Conflict Theory

1
Conflict Theory

• Disposition Lecture 2
• Conflict Theory
• Biological/genetical explanations
• Psychological/gentical explanations
• Societal explanations
• Conclusion

2
Conflict TheoryWar, violence, and aggression

• The discussion last lecture about war a
  phenomenon showed that the causal relations
  underlying it are complex
• All conflict and all wars are unique
• Hence, the possibilities to analyse them as a
  general phenomenon are limited
• A triggering factor in one conflict can play a
  complete different role in another conflict
• Therefore, an explanation of the causes of war
  can (almost) never be complete

3
Conflict TheoryWar, violence, and aggression

• Different levels-of-analysis
• International level
• Socio economical level
• State level
• Group level
• Individual level

4
Conflict TheoryWar, violence, and aggression

• In spite of he complexity, categorisations can be
  done
• Individual vs. societal/structural explanations

5
Conflict TheoryBiological/genetical explanations

• Are man a born killer or is it a behaviour that
  she learns?
• Knowledge about human aggressiveness are still
  limited

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Conflict Theory Biological /genetical
explanations

• Ethology
• The idea that man is born violent and aggressive
  is normally attributed to the Konrad Lorenz, who,
  from studies of animal behaviour, argued that
  aggression is part of mans genetical equipment
• The aim of aggressiveness
• Win or control territory
• Increase solidarity between males and females
• Generate or preserve dominance
• Natural selection trough the survival of the
  fittest

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Conflict Theory Biological/genetical explanations

• But also Sigmund Freud (psychology) and William
  James (science of religion) have a similar point
  of departure
• The idea if inherited sins, destroyed man
  (aggressiveness a part of his character)
• The criticism against Lorenz does not question
  his analysis regarding animals but rather
  question the meaningfulness in comparing animals
  and man
• Other critics argue that human aggressive
  tendencies are socially learned rather than
  natural

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Conflict Theory Biological /genetical
explanations

• What are the implications of assuming man to be
  a belligerent (krigförande) creature?

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Conflict Theory Biological/genetical explanations

• Individual human beings cannot be made
  responsible for their actions
• It is almost impossible to manage political,
  organisational, and economical causes of
  militarism and war
• If the human race, especially the male part of
  it, has an inherent biological tendency to
  butcher its own race from time to time then not
  much can be done to avoid it
• Sublimation of the aggression and projection to
  other forms of direct violence (?)

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Conflict Theory Biological/genetical explanations

• Sociobiology
• The sociobiological explanation is close to the
  thesis about instincts
• Aggression is one aspect of the human nature, not
  necessarily due to congenital ( medfödda)
  circumstances but due to natural selection. The
  strong and aggressive parts of the population is
  the part that survives
• Since males can fertilise several females, males
  that are stronger and can conquer their
  competitors gets more success in reproducing
  their hereditary (ärftliga) qualities
• Aggression can neither be explained by instinct
  or learning alone, but on both conditions
  (collaboration)

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Sue Mansfield
• Psychological explanations to war are to be found
  in mans inability to accept that the conditions
  of life includes suffering and death
• The reason for this inability is that societal
  life presuppose a separation between the natural
  extrovert energy (aggression), and the energy
  that is needed to fulfil physiological needs. Man
  needs to develop a strong self-control and
  control over their spontaneous emotions in order
  to make society function.
• This control is created through socialisation
  (e.g. bringing up of children).

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• The internal mechanism of control continuously
  struggles against the spontaneous self about the
  domination over the organism this is a a
  life-and-death struggle
• The internal situation characterises the
  individuals perception of the external world. The
  chaos of reality is in this perspective dead
  dangerous, since it threatens the control
  necessary to uphold a productive society
• Hence, man wants to control society, through
  magic or technology
• War has through history been the most used mean
  to master chaos and create order, prosperity, and
  happiness

13
Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• The Frustration-aggression hypothesis
• The key to frustration and violence is
  frustration (i.e. the blocking of goal-directed
  activity). Aggression presupposes frustration and
  vice versa (Dollard)
• But, frustration does not always lead to
  aggression. Frustration can be dealt with in
  different ways, constructive as well as
  non-constructive
• Frustration only creates a disposition to commit
  violent acts
• Aggression also demands a trigger (i.e. an
  intermediary between frustration, the cause, and,
  aggression, the cause)
• Individuals must be taught/socialised to
  release aggression when they are frustrated, and
  vice versa

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Alienation (Reich and Fromm)
• The individual are deep down social and
  considering, or at least neutral. It is society
  that collectively contributes to the
  characteristics that constitutes the individual
  human being.
• If this is the case, where do aggressive
  behaviour emanates from?

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Society and family frustrates the naturally
  considering and social individual trough
  exploitation as well as sexual and economical
  oppression. This frustration results in a
  neurotic and conflict filled personality.
  Predisposed for aggressive behaviour, which can
  be expressed in competition and violence
• Capitalism promotes such a behaviour (Adorno)

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Society, especially during phases of dramatic
  changes, generates ambivalence and unsolved
  conflicts (which often leads to a preference of
  totalism --gt a struggle between good and evil)
• Hence, it is the social environment and not any
  natural instinct that creates our consciousness

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Relative deprivation
• This term stand for a situation where an
  individual human being experience a (big)
  difference between expectations and capacity,
  e.g. when an individual have a certain education
  (capacity) but is never allowed to us it
  (expectation)
• Difference between individual and collective
  relative deprivation

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Collective deprivation has to do with groups,
  classes or nations that experience a system as
  unfair, especially if the own groups position
  declines (xenophobia)
• Countries that experience that the international
  system treats them unfairly can canalise their
  frustration trough a aggressive behaviour
• Relative deprivation can be reduced in two ways
• Creation of equal societies
• Limit the possibilities for comparison

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Repression ( förträngning)
• Marcuse Repression takes place when economic
  circumstances in a society generates more
  oppression than is necessary to hold the society
  together. Repression emanates from the demands on
  the workers in an economy that continuously
  needs to expand. When the individual is denied to
  have control over the process of production,
  repression of the social, sexual, and creative
  aspects of the identity is demanded. This in
  extension leads to frustration

20
Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• The prevailing commercial culture makes the
  situation even more difficult, since advertising
  appeals to our natural needs. The result is a
  psychological cleavage (societal demands vs.
  psychological needs) --gt Frustration --gt violence
  (sometimes indirect --gt hate and scapegoats

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Narcissism
• Has to do with the self-picturing of the
  individual
• A narcissistic problem arises when individuals,
  whom strongly identifies themselves with a group
  (ethnic group, nation, state, etc) experience
  that it is the self that is damaged if something
  happens to the group. The only way to heal the
  damage is to strike back towards the one that has
  injured the group

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Learned/trained/ behaviour
• What is sanctioned and forbidden in a society
  differs from society to to society (from group to
  group)
• Myths
• Legends

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Conflict TheoryPsychological/genetical
explanations

• Dehumanisation and Deindividualisation
• Stanely Millgrams studies regarding obedience
• The power of authorities
• Distance between the agent and the victim
• Anonymity
• Objectification of the victims (condescending
  terms and paraphrasing)

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• There exist no society without conflicts in each
  society there exist differences in circumstances,
  interests, and beliefs that can create friction
  between it members
• Hence, what differs a society from another is not
  the existence of conflicts but type of conflict,
  and how conflicts are dealt with
• Does the conflict emanate from competition about,
  status, power or wealth?
• Which are the parties to the conflict clans,
  classes, economic organisations, geographical
  areas, political parties, sexes or generations?
• Is the conflict managed with peaceful or violent
  methods?

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Nationalism
• The ambitions of a politicised group (a nation)
  has a number of destabilising and conflict
  generating effects. Today, nationalism probably
  is the strongest, single political power the
  struggle for an own state
• Three waves of nationalism
• The establishment of the modern state system
• Decolonialisation
• Ethnification of nationalism post-Cold War

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Today there exist more than 3.000 registered and
  acknowledged nations, even more ethnical groups,
  and probably even more groups that want to be
  acknowledged as ethnical groups in order to later
  develop to a national with political ambitions.
  At the same time there only exist around 200
  states.

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Shortage and competition
• The relation between competition and and lack of
  resources is a ground for conflicts (M. Sherif).
  On a boys camp in the US the group was divided
  into two halves that competed against one
  another prices were given to the winners every
  day. Thereafter the the leaders of the experiment
  introduced an artificial shortage of different
  resources by letting the losers lose by e.g.
  their dessert. Short thereafter the competitions
  became harder and harder. Furthermore, the
  different groups started to destroy one another's
  possessions, deride one another, but also
  physically attacking one another. Eventually the
  situation became untenable (Cf. the Ik-people in
  Kenya)

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• The essence of capitalism
• The Marxist Leninist theory of war takes it point
  of departure from three points
• War is a political action
• War is rooted socio-political contrasts in
  society and the world-system
• War is not eternal, it will vanish when the
  exploiting classes disappears
• The prime cause for all wars are the private
  ownership of the societal means of production

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• General aspects
• Small and Singer (CoW) divides between general
  and specific causes of wars and conflicts.
• To the general causes belongs biological and
  psychological explanations, but also the Marxist
  explanations mentioned above
• Specific explanations in the economic domain
  takes their point of departure from the state,
  and the fact that states are participate in
  conflicts aiming to secure markets and
  territories to improve and protect the national
  wealth.

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• The organisation of the state system
• Realism the state system is anarchic and that
  state relations are based on power and conflicts
  of interest will arise
• Luard The focus must be on the specific conflict
  of interest in each conflict. What are the
  underlying motives? What potential gains are
  expected?
• The causes of war does not only differ offer
  time, but also within the same epoch.

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• The decision procedure
• One important variable in the transformation from
  conflict to war are the actions and behaviour of
  decision makers. They seldom act rationally, due
  to different circumstances
• Pressure the time factor, the information
  factor, the apprehension that there only exist a
  limited number of options, et cetera
• Inflexibility (WW I chain reactions and rigid
  war planes)
• (mis)perceptions and cognitive variables
  simplification (we are the good guys the other
  guys are bad)

32
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Religion
• Northern Ireland
• Former Yugoslavia
• Middle East
• India
• Sri Lanka
• But it is doubtful if states go to war for only
  religious reasons today. But religion is often a
  part of the explanation

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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Ideology
• Certain ideologies have easier or more difficult
  to accept the foundation of one another
• WW I To make the world safe for democracy
• WW II National Socialism vs. Communism
• Cold War West vs. East
• Cf. Fukuyama The end of history
• Huntington Clash of civilisations

34
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• The inner characteristics of the state
• Democracy dictatorship
• Dictatorships are not more disposed to conflict
  than democracies are
• During 1945-75 the US and Western Europe
  accounted for 79 of the interventions in the
  third world, while the Communist states only
  accounted for 16
• Democracies are more conflict willing after a
  period of economic decline, while non-democratic
  states are more conflict willing after a period
  of economic increase

35
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Participation in international conflicts are more
  likely to occur when the domestic situation is
  problematic
• The developed a culture is the more likely it
  is that it will involve in wars for the cause of
  benefit, i.e. economic advantages or political
  power (cf. Wallensteen)

36
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• The military industrial complex
• Advocates for this complex are positive to
  increased tension, but this is not the same as
  the military industry causes war or conflicts

37
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Population pressure
• The idea that high population pressure causes a
  higher conflict frequency is not possible to
  verify statistically
• The myth can partly be explained by reference to
  the Nazi German idea of so-called Lebensraum

38
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• The international system of states
• Birds of a feather flock together vs. My
  brother and I are in complete agreement, we both
  want Milan. Common values are no guarantee for
  peaceful coexistence
• Competition a engine for wealth or a source of
  conflict

39
Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Arms race (The connection between arms race,
  crises and wars, 1816-1945)

Of the 28 crises that has been preceded of an
arms race no less than 23 resulted in war (82),
while only 3 of the 71 crises that was not
preceded By an arms race led to war (4)
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Conflict TheorySocietal explanations

• Geopolitics
• States have different interests, depending on
  size and international importance
• Preservation of influence
• Real interests, such as oil, minerals or buffer
  zones
• There exist a strong connection between common
  borders and war

41
Conclusion

• In order to solve a conflict, the actual conflict
  must first be understood
• If a conflict is not understood adequate measures
  cannot be taken
• If not adequate measures are taken, the actual
  conflict cannot be solved