INSTITUTIONALIZED CONFLICT RESOLUTION. A THEORETICAL PARADIGM
In: Journal of peace research, Band 4, S. 348-396
ISSN: 0022-3433
There is a need for permanent mechanisms of conflict resolution (CR), ie mechanisms that can decide who is the winner & who is the loser, & distribute sanctions, punishments & rewards among the parties & terminate a conflict. 12 mechanisms of this kind are discussed: mechanisms where both parties participate (regulated warfare, fights, duels, legal duels, verbal duels, debates, mediation/arbitration, court processes & voting). They function sometimes as mechanisms of direct CR: the winner also wins in the underlying conflict & the loser loses both places. Thus, ordeals were used to distribute property. But the mechanisms were also often used in a more indirect or independent way: they focused the attention of the parties to a conflict on something new, they functioned as a safety-valve, & they brought some kind of compensation to the loser. 15 conditions seem important for the instit'ization of a CR mechanism. It is pointed out that these conditions are probably complementary in the sense that if some of them are satisfied, the others are less necessary; the mechanism will be more firmly rooted the more conditions are satisfied. Some consequences of this principle are pointed out. Finally, the possibility of instit'ized CR in the field of internat'l conflict is discussed, & a mechanism based on a combination of world-wide TV debates between spokesmen of the parties to the conflict, voting by the whole world pop, & a set of well-known rules of internat'l behavior is analyzed. The propositions are illustrated by means of scattered reports on the various mechanisms, with a concentration on ordeals, legal duels & common-sense knowledge of court processes. IPSA.