Conflict Resolution Theories Term Paper

Pages: 8 (2777 words)  ·  Style: Harvard  ·  Bibliography Sources: 8  ·  File: .docx  ·  Level: College Senior  ·  Topic: History - Israel


If we consider the view point of Israelis, they claim to have ownership of Jerusalem which is their prime religious hub and was acquired from them forcefully in 15th century. Now Israelis have believed Jerusalem to be rightfully theirs because of historical background, and the frustration caused by this deprivation act as the source of motivation for them for their current course of actions which involves military activities ranging from normal military operations to guerilla wars and attacks on civilians. Under the action of the relative deprivation perspective, Israel further attacked the then Palestine in 1965 and acquired the area provided to Palestinians by UN.

On the other hand, if we consider the ideology followed by Palestinians and other Arab groups supporting them, they believe that they have been living on this particular land for centuries and are rightful owner of it. Furthermore, Jerusalem also acts as the prime religious place for Muslim community as well and they believe that it is rightfully theirs. Now, the reaction shown by Muslims in Palestine is a pursuit of what is rightfully theirs: their religious place, ownership of the land, dignity and pride. It is apparent that both the parties are acting under the influence of relative deprivation perspective as they are trying to achieve what they believe, belongs to them.

4: Burton's Version of Conflict Management

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As per John Burton, the conflicts in between humans arise when their basic needs are not met. These needs are not hierarchical, but rather sought all together: security or safety, meaning both stability and freedom from fear; identity, defined by needs theorists as a sense of self in relation to the outside world; recognition, including the recognition of one's identity and recognition from the others; family and community; and personal development, which includes a dimension of personal fulfillment, or in other words "the need to reach one's potential in all areas of life. The non-fulfillment of these needs is governed by three phenomena (Burton, 1997, p. 32).

TOPIC: Term Paper on Conflict Resolution Theories Assignment

The first phenomenon is the inherent ability of individuals to conform to institutions they are living in together. Considering the historical background, Israelis have an inherent difficulty living with Muslim community as they are believed to be abused by Muslims in late 15th century. Such historical background now provides a justification to remain detached from this community. On the other hand, Muslims have religious restrictions while living with Jews. It is the teaching of their holy book that Jews cannot be trusted. This is the reason why Muslims o f Palestine cannot confirm to this norm imposed on them (Burton, 1997, p. 16).

In this respect, the second cause of conflict as defined by Burton is the current nature of is the nature of norms and institutions as they have now evolved. The current evolution of institutions in the case of Israel-Palestine issue has made the situation rather controversial. This evolution has made Israelis the governing body of the whole land which is not acceptable the Muslims of that area as they perceive themselves to be the rightful owner of this land. On the other hands, Muslims of Palestine has evolved in to highly aggressive military groups which are big a question for the sovereignty of Israel itself.

Third possible cause of the conflict as defined by Burton is the compliance system observed by the authorities to ensure conformation to the norms. In the case of Palestinian Muslims, they have been forced to follow the pattern of life as defined by Israelis on the basis of self-employed government and forced deprivation of their land, which is not acceptable to them. Whereas Israelis believe that now they have what is rightfully theirs and any rebellious act by the Muslims of Palestine cannot make them withdraw what they have occupied.

All these three notions are driven by the basic needs of two communities. Both aspire to be safe and secure, have a unique identity, and aspire to have rights which are recognized by others and aim to develop personally and community wise. Failure to accomplish these needs causes conflicts in three possible ways.

5: Tilly's Conflict with Relative Deprivation Theory

Relative deprivation theory relates to the frustration that individuals experience due to their perceived degree of achievements and rights and the actual status. The theory concludes that it is the comparison between one's status and that of opposing party which makes the deprived ones undergo extensive stress leading to the feeling of deprivation. This feeling further causes frustration leading to riots, conflicts and violence.

On the other hand, Tilly believes that revolutions only take place when those challenging power are in a state of mobilizing various forms of resources and the revolutionary outcome takes place when this mobilization is greater than the capacity of the state to mobilize its coercive, material, and administrative resources. Furthermore, Tilly in his book, "Durable Inequality" says that social categories often result in categorical inequalities however not all categorical distinctions among people result in economic or political disparities across the resulting groups -- for example, "good sense of humor/bad sense of humor" doesn't appear to result in income disparities across the humorous and the humorless. But the male-female wage gap, the black-white wealth gap, and the white-Latino education gap all are examples of inequalities that follow from, and are presumably caused by, the categorical status possessed by the two groups.

The social mechanisms that Tilly identifies as being primarily responsible for inequalities across social categories are exploitation and opportunity hoarding. Exploitation, which operates when powerful, connected people command resources from which they draw significantly increased returns by coordinating the efforts of outsiders whom they exclude from the full value added by that effort. Opportunity hoarding which operates when members of a categorically bounded network acquire access to a resource that is valuable, renewable, subject to monopoly, supportive of network activities, and enhanced by the network's modus operandi (Tilly, 1999, p. 9-10)

Where Relative deprivation theory illustrates the uniform resultant of deprivation, Tilly argues that this inequality is durable and is rooted into the society not resulting into conflict all the time. Furthermore, during his research in 1972, he tested a set of data illustrating collective violence from 1830-1960 in France in the light of Relative deprivation theory and concluded that no relationship can be found between instances of violence and the conditions of perceived hardships. This empirical research made Tilly disagree with the relative deprivation theory (Roy, 1973, p.2).


Burton, J.W. 1997. Violence explained: the sources of conflict, violence and crime and their prevention. Manchester University Press ND

Browning, G., Halcli A. & Webster, F. ed. 2000. Understanding contemporary society: theories of the present. Sage Publications

Hunt, L. 1984. Charles Tilly Collective Action, In. Skocpol, T. ed. Vision and method in historical sociology. Cambridge University Press, pp. 244-275

Li, R.S.K. 2012. Conflict theory in comparative/historical sociology. Retrieved from

Morgan, E. 2003. Collective political violence: an introduction to the theories and cases of violent conflicts. Routledge Olsen, M. 1965. The logic of collective action: public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard University Press.

Orru, M. 1983. The Ethics of Anomie: Jean Marie Guyau and Emile Durkheim, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 34 (4), pp. 499 -- 518

Rabinovich, I. 2011. The lingering conflict: Israel, the Arabs, and the middle east, 1948-2011. Brookings Institution Press

Roy, W.G. 1973. Collective violence, political contention and repression in France: 1866-1965. University of Michigan

Tilly, C. 1978. From mobilization to revolution. New York: McGrawHill.

Tilly, C. 1999. Durable inequality. University of California Press

Walker, I. And Smith, H.J.… [END OF PREVIEW] . . . READ MORE

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"Conflict Resolution Theories."  July 24, 2012.  Accessed September 18, 2021.