Unmet Human Needs

3. Factors That Make Conflict Intractable

John Burton began what became known as the human needs theory of what he called "deep-rooted" conflict. This theory argues that humans have fundamental human needs. In addition to the physical needs described by Maslow, Burton focused particularly on identity, security, recognition and a host of other needs that relate to those. Sandra Marker, listed nine in her BI essay on unmet human needs:

Safety/Security -- the need for structure, predictability, stability, and freedom from fear and anxiety.
Belongingness/Love -- the need to be accepted by others and to have strong personal ties with one's family, friends, and identity groups.
Self-esteem -- the need to be recognized by oneself and others as strong, competent, and capable. It also includes the need to know that one has some effect on her/his environment.
Personal fulfillment -- the need to reach one's potential in all areas of life.
Identity -- goes beyond a psychological "sense of self." Burton and other human needs theorists define identity as a sense of self in relation to the outside world. Identity becomes a problem when one's identity is not recognized as legitimate, or when it is considered inferior or is threatened by others with different identifications.
Cultural security -- is related to identity, the need for recognition of one's language, traditions, religion, cultural values, ideas, and concepts.
Freedom -- is the condition of having no physical, political, or civil restraints; having the capacity to exercise choice in all aspects of one's life.
Distributive justice -- is the need for the fair allocation of resources among all members of a community.
Participation -- is the need to be able to actively partake in and influence civil society.

Whenever these needs are absent or threatened, Burton and other human needs theorists argued, people will fight to attain those needs, and they will continue to do so until those needs are met. Hence, in our terminology, conflicts over fundamental human needs are "intractable."