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Benefits of Conflict: Additional Resources
These references supplement the Knowledge Base Essay, Benefits of Conflict.
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Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Constructive Confrontation. Available at: http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/treatment/constcon.htm [Backup Link] This page offers a brief discussion of the concept of constructive confrontation. This conflict strategy was developed by Guy and Heidi Burgess, and focuses upon helping the parties develop more constructive strategies for pursuing inevitable confrontations. It is an incremental approach which involves diagnosing particular conflict problems, and then designing remedies for those problems so that the resulting conflict is more constructive. The page includes links to further reading on the subject. Burgess, Guy M. and Heidi Burgess. Constructive Confrontation Theoretical Framework. Available at: http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/bi-essay/con-conf.htm [Backup Link] "To better deal with intractable conflicts, we have been developing an approach which we call constructive confrontation. This approach is based on the assumption that intense, long-term confrontations over important and difficult issues are inevitable. What is not inevitable, however, is the destructiveness commonly associated with these conflicts. (Consider, for example, the deaths, fear, and despair created by long-running ethnic conflicts, or the the economic losses of protracted labor unrest. To limit such destructiveness, we suggest that the parties and intermediaries involved in intractable conflicts should move away from the unrealistic goal of resolution, and focus, instead, on how these conflicts can be conducted more constructively." Weiser, Ricky. Constructive Confrontation: Nuts and Bolts Advice for Activists. Available at: Primary Link [Backup Link] This paper is an edited transcript of a talk given by Ricky Weiser for the Intractable Conflict/Constructive Confrontation Project on April 10, 1993. It talks about the micro-level of citizen advocacy and how a single, private citizen can interface with the political realities of city councils, county commissioners, and even higher-level governmental organizations. But, primarily it focuses on how to accomplish things at the local level. This will also include methods of resolving conflicts in the local political sphere. Burgess, Guy M. and Heidi Burgess. Constructive Confrontation: A Strategy for Dealing with Intractable Environmental Conflicts. Conflict Research Consortium. Available at: Primary Link [Backup Link] Burgess and Burgess's strategy for dealing with intractable environmental conflicts; irreconcilable moral differences; high-stakes distributional issues
Offline (Print) Sources
Kriesberg, Louis. Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, April 1, 1998. This books discusses how conflict can be waged constructively at each stage of its course--from emergence, escalation, de-escalation, termination, and finally, to resolution. Kriesberg also explores the bases of social conflict, types of inducements, conflict strategies, and the contributions of intermediaries. Primary Link [Backup Link] Johnson, Roger T., David W. Johnson and Karl A. Smith. Academic Controversy: Enriching College Instruction Through Intellectual Conflict, Vol. 25. Washington, DC: Graduate School of Education and Human Development George Washington University, 1996. "Both theoretical and practical reasons support the belief that arousing intellectual conflict is one of the most important and powerful instructional procedures available to college faculty. Yet most faculty avoid and suppress intellectual conflict, perhaps out of fear it will be divisive, or because they have never been trained in how to use instructional procedures that maximize the likelihood that intellectual conflict will be constructive, not destructive, or because the current societal and pedagogical norms discourage them from doing so. This situation needs to change, and intellectual conflict needs to become part of day-to-day student life in colleges and universities." - Publisher Primary Link [Backup Link] Simmel, George. Conflict and the Web of Group Affiliations. Free Press, October 1, 1964. Kriesberg, Louis. Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution, 2nd Edition. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, November 2002. This volume discusses the catalysts and phases of conflict as well as the processes of conflict resolution. It identifies the complexities of constructive conflicts and outlines case studies of intractable conflict moving towards resolution. Robinson, Ian. "The East Timor Conflict (1975 -)." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter provides an assessment of the costs of conflict in East Timor for those directly involved in the conflict as well as the international community. Macdonald, Gordon and Angela Burke. "The former Yugoslavia Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter provides a discussion of the costs and benefits of the conflict in the Balkans for the former Yugoslav republics, the European Union, and the United States. Coser, Lewis A. The Functions of Social Conflict. New York: Free Press, 1964. This is a theoretical work focusing on the social-psychological dimensions of social conflict. The author discusses a variety of issues related to group identity. Quinn, Gregory. "The Iraq Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the Gulf War for Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the West. It also undertakes the thought experiment of what would have happened had the conflict not occurred. Bhinda, Nils. "The Kashmir Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the Kashmir conflict for the region as well as India, Pakistan, China, and the West. Vincent, Shaun. "The Mozambique Conflict (1980-1992)." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter provides an assessment of a whole range of costs (and benefits where applicable) of the Mozambiquan civil war both for Mozambique as well as its neighbors and the international community in general. Shave, David. "The Peru Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the Peruvian civil war to Peru and the United States. Shalita, Nicholas. "The Sudan Conflict." In The True Cost of Conflict: Seven Recent Wars and Their Effects on Society. Edited by Cranna, Michael, ed. New York: The New Press, 1994. This chapter examines the costs and benefits of the conflict in Sudan for the country, its neighbors, and the United States.
Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
"Affirmative Action." , 1900 Available at: http://www.racetalks.org/examples/morelawaction.html [Backup Link] This page which highlights the dialogue that took place about Affirmative Action in a university seminar, is an example of how constructive conflict can have positive results. Gravett, Linda. "Turning Conflict into Collaboration." , 1900 Available at: http://www.e-hresources.com/Articles/Oct2001.htm [Backup Link] This article describes the benefits of constructive conflict and offers a simple example.
Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
The Strange Demise of Jim Crow . Directed and/or Produced by: Berman, David. California Newsreel. 1998. This film highlights how civil rights activists usefully created situations of non-violent conflict as a way to engage the opposing side, and to create an atmosphere ripe for negotiation. Primary Link [Backup Link] |
