Peacebuilding &conflict transformation A ... - Peaceworkafrica

conflict transformation skills as inter group dynamics can affect the way conflictsdevelop enormously.Inter-group conflictsThese are conflicts between groups, such as organizations, ethnic or identity groups.In general, the conflicts on this level are bigger in size (people and parties activelyinvolved) than inter‐personal conflicts. One has to have knowledge about groupdynamics and the capacity to manage groups besides mastering conflict transformationskills, as the dynamics and relations in groups are mostly part of the conflictitself and affect the progress of the conflicts. Often there is a need for more than onefacilitator, negotiator or mediator to deal with the conflict.Inter-national, inter-state conflictsThese are conflicts occurring on national or interstate level. Dealing with this kindof conflict requires professional mediators with a wide range of expertise and diplomaticcapacity. We therefore do not deal with these conflicts in this book, but sometimesuse examples from this level to explain a theoretical issue 8 .4. Sources of conflictConflicts do not occur out of nothing. They emanate from the pursuit of incompatibleinterests and goals. Additionally, conflicts tend to have various causes, whoseimportance may shift in the course of the conflict history. What one can see andhear is the verbal or physical fight of the opponents about issues like land distribution,injustice or allocation of resources, fight for positions … the visible conflict.But what has generated the issues, what triggers the arguments is mostly not obvious.These are the individual sources, the root causes, the invisible reasons that giverise to conflicts.Causes of conflict can be visualized and explained with the model of a volcano,where only about ⅛th of the body appears above the earth. After years of silence avolcano can suddenly erupt — spilling fire, smoke and hot lava with great force. Itoften seems that conflicts break out suddenly and even actors actively involved maynot be conscious about their own root‐causes that give rise to the conflict. It is necessaryto identify the root causes — the underlying reasons leading to the explosion —to transform a conflict and to find a mutual and sustainable agreement.102 I I I . C O N F L I C T