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International Online Training Program On Intractable
Conflict
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Conflict Research Consortium, University
of Colorado, USA |
Failing to Identify all of the Relevant Issues
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In addition to failing to identify people or groups who might be involved in a
conflict, disputants can also overlook issues which are important to others, but are not
important to themselves. Often people will not realize that there is more than one way to
see a situation, and that other people or groups may see the conflict differently than
they do.
This is especially true in highly escalated and intractable conflicts. As conflicts
escalate the number of issues in dispute tends to increase. Initially, a dispute may
center around a particular event or problem, which is very clear. As the dispute goes on,
however, the parties bring up more and more related problems, expanding the number of
issues in contention. In the case of intractable conflicts, some of which have gone on for
years, the numbers of issues may be in the tens or even hundreds. Sometimes the initial
issues may recede in importance, being replaced by completely different problems and
issues. It can become very difficult to even identify all of the issues in conflict, let
alone solve them. Yet if important issues are not identified, it is impossible to develop
solutions to the conflict that will successfully resolve it.
Links to Examples of this Problem:
- Gareth Evans -- Failure to Employ Preventive
Diplomacy to avert Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait
- This article explains how a failure to identify all of the relevant issues in this
conflict led to the failure of preventive diplomacy.
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- Kohut and Toth -- Managing Conflict in
the Post-Cold War World: A Public Perspective
- This article uses public opinion polls to analyze American public attitudes toward
foreign policy. The article concludes that Americans are far less knowledgeable about
foreign affairs that citizens of other countries, which affects their decisions regarding
U.S. foreign policy in unfortunate ways.
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- Alexander George -- United States-Japan
Relations Leading to Pearl Harbor
- This short story illustrates how the U.S.'s failure to understand Japan's perspective
led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II.
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- Andrea Williams -- Resolving Conflict in
a Multi-cultural Environment
- This article illustrates how cultural differences can cause people to overlook key
issues involved in a conflict, and therefore fail to resolve the conflict in an effective
way.
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Links to Possible Treatments of this Problem:
- Conflict Mapping
Links to Related Problems:
- Failing to identify all of the
Affected People or Groups
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- Ignoring the Conflict History
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- Ignoring Current Related Conflicts
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- Inadequate Information Gathering
Copyright ©1998 Conflict Research Consortium -- Contact: crc@colorado.edu