17 Comparten mercado de interés
2.2. Indicadores 1 Conceptos
2.2.3. Elementos de los indicadores de gestión
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction 2.0 Objectives 3.0 Main Content3.1 Role of Culture in Conflict situation 3.2 Identity and Culture Transformation 3.3 The transformation Intractability 3.4 Settlement vs. Transformation 4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Readings
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Culture refers to the social and behavioural conditions of a group, its life experience, its manner of thinking and its world view. It is carried in language all forms of symbolic expressions, religion and social practices.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit you should be able to:
i. Explain the meaning of culture;
ii. Highlight the implications of culture for conflict management;
iii. Describe the cultural aspects of conflict.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 The Role of Culture in Conflict Situation
Conflicts management in plural societies can be quite complex, principally because of the determinate effects of culture and language symbolism. Hence, as Avruch and Black (1993) point out, it is could be counter productive to relegate culture to the background in conflict resolution. This is especially so in multi-ethnic/multicultural societies.
Naturally, people perceive conflicts through divergent cultural lenses.
People interpret social action and social reality through their indigenous
conceptions and knowledge. Understanding the local indigenous theories of conflicts is therefore essential to resolving conflicts. As Avruch and Black (1990, 1993:132) have emphasized, it is sometimes necessary to utilizing what they labelled “ethno-conflict theories”
because symbols are associated with values placed on resources.
Culture also determines the how information is processed, how metaphors and language are used in the bargaining process. Even the most apparently irresolvable conflicts can be broken down by paying attention to cultural issues. This is the case because cultural issues sometimes muddle up and compound conflicts and there fore make then look impossible to resolve.
3.2 Identity and Conflict Transformation
Identity is a psychological sense of self as well as self as it relates to the world. Self-definition takes place on different levels: interpersonal, community, organizational, cultural or international. If conflict involves a threat to identity, it becomes intractable. Terrell A. Northrup talks about "the role of identity in the development, maintenance, and transformation of intractable conflicts" (p. 55). She uses the model below in analysis the role of identity in conflicts. According to her the dynamics of conflicts consists of five components: (1) conflicts unfold over time; (2) conflict is a multidimensional phenomenon (intrapersonal aspects of the conflict interact with social or relational ones, and both of them are influenced by higher level political, economic and social changes); (3) conflicts evolve around multiple issues; (4) conflicts contain realistic and non-realistic issues; (5) power distribution among the parties plays an important role in conflict development. Identity, according to Northrup, operates as a dynamic. It evolves in a party's relationships with the surrounding world. Identity dynamic is “the tendency for human beings, individually and in groups, to establish, maintain, and protect a sense of self-meaning, predictability, and purpose" (p. 63). The dynamic of identity provokes changes toward escalation and rigidification of conflict. This involves four stages: threat, distortion, rigidification, and collusion. The process is sequential, with a movement to the next stage increasing intractability of the conflict and decreasing the possibility of de-escalation.
3.3 The Transformation of Intractability
Based on the theoretical framework described above, the transformation of intractable conflicts involving identity issues is not likely to happen from within. Hence the need to distinguish between the settlement of a specific conflict and its transformation, and strategies of transformation of a destructive identity dynamic.
3.4 Settlement vs. Transformation
In order to understand the difference between settlement and transformation, there is a need to look at different levels where change in conflict can occur. Those levels are determined by how strong the impact of the change is on the core identity. The first level includes changes that are peripheral to the core identity, such as those happening outside the original issue of confrontation. Second level changes influence the dynamic of the parties' relationships. Changes in the core identity belong to the third level. The effect of the change will vary depending on what level the change occurs. Peripheral changes can create settlements, but they will not produce long-term transformation.
Prospects for transformation are better when the nature of the parties' relationships is altered (second level). Identity changes (third level) encourage changes in relationships and behaviour. These might not involve short-term peripheral settlements, but they transform the conflict itself.
The second level transformation can be encouraged by a common external threat to both parties that would make them cooperate and, as a result, change their perceptions about each other. Another possible way is for a third party to intervene and force the parties in conflict to redefine their relationships. The third way might exist if a subgroup within a party is able to establish some cooperation with the opponent.
The final possible way to alter the nature of parties' relationships is for conditions to change unexpectedly. For example an ethnic conflict where a horrible accident happens like a bomb killing schoolchildren can produce a change in the way the two groups deal with their disagreements.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Identity plays a very significant role in escalation, maintenance and transformation of conflicts. It cannot be ignored in any conflict situation, especially where it becomes central. The danger of level two transformations is that it depends on the longevity and institutionalization of the cooperative relationships. If the time of cooperation was short and the new patterns of relationships were not structuralized and ritualized, a real transformation might not happen and the parties might get back on the conflict track. Transformation is more likely when the parties' identities are changed. For example, they might start seeing similarities between themselves and accept differences.
These are third level changes. They require long-lasting efforts, but they transform intractable conflicts more completely.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, we have examined the meaning, concept, and role of culture and identity in resolving conflict. The impact of culture and its implications on the process was also discussed
6.0 TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMAS)
i) What is culture and how is it implicated in conflict?ii) What are the implications of identity for conflict management?
iii) What are the cultural aspects of conflict?
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Avruck, K and P. Black (1990). ‘The Culture Question and Conflict Resolution’, Peace and Change 16: 22-45.
Avruch, K. and P. Black (1993). ‘Conflict Resolution in Intercultural Settings: Problems and Prospects’, in D.J. D. Sandfoles and H.
van der Merwe (eds), (1993) Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice, Integration and Application: Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Bah, A. B. (2003). Ethnic Conflicts and Management Strategies in Bulgaria, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Ibadan: Programme on Federalism and Ethnic Studies Monographs, New Series, no. 3, Ibadan: John Archers.
Du Toit, Brian M. (ed) (1978). Ethnicity in Modern Africa. Boulder CO:
West View Press.
Smith, R.S. (1998). War and Diplomacy in Pre-colonial West Africa.
London: Harper and Row.
Young, C. (1979). The Politics of Cultural Pluralism. London:
University of Winsconsin Press.