Conflict Resolution Skills - Essay Example

History and Political Science Crisis Management Crisis management and conflict resolution skills are superior tools in resolvingboth man-made and natural disasters in a situation of emergency. Crisis management requires a proper understanding of a crisis and the development of a plan to dissolve it within the shortest time possible using the most effective strategy. The ability of the government to intervene in a crisis and to neutralize it determines the impact of the conflict, which at times may be beyond rehabilitation. The world has experienced numerous crises that have been recorded in the world history as dangerous conflict situations that resulted in the death of many people in the world. While some crisis as the Cuban missile crisis was resolved within a period of 13days, others such as the World War I took over 4 years before they were finally settled. This essay seeks to evaluate the success factors of conflict resolution and analyze how they were applied in the Cuban missile crisis and the World War I. Kouzmin (17) points out that the timeliness of the response is a critical factor that determines the ability of the government or the involved parties to resolve their conflict. Crises are emergency situations that often have adverse effects to the social political system if prompt actions are not taken. The more the time that is taken to resolve a conflict, the more likely that the impact of the war is likely to be felt in the affected regions. While it is important to define a good background to resolve a conflict and to avoid hurried decisions that may fuel the war, there is need to develop a quick plan to initiate resolution strategies to reduce the ill effects that come along with such situations of war. Caldwell (6), a professor and a political analyst, commends President Kennedy for his prompt action to neutralize the looming danger of a heated nuclear war in a time of emergency. When the Cuban president stationed missiles in Cuba, there was already high tension that the two countries would engage in big fights whose repercussions would be out of magnitude. At this time, President of America prioritized this issue and focused on the emergency situation. First, he immediately dropped his support for North Korea attack on South Korea and engaged a consultative meeting to come up with a plan to resolve the conflict. Consequently the conflict was resolved within 13 days and no impacts of the looming war were experienced in America. Crisis management in the World War I seems to have taken a slow pace. Mulligan (73) points out that the reason why this war took too long to solve is because the governments had an attitude that any attempts to launch a crisis management plan would be futile. The impact of this delay is that World War I became one of the most catastrophic crises in the world history as many people lost their lives. The magnitude of the crisis is a factor that cannot be ignored while designing a strategic plan to mitigate the effects of a crisis. The geographical scope of a disaster is used to measure the intensity of a crisis and the population that is likely to be affected by the effects of the conflict. A disaster that involves only a few countries has less impact compared to one that affects the entire world. While planning the conflict resolution strategy, it is important to consider the applicability of the strategy to all the nations especially in a conflict that spans out in several countries. Kouzmin (7) warns that the domain of the threat has to be considered if the intervention strategy has to be successful. The First World War was a worldwide disaster the war was manifested in different ways in various countries. Mulligan (227) states that this war was a result of various threatening forces and determining the motives of the war was quite a complex issue, a factor that delayed the process of peace making. Governments took longer to agree on the best procedure to conflict resolution and this slowed the process while more people continued to suffer under the war. In the case of Cuba, it was a war with Americans one side and Cubans and the Soviet Union on the other side and the motives of the conflict was well known to the engaged parties. This small geographical scope of the conflict is one of the attributes of this crisis that facilitated its quick resolution the alleviation of the catastrophic impact that would have been experienced if the nuclear war had erupted. The formulation of a consultative team is one of the preliminary stages of a crisis management process. The development of a conflict resolution strategy requires that the government heads consult with a team of senior government heads to strategize the most effective channel to use in conflict resolution. Often, the ideas of the consultative members may vary and the decision making process may be slowed considerably before a concession can be reached. Caldwell (7) points out the need of forming small effective groups to facilitate a quick decision making process. In fact, he says that to convene a successful meeting those with unpopular opinions are supposed to be eliminated from the group. As such, the ability of the government to engage an effective ad hoc group will determine the success of the intervention plan in time of emergencies. In the First World War, it was practically impossible to convene a successful consultative meeting to facilitate conflict resolution. The fact that the war was widespread made it almost unachievable to convene a successful consultation as the opinions of the participant were more diverse and it had to take longer to reach a concession. This made the process of conflict management slow and unsuccessful (Lord 11-24). On the hand, Kennedy made subtle judgments to facilitate the consultation process and to converge into an optimal decision. When Adlain Stevenson, a US representative to the UN, suggested that USA withdraw its forces from the boundaries, his opinions were disregarded and he was dropped from the group to facilitate the decision making process (Stern 35). The ability of Kennedy to maintain a cohesive consultative group seems to be the principle reason of the success. The amount of diplomacy employed in conflict resolution determines how success the crisis management plan would be. Communication is a vital element of diplomacy as it ushers the motive to negotiate and engage in peacekeeping mission. In the First World War, lack of diplomacy is depicted at the beginning of the war when the British Prime Minister Asquith stated that the country was not willing to stop the war until the military of Prussia was completely defeated (Mulligan 208). However, the conflict was resolved in 1917 when diplomacy was reinstated after President Wilson declared that there was a need to engage in organized peace keeping rather than struggle for power. In the Cuban crisis, there is evidence of limited diplomacy as the American president declared a threat to attack Cuba if they did not withdraw their missiles from this region. In conclusion, various factors underpin the success of crisis management in times of conflict. The impact of an emergent crisis in times of war depends on the time that is taken to nullify the threat and the level of risk that the crisis poses to the social political system. The success of the Cuban crisis management by the American president can be attributed to the priority that he gave to the matter, the formulation of an effective consultative group and promptness of his intervention. Consequently, it was possible to mitigate the great impact of the threat that would have had dire consequences for the nation. In the World War I, the large geographical scope of the threat made it difficult to engage in effective crisis management and this delay subject the world population for a long period of human suffering. In this view, it is possible to regard the Cuban crisis management strategy as more effective than that employed in the First World War. Works Cited Caldwell, Dan. The Cubian Missile Affair and the American Style of Crisis Management. Center for Study of Soviet International Behaviour, 11(2), 2001: 1-17. Kouzim, Alexander. Crises and Crises Management: Toward Comprehensive Government Decision Making. Journal of Public Administration, 2(1), 2000: 1-28. Lord, Carnes. Crisis Management: A primer. Institute for Advanced Strategic Management and Political studies, 7(1), 2001: 11-24. Mulligan,William. The Origins of the First World War. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2010. Print. Stern, Sheldon. The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory. Myth versus Reality. California: Stanford University Press. 2012. Print. Read More