Conflict Stages

Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict

Conflict Stages

	Conflict Stages Most conflicts go through a series of stages, which may or may not occur in order. They start as latent conflict. They then emerge, escalate, de-escalate and are resolved--sometimes permanently, sometimes temporarily until they emerge or escalate again.
	Latent Conflict Stage The first stage of conflict is latent conflict. At this stage, there are deep value differences or significant injustice, which will potentially lead to an active conflict.
	Conflict Emergence Stage It is common for significant tensions or grievances to persist over long periods of time without resulting in a noticeable conflict. This essay explores the factors that transform such tensions into an active conflict.
	Escalation and Institutionalization Stages When a conflict reaches the escalation phase, it intensifies quickly. Escalating conflicts can turn into a spiral with each side continually provoking each other to raise the stakes, making the conflict more and more destructive.
	Failed Peacemaking Efforts Stage The repeated failure to negotiate an end to a conflict confirms its intractability. Often these failures discourage new attempts and create a burden of mistrust to be overcome. Consequently, the struggle continues.
	Hurting Stalemate Stage Once conflicts escalate for awhile, the parties often reach a stalemate, neither party can win, but neither party wants to back down. At this stage the parties have two options, continue to bleed each other dry or look towards resolution.
	De-escalation Stage Conflicts do not escalate indefinitely. Eventually, they reverse direction, decreasing in intensity until they are forgotten or resolved.
	Negotiation Stage In the negotiation stage, parties search for mutually- beneficial ways of resolving their conflict. This stage must be timed and executed very carefully in order to avoid a return to the escalation stage.
	Settlement Stage The settlement stage marks the end of the active conflict. With the waning of apartheid in South Africa, for example, the South African identity began to incorporate all the people of South Africa instead of just black or white. This was a sign that the settlement stage of the conflict was successful.
	Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Stage In long-running inter-group conflicts, after successful negotiation, peacebuilding and reconciliation is necessary to prevent a return to the conflict. In this stage, disputants begin to heal and to rebuild relationships, slowly putting their society back together.

If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed for. -- Chinese Proverb

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Organizations Making Noteworthy Contributions to Efforts to Promote More Constructive Conflict

Good Humanitarian Donorship Initiative

Other Resources from
Beyond Intractability

Taming Intractable Conflicts
The trick for the mediator is identifying what conflicts it pays to become involved in, how to go about it, and when. Crocker et al. explore some limitations and pitfalls for mediators and go on to suggest how they may most effectively contribute at different stages of the conflict.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Norman E. Borlaug
Geneticist and plant pathologist with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico City, and 1970 Nobel Peace Laureate

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