Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict

Underlying Causes of Intractable Conflict
Identifying Underlying Causes
	According to Chester Crocker, an important part of conflict assessment is analyzing the underlying sources of conflict.
	Sarah Cobb suggests that neither unmet needs nor scare resources fully account for the underlying causes of conflict.
	Kevin Avruch suggests that cultural differences sometimes obfuscate the true motives that are driving conflict.
	Frank Dukes, an environmental mediator, observes that the presenting problem is seldom the real problem.
	Peter Coleman describes five different metaphors or ways of defining what intractable conflicts are all about.
Particular Underlying Causes
	Roy Lewicki describes how incompatible frames can lead to intractable conflicts.
	Brazilian economist Olympio Barbanti discusses how development efforts have caused conflict in the Brazilian Amazon.
	Jayne Docherty suggests that resolving conflicts among parties with fundamentally different world views is extremely difficult.
	Suzanne Ghais, Program manager at CDR Associates in Boulder, Colorado, focusing only on resolution will be inadequate in situations where ongoing relationships are a component of conflict. She stresses the importance of relationship management.

This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Featured Links
Organizations Making Noteworthy Contributions to Efforts to Promote More Constructive Conflict

Minorities at Risk

Other Resources from
Beyond Intractability

Web-Based Conflict Research Tutorials
A guide to using the Web for conflict resolution research.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Though nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times, Gandhi never received the award. Yet, his practice of nonviolent social action and humanitarianism enduringly provides history with one of the most poignant examples of the peaceful change that one individual can inspire.

Beyond Intractability Version IV
Copyright © 2003-2007 The Beyond Intractability Project
Beyond Intractability is a Registered Trademark of the University of Colorado
Project Acknowledgements

The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors
c/o Conflict Information Consortium (Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado
Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154; Contact