Conflict Resolution as a Political Philosophy



Conflict Resolution as a Political Philosophy

Introduction

In his essay, Conflict as a Political Philosophy, John Burton discusses the conceptual differences that lie between conflicts and disputes. The essay begins by the distinguishing between conflict resolution and dispute settlement. Disputes evolve around interests that are negotiable, yet conflicting. On the other hand, conflicts are found to develop around the issues that are non-negotiable. Arbitrated solutions or negotiations are implied in settlements, while satisfying all the basic human needs of the parties that are involved in the conflict is a part of resolution. Disputes and conflicts are generally regarded as interchangeable terms. The term conflict is mostly applied to the international situations. These assumptions have led to serious policy mistakes made by the bigger parties involved. It is also generally assumed that the domestic issues are not conflicts and they can also not cause conflicts. It has been proved in many ethnic wars that have been taking place lately that the global conflicts are mostly caused by internal conflicts that become bigger apples of discourse. Therefore, it can be said that conflict is a generic phenomenon that has no systems and that know no boundaries.

Discussion

Power-Political Realism versus Behavioral Realism

The author to understand the concepts of idealism and political realism outlines two conceptual frameworks. These concepts emerged more than a decade ago. Political realism is basically a strategy for handling conflicts that was used back in the times of the feudal. This concept makes use of strategies that are coercive that are used to handle the conflicts. When a practice failed in this concept, it was thought that it failed because of the fact that enough power was not applied in it. This concept is one of the self defeating and unrealistic concepts in history. On the other hand, the concept of idealistic thinking was more related to collaborative thinking and building collaborative relationships. The two approaches discussed did not have any theoretical basis. This resulted in the failure of power politics internationally, as well as, domestically.

From Subjectivity to Theory-Based Objectivity

The meaning given to concepts such as human rights and justice is subjective without a proper theoretical base. For example the word democracy is defined as a government that is formed by the majority ruling the class, as well as, ethnic minorities. It was thought that this type of government is bound to create conflicts. For conceptualization ...