Interactive problem solving in intercommunal conflicts

Abstract

Intercommunal conflicts are frequently the subject of third-party interventions. As used here, intercommunal conflicts refer to large-scale, expressed struggles between rival nations or groups, which may occur within the borders of a state or beyond them. When such conflicts occur, at first, it would be natural to assume that the parties should settle their own conflict because this is their concern, their business. But due to the very nature of conflict—the tension of hostility, lack of trust, mutual suspicion, impulse to secrecy, biased communication, lack of bilateral thinking, and so on—conflicting parties are the least equipped to initiate a peace process by themselves. Hence, thirdparty intervention often becomes a necessity in the process of peacemaking