Access to Justice: A Taxonomy of Conflict and Dispute Phases

Abstract

The existence of conflicts and disputes in consumer trade has great implications for many parties because its effects can affect the current situation of consumers and the country's trade sector. Dispute resolution bodies that are procedural, ethical and have their own positive values, need to play a role in dealing with disputes brought by the parties involved. Traditionally and in practice for centuries, the court has an important function to administer and uphold the law by hearing any dispute filed according to the established procedure. This privilege, however, did not last long because consumer trade disputes changed direction by choosing alternatives and other forms of resolution mechanisms that more suit their needs, such as various Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR) mechanisms. This paper employs a qualitative research method to achieve the objective in discussing several theories of conflict and disputes analyse by several prominent experts. Various types of conflict theories that lead to several forms of disputes and a variety of management techniques or responses to control them from continuing are also detailed. For consumer trade disputes, the history and background of access to justice for consumers was also studied to get the real scenario of disputes that consumers often face, especially in the current era.