groups
commenced income-generating projects, of which the most
successful has been the growing of English potatoes.”
“1983 was ‘The Year of Daulo Pass’. Following the death of a
young man on the Pass as the result of a bullet fired by a
policeman, the Committee was invited to commence similar
work in this area. With a denser population than the Unggai,
and less land available for agricultural projects, scone ovens and
coffee-buying projects have been more popular.”
“And now, 1984 is ‘The Year of Probation’”
(Annual Report 1984:1–2).

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Part 2: The Eastern Highlands Probation Service

Introduction
As early as December 1981, within three months of the Eastern
Highlands Rehabilitation Committee being formed, it was apparent
that there was little hope of convincing the courts of our good
intentions unless we had official recognition and were part of the
legal framework. This meant that Eastern Highlands Province needed
to be gazetted under the Probation Act 1979 (Papua New Guinea
Acts No. 46 of 1979) so we could offer a formal probation service.
Section 6 of the Act allows for the appointment of voluntary
probation officers, and section 11 spells out the duties of such people:
It is the duty of a voluntary probation officer:
(a) to advise, assist and where possible to befriend a probationer as
directed by a probation officer;
(b) when required by a probation officer to do so to prepare and
submit written reports to that probation officer in respect of a
probationer;
(c) generally to assist a probation officer in the performance of his
duties.
Before the Rehabilitation Committee members could offer their
services as voluntary probation officers, a full-time probation officer
was needed under whom they could work. The matter was then taken
up with the Chief Probation Officer and the Justice Department but,
while the request was supported, there appeared to be no funds to
extend the service beyond those provinces already gazetted: Morobe,
Central and National Capital District. We had to find a probation

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officer and a means of running a probation office from within our
own provincial resources.
The Eastern Highlands provincial government provided a rent-free
office, telephone allowance of fifty kena a month and office
equipment. We were able to enlist the voluntary services of the wife
of the Australian volunteer working with the Rehabilitation
Committee as the provincial government was already paying him a
married allowance. In January 1983, thirteen months after our initial
request, the Eastern Highlands Province was gazetted.

Probation and good behaviour bonds

After finally receiving our official gazettal, the courts still took a ‘hard
line’ against even the most petty first offenders, such as shoplifters
and pick-pockets, and were unwilling to offer probation as an
alternative, stating that: ‘The stores in town are “urban-dwellers”
gardens, and stealing from gardens is strictly taboo’ (comment of a
senior provincial magistrate). The statistics of the Eastern Highlands
Probation Office show the cautious approach by the courts to

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probation orders and it took a few months before the service was
really accepted.
Just as the office started to build up a service during the months of
June, July and August, the Summary Offences (Amendment) Act
which had been passed in May 1983 came into effect. At first the
Goroka courts did not realise that probation could not be an option to
prison when a mandatory minimum applied. The Probation Act 1979
states (in 16 (2) (a)) that ‘for the purposes of Subsection (1), “offence”
does not include an offence for which a mandatory minimum
sentence is provided for by any law’. At the time this legislation was
drawn up the only crimes carrying a mandatory minimum sentence
were very serious crimes, such as murder, rape, treason and armed
robbery, crimes for which we could not request probation as an
alternative. However, under the mandatory minimum sentences
incorporated into the Summary Offences (Amendment) Act 1983,
many offences such as minor assaults, or abusive and insulting
language, were precluded from having probation offered as an option
to imprisonment (see Dinnen forthcoming for a discussion of the
various minimum sentence provisions which were enacted in 1983).
By September, when the courts became aware that mandatory
minimum sentences disqualified the option of probation for these
offences, the momentum went out of probation. Only five people
were placed on probation during the last three months of 1983.
However, the courts in Goroka turned to good behaviour bonds in
place of probation, using section 138 of the District Courts Act as an
alternative to jail sentences. This led to a rapid increase in good
behaviour bonds after October 1983. Most people in Eastern
Highlands Province who are put on good behaviour bonds receive the
same service from the probation office as those placed under
probation: that is, they are told to report to the probation office on a
regular basis, and the probation officer or one of the voluntary
probation officers visits them and their families in their homes. In
1983/84 this was the only province in Papua New Guinea currently
offering this service and the numbers have grown steadily since 1983.

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Table 9.5: Eastern Highland Province good behaviour bonds

and probation orders 1982–1984
Good behaviour bonds Probation orders Total
Year Male Female Total Male Female Total Male/
Female
1982 2 2 2

1983 17 6 23 26 5 31 54

1984 220 170 390 47 13 60 450

Total 237 176 413 75 18 93 506

Source: Eastern Highlands Probation Service Records.

The proportion of men to women passing through the courts cannot

be accurately established as the court papers do not distinguish
between the sexes. However, a one-week survey at the Goroka Court
House indicated that only 6.4 per cent of the total cases that week
involved women. The accuracy of this sample is supported by the
figures given in the March 1984 issue of The Reporter (a monthly
publication produced by the Australian Institute of Criminology),
because at 1 October 1983, out of 3,671 prisoners in Papua New
Guinea, there were only 192 females (The Reporter 5 (3):16).
However, the number of females on good behaviour bonds is
proportionately much higher than the number of males: 179 out of a
total of 413 (34.5 per cent). The majority of women on bonds are
women with marital problems who have either assaulted other
women or have used abusive and threatening language. A few are

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women who have involved themselves in other marital problems by
going to the assistance of other women. Excluding these offences,
women are generally law-abiding citizens and this suggests that.
Apart from problems of youth, the next greatest pressure point in the
country is that of marital conflict. However, many of these women
seem to be victims rather than aggressors, and it is ironic that they
face a jail sentence and their children often suffer when others
involved in the conflict remain free.
The two most persuasive arguments for probation are its rehabilitative
potential and its cost efficiency. Of the total of 311 persons referred to
the probation office to the end of June 1984, only four had become
recidivists and were re-arrested. Even allowing for the fact that the
Goroka courts are not referring ‘high risk’ cases to the probation
office, this is an impressive success rate. Social pressure and control
can be powerful influences if families and communities can be
involved in the rehabilitation of probation. Often people report to the
Probation Office more frequently than required, suggesting that many
of those passing through the courts require counselling and someone
to show an interest in them more than they need a jail sentence. By
the probation officer or volunteer probation officers visiting people in

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their homes, families and communities are also alerted to the need to
offer support to that person, and this encourages the community to
participate in the rehabilitation of its members. It means, too, that the
probationer can build up a one-to-one relationship with the volunteer
probation officer and it is this personalised interest in people which
we believe has been the key to our success.
Secondly, in a country which is short of money for basic health and
other social services, probation offers a saving in real terms. It proved
impossible to obtain an accurate figure of the cost of accommodating
a prisoner per day in Papua New Guinea. However, the Vote Index
Budget Notes for 1984 show that the government has allocated a total
of K10,359,100 for Corrective Institution Services. The population of
Papua New Guinea in 1980 was 3,010,727 (National Statistical Office
1982). The Report of the Committee to Review Policy and
Administration of Crime, Law, and Order, December 1983
(hereinafter referred to as the Report) gave the imprisonment rate for
Papua New Guinea as 151 per 100,000, approximately 4,546
prisoners at an annual cost of K2,279 or K6.24 per prisoner per day.
During the first half of 1984, courts referred 450 people to the
probation service. If this were not available, they would have probably
received an average imprisonment term of six months, so the Eastern
Highlands Probation Office has saved the government K492,750 over
this period. The Eastern Highlands Probation Service was granted
K8,000 from the non-government organisations funds for probation
for 1984. If this is deducted, a total of that K484,750 was saved by the
government. The probation service has in effect maintained a ‘jail’
outside the jail. In 1984, the Bihute Corrective Institute, which
accommodates an average 260 inmates, was the only prison in the
country which was not overcrowded as a result of the mandatory
minimum sentence provisions.
Statistics included in the Report show that Papua New Guinea has
one of the highest imprisonment rates in this part of the world. This
is no accident, or an indication that people in this country are more
prone to criminal behaviour than anywhere else. It is undoubtedly a
legacy of the recent colonial past, when the Australian administration
‘pacified’ the country by sending people to prison and while in jail
they were taught Tokpisin [English-lexicon pidgin/ creole language]
so that on the return to their communities they, in turn, became
instruments of the government in the pacification process. Nine years
after independence, large numbers of people were still being
imprisoned for what might be regarded as minor summary offences.
In 1975, for example, 1,985 persons were imprisoned for ‘council’
offences, presumably failure to pay local government council taxes,
and 197 were imprisoned for obscene language. The Report (pp. 289–
290) states that: ‘There would appear, on the face of it, to be more than a
suggestion that there are far too many people in jail for minor offences. The
judges and the magistrates are aware of the problem. However, they are
confronted with a legal system that, in the absence of the capacity of a

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defendant to pay a fine, there appears no reliable alternative to that of

imposing a custodial sentence’.
One possible answer lies in probation. The probation service exists in
name, but it is not funded properly, and is inadequately staffed. The
powers and the probation act which allow for the extensive use of
volunteer probation officers have not been properly exploited.
Both judges and magistrates complain that they do not see the
salaried Probation Officers attending court. There is virtually no co-
operation between Judges, Magistrates and Probation Officers.
Probation could save the country large amounts of revenue, and
prevent the unnecessary jailing of young and first offenders.
At the beginning of 1984, the Eastern Highlands probation officer
was the only probation officer in the country and the Goroka
Probation office was the last vestige of the service. However, there
were fifty-two voluntary probation officers assisting the office, some
of whom were outside Eastern Highlands Province. The full-time
probation officer travelled as far as Southern Highlands and Madding
Provinces to place probationers back in their communities.

Community involvement in the law and order problem

For many years there have been constant appeals from national and
provincial government leaders for community involvement to help
solve some of the problems associated with the continuing apparent
break-down in law and order in Papua New Guinea.
There is a vast untapped resource surrounding government: the
community. This resource needs a minimal amount of funding to
provide guidance, directions, timetables, rosters, but they require one
or two leaders to give this direction.

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On Monday 14 November 1983, Goroka residents held a protest
meeting against the rise in crime in the town, following three rape
cases in one weekend. The following day the Niugini Nius estimated
that about 5,000 people attended the meeting. During the meeting it
was suggested that a reserve police force be formed to assist the police
and about one third of those present indicated that they would be
willing to either join a reserve constabulary or come to the police
station at weekends and man the telephone to free the police for more
patrol duty. A conservative estimate of the numbers present, with
allowance for those who lost enthusiasm when the crisis was over,
suggests that 1,000 people in the town of 18,000 appeared willing to
make a voluntary contribution to the law and order situation. Since
that meeting, amongst other things an urban crime Prevention
Committee has been instrumental in having police dogs brought to
the province: dogs which command remarkable respect! Yet the
easiest communities to involve are those at the local level. They have
their leaders while town communities are more fragmented, more
suspicious of each other and more transient; possibly more selfish
too. But it can be done. Our experience shows that the easiest people

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to enlist for support are those associated with a church; the second
easiest are government officers; and the hardest to enthuse are those
in the private sector. Yet while it seems unlikely that the private sector
will be among the pioneers, if the pioneers can prove the merit of
community involvement they may, although undoubtedly late-comers,
finally join the ranks.
Table 9.6: Voluntary probation officers by location, occupation
and sex (as at 31 December 1984)

Location Occupation

Eastern Church Public Private Comm. Total

Highlands workers sector sector worker

M F T M F T M F T M F T M F T

Goroka 25 23 48 20 2 22 2 1 3 5 4 9 52 30 82

Asaro/
4 4 5 5 1 1 6 6 16 16
Watabang

Kainantu 7 7 5 5 7 7 19 19

Unggai 2 2 5 5 5 5 12 12

Other
4 1 5 9 9 1 1 13 2 15
districts

Other
1 1 5 5 1 1 7 7
province

Total 43 24 67 49 2 51 3 1 4 24 5 29 119 32 151

Source: Eastern Highlands Probation Service Records.

It is important to note that 103 (68 per cent) of the voluntary

probation officers were Papua New Guineans. The number of
females was much lower; out of a total of thirty-two female voluntary
probation officers only thirteen (41 per cent) were Papua New
Guineans. Female probation officers are more likely to be church
workers (75 per cent compared to only 36 per cent for male probation
officers).
The introduction of community work orders as a sentencing option is
another viable and inexpensive measure which needs only a little
organisation and direction. Again community co-operation could be
enlisted. Local government councils, churches, government
departments and private enterprise could be enlisted to assist, by
making work available on their premises and giving it some
supervision. Community work orders as a form of punishment are
not only less expensive than incarceration, but may well prove more
effective as a punishment. The gang members I have talked with seem

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to fear public humiliation more than the inconvenience of going to

gaol. In some cases a gaol sentence is a ‘rite of passage’ and a mark
of gang membership. After a gaol sentence, they are a true initiate.
Most gang members say: ‘You must find us “special” work because
we are so famous’! They list their provisos and conditions of work:
‘We cannot be seen working on a sanitary truck, but we will work on
the gravel truck’.
In June 1984, the chief justice ordered the release of twenty children
who had been sentenced to terms of imprisonment in adult gaols (see
‘6-year-old locked up in Wabag’ Post Courier, June 1984:1) and drew
attention to the plight of many juvenile offenders in this country.
These may be tomorrow’s criminals and, unless measures are taken
today to attempt to rehabilitate them before they qualify for
tomorrow’s gangs, the situation will become much worse. Again one
inexpensive and simple way to do something about the situation is to
make positive contact with these youngsters and their families. If the
mandatory minimum sentences legislation were repealed and at the
same time the age at which a juvenile could be placed on probation
lowered to twelve years, many of these children could be pin-pointed
immediately, and community support could be enlisted to assist. [The
mandatory minimum sentence provisions for a number of lesser
offences were repealed in August 1985 by the Summary Offences
(Amendment) Act, No. 14 of 1985 (ed)].
Not only do children and juveniles need counselling and guidance,
but so do their parents and communities. People need help to cope
with the conflict between the traditional ethic and the Western ethic.
The traditions of the ancestors were part of an ideology based on a
subsistence economy. Papua New Guinea remains primarily an
agricultural subsistence economy for which the traditional ethic is

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more appropriate. However, if the country is committed to a Western-
type economy running side-by-side with a traditional economy,
people need help to sort out the two ethics and know when and where
to apply them. In discussion of the ‘traditional values and ethics’,
Ennio Mantovani (1984:206) says that ‘values are not inborn: they are
acquired through culture and experience’.
An action takes its ethical value from its influence on the community:
to steal from a brother is ethically wrong because it spoils a key
relationship and endangers the community as a result. But to steal
from a community can be ethically indifferent if it does no harm to
the community. As a further consequence, if nobody finds out the
identity of the thief, there is little harm done: no relationships are
broken. Once the thief is found out, it results in broken relationships
either within his own community or between two communities, and
so he causes his community to experience a loss of ‘life’. Hence, a
thief will start feeling ashamed, not because stealing is wrong in itself,
but because in this instance, stealing has caused trouble for the
community. In other words, the ethical value of an action on the
community.

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But in today’s new society there is conflict and confusion among

parents and communities in general. What is wrong and what is
right? Changing times have overwhelmed them and very little has
been done to try to assist them to handle adequately their changing
situation. There are no non-formal education programmes to help
these people. Non-formal education programmes are thought of in
terms of correspondence courses which once again raise the
expectations of people for that longed-for piece of paper which will
be entree to a job. Non-formal education must be more than this: it
must also be a source of information and awareness-building.
Literacy campaigns would be more beneficial to the country as a
whole than opening more high schools. As was noted in the
discussion of the Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee some
parents punish their youth when they do not find jobs. People need to
appreciate the value of education whether a job is found in the formal
economy or not.
As one voluntary youth worker pointed out to me, initiation
ceremonies really prepared youth for life. Once the ceremony was
completed and the young men were out on their own facing real-life
situations, they could apply the things they had been taught by the
elders to their situation. They could say: ‘That man is an enemy because
he acts like this, and this; that man is a friend he does this and this; that man
pretends to be my friend but is trying to trick me.’
Schools need to equip students for life, whether that is in the cash
economy or the traditional economy. Schools should be sources of
character-building and children should be taught integrity and
responsibility. If children left school with these qualities instilled in
them it would not matter whether they ended up in a Waigani office
or picking coffee in their family garden, they would have worthwhile
qualities they could apply to either situation. They would be
productive, decent citizens of their country, and their parents could
still be proud of them.
Side by side with this, government must come to terms with
unemployed youth. If for political reasons it is going to continue to
build new high schools then it must find some answers for school
leavers. By setting up of the National Youth Movement Programme it
has acknowledged the problem of youth, and it has commenced to
allocate money for the youth sector. While this has been a major
move in the right direction, it needs at the same time to allocate
money to provincial governments and in turn to councils for contract
work on a rotational basis for young people. For many youths there is
real joy in having a job and receiving a pay packet, be it temporary or
not. Youth need hope that they will have some work and prestige and
dignity from that work. We can argue that there is dignity in
subsistence economy. But it is very difficult to convince educated
youth of this when their education has alienated them from their
traditional economy.

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Conclusion
At the inception of the rehabilitation community there was a great
deal of cynicism among the town community. At times it seemed as
if some were willing that the idea would not succeed: a collapse
would vindicate their own disinterest. However, as we approach our
forth anniversary, there are no signs as yet of the work falling apart. It
grows faster than we can respond to the demands. It has been shown
in the areas in which we have worked that a little self-help and
community involvement can provide some help even in a lawless
situation.
We have learnt that the majority of so called ‘rascals’ feel neglected,
inconsequential and frustrated, as though they have been thrown on
the rubbish dump by both sectors of society. The fact that someone
talks to them and shows an interest provides an alternative and hope.
Most are really seeking an identity, and if they cannot find it in the
wider society, they will find it as a member of a gang. Their tattoos
and identification marks – some have stars on their foreheads, others
two links of a chain on their arms – are symbols of this search for an
identity. The towns push them out with sori no gat wok (sorry no
vacancies) signs and lukaut doc / save kaikai man (beware of the dog),
and their own communities often will not give them space. Both
sectors are pushing them down a one-way road to a life of crime.
At the time of independence there was much talk about unity and
bung wantain (unite) was the catch cry. It might be time to resurrect
this slogan and make it more than words. It might be time for the law-
abiding to bung wantain with the youth, be they good or bad, to bring
both discipline and hope into their lives. Finally, as the 1984 Report
of the Eastern Highlands Rehabilitation Committee (p. 24) noted: ‘If
law and order is to be a community response, then the smallest assistance,

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such as buying a bag of potatoes from a youth group, is of paramount
importance because it is involving the community in the problem.’
Editors’ Note: unfortunately, the references for this reading are
missing.

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Reading 9 (part 1): Formal and Informal Actions

for Conflict Prevention, Management and
Resolution

By Charles Namafe, School of Education, University of Zambia. Part 1 of Chapter 3

in Youth, Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth Youth Programme, Africa Centre, 1998,
Commonwealth Secretariat.

Introduction
Definitions of terms
Some scholars have tried to differentiate between conflict
‘prevention’, ‘management’ as well as ‘resolution’. For our purpose,
prevention refers to all measures aimed at forestalling the occurrence
of conflict. Once conflict has erupted, it requires mitigation to avoid
it developing into armed or violent conflict. Such approaches are
‘management’ measures. Attempts aimed at completely neutralising
conflicts are referred to as ‘conflict resolution’ approaches. The above
distinction is, however, only theoretical because in real terms it is very
hard to delineate among the three approaches.
Formal actions of dealing with conflict will be understood to refer to
those measures put into place by governmental institutions and
organisations, be they at the local, national international or global
levels. Such formal actions also refer to similar measures employed by
registered non-governmental organisations, or institutions, operating
at various levels. Informal actions are outside the organisations and
institutions of governments or non-governmental agencies. Such
informal actions include approaches of individuals or communities
(e.g. street vendors) aimed at dealing with conflict, such as divorces or
ostracism. But even here a rigid distinction between formal and
informal actions is difficult to sustain.
An important distinction is that introduced by Bonta (1996) between
a culture of conflict and a culture of peacefulness. The former is
associated with the Western setting, while the latter is common in
many developing nations’ communities. Since many societies are
increasingly becoming Westernised, conflict is also increasingly
occupying the centre stage in various activities of these societies, such
as politics, trade, environment or religion.
Lastly, conflict occurs in the personal, natural and social
environments. The discussion in this paper largely centres on conflict
as found in inter-human relationships of the social environment.

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Actions for tackling conflict

Three main approaches to conflict and hence peace will be
summarised. These are the peace-keeping, peace-making and peace-
building approaches.

Peace-keeping
The intention here is to ‘keep the peace’, meaning maintaining
absence of direct violence. Subdivisions of peace-keeping include the
following:
(a) Intra-national peace-keeping – what a state does within its
territory such as against striking workers or students.
(b) Intra-regional peace-keeping – what a hegemonical power, such
as Nigeria or South Africa, does to keep peace among periphery
states in the region.
(c) International peacekeeping – under, say the United Nations
Charter or Covenant of the League of Nations. International
peace-keeping efforts can be hampered by the doctrines of
sovereignty or non-intervention in internal affairs of other nation
states.
This traditional approach to peace has often been dissociative in that
antagonists are kept away from each other under mutual threats of
considerable punishment if they transgress, especially if they cross
into each other’s territory. In such balance of power situations, other
accompanying measures used may include:
(a) Social measures (such as mutual prejudice or social distance)
(b) Use of geography (in the form of distance, like across an ocean

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or desert)
(c) Impediments (such as a river or mountain chain).
Third parties may be called in or call themselves in to exercise peace-
keeping operations, such as patrolling the borderline, or technology
may be used to supplement geography, in the form of mines,
electromagnetic fences and so on.

Peace-making
This is sometimes called the ‘conflict resolution approach’. It tries to
get rid of the source of tension. Some of the main objectives of
conflict resolution are:
z to avoid war
z as a way for society to progress
z to enable people to transcend incompatibilities or contradictions
that prevent progress and channel attention and resources away
from more important pursuits (e.g. diverting Gross National
Product into the military sector, or the impact unresolved conflict

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has on the minds of young people, blocking creative thinking in

other directions).
There are techniques for conflict resolution which young men and
women could use in business, legal systems, educational settings or
other situations. Other options for resolving conflicts are covered by
Galtung (1976), amongst other scholars.
Of course, conflict resolution strategies will differ depending on the
type of dispute being addressed. In resolving ethnic/ cultural conflicts
of a political nature, the following list offers possibilities:
a) Indigenisation
b) Accommodation
c) Assimilation
d) Acculturation
e) Population transfer
f) Boundary Alteration
g) Genocide
h) Ethnic Suicide
i) Autonomy (e.g. Aland in Finland)
j) Democracy
k) Federation (e.g. Brazil)
I) Cantonal State (e.g. Switzerland)
m) Minority rights (e.g. Sami people in Norway)
n) Constitutional rights (e.g. Swedish population in Finland)
o) Union of States (e.g. USA)
p) Association of States (e.g. Niue – New Zealand)
q) Coalition government
r) Referendum
s) Oblivion – trying to forget conflict
t) Avoidance
u) Withdrawal.

Peace-building
This approach looks at structures that must be put in place in order to
remove causes of wars and offer alternatives to wars in situations
where these might occur. Largely coming from development theory,
such structures include, for instance, issues of equity, symbiosis or
entropy, which are together taken to be neutralisers of unwanted
conditions of exploitation, elitism and isolation.

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Mediation requires the involvement of a third party mediator. The

following skills and conditions may prove useful:

Antecedent conditions
These are factors to consider before going into mediation (context).
(i) Nature of the mediator
The identity and personal characteristics of a mediator are good
predictors of success. Since mediation is a voluntary process,
mediators need to be perceived by antagonists as reasonable,
acceptable, knowledgeable and able to secure the trust and co-
operation of the disputants. It would be difficult, if not
impossible, for a single mediator, who was distrusted by one of
the parties, to carry out any useful function.
Effective conflict resolution also depends on the prestige and
authority of the mediator, as well as his/her originality of ideas,
access to resources and ability to act unobtrusively. Other
requirements of a successful mediator are:
z Knowledge about conflict situations.
z An ability to understand the positions of the antagonists.
z Active listening.
z A sense of timing.
z Communications skills.
z Procedural skills (e.g. chairing meetings or courtesy skills).
z Crisis management.

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z A sense of humour.
z Patience.
z Energy and stamina.
z Intelligence.
z Impartiality.
z Legitimacy.
z Rank of mediator (is he/she a government leader,
representative of regional and international organisations or
a private individual?).
z Previous and subsequent relationship with the adversaries
(opponents may attach importance to a continuing,
ephemeral or only temporary relationship with a mediator).
(ii) Nature of the parties
Does the type of political system affect chances of successful
conflict management? The political context may be divided into
five regime types: monarchies, one party states, military regimes,

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multiparty regimes and others. Some scholars maintain that the

smaller the power difference between adversaries, the greater the
effectiveness of mediation. Moreover, previous relations between
parties to a conflict are an important factor. A dispute may occur
between parties who have had a history of friendship or one of
enmity (e.g. Arab/ Israeli or Pakistan/ Indian conflicts).
(iii) Nature of the dispute
The success or failure of mediation is largely determined by the
nature of the dispute. When vital interests are affected (e.g. issues
of sovereignty or territorial integrity) intermediaries will have a
tough job to do. Secondly, the duration of a dispute (e.g. the Cold
War) and the timing of initiating mediation may affect the
success of mediation. When is a conflict ‘ripe’ for mediation?
Thirdly, the intensity of a dispute – such as fatalities – may affect
the mediation outcome. The costs (in life, property or resources)
incurred by the parties may be so overwhelming at some point
that further losses are deemed intolerable and unacceptable.
Fourthly, the nature of the issues in dispute is also a factor. Issues
in conflict are the underlying causes of a dispute. They may not
always be clear, but they refer to what the dispute is all about.
Often, more than one issue may be involved, and the parties
themselves may not agree on what constitutes a disputed issue or
on its relative importance. Issues may involve sovereignty,
ideology, security, independence and others (e.g. ethnicity).

Current conditions
These refer to conditions prevailing during mediation (process).
(iv) Mediation behaviour
How is mediation initiated and conducted? Who should initiate
mediation – is it a potential mediator or parties to conflict? Some
scholars suggest that mediation is most successful when both of
the adversaries request it. In cases where only one party is
interested in seeking mediation assistance, or an interested third
party proposes it, the effectiveness of mediation may be reduced
considerably. Secondly, mediation also appears to succeed when
regional organisations (e.g. SADC) initiate proceedings.
In contrast, mediation initiated by a mediator or international
organisations achieve only moderate successes.
Success is also assured when conflict management takes place in
a neutral environment, free from the external pressures and
influences of media and constituents. In a neutral environment a
mediator is able to create a level playing field by guaranteeing
each party free and equal access to information and resources as
well as maintaining the flow of communication between the
parties.
Strategies of mediation range from low to high intervention. At
the low end of the spectrum are communication facilitation

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strategies where a mediator takes a fairly passive role, largely as a

channel of communication or go-between for the parties, and
shows little control over the process or substance of mediation. In
procedural strategies, a mediator exercises more formal control
over situational aspects or the process of mediation. Here a
mediator may determine such factors as the mediation
environment, the number and type of meetings with the
adversaries, the agendas of those meetings, the control of
constituency influences and the distribution of information and
resources to the parties. Directive strategies are the most active
procedures of mediation behaviour. Here the mediator sets out to
affect the content and substance as well as the process of
mediation. A mediator may achieve these goals by providing
incentives, offering rewards and punishments, issuing ultimatums
and introducing new proposals. Generally, directive strategies of
mediation are more successful than either communication
facilitation or procedural strategies.

Consequent conditions
These refer to conditions after mediation (outcomes). The success or
failure of mediation depends on all the above noted factors and
conditions. Mediation outcomes are described as:
z Unsuccessful
z Cease-fire
z Partial settlement, or
z Full settlement.

Conclusion

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Third-party assistance is one of the most promising approaches to
constructive conflict management, prevention and resolution. To
understand it better, we need to explore the various forms in which it
can be offered (e.g. mediation, negotiation, arbitration and so on);
what the third parties do, how they do it and the results of their
effort.

References
Bercovitch, J. and Houston, A., 1996, ‘The Study of International
Mediation: Theoretical Issues and Empirical Evidence’, in Bercovitch
J. (ed), Resolving International Conflicts: The Theory and Practice of
Mediation. Lynne Rienner Publishers, London.
Bonta, B.D., 1996, ‘Conflict Resolution Among Peaceful Societies:
The Culture of Peacefulness’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 33, No. 4,
November, pp. 403–420.
Galtung, J., 1976, Peace, War and Defence: Essays in Peace Research,
Volume Two. Christian Ejlers, Copenhagen.

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Reading 9 (part 2): Formal and Informal Action in

Dealing with Conflicts

By Razaan Bailey, Trainer, Future Links, South Africa. Part 2 of Chapter 3 in Youth,
Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth Youth Programme, Africa Centre, 1998,
Commonwealth Secretariat.

International Alert describes conflict resolution as, ‘a method which

involves building bridges between hostile communities, working to
clarify issues which represent points of confrontation between them,
and creating opportunities for developing new relationships based
upon a process of peaceful change and grass-roots level
reconciliation’.
Peace building is defined as, ‘the employment of measures which
consolidate peaceful relations and create an environment which
deters the emergence or escalation of tensions which may lead to
conflict’.
Citizen-based peace-making is defined as, ‘the process of establishing
peace constituencies within conflict areas. These constituencies
comprise people from different sectors of civil society whose
prevailing interest is the development of sustainable peace’.
The definition of conflict resolution mentions the need to build
bridges. Many conflicts we experience today have a history that dates
back centuries. Instead of being used to defend their positions, young
people have the opportunity to break down the barriers and interact
with the other party. This interaction, however, needs to be
constructive and should assist in helping them deal with the negative
stereotypes. Young people have much in common, and they therefore
need to identify the commonalties, as these provide the building
blocks for effective conflict resolution.

Skills training
Young women and men also need to create opportunities where they
are able to gain the skills for effective conflict resolution. This can be
accomplished by encouraging schools, tertiary institutions and
community organisations to offer programmes which offer skills
training in some aspects of conflict resolution, effective
communication, democratic governance and leadership.

Youth as social change agents

The youth need to identify themselves as agents of social change – for
the conditions that promote peace will not be achieved unless the
social, economic and political patterns that promote violence are
addressed. Young people’s role as peace-maker/ social change activist
needs to be backed up with effective conflict resolution skills. This
image, however, also needs to be recognised and acknowledged by the
broader society.

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Lobby and advocacy

Youth need to lobby and advocate for non-violent approaches for
dealing with conflict within communities and societies. In doing this
we need to:
z denounce violence
z mount campaigns to educate the young person and the entire
community through workshops
z lobby for the improvement of socio-economic conditions that act
as seeds for conflict.
Representatives of the World Health Organization noted that the
extent to which the youth can serve as a resource for progress,
contributing their energy and idealism to the well-being of all, is
greatly influenced by the conditions in which they live and their
lifestyle during the crucial years of transition between childhood and
adulthood. The above statement highlights how crucial it is that we
interact with the youth at an early stage. Today we find too many
glaring examples on our continent of young women and men being
drawn in and used as foot soldiers by adults, communities, opposition
forces and governments in a game of power and control. These games
of war have deadly consequences for the youth, both as perpetrators
of violence and as victims of the violence. We need to be conscious
of the fact that victims of violence very often become perpetrators of
violence. Africa, a continent rich in natural resources and diversity, is
also the continent with the poorest nations in the world. As the earth
stewards of the continent, we need to decide whether we are:
z going to continue employing methods that perpetuate violence as
a tool for resolving disputes?

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z going to continue living on a continent that is defined globally by
its civil wars, refugee crises and starvation?
OR
Are we going to learn from the past, thereby taking up the challenge
as agents of social change, in promoting democratic governance and
the non-violent resolution of conflict?
During the initial hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC), in South Africa, Archbishop Tutu often stressed
the importance of the hearings as an exercise to ensure that South
Africans will never again repeat the mistakes of the past. World
leaders at different points in history have expressed similar
sentiments. However, current situations provide us with enough
evidence of this promise being broken many times over!
As youth and as potential leaders of our societies, it is our
responsibility to make sure that we do not add to the evidence of
broken promises.

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As youth we have inherited a continent ravaged by decades of violent

conflicts. Let us ensure that, when it is time for us to hand over, we
shall have propagated the seeds of positive change.

Participants’ concerns
Towards the end of apartheid in South Africa, there were literally thousands
of young people out in the streets protesting against apartheid. The same can
be said for young people involved in civil strife in other parts of Africa. In the
end, many young people ended up dying as victims of police brutality or other
forms of violence. Today, young people are being accused of fomenting crime.
Where has Africa gone wrong?

Participants’ responses:
z Mismanagement of society’s resources.
z Policies of reintegrating ex-combatants did not cater for re-
training of the combatants, most of whom were youths, with new
skills. This, for example, is the case in Mozambique.

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Reading 10: Democracy, Good Governance and

Students’ Leadership in Tertiary Institutions in
Africa

By Carlson Anyangwe, School of Law, University of Zambia. Chapter 4 in Youth,

Conflict and Peace, Commonwealth Youth Programme, Africa Centre, 1998,
Commonwealth Secretariat.

1 Introduction
This paper starts with an introduction that defines the words used in
the title, notes the infrastructure of democracy and alludes to two
problems of democratisation. It concludes with a submission that
there is need for a meaningful partnership between the three
components that make a tertiary institution, namely, students,
teachers and the administration. It calls for the deployment of
alternative strategies in order to prevent, manage and resolve student
unrests. The body of the paper assesses the participation of students
in the governance of tertiary institutions and the degree of
democracy within a students’ union or council. It also looks at the
causes of campus unrests and how they are handled. The main thrust
of the paper is that students’ participation in the governance of
tertiary institutions is merely token, that both management and
students should pay closer attention to the norms of democracy and
good governance, and that it is necessary to revisit the classic
strategies that have hitherto been deployed to deal with student
unrests.

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1.1 Definition of terms
Democracy: much confusion surrounds what democracy really means.
Winston Churchill once quipped that democracy is the worst form of
government next to nothing else. Democracy is, however, like the
fabled elephant, easily recognisable but difficult to define. To my
mind democracy simply means rule by the people. By this I mean that
democracy covers the entire process of participation in governance by
those concerned, whether at macro or micro level.
Good governance: this is governance according to internationally
acceptable standards. Accountability, transparency and
responsiveness are some of the accepted elements of good
governance.
Students’ leadership: this refers to student leaders.
Tertiary institution: this means any institution next after secondary
institution, usually at university level. A tertiary institution is
therefore a post-secondary institution by whatever name it is called:
university, polytechnic, ‘technikon’, school, institute and college.

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Africa: this refers to the geographic African continent but excluding

the island of Mayotte which is occupied by France, the Canary
Islands which belongs to Spain, and the Island States of Cyprus and
Malta which the Commonwealth classifies under the African Region.

1.2 The wind of democratisation

In 1990 a third wind of political change started blowing across Africa.
It is the wind of democratisation. The first wind was that of
decolonisation which began with Ghana’s independence in 1957. By
the end of the 1960s the majority of African countries had become
independent. But decolonisation was quickly followed in the 1970s by
the wind of authoritarianism. That is to say, the establishment and
subsequent entrenchment of military dictatorships and one-party
autocracies.
For the past eight years, however, democratic forces have been at
work trying to enthrone and sustain democracy and good governance.
This wave of democratisation has brought in its train a new wave of
‘student power’, reminiscent of the student radicalism of the 1960s
and 1970s in Europe and America. That radicalism, be it noted,
significantly contributed in bringing about certain social changes in
those continents and an end to the Vietnam war. It added a fillip to
the African struggle against colonialism, racism and apartheid. It won
for European and American students certain educational reforms and
the right to participate in the decision-making processes of the
University.
Students see themselves as (and are indeed) the front-line of the
democratic forces in Africa. In South Africa they took on the
apartheid colossus for decades. In Nigeria and Ghana they challenged
the military establishment. In Cameroon, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Benin
and Zaire they bared their chest to a trigger-happy authoritarianism.
In Zambia they opposed the one-party state. Students also see
themselves as the catalysts for change in the political, social and
educational spheres at both micro and macro levels.

1.3 The infrastructure of democracy and some problems

of democratisation
The term ‘democracy’ conjures the image of elections (presidential,
legislative, regional and local) and their attendant electioneering and
sloganeering. It also brings to mind the classical Lincolnian catchy
ideal of government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Democracy is certainly concerned with government institutions or
processes. But it is also a style of governance, a style of government1
and a style of human relationships.2 Constitutional and electoral
provisions, just laws and rules, the electoral process, human rights
and an active civil society (of which the student movement is a part)
constitute the infrastructure of democracy. Today then, even in an
Africa still smarting from the ravages of single-party
authoritarianism, democracy has acquired a clearer and more precise

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meaning in political discourse. It is now accepted as the linchpin of

good governance, societal peace and progress.
The perceptive American political scientist Samuel Huntington
rightly noted that, although democratisation is the solution to the
problem of tyranny, the process of democratisation itself can also
create or exacerbate other problems with which democratising
societies must grapple.3 He mentions three problems, namely,
communal conflict, foreign war, and social decay. Of these the first
and the third are germane for this paper. Democratisation can
engender communal conflict when politicians, competing for elective
office, appeal to tribal, or ethnic and/or religious constituencies in
order to win votes. When this happens, people identify themselves
with tribe and religion; ethnic conflict (or at least rivalry) is then
stimulated within the democratising state. Democratisation also
appears to involve an increase in socially undesirable behaviour,
especially among the youth. This could lead to a ‘culture’ of violence.

2. Students’ leadership and campus government

Regulations governing various African tertiary institutions invariably
allow students to organise themselves into a students’ union or
council. That body is usually assigned three types of functions: to
represent the students in relations with the authorities of the
university and other relevant bodies; to develop the cultural, social
and athletic life of the students; and to foster the corporate spirit of
the students. Student representatives therefore always make provision
for participation in the decision-making bodies of the institution.
Freedom of association and the right to participate in the affairs of
the institution are part of basic human rights, which are themselves
critical elements in democracy and good governance.

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However, it is necessary to go beyond what the regulations may say
on paper and ascertain the reality on the ground. What is the nature
of the participation, if any at all, by students’ leadership in the
government of the tertiary institution? Where participation exists, is it
meaningful and effective or mere tokenism? What about the students’
council or union: is it run according to the key values of democracy
and good governance? Is its leadership representative?

2.1 Participation in decision-making bodies of the

institution
Participation by students, through their duly elected leaders, in the
governance of a tertiary institution is an integral part of the much
wider concept of popular participation in government, directly or
through freely chosen representatives. While the right(s) of students
to take part in the decision-making bodies of a tertiary institution
appears to be generally acknowledged, the terms on which they
participate is another issue altogether.

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2.1.1 Importance of participation

One point though is certain. It is eminently desirable that students
should be allowed to participate in influencing, shaping and
implementing policies that affect their studies, their welfare on
campus and the university environment in general. The rationale for
such meaningful participation is not hard to find. First, it is an aspect
of democracy and good governance. Second, it is fair and just: people
should be involved in deciding matters that concern or affect them.
Third, it is pragmatic because participation more or less guarantees
general acceptance of the deliberations of the decision-making body.
Fourth, it is critical in the achievement and maintenance of campus
peace and stability. Fifth, involving students in identifying problems
of the institution, formulating working solutions and implementing
decisions gives them a sense of belonging and responsibility and
prepares them for leadership roles in the nation at large.

2.7.2 Meaningful and not token participation

Meaningful and effective participation pre-supposes intelligent and
responsible participation, and this means accessing information on
and understanding the issues involved. Not that the students’
representatives must be skilled and knowledgeable in the issues to be
tackled by a decision-making body of the tertiary institution, but it is
desirable that in order to make participation meaningful they know
the issues involved and have information relating thereto. A tertiary
institution desirous of ensuring effective participation by students’
representatives in its decision-making bodies would see to it that
meetings are not convened at short notice or without a stated agenda.
Fair notice of meetings and a stated agenda enable the students’
leadership to consult the students’ body and, if necessary, get
information on and study the issues involved. In this way, the
students’ leadership can be expected to be well equipped and ready to
make a meaningful contribution when participating in the
deliberations of various decision-making bodies of the institution.
There is no better way of frustrating effective participation by
students’ leaders than by inviting them to meetings at very short
notice, and without disclosing to them beforehand the agenda to be
discussed. At some institutions the presence of students’ leadership at
meetings of decision-making bodies is conceived or perceived as mere
attendance rather than participation. Attendance is seen as essentially
a function of communication: the students’ representatives ritually sit
through the deliberations, make little or no input, sign the attendance
sheet, take part in the ‘light’ refreshments usually offered, and then
return to their constituents and relay to them whatever decision may
have been taken by the authorities.
Sometimes the chairman of a decision-making body is so autocratic
and discriminatory in his conduct of meetings that students’
representatives are hardly given the floor; or if at all, are quickly
hushed or threatened if they make statements considered out of line
with his thinking. Such a ritualistic role assigned to student leaders

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and such oppressive circumstances at meetings reduce participation

by students’ representatives to mere tokenism. That sort of
environment produces apathy, despair and frustration among the
students’ leadership. The result is that students soon feel alienated
from the processes of decision-making, that is in the process of
campus government as a whole.

2.2 Democracy and students’ associations

2.2.1 How representative is the union?

How democratic is a students’ association (union or council)? And
how representative are its leaders? These issues are important because
students see themselves as part of the forces of democracy and are
quick to accuse a government or an institution of being
undemocratic. If a students’ body is itself undemocratic that fact at
once puts into serious question the moral claim by students to
condemn and censure undemocratic practices. It also gives the lie to
their claim to being part of the forces of democracy.
The organisational structure of students’ associations may differ from
one tertiary institution to another (even within one country) and from
one state to another. In some countries each university has just one
students’ union, the component Faculties having no associations of
theirs. But in other countries each Faculty or School in a university
has an association and these federate to form the university’s
students’ union. In yet other countries, students go further and form a
national students’ union comprising the unions of the several
universities in the country. This is often discouraged by governments
because of the tremendous power such amalgamations put in the
hands of students. Still, the day may not be too far off when the

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Africa region shall witness a Pan-African Students Union (PASU).

2.2.2 Elections
When not dissolved, students’ unions generally hold regular elections
at which any student who is not otherwise lawfully disqualified may
vote, stand for and be elected to elective posts in the union. Whether
these elections are ‘free and fair’ is another question altogether, but it
would seem they are assumed to be so. Institutionalisation of
elections means that retrospective electoral accountability exists. In
other words, elected students’ leaders know they have to render an
account of their stewardship since they must face a day of reckoning
at regular intervals. Although membership of the students’ union is
voluntary, it is not feasible to run for elective office in the union as an
independent. First, tertiary institutions recognise the students union
as the sole and legitimate organ of the students. Secondly, the
electoral process in the union is the monopoly of the union itself.
There is need to recognise and respect the existence of other
organisations/ associations within the campus. They too should be
permitted to run for leadership positions.

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2.2.3 Lack of accountability

Students’ unions appear wanting in three areas of democracy and
good governance, namely: accountability, transparency and respect
for the human rights of others. The accusation commonly levelled at
students’ leaders is that they are not accountable and transparent.
Student finances are hardly ever audited, a state of the union report is
hardly ever presented, and there is often no effective feedback from
students’ leaders if they sometimes choose to behave like ‘Animal
Farm’ pigs. The result, in some cases, has been voter apathy among
students, significantly diminished interest in student unionism and
low calibre of student leadership. A situation such as this puts into
doubt the representativeness of the union and its leadership and raises
the question whether they truly represent the students whose interests
they claim to cater for.

2.2.4 Human rights abuses

Human rights abuses by students, perpetrated usually when there is a
students’ strike or protest, never fail to elicit hostile reaction in the
form of incisive attacks and bitter condemnation from university
management and the public at large. While students, like everyone
else, have the right to freedom of assembly and the right to protest for
the redress of grievances, it is shocking to the public that they should
choose to do so violently rather than peacefully, thus grossly violating
other people’s human rights in the claimed process of exercising their
human rights. It is impermissible for students, even in the throes of
drawing public attention to a legitimate grievance, to assault people,
damage or destroy property, impede the free flow of traffic, or
obstruct the enjoyment by others of their right to freedom of
movement.

3 Students’ leadership between Scylla and

Charybdis
Students’ leaders do sometimes find themselves in a paradoxical
position, accused by management and students alike. Management
may accuse them of being too radical, of espousing views that are
supposedly not reflective of those held by the generality of students
and, in some cases, of pursuing a hidden political agenda. On the
other hand students may accuse them of pursuing their own selfish
interests, of being sell-outs, government spies, too close to
management for comfort, or at the service of some organisation such
as a political party. In brief, students’ leaders are commonly accused
of allowing themselves to be manipulated by management or extra-
campus forces for undisclosed ends. In such circumstances the
leadership finds itself between the monster and the whirlpool. But
accusations such as these are more likely when a leadership is
suffering from a credibility or legitimacy problem or, more
importantly, when there is hostile interaction between students and
management.

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3.1 Hostile interaction between students and

management
Students’ strikes or riots are quite common in many tertiary
institutions. The impression one gets is that this is the only method by
which students can make themselves heard and ensure that their
grievances are attended to. For, as Martin Luther King once said, a
riot is the language of the unheard. But if students are guilty of easily
going on strike, management is equally guilty of easily locking out
(that is, closing the institution). All too often these extreme measures
are resorted to even though it is clear that alternative methods of
conflict resolution have not been exhausted.

3.1.1 Some causes of campus unrest

Causes that may trigger campus unrest are varied. Some are
alimentary, as when it is claimed that the food served at the
institution’s restaurant is of poor quality, or of little quantity, or is too
expensive. Others are educational, as when it is claimed that the
quality of education offered is low, or that the type of education
received is not functional and the syllabus is ill-adapted to local needs,
or that tuition fees are too high for parents of modest means, or that
the bursary is too small to cover the academic needs of the student
(books, Xeroxing, research, etc.).
But not all student protests are food- or education-related. Some are
for altruistic rather than for self-interested reasons. For example, a
strike for some political or social reform. In countries without an
active civil society, students become the voice of the voiceless and
assume the role of social engineers of sorts. Even in countries with an
active civil society but with underdeveloped democratic structures,
students are apt to see themselves as part of the struggle for political

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change and socio-economic reforms. Because of their youthful
daring, convictions and idealism, students see themselves as
advocates and champions of people’s concerns and as the only civil
check on government power. This explains why students are often
involved in political or social protests. It also explains why they may
be soft targets for manipulation by politicians and political parties and
even the government itself.
Some protests are, however, the product of what was referred to
earlier as social decay or even of unethical behaviour. One of the
curious paradoxes which democratising societies must face is that the
process of democratisation may in fact produce social decay.
Democratisation involves the removal of state constraints on
individual behaviour, a loosening of social inhibitions, and
uncertainty and confusion about standards of morality. By weakening
state authority, as it must, democratisation also brings into question
authority in general and can promote an amoral, laissez-faire or
anything goes atmosphere.
Democratisation therefore appears to involve an increase in socially
undesirable behaviour including crime, drug use, challenge to bastions

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of collective authority (e.g. family, police, army, church, educational

establishment, etc.), and what may be called a culture of protest and
violence.
Campus unrest may also come about as a result of incitement (by
elements with a vested interest in doing so), rumours (especially in an
environment in which managerial or governmental decisions are
always shrouded in excessive secrecy), unsatisfied rising expectations,
unfulfilled political promises, political awakening and demands,
deficient management and organisation of the institution, and
unethical behaviour by management.6 For example, some elements
linked to a party, an organisation or the government may incite
students to stage pro- or anti-government protests, as the case may be.
This often leads to violent confrontation between rival student camps
split along ideological, religious or political lines. Rumours, whether
spread as a result of fear, deliberately voiced in order to incite
violence or arising through injudicious media reporting, can also
trigger campus unrest.

3.1.2 Some negative consequences of campus unrest

Students’ strikes, whether to press for the improvement of their own
welfare or for some social, economic or political reform or for some
other reason which is not immediately apparent, always have a
negative side irrespective of whatever success may be achieved. Yet
this method of coercion appears quite handy for students (and labour
also) because it is the ultimate weapon in their hands against a
management they consider insensitive or perhaps authoritarian, and
also because of the perception that what is often achieved through the
strike far outweighs whatever inconvenience or hardship may thereby
have been caused. But not all strike actions are successful. Some fail,
and very badly too. In such cases, it is clear that the game was not
worth the candle.
A students’ strike, whether successful or not, almost always produces
certain untoward consequences. During a strike, especially one that
goes beyond just boycotting classes, students tend to vent their spleen
on property belonging to the institution or even third parties.
Sometimes persons are physically attacked. Confrontation with the
police or paramilitary sometimes leads to injuries and even loss of
lives. But even more devastating for the students, the institution and
the country is the loss of academic time and waste of resources that
campus unrest may entail. This is the more so when a strike leads to
the closure of the institution. And if this pattern repeats itself the
result is likely to be non-completion of the academic programme and
the consequent graduation of half-baked graduates with nothing to
offer but mediocrity. Surely this cannot augur well for any country
that puts a premium on the education and training of youth as future
leaders in all spheres of national life.

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3.2 Dealing with campus unrest

3.2.1 Carrot and stick strategies

The classic reaction of management (or government) to campus
unrest has always been the deployment of two kinds of approaches:
the stick and the carrot.
The stick strategy consists in quickly and violently suppressing the
unrest for fear that it may gather momentum and have a rippling
effect by infecting other social groups who may then join the
‘struggle’. The drudgery of effecting the suppression is invariably
assigned to the police, the paramilitary, the military, or a combination
of these, depending, of course, on the magnitude of the unrest and
the anticipated resistance from students. Forcible suppression may or
may not lead to the temporary closure of the institution. But it is
generally followed by a witch-hunt of real or supposed ring-leaders.
Some are arrested and imprisoned, others are suspended, others still
are dismissed, and the students’ union may be dissolved. Student
leaders are invariably included in the list of ring-leaders and are often
the first to be picked up, suspended or dismissed. This makes
students’ leadership an ‘occupational hazard’ and discourages many
students from taking up leadership roles in the students’ union or
actively participating in its affairs. There is one learnt lesson which
should not escape attention. A management that habitually calls in
the police or troops to quell campus unrest thereby signs the warrant
for its own eventual and untimely death. Such appeals are a clear
indication of a deficiency in control and experience, in management
skills, and in ability to manage or resolve a conflict.
The carrot approach consists in buying or winning students over,
especially the leadership. The techniques for doing so are varied and

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changeable. But the classic type consists in increasing students’
bursaries even when such a hike has not been solicited by the students
themselves.
Another technique is that of allowing student leaders unimpeded
access, at any time, to management and even to government
ministers. Student leaders may also be allowed access to the
Republican President. Protesting students may even be allowed to
march to State House where they are then addressed by the President
himself. Some would say these are confidence-building techniques.
There is yet another technique that is sometimes employed. Student
leaders may be co-opted into various structures in the institution. Or
they may be granted certain benefits and privileges over and above
those enjoyed by other students, e.g. paid an allowance, free meals at
the restaurant, invitation to certain functions, special
accommodation, and so on. In some cases, student leaders who have
been ‘good’ during their tenure of office (that is, they did not rock the
boat by calling strikes) are rewarded, upon graduating, with quick
employment. In this day and age of chronic unemployment, the
prospect of quickly securing a job after graduating is a very alluring

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Commonwealth Youth Programme Diploma in Youth Development Work

one indeed. The authorities know that this point will not be lost on
other student leaders.

3.2.2 Alternative strategies

The traditional method of handling campus unrest is unfortunate. It
has failed as an insurance against campus agitation. The stick
approach incapacitates in some cases. It is also intimidatory and
invariably leads to human rights abuses by members of the disciplined
forces called in to suppress the unrest. The carrot approach is
ephemeral as the benefits it confers are easily forgotten.
Alternative methods do exist for resolving campus conflicts. It is the
obligation of management not only to ensure and maintain peace,
serenity and a conducive academic environment on campus but also
to attend to the stirring and pressing concerns of students and to be
sensitive to the underlying reasons for students’ agitation in the
institution. An important aspect of co-operation and conflict
resolution is the healthy relationship which should exist between
management and students’ leaders. Interaction between the two
should occur on a continuous basis for mutual trust, understanding
and co-operation. In this connection it is necessary to establish
structures which encourage communication, consultation and
understanding. For example, a standing (or an ad hoc) committee of
students, teachers and management charged with preventing and
managing conflicts. This is of considerable value even when dialogue
does not result in complete unanimity between the parties, for the
ability to maintain ‘friendly relations’ while agreeing to disagree is
crucial for securing campus peace.
A wide range of dispute resolution mechanisms and processes exist.
Some involve private decision-making by the parties themselves (e.g.
informal discussion and problem-solving, negotiation, mediation,
conciliation, facilitation, advisory opinion by an impartial third
party); others involve adjudication by a third party (e.g. arbitration,
commission of inquiry, fact-finding); and others involve adjudication
by a public authority (e.g. administrative decision-making, formal
litigation by the courts). These are well known7 and were discussed in
the earlier sessions of this workshop. So they need not detain us.

4 Conclusion
Student activism is consistent with norms of democracy and human
rights: open society, participation in governance, freedom of
association, assembly and expression; and the right to protest. But
students, even in their protests, must respect the rights of others and
be alive to the faith placed in them as future and more enlightened
leaders in the country. The demands of democracy and good
governance also apply at micro level. So tertiary institutions should
be democratic and those managing them ought to be transparent and
accountable. The students union or council should also be democratic
and its leaders transparent and accountable.

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 Module 10: Conflict Resolution Strategies and Skills

Students constitute one of the three components of any tertiary

institution. They are therefore entitled to participate effectively and
meaningfully in the governance of the institution. And this means
involving them in designing programmes, in committees, and in
controlling, directing and implementing the priorities of the
institution.
Campus unrest is a fact of life in all but a few tertiary institutions. Its
causes are many. But the food and money questions stand out
prominently. A hungry person, it is said, is an angry person. Some of
the issues that may provoke unrest can be prevented, others can be
managed, and others still can be resolved through a variety of
processes and mechanisms. Management cannot, of course, resolve a
protest based on a demand for some political, social or economic
reform at national level. But it could show understanding by
facilitating peaceful protest instead of instinctively siding with the
government and calling in the forces of law and order to clobber
students.
The age-old stick and carrot approaches are to be deprecated. There is
need to insulate students’ leadership against victimisation by
management or government. Alternative strategies for dealing with
campus unrest are available and should be deployed. In particular,
there is need for structures of communication to promote dialogue,
mutual trust and understanding in the university trinity.

Notes
1 Constitutional democracy, regular and plural elections,
separation of powers, rule of law, just and honest government.
2 Human rights, citizenship, liberty, equality, justice, peaceful and

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fraternal co-existence, an active civil society.
3 Huntington, S., ‘Democracy for the Long Haul,’ Journal of
Democracy, April 1996, p. 3.
4 Some people would argue that this is merely a privilege conceded
to students and therefore can be withdrawn at any time as the
institution sees fit.
5 Huntington, op. cit, p. 7.
6 Cf. Waldt and Helmbold, The Constitution and a New Public
Administration, Juta and Co., Cape Town, 1995, Chapters 10 and
11.
7 See, for example, Pretorius, P. (ed), Dispute Resolution, Juta and
Co., Johannesburg, 1993.

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