An evaluation of the application of specific conflict management mechanisms in the South African transition to democracy, 1985-2004 : a conflict resolution perspective (original) (raw)

Resolution have also proven most useful. Given this extensive overview of Burton's output, we are able to provide an historically-situated exposition of the development of his work. Also, the literature dealing with South Africa's history of conflict, and the transitional passage to democracy, including pre-negotiation conflict resolution initiatives, the National Peace Accord, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, will be engaged, within the context of violence and negotiations. Again, although reference is made to general historical and sociological source material, the dominant authors consulted will be those working within the conflict resolution paradigm. Primary source material including newspaper reports and reports of individuals involved in resolution processes will also be accessed. Additionally, original documentation, such as the minutes of meetings, reports and personal communications will be used. Newspaper articles, though primary sources in respect of certain events that form part of the study, are often quite unreliable, sometimes presenting slanted versions or explanations of events. In this regard, the journal articles are regarded as more reliable, and will provide the mainstay of the information used. The literature will also be scanned for evidence of resolution in the current situation in South Africa. A number of opinion surveys on the state of social CHAPTER THREE : THEORETICAL OVERVIEW The history of humankind and the rise and fall of civilizations is unquestionably a story of conflict. Conflict is inherent in human activities. It is omnipresent and foreordained. (Isard, 1992:1) What's effectively needed is a ramified, penetrative perception of the present, one that makes it possible to locate the lines of weakness, the strong points ... In other words, a topological and geological survey of the battlefield-that is the intellectual's role (Foucault, 1977). 3.1 12 The negative and positive aspects of social conflict are well captured in Rubin, Pruitt and Kin 1994. Social Conflict: Escalation Stalemates and Settlement (7-9). 13 See for instance the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict (1997) report on the scale of poorly managed conflict in the period following the end of the Cold War. See also the introduction of Van de Goor,L., Rupesinghe, K., and Sciarone, P., (eds), 1996, for an overview of the destructiveness of conflict inter and intra-national conflict in the early Nineties 28 lead to a lack of innovation and societal stagnation. The same would hold for conflict in organizational or family settings. There can therefore be no doubt that the pursuit of a scientific understanding of conflict is an important goal of social inquiry, as such an improved understanding would undoubtedly assist us in the improved prediction of episodes of conflict and its management or resolution. Before proceeding with an excursion through the various approaches to and a definitional unpackaging of the study of conflict, it will be useful to establish, in broad terms, the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon, using a model developed by the author, in 1992. 3.3 The Bases of Social Conflict Conflict in society has many bases, or causes. It may be based on value differences, clashes of interests, unfulfilled needs, misinformation, past relationships, or structural situations, or any combination of these. We will deal with each of these separately below. 3.3.1 Value-based conflict: Origins of conflict are often to be found in the fact that different people hold different values. These values may be of a religious nature, or they may be political, or ideological. In this way, capitalists may clash with communists, or Muslims with Hindus or Christians. Many of the ongoing social conflicts in the world are based on value conflicts. Such conflict is notoriously difficult to manage, due to the zero-sum nature of many value systems. 3.3.2 Interest-based conflict: Much social conflict is based on the fact that most of the material requirements of human beings are in great demand, and there is only a limited supply. Demand