Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about intractable conflict as it relates to international conflict resolution.
So let's look at some examples of international conflicts to start off with. So we have Northern Ireland, Democratic republic of the Congo, and Israel and Palestine. All of these specific international conflicts are considered to be intractable conflicts.
So intractable conflict is where we have a long history in which the attitudes, positions, and worldviews of the parties involved really have escalated and perpetuated the conflict. So let's look at some more specific characteristics of intractable conflict.
And as we go along, we're going to look and use Israel or Palestine as an example. So first of all, in intractable conflict, we have to have a long history of perceived offenses by each side. So each side believes that they have been offended by the other. And they really deserve justice for all of these wrongdoings.
And for example, let's look at Israel and Palestine again where it's been going on for decades. And each side believes that the other has committed wrongdoings against them. And they need justice for these.
Also in intractable conflict, because it's so long and intense, the conflict has become a part of the group's identity and cultural worldview. So it's a part of who they are. It's their sense of self. And in their worldview-- how they perceive their world and environment and what they believe to be right and wrong in their beliefs and assumptions and perceptions, and how they make decisions.
So in Israel and Palestine, each side really has taken on the conflict as part of who they are and part of their struggle, and how they take on the world and how they perceive it through the eyes of the conflict. And each side has strong attributions-- negative attributions. So we have the attribution bias playing into here in international conflict.
So in Israel and Palestine, each side has really strong negative attributions towards the other. That's a generalized statement because there are individuals in Israel and Palestine that specifically don't have these negative attributions. But as a whole, it's viewed as each side being the enemy or negative.
And when this happens, it can lead to violence. So again, in Israel and Palestine, we know that there has been many violent incidents, whether that's through bombings and shootings and even incidents of war. And this really makes peacemaking and conflict resolution complex for intractable conflicts.
And there have been many efforts involved in intractable conflicts to work through the conflict. But because it's so intense and we're dealing with identity and cultural worldviews and a long history, it makes it really hard. And there have been efforts that have been sustained, and also efforts that have not worked out and have had failures.
So again, looking to Israel and Palestine, we know that many agreements have been negotiated. And some of them have been sustained and are working, while others have been broken. And others also have even failed to come to the table to discuss certain matters.
And finally in intractable conflict, we see other nations that are not involved being drawn into the conflict. And we are dealing here with the issue of sovereignty and interconnection. And sovereignty is where the individual state has a right to make its own laws and policies and processes on how it's going to run the country.
Whereas we're dealing with also this notion of interconnection and globalization. So the policies of one country can really have an effect on the others. And so this really brings other countries or makes them compelled to come in and try and work through this conflict, whether that is through peacemaking efforts or maybe even coming in as an ally.
And another part that we see in this area is with buffer states. And buffer states are usually situated on the border or in between the two countries that are in conflict. And buffer states are thought to really reduce conflict opportunities between the states, and maybe come in as an intermediary to work through the conflict and maybe negotiate some settlement agreements.
And in Israel and Palestine we know that many nations throughout the world have been involved and are involved in this conflict and really have a vested interest in being on either side, whether that's through an ally or through peacemaking efforts. And for example, the United States has been involved in many efforts in trying to negotiate peace in the region.
Conflict resolution in intractable conflict really has to take into consideration a number of different factors. So when we're going through a conflict resolution process in intractable conflict, we need to really take into consideration that cultural worldview. So how the parties perceive and believe in assumptions about their environment and the world, we need to really factor that into the process.
And because it's such a part of their identity and it's so intense, it's really something that cannot be ignored and needs to be taken into consideration. And because we're trying to change cultural world views or we're trying to change culture, it's very slow in doing so. So we need to know that in resolving intractable conflict, it's going to be a very slow process.
And we're going to go through many stages. So there are going to be periods where conflict is escalated, and also periods where we see conflict de-escalated or de-escalating.
So going back to Israel and Palestine, we know that there have been periods of peace where we haven't seen much violence or any violence occurring. But there have been times when that has been broken. And we see a surge of violence and the conflict escalating further.
Let's look at our key points here before we go on in intractable conflict. So we know that intractable conflict has a long history and has been going on for a significant amount of time. And because of this intensity and long history, the conflict really becomes a part of the party's identity and cultural worldview.
And because of this, it really makes resolution and peacemaking complex. And when we're going through a conflict resolution process, we need to factor in these cultural worldviews of the parties so we can work towards a sustainable resolution.
Here are your key terms before we go. Feel free to pause and look at them a little bit closer.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this. I hope you've learned something. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.
