Conflict, Change and Conflict Resolution - Berghof Handbook for ...

Christopher R. Mitchell
1.
Introduction 1
The literature dealing systematically with the connections between change and conflict is hardly
extensive, and that directly dealing with precise relationships between change and conflict
resolution is even sparser. In a way, this is surprising – for many writers make implicit, and in
some cases explicit, connections between some form of change and the formation of conflicts,
while others discuss conflict “dynamics” as well as those changes that are needed before any
kind of resolution of a conflict can realistically be sought. A recent and completely unsystematic
search of one university’s modest library revealed over 420 entries combining the words
“change” and “conflict” in their title, while a similar search of a data bank of dissertation
abstracts produced over 3,500 such citations. Nonetheless, there seem to be few works that
focus in general terms on connections between the two concepts, or on the process of conflict
resolution as a phenomenon involving change from the relationship of enemies or adversaries
into something else. 2
This chapter endeavours to make some contribution to filling this gap in the literature by
discussing the relationship between “change” and “conflict” in very general terms, rather than
focusing on particular changes that have either created conflict between particular communities,
societies and countries, or changes that have led towards a resolution of any specific conflict
which has protracted and become violent. It can be considered, therefore, as a small contribution
to the development of a general theory of change and conflict – or, more particularly, conflict
resolution. An understanding of the dynamics of conflict formation and perpetuation should
have implications for methods of resolving (or at least coping with) even the most intractable
of conflict relationships. As such, the chapter may be a starting point for the development of a
set of theories of conflict dynamics as well as a practical set of guidelines concerning modes
and timing of “resolutionary” interventions.
2.
A Framework for Enquiry
An enquiry that starts off asking about the general nature of the relationship between change
and (protracted) conflict seems doomed to irrelevance from the beginning, so an initial step
must be to focus the discussion a little better. If we are trying to develop an understanding of a
complex phenomenon such as protracted social conflict, and its relationship to change, then
there are at least four aspects of the general enquiry that need to engage our attention:
1 This chapter is an updated version of Mitchell 2006.
2 Exceptions to this generalisation include works by Appelbaum 1970; Rosenau 1990; Holsti et al. 1980; Bennis et
al. 1989.
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