The Social Role of Conflict

Bernard Mayer says that “conflict resolution has provided and intellectual and vocational outlet for the impulses that led us to be activists at an earlier stage in our lives” (Mayer, 150).  This mentality of “making the world a better place” has drawn professionals from all walks of life, from education to law to medicine, into the field of conflict management.  On the issue of climate change (whether one believes the research or not), the social role of conflict cannot be ignored.  That said, the idea of climate change is often seen in terms of buzz words and phrases – “global warming,” “climate science,” “global cooling,” “greening,” to name a few.  An important part of the social role is to humanize the conflict and work outside of the buzz words, the politics, and the emotions.  One way to do this is to concentrate on the people who are in the immediate conflict situation on which we have been tasked to work.  For example, one of the hot button topics being discussed globally is what will happen in the future to climate refugees (attention, buzz word), who are forced to abandon their centuries-old homelands.  Instead of trying to tackle this massive, intimidating issue, we should look at the groups of people who are being affected by this phenomenon, such as the still-displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina or the inhabitants of the Carteret Islands, whose island will be gone by 2015 (Ecologist, Dan Box Blog).  

The social role of conflict in terms of climate change (and other global issues) can bring unexpected opportunities to achieve a personal philanthropic goal, as well as, help to manage what seem to be impossibly large issues.  As conflict management professionals, we should be able to reach beyond that threshold of emotion and help to neutralize the fear and anger that our clients involved in the climate change dispute may harbor.  The benefit of this approach is two-fold: first, it shows the disputants that we are there to look for a win-win resolution (or at least make some headway in that direction), and not to take sides.  Our goal is to actively listen and facilitate a mutually beneficial outcome.  Second, by removing the politics from the conflict, we also disperse the risk for the parties involved.  As Cohen says in You can Negotiate Everything, “when you spread a risk so that it’s on others shoulders, as well as your own, you defuse and diffuse your risk” (Cohen, 63).  In taking on the risk of the parties involved, but doing so without the emotion (thus managing our own natural biases), we empower all of the parties to explore new opportunities for progress. 

Types of Power

Within the realm of global conflict, especially with a immensely debated issue like climate change, power come in many forms and is utilized to accomplish many goals.  In Getting Past No, Ury says that “use power to bring them to their senses, not to their knees” (Ury, 133), and he goes on to describe the necessity of the power of education in conflict management. Education power can be pictured as building a bridge between two opposing ideas.  By using this form of power, we are illustrating that a particular idea is in the best interests and/or needs of everyone at the table, and you are highlighting the potential consequences and benefits of their choices.  (Ury, 132-133).  In terms of climate change this could be speaking to a situation where palm oil may benefit a 3^rd world government and lead to economic growth, but cause serious, irreversible environmental damage.  Using education power, a conflict specialist could build a bridge by facilitating a discussion of the possible alternatives to deforestation.  The one drawback to excessively using this type of power is that we can easily fall into the trap of inserting our own bias and attempting to force one side to agree with the other.  Another issue that can arise in terms of the social role is that as activists, we are constantly trying to educate and bring awareness to one side of an issue.  As conflict specialists we have to be aware of our social role and our social bias, while acting as an advocate (so to speak) for all of the disputants involved in the issue. 

Another type of power that can be developed and used in climate change conflicts is Individual and Social Power (Mayer, 4).  Individual power is most utilized by governments and multinational corporations, who send lawyers, executives, and/ or representatives to the ADR table.  On the other hand, communities, groups, and/or indigenous peoples may choose to operate using social power because they feel that there is strength in numbers.  However, this type of power can vacillate or even be employed simultaneously throughout the ADR experience. 

Socially Constructive Dialog

To be honest I often question whether there really has been constructive dialogue about climate change.  After all, we began talking about the issue in the 1950’s, and at the 2010 Copenhagen Summit, the nations of the world failed to produce binding agreements or even influential conversations in the effort to reduce their production of greenhouse gases.  Instead, they focused (as we all do) on the issues that might plague the Earth in the future.  Furthermore, as long as climate discussions are limited to buzz words and pure scientific data, as opposed to the impact on 3^rd world (and in reality even 1^st and 2^nd) peoples, these top level, and largely insignificant conversations will persist.  However, despite the lack of effective change from governing bodies, real dialogue and solutions are happening on the individual and grass roots level.  As conflict management professionals, we can be very effectual on this level, which many eventually influence worldwide governments and policymakers.  Eventually, we may even be able to influence the discussion of adaptation and mitigation options in the field and help to reframe the issues so that they address environmental degradation and sustainability for the people of the world.

One of the things that Ken Cloke states in his powerpoint presentation really strikes to the heart of the issue: “The only way we can solve these problems and increase our chances of surviving is to build our capacity to communicate across differences, agree on solutions and implement them through voluntary international collaboration” (Climate Change and Conflict:  How Mediation Can Help Save the Planet, slide 45).  As social activists (if you are one), and as conflict management professionals, this is really our calling – to facilitate active listening, problem solving, and communicating in a safe and confidential environment.