Escalation

3. Factors That Make Conflict Intractable

Guy Burgess has long observed that escalation "is the most dangerous force on the planet." It drives hatred; it drives wars; it drives genocides; it could start a nuclear war that would end most life on earth. Yet, we continue to drive it, both intentionally (to gain supporters or to overpower "the bad guys,") or unintentionally, when we treat others with disrespect, blame them for things that aren't their fault, and look for win-lose solutions to problems when we could be looking for win-win approaches instead.

When conflicts escalate, they go from minor disagreements to major conflagrations as the size of the conflict increases (in terms of numbers of parties, issues, and resources expended), the issues go from specific to general (until both sides simply hate and distrust everything the other side is and does), tactics go from light to heavy (eventually reaching large-scale violence) and the parties' goals go from meeting one's own needs (doing well) to doing better than "the other" to simply hurting "the other," even if it hurts one's own side as well.

Here we link to a set of materials that explain the causes and outcomes of escalation (which become intertwined with one outcome becoming a new cause), such that the conflict grows in scope and intensity, apparently with no end. Strategies for de-escalating conflicts come later in the Guide

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