CONFLICTS / DISPUTES
Posted by Site Staff on Monday April 21, 2008
There are distinctions between conflicts and disputes. Many use both words interchangeably. This is not correct.
We begin with what is known as a dyad at the smallest level; a disagreement between two parties. A labor dispute would likely be differences of opinion between employers and employees and/or the union over wages, benefits or management.
To differentiate these terms one can look at Word Wars I and II. These wars involved many countries throughout the civilized world and were conflicts. “On the other hand” as Tevia would Say (of Fiddler on the Roof fame) the Korean War in the early 1950’s was a dispute involving fewer countries and fought over a geographic line of demarcation (38th parallel) not an entire way of life or the preservation of an entire existence of a people. Conflicts are grander in scale requiring more facilities, usage of numerous Alternative Dispute Resolution modalities and techniques.
India and Pakistan are involved presently in a dispute; should this dispute escalate it may well become a conflict. Escalating disputes if not properly managed can certainly become Conflicts.
Former Senator George Mitchell’s experience in Ireland, escape litigation.com newsletter supplement, March 2008,vol.#1,issue# 2 involved a dispute between Protestants and Catholics. This was not a conflict in the newsletter’s opinion or in the sense of John Burton. John Burton, “Conflict Resolution as a political Philosophy” in Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice: Integration and Application. ed, Dennis J.D. Sandole and Hugo Van Der Merwe, Manchester University Press, 1993,Pp55-64 which distinguishes between dispute settlement and conflict resolution revolving around deprivation of basic human needs, interests and rights which are not negotiable.
Disputes involve resolution of disagreements where there are alternatives and options. With conflict this is not the case. There are questions that remain such as Darfor, Korea, the Balkans. A dispute, which could become a conflict at any moment, is that of the Israeli, Palestinian problem. Unfortunately throughout the world today there are numerous disputes which unattended, could become conflicts.
If one uses the standard of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, United Nations Charter then one could argue that some of these disputes as above are in fact conflicts;
Since there are many signatories to this bill, numerous countries are obligated to intervene with escalation a possible factor.
The importance of this supplemental discussion is that disputes and conflicts are generally handled differently. A dispute between two people or factions can be mediated or arbitrated to it’s finality. Conflicts on the other hand involve numerous different levels of Alternative Dispute Resolution modalities and techniques at the same time with all the stakeholders. This involves not only inclusion but also a more sophisticated organizational plan, which will likely involve tiers of mediators, arbitrators and negotiators to enable the stakeholders to find common ground.
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