Effective and Rational Ways Resolution of Conflict - Literature review Example

Introduction: There is every need to come up with effective and rational ways in which conflict can be resolved. The impact of conflict resolution isa very important issue that requires to be tackled in the best way possible. The benefits of this study will eventually assist the people in the warring countries to enjoy peace and individual growth and development. It is clear that the people in these two countries desire peace and space to develop their country. Conflicts affect a lot of events in a country (Conference paper 2005). There is no way that there can be effect policy making if a country is in war or is conflicting with a neighboring state. The resources will be distributed fairly and not directed to fighting their adversaries. The people in of Afghanistan have for nearly three decades experienced nothing but war and this has also led to the dilapidation of infrastructures in the place. The ending of this conflict between them and Pakistan will help in improving the economy as the resources will be assigned to other important sectors in the country rather than the world. The end of these conflicts will also reduce humanitarian crisis that faces the people in these regions and this will improve the health standards of people around (Conference paper 2005). Literature and the two states According to the existing literature, if states are caught up in a trap of endless low-intensity warfare, it is due to poverty, ancient ethnic trends or greed from the neighbors for the precious resources in the country. In Never-ending Wars, Hironaka (2008) sets the record straight by pointing at the responsibility of the international community. Using statistical evidence, Ann looks at the causes of long durations of war by examining how the natural environment contributes to transform local grievances into long-term civil wars. There is continued unaccountability of the continuing civil wars and this helps to fuel the existing wars in the present country. Lack of organization in the said country, lack of resources, poor bureaucratic mechanism and the inability of the countries to enforce law and order are among the issues that are continuously eliciting more and more crisis as there are no mechanisms to help them control their borders. State weakness has also been seen to contribute to the long-term civil wars as they are often underdeveloped in terms of economic and political institutions. Their weakness dwarfs their ability to counter the attacks and hence makes them vulnerable to the states with superior military weapons. As Al-Jazeera (2007) puts it, the hopelessness of the people in the country is quickly creating more tension as the number of refugees is increasing as the war goes on. It further goes on to say that misery, poverty, cold and never-ending conflict has been the worst impact on the people in the country given the fact that the state has not had the opportunity to lead a normal life since the conflict broke out in the late 1970s. Another variable that is cited here is the cold war as this created an opposition between two opposing blocs who in turn supported the conflicting states enabling the various factions to support endless conflicts in countries that lacked even the bare necessities. This also determines how the intervention of these conflicts will be handled as they are the ones who dictate how the international community will respond to the conflict and in whose favor. The other variable noted by Hironaka (2008) is the fact that the impact of the current international climate is the most challenging of all. This is the party that is responsible for preserving the sovereignty of a country regardless of their viability of and is currently untenable. There are two main hypotheses that are discussed in relation to the study. These are: Hypothesis 1:non-involvement of the international society makes the conflicts drag on. The soviet union entered the country in 1979 to assist the communist government but exited after nine years leaving the country to devise their own ways of coming up with the solutions to their own conflicts. They were consequently funded by the Soviet Union in terms of monetary and military aids until the time the Soviet Union collapsed. These meant that the Afghan people were now at the mercy of the Mujahideens (Svetlana, 2001). The international community did not offer any more assistance as the west considered the country a communist state and give the period of the soviet union collapse, this was at the height of the cold war when the west and the soviet did not see eye to eye. Afghanistan has for a long time been a contentious issue among the rich nations due to the fact that it is a rich country in terms of the raw materials sort after by this countries. For example, the Americans eyed the oil in the country and decided to launch an attack on what was said to be a fight against terrorism. In the real sense, they wanted a government that would be accountable to them and reduce the Middle East influence on the acquisition of raw materials and also oil (Afghanistan 2009). This is not helping at all as the people in the country will be continuously involved in the wars and have no time to get back to their business. It is through this that the help of the international community is needed. It is important that those involved in coming up with the policies to deal with the conflicts that affected third world countries do so without any vested interests that may hamper the achievement of peace and a lasting solution with the people in the country. It is important to up hold peace and sovereignty of a country and the international community should be solely aware of this process. Hypothesis 2: Conflicts last longer if the conflict is taking place in the area of the strategic point of interest of several third parties. The main of the Soviet Union being in the country was the fact that the people of Afghanistan had a very productive economy that constituted of the agricultural products, natural gas, coal, iron and gemstones. These raw materials are of great importance to any company that wills to expand its industries (Svetlana, 2001). The other rich countries in the world envied the Soviet Union as it owned these products and were hence reluctant to assist in ending the conflicts in the country. There is still evidence of the natural gas though the withdrawal of the Soviet troops dealt a major blow as the Afghan civil war destroyed the mines (Afghan website, 2009). The invasion by the Americans recently was a proof that the country is still a potential place to gain from its natural resources and its domestic agricultural products. The economic status of Afghanistan however deteriorated since the withdrawal of the Soviet Union troops. It is noted that part of the reason why the soviet withdrew its troops was due to the involvement of the Pakistanis and the US. These two countries were very much interested in the land of the Afghanis and they showed this through their involvement in the war against the Soviet Union. The Pakistani government launched its attack from its border with Afghanistan with the help of the mujahideens and their own military (Ahmed, 2001). They engaged the Soviet Union in endless battles which were reported to be very fatal and also seen as a chance to be proprietors in this rich country. The US on the other hand saw this as an opportunity to weaken its long-term enemies. They funded the Pakistan military to help them fight better and hurt the soviet military more. It was during these attacks that the Soviet Union suffered major losses leading to their loss of strongholds. The provinces they controlled reduced significantly from 30 to 12 (John, 1987). The situation at the moment: In the recent past, different forms of conflict have emerged. System over load is not an exception: it is a rule. The complexity of human society and information technology has since grown exponentially. The only disadvantage is that the ability of the human knowledge to control all these developments still lags behind (Oberg n.d). Nations that are rendered helpless are at all times forced to engage in endless conflicts that are at all times increasing in magnitude as the fighting goes on. This implies that the people in the nations affected by high rates of conflict among them need to be assisted (Oberg n.d). Afghanistan is currently in misery. More and more fighting is being reported in the regions that border Pakistan. There are mounting concerns on the state of war in Afghanistan and Pakistan as both countries are being considered as a breeding site for the terrorists. It is also notable that the proliferation of arms in these two countries is alarming and needs to be looked at carefully and extensively (Mitchel, 2009). Variables in the study: The intervening variable in this case is the media. This is the process where the media will use its mandate to come up with ways in which they can solve these conflicts. It is important to note that the media needs to be regulated to avoid the use of communication to flare tempers and tensions as well. The only way that they will be tamed is through the use of regulations to come up with a lean and responsible media (Conference paper 2005). The rules should be stated to include the fact that they should be latent open and post-conflict. They are supposed to be promoting communication between the government and the rival factors in the latent stage and this will be met via the creation of an independent way of using the media as intervention tool to promote this dialogue. They need to promote peace at the community level given the fact that they are the ones who have the greatest influence in reaching a large number of people (Conference paper 2005). This will help support peace initiatives in the countries and also solving conflicts in an amicable way. The main aim of the post-conflict stage is to come up with ways in which they can develop a capacity for building the local media to support peace initiatives from the grassroots and also provide a base in which they can come up with local media pluralism to diversify the ways in which they can solve conflicts in from a local perspective (Conference paper 2005). The independent variable is the international community especially led by the United States and Russia. This is due to the fact that they have the most influence in the UN and the control of the military power in the world with their advanced technology (UN, 2002). With a comprehensive research, the countries with the greatest influence on international matters will be asked to provide all the required personnel in terms of expert advice and technological assistance should the need arise. Research methods and data collection: I intend to cover extensively the whole area and come up with ways in which all the people will be represented in the study. The best way would be to come up with a whole area with about 300 hundred respondents especially those with in the universal suffrage age and those that are also seen to make decisive decisions in that concern the whole community. This will imply that the people in the two communities will have to be interviewed to come to a consensus and also have findings that are a representation of the whole population or at least reflect on the general mood in the country. The study will mainly feature in the war torn regions where they will be asked to give their views and also have views from others not at all involved in the war but equally affected by the same war. The intended way of data collection is through interviews with the experts and also a survey on the country’s citizens to get to the root of the problem in such a way that all people in both countries will be given fair hearing to avoid biasness. The next will be questionnaires to ensure confidentiality and also be able to get full knowledge on the attitudes that have been repressed for so long and are not able to vent them with a foreigner. The other issue will be to interact with people of the two countries to come up with the proper understanding of the traditional and cultural backgrounds of the two nations to conclusively come up with ways in which we can handle the crisis without making the people feel like they have been undermined (Svetlana 2001). This will also give insight on the kind of terrain that will be experienced should there be any need to employ the peace keeping mission. The terrain was the major hurdle when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and that was what hindered them from completely covering the extensive country to suppress any mutinies or coups that would emerge. The need for this is also to bring forth the issues that the forces will encounter in this country on the bases of whether the country was friendly or would it be hostile to the forces themselves (Svetlana 2001). Another important issue concerning the collection of this data is that what needs to be collected is only the helpful bit that relates entirely to solving or coming with a generalization that will lead to a specific solution. This will imply that literature materials to give a background of the two countries and also the need to carry out the research on ways that conflicts as those experienced in the countries in question. Another means will be the repeated measure design where we have to revisit the variables again to come up with ways in which the desired results will be comprehensively arrived at. Cross-case analysis and its trade- offs: This study is directly linked to the study of the individual cause of the problem or the most probable cause of the war. Thus the analysis of the hypothesis in the start of this report declares that there is a need to have even more outlets when it comes to the continued survey and study of the variables and respondents as well (Gerring, 2007). This means that the case study will eventually bring us to understanding of the complex issue and extend experience or add strength to what is already known through revisited literature. The main aim of this study is to emphasize on the need to have a detailed contextual analysis of a limited number of conditions and the relationship they have. It is an empirical inquiry that is meant to investigate the contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used (Yin, 1994). Given the gravity of the study and its importance to the countries, it is important to have a detailed research analysis of the all the inherent characteristics in the respondents. This research model will also keep the researchers from reaching premature conclusions by offering more insights on the different ways in which they can look at the data and have precise results after surveying all the respondents and also after coming into contact with all the variables (Soy, 1997). The data is extensive since the case study is dealing with different research stations and hence, each of the researchers will be accorded individual data to examine separately to get different opinions on the same data and eventually come up with a resounding conclusion. I choose this because when a pattern from certain data type is substantiated by the evidence from another, the eventual conclusion is stronger (Soy, 1997). This will also ensure that conflicting evidence gives a chance to conduct deeper probing of the differences so as to identify the cause or source of conflict. In all cases, the researcher treats the evidence fairly to produce analytic conclusions answering the original research questions of "how" and "why" (Gerring, 2007). The trade offs in cross case study analysis will be derived from the basic research goals which are as follows: (1) whether the study is oriented towards the generation of hypothesis or testing of hypothesis. This is a very important issue as the hypothesis is the general analysis of the paper and should therefore be clearly detailed, (2) whether internal or external validation is prioritized. This will ensure the reliability of the results and the methods of data collection. (4) Whether population of the cases in study are heterogeneous or homogenous. This is where we get to understand the viability of the data and respondents chosen. (5) Whether the availability of data is common or dispersed. This will entail the process in which they will ensure that the results found will be applicable to all the people in the country (Yin, 1994). It is important to note that the people in the country feel different and their comments will vary from those who feel utmost different. Population affects the thinking process and mob ideology should be placed in perspective at this juncture. Countering the mob decisions will ensure that all the things will be taken into consideration. (6) Whether the insight into casual mechanisms is more valuable in the case where the case study covers a broad scope of respondents (Gerring, 2007). Qualitative analysis and its trade-offs: The best method of data analysis is the qualitative means of data verification. This is because the data will have to undergo various steps before it is taken as the valid results. It is important to note that the following characteristics are accredited to this particular process. First of all, the process is iterative and progress as the cycle of events keeps repeating (John, 1998). When one comes across one issue that is intrigue or related to the data or even the study itself, he thinks about other things that may be closely related to the noticed thing. Then, you collect the things and go and think more about them. It is a process that keeps on repeating itself (John, 1998). This is a good way of exhausting all the presented issues and also come up with ways in which they can handle the new data they have accessed. Secondly, the process is recursive as it keeps referring you to a previous process. This in turn ensures that all the processes are carefully scrutinized and missing components linked to the new found things. Thirdly, it is a holographic process that entails a step contains an entire process. This makes the research even more progress in that it offers the people with a chance to think more on the resulting data and ensure that each part of the data has been looked at in different ways to come up with analytic data (John, 1998). The trade-offs in this field are meant to enhance efficiency and intelligibility of the information collected. It is important to validate the process of analysis to ensure that the process is efficient in offering precise information and results. It is important to note that the availability of efficient methods of data collection is important in any research to ensure credibility and preciseness (Dey, 1993). Conclusion: Conflict resolution is one of the many research sectors that have of late become very contentious in the modern world. With the coming up of the new technologies, conflicts are becoming deadly as the advanced technologies are being used against their fellow neighbors. This implies that the international community has to be in the fore front in combating the escalating sour relations among long-term adversaries. It is through the involvement of the super powers that the conflicts can be solved amicably (Barnet & Abubakar, 2006). Hironaka (2008) states that the best way to combat the rising conflicts in this world is the international aid which of late focuses on the on the rule of law and institutional building that will enable the countries get back on track to receive the much anticipated aid that is clearly needed in these countries. Secession is another that she advices but is rejected by experts saying that the division of the weaker states does not get to the root of the conflict, state weakness and may result to creation of more weaker states which may in turn cause the rise in more conflicts as they battle for resources. This implies that there is no single formula that can be devised to end this menace thus more and more research needs to be done to cope with the rising insecurities, and conflicts that are in these states. The notion of mild colonialism is taking its toll in some countries where the super powers are imposing their rule on these weak states but this is also not acceptable politically. 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