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Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

Intractable conflicts are those that linger despite the parties' understanding that they would be better off resolving their disagreements in negotiation. The obvious ensuing question is why these conflicts persist when rational considerations indicate they should cease. A valuable way to examine this ostensible paradox is through the lens of Dynamical Systems Theory ("DST") and specifically by applying the concept of conflict attractors, which are "patterns of thinking, feeling and acting ... pulling ... toward a negative, destructive state that becomes self-organizing and selfperpetuating." The DST frame is particularly useful to observe intractable conflicts since it focuses on nonlinear, multi-dimensional and interconnected developments taking place within an integrated system over time. Such complexity generates potential attractors from various sources, capable of feeding and sustaining intractability and rendering conflicts protracted. Conflict, as a system of interactions and an interface in which interests, motivations, passions and fears of two parties or more collide, is constantly furnished and fuelled by internal as well as external stimuli. Some originate from within-inside drives and impetuses of the involved parties; others emerge from the environment or landscape in which conflict dwells. Both influences serve to confound and defy the simple explanation of why conflicts prevail even when they turn futile and counter-productive.

Disciplines

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law | Legal Education | Legal History | Psychiatry and Psychology

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