Applying Group Processes to International Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Abstract

For over 30 years, applied social psychologists and other scholar-practitioners have been developing small group methods for the analysis and resolution of violent and protracted international conflict. These applications, termed interactive conflict resolution by Fisher (1993, 1997), directly engage informal representatives of the conflicting parties in intensive discussions facilitated by an impartial team of third-party consultants. The objectives include individual attitude change, including realizations about the other party and the nature of the conflict, and the creation of ideas and policies for deescalation and peace building to be transferred back to the relationship between the antagonists. The third party’s role is to improve communication, facilitate dialogue, induce analysis of the conflict, and guide the participants through a process of joint problem solving. One social-psychological premise is that face-toface interaction is necessary to address relationship issues that hinder deescalation and to develop mutually acceptable and sustainable solutions. A typical workshop lasts 4 or 5 days and involves approximately 15 participants, five from each of the two conflicting parties and the third party. Thus, the approach is clearly a small group method both in size and in the nature of the interaction. Although these innovative applications fall within the domain of small group theory and research, little has been written about them from that perspective. This may be because few of the developers were trained in group dynamics, or perhaps because the larger context of the work has been the interdisciplinary field of conflict resolution, rather than one of the social sciences that studies small groups. Nevertheless, descriptions have been provided on the nature of the interaction, the role of the third party, the developments within workshops over time, the processes of joint