Figure 9.1 An Integrated Model of Problem Solving and Decision Making in Conflict Resolution
Chapter Fourteen: Group Decision Making in Conflict Figure 14.1 The Groupthink-Polythink Continuum
Chapter Fifteen: Natural-Born Peacemakers? Figure 15.1 Gender-Based Differences in Self-Construal and Social Role Expectations
Chapter Sixteen: Resolving Intractable Intergroup Conflicts Figure 16.1 The Influence of Implicit Theories about Groups on Support for Conciliatory Political Actions Tendencies
Chapter Eighteen: The Development of Conflict Resolution Skills Figure 19.1 The Shadow Box
Figure 19.2 Objects and Shadows in Experiment One: Geometrical Objects and Lego Objects
Chapter Twenty-One: Creativity in the Outcomes of Conflict Figure 21.1 The Agreement Circumplex
Chapter Twenty-Four: Learning through Reflection on Experience Figure 24.1 Marsick and Watkins’ Informal and Incidental Learning Model
Chapter Thirty: Intractable Conflict Figure 30.1 Feedback Loop Analysis of Mozambique Conflict and Peace
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Mediation of Conflict Figure 34.1 Twelve Stages of Mediator Moves
Chapter Thirty-Five: Teaching Conflict Resolution Skills in a Workshop Figure 35.1 Coleman Raider Resolution Continuum
Figure 35.2 Coleman Raider Reframing Formula
Figure 35.3 Coleman Raider Negotiation Planning Form: A Community Dialogue
Figure 35.4 Colman Raider “Bare-Bones” Model
Figure 35.5 Coleman Raider Filter Check Model
Figure 35.6 Coleman Raider Meditation Model
Chapter Thirty-Six: Creating Constructive Communication through Dialogue Figure 36.1 Elements of Communication Process
Chapter Thirty-Seven: An Empirically Based Approach to Couples’ Conflic Figure 37.1 The Sound Relationship House Theory
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Managing Conflict through Large Group Methods Figure 38.1 Large-Group Methods for Creating the Future
Figure 38.2 Large-Group Methods for Work Design
Figure 38.3 Large-Group Methods for Discussion and Decision Making
Chapter Forty-One: Social Networks, Social Media, and Conflict Resolution Figure 41.1 Network Chart Comparisons
Figure 41.2 Network Conflict Worksheet
More Praise for The Handbook of Conflict Resolution
“Professor Morton Deutsch is one of the greatest contributors of the twenty-first century to the important and crucial field of conflict resolution. His contributions have been in theory and practice, in attracting outstanding people to work with him, in stimulating superb people to carry on in their own paths. The net effect is a truly major contribution to this field, and it is summed up beautifully in this revised and enlarged edition. Highly informative, profoundly insightful, and, indeed, a definitive account of conflict resolution.”
—David A. Hamburg, president emeritus, Carnegie Corporation of New York; DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Scholar; and cochair, Social Medicine and Public Policy Programs, Department of Psychiatry, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Cornell University Medical College
“This volume is an extraordinary resource, a much-needed comprehensive handbook on conflict resolution.”
—Arthur E. Levine, president emeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University; president, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
“This Handbook should be on the reading list of every course in peace and conflict studies and especially on the lists used in teacher preparation courses in peace education, a field that seeks to cultivate understanding of constructive ways of confronting violence, alternatives to force and lethal conflict for the pursuit of social purposes.”
—Betty Reardon, founding director emeritus, Peace Education Center, Teachers College, Columbia University
“In the past, I have been saying to all of my students at Kyushu University and the participants in my mediation trainings, ‘If you are serious about mediation, read The Handbook of Conflict Resolution.’ Now seeing the updated and enlarged edition, I would say, ‘Read it, for it will help you become a thoughtful and insightful mediator.’”
—Hisako Kobayashi-Levin, associate professor, Faculty of Law, Kyushu University
The Handbook of Conflict Resolution
Theory and Practice
THIRD EDITION
Peter T. Coleman
Morton Deutsch
Eric C. Marcus
Cover design by Adrian Morgan
Cover art by Thinkstock
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and is on file with the Library of Congress.
The handbook of conflict resolution : theory and practice / Peter T. Coleman, Morton Deutsch, Eric C. Marcus, editors. — Third edition.
1 online resource.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
ISBN 978-1-118-81033-0 (pdf) — ISBN 978-1-118-81032-3 (epub) —
ISBN 978-1-118-52686-6 (hardback)
1. Conflict management. I. Coleman, Peter T., 1959–II. Deutsch, Morton, 1920–III. Marcus, Eric Colton.
HM1126
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2013050606
PREFACE
The field of conflict resolution continues to develop rapidly. As a consequence, we have updated and revised the second edition of this Handbook. Almost all of the chapters in the second edition have been updated; in some, the revisions have been extensive, and in others, only minor changes seemed nece
ssary. Also, we have added new chapters on topics that were not covered or needed more coverage than they received in the first two editions. Given the scope of growth in the field, we have expanded the book considerably. And in order to make this expansion more cost effective for the readership, we have developed a new online section of the book.
The new chapters for this edition have an asterisk next to them in the Contents. They are important, original contributions to the field of conflict resolution by outstanding scholars and practitioners, as are the updated chapters from the first two editions.
In the Preface to the first edition, we characterized the purpose of the Handbook, its organization, professional value, and orientation. This book is meant for those who wish to deepen their understanding of the processes involved in conflicts and their knowledge of how to manage them constructively. It provides the theoretical underpinnings that shed light on the fundamental social psychological processes involved in understanding and managing conflicts at all levels: interpersonal, intergroup, organizational, and international.
As an area of scholarship and professional practice, conflict resolution is relatively young, having emerged as a discipline after World War II. Practice and theory have been only loosely linked. This book aims to foster closer connection between the two by demonstrating the relevance of theoretical ideas and empirical research to practice. Although the link between theory and practice is inherently bidirectional, this book primarily emphasizes the path from theory to practice.
The theoretical ideas presented in this book were for the most part not developed specifically in relation to understanding conflict or to facilitate professional practice in this area. They have relevance to any area in which it is important to understand the basic processes in social interactions of all sorts and in various contexts—at work; in politics, schools, families, clinics, courts, and bedrooms; on highways; and elsewhere. For the purposes of this book, the authors have developed their chapters to bring out the relevance of the theories and research being discussed to understanding conflict specifically.
When appropriate, chapters are organized to address three general topics. The first deals with the theoretical ideas in the substantive area being discussed. The second draws out the implications of these ideas for understanding conflict, and the third is concerned with the implications of these ideas for educating or training people to manage their conflicts more constructively.
The Handbook of Conflict Resolution is divided into parts somewhat arbitrarily, and inevitably there is overlap among them. The introductory chapter gives examples of real conflicts and indicates the kinds of questions one might pose to understand what is going on in the conflicts—questions that are addressed in many of the chapters. The Introduction also has a brief discussion of the orientations of practitioners on the one hand and researcher-theorists on the other, to offer some insight into the misunderstandings that often occur between these two groups. It also contains an abbreviated history of the study of conflict from a social psychological perspective and indicates the sorts of questions that have been and are being addressed.
Parts 1 through 4 comprise the major portion of the book and present the theoretical ideas that have been developed (mainly in areas of social psychology) that are useful in understanding conflict processes as well as in helping people learn to manage their conflicts constructively. The authors of the chapters in these parts discuss the practical implications of their ideas for conflict, as well as the theoretical foundations underlying the implications they draw.
Even apart from their usefulness for conflict, the theoretical ideas should be of value to anyone interested in understanding the nature of basic social psychological processes and involved in social interactions of any kind. The Contents pages for parts 1 through 4 indicate the broad range of theoretical ideas and their implications for conflict. They are grouped, arbitrarily, into interpersonal and intergroup processes, intrapsychic and intragroup processes, personal differences, and creativity and change. Almost all of the chapters discuss matters that cross such arbitrary boundaries. New chapters (chapters 3, 14, and 15) respectively deal with privilege and justice, group decision making, and gender, as they relate to conflict.
Part 5 contains four chapters that consider the relation between culture and conflict, each from a somewhat different perspective. Chapters 25 through 27 (all new chapters) examine some of the common sorts of misunderstanding that can arise when people from varying cultural backgrounds interact and what can be done to help them learn to understand one another’s cultural background. Then chapter 28 examines an influential theoretical approach to conflict resolution developed in the United States to see how it is (or is not) applicable to conflict in the entirely different context of China.
Part 6 is concerned with difficult conflicts. Two revised chapters (29 and 30) examine aggression and violence and intractable conflict, respectively. Two new chapters have been added: chapter 31 is focused on the connections between human rights and conflicts and chapter 32 on terrorism.
Part 7 is most directly concerned with practice. Its eleven chapters are all authored by leaders in the field and focus on theory and research behind common models of practice such as negotiation (33), mediation (34), the Coleman Raider model for training in constructive conflict resolution (35), dialogue processes (36), and John Gottman’s model of conflict management with couples (37). These chapters then go on to strategies for working with larger groups (38), employing group relations theory (39), reconciliation between groups (40), and employing social network theory to conflict analysis and resolution (41). Chapter 42 focuses on using research findings in practice and chapter 43 on nonviolence and conflict.
In part 8, we look to the future. Chapter 44 presents a framework for thinking about research on conflict resolution training. As of this writing, there has been little good and systematic research in this area. If the field is to develop and have a bright future, it needs more research. Chapter 45 presents the authors’ views of the future directions that basic research on conflict and its resolution might well take.
The concluding chapter is an overview and commentary on the current state of the field; it considers issues such as what substantive questions need to be addressed that have not received the attention they warrant—that is, the practice as well as theoretical issues.
The final (online) section contains what we have labeled our domain-specific chapters. The expert authors of these chapters were asked to familiarize themselves with the basic processes chapters of this Handbook and then to speak to these models and practices in their chapters, making links to existing chapters explicit. They include chapters in the following domains: gender conflict in marriage (chapter 46), conflict resolution in schools (47), conflict in organizations (48), labor relations and conflict (49), law and dispute resolution (50), police and conflict resolution (51), participatory action research, conflict resolution, and communities (52), religion as a third side for peace (53), nongovernmental organizations as a vehicle for collective action (54), managing environmental conflict (55), and international conflict resolution (56).
The contributors to this edition of The Handbook of Conflict Resolution are an illustrious group of experts in the areas with which their chapters are concerned. We have asked them to write chapters that can be easily understood by readers who are not social scientists but are also credible to other experts in their areas. Furthermore, we suggested to them that they limit considerably the number of technical references in their chapter. Given the opaqueness of much writing in the social sciences, it is surprising how well the contributors have succeeded in writing clear, informative, interesting, useful, and authoritative chapters.
We believe The Handbook of Conflict Resolution is accessible and valuable to a wide variety of groups with an interest in constructive conflict management: to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as their professors, in a number of academic fields such as psychology, education, sociology, po
litical science, business, international relations, law, social work, and health care. It is also of value to practitioners such as conflict resolution trainers and consultants, negotiators, mediators, and those who manage or supervise others. In editing this Handbook, we have learned a great deal, so we believe that even those considered experts can find much of value in it.
One final word about the orientation of this Handbook: it is concerned with finding cooperative, win-win solutions to conflict, no matter how difficult. The “black arts” of conflict (such as violence, coercion, intimidation, deceit, blackmail, and seduction) are not discussed except, if at all, in the context of how to respond to or prevent the use of such tactics by oneself or others. In our view, such tactics are used too often, are commonly destructive and self-defeating, and are less productive in the long run than a constructive approach.
We thank our faculty colleagues who participated in an informal seminar on conflict resolution at Teachers College. The inspiration for this book emerged from the lively discussions in the seminar. We also thank Elizabeth Hernandez, Joseph Dillard, Kyong Mazzaro, Nick Redding, Christine Chung, and Regina Kim, who typed, e-mailed, did editorial work, and provided other invaluable services necessary to produce a completed manuscript.
January 2014
Peter T. Coleman, Morton Deutsch, and Eric C. Marcus
New York, New York
INTRODUCTION
Morton Deutsch
The Handbook of Conflict Resolution (3rd ed) Page 2