Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Conflict'

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2006.
Thesis Advisor(s): Peter Gustaitis. "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83). Also available in print.

This dissertation examines, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of international policies, especially of sanctions, on conflicts. In theoretical analysis, we consider conflicts (both civil and inter-state) related to natural resources and examine how sanctions on natural resource exports affect the intensity of conflicts. However, for the empirical analysis, we consider only the civil conflicts and examine how international sanctions affect the duration of civil conflicts. In chapter 1, we develop a two-period general equilibrium model on the relationship between natural resources and civil conflicts. Contrary to the most of the existing literature, we assume that resource extraction and wage rate are endogenous during the conflict. We find that the effects of current international sanctions on civil conflict depend critically on whether the budget constraints of the warring groups are binding or non-binding, and whether wage rate is exogenous or endogenous. Under both binding and non-binding budgets, the current sanction can be counter-productive. However, a threat of future sanction reduces conflict intensity, when the budget constraint is non-binding. An improvement in agricultural productivity may also limit the conflict. Our results also suggest that the most effective policy for conflict resolution would be bilateral piece-meal reduction in war efforts. Chapter 2 develops a two-period general equilibrium model linking natural resources to inter-state conflict, treating resource extraction and wage rate are endogenous. First, we characterize the war equilibrium and derive a number of properties of it. Second, we examine the effects of different types of trade sanctions imposed by the international community on war efforts of the two countries. We find that a temporary current sanction on both countries, or even on one of the countries, will be counter-productive, and an anticipated future sanction on both countries will unambiguously reduce war intensity. Whether an anticipated future sanction on one of countries will reduce war intensity will depend on the level of resource stock; the effect of a permanent sanction on both countries is ambiguous: war intensities will fall only if the resource stocks of the countries are sufficiently high. Finally, in chapter 3, we examine empirically the effects of international sanctions on the expected duration of civil conflicts. Contrary to the most of the previous findings, we find that sanctions reduce the expected duration of civil conflicts. Our finding is robust for different controls, different parametric models, and with consideration of endogeneity of sanctions. However, not all types of sanction are equally successful in shortening conflicts. Total economic embargoes and arms sanctions are effective, but trade sanctions, aid suspension, and other sanctions do not work. We also find that both multi-lateral and unilateral sanctions (mainly US sanctions) can reduce duration of civil wars.

Balochistan is one of the federating units (provinces) of Pakistan; it constitutes 44 % of Pakistan’s total territory and has been in a state of confrontation with the state since 1948. This is because the majority of the Baloch consider that the Pakistani state annexed their land forcibly, against the will and desire of the people. The Baloch nationalists have never accepted this annexation, and as a result the state has been facing serious crises precipitated by various factors. Ever since Pakistan’s annexation of Balochistan, there has been an on-going conflict between the Baloch (i.e., the Baloch people) and the state of Pakistan. The fact is that the conflict in Balochistan is multidimensional, including political, social and economic factors, the avarice of the Pakistani state and the grievances of the Baloch people. In order to aid an understanding of the various backgrounds to the conflict, this thesis contributes to debates on the politics of education and conflict in Pakistan’s Balochistan. I have used statistics and analysed data gathered during my fieldwork in Balochistan and Pakistan to investigate the politics of education and examine various policy frameworks, rationales and perspectives on the role of education. In order to do so, this study adopts a qualitative method and employs multiple data sources: documentary data, semi-structured interviews with twenty-eight stakeholders (in the province and country), visual data, and observations. Drawing on functionalist and conflict perspectives on the role of education, this thesis examines whether education in Balochistan is designed to empower the people or is simply used as a tool to control them. I have found that the state is not willing to educate the Baloch people; rather, it wishes to control them. There are two ways in which education in Balochistan is being used to serve the purpose of control. Firstly, the state of education in terms of its type, quality, quantity and infrastructure is considered by the majority of Baloch to be a failure of government’s strategic policy. For instance, education in Balochistan has lagged behind in various areas of government policy and decision-making. Major problems in Balochistan’s educational system include a deeply inadequate supply of textbooks, insufficient monitoring of schools, shortages of teachers and schools for both boys and girls, and insufficient funding. Secondly, many Baloch decry Pakistan’s unjust efforts to impose its culture, language and radical religious ideologies on the Baloch people. Indeed, the politics of (mis)representation of the Baloch and their history, culture and language are implemented through the state’s official textbooks. Education in Balochistan, particularly in government-run schools, is highly biased against the Baloch culture, history and social set-up, and it is thus a contributory factor in the generation of retaliatory behaviour among Baloch students. Formal education in Balochistan is structured in ways that indoctrinate children with a different language, culture and history. To many scholars, controlling education negates Baloch national aspirations and thus contributes to the conflict in Balochistan.

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship among conflict distress, conflict attributions (self/partner blame), perceived conflict behaviors (similarity/difference) and relationship satisfaction. Relationship Conflict Inventory (RCI), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), Conflict Behaviors Questionnaire and Demographic Information Form was administered to 58 dating couples. In order to investigate the predictive power of conflict distress level, conflict attributions (self/partner blame), perceived conflict behaviors (similarity/difference) and demographic variables on relationship satisfaction stepwise regression analyses was carried out. Moreover, separate cross partial pairwise intraclass correlations conducted in order to examine the relationship between one partner'
s conflict distress level, conflict attributions (self/partner blame), perceived conflict behaviors (similarity/difference) and the other partner'
s relationship satisfaction
and to examine the relationship between one partner'
s conflict distress, conflict attributions (self/partner blame) and the other partner'
s perceived conflict behaviors (similarity/difference). Additionally, it was also aimed to examine demographic variables'
(namely, gender) effects on each variable and in all analysis. The results revealed that higher levels of conflict distress and perceived difference on conflict behaviors predict lower levels of relationship satisfaction. Additionally, results yielded that in predicting women'
s relationship satisfaction conflict distress accounts as the only variable, whereas for men similarity on perceived conflict behaviors and blaming self predicted relationship saitsfaction. It is also found that one partner'
s conflict distress, partner blame and perceived conflict behavior difference negatively correlated with the other partner'
s relationship satisfaction
and one partner'
s conflict distress and partner blame is positively correlated with the other partner'
s perceived conflict behaviors (similarity/difference). Furthermore, results indicated no gender differences on conflict distress level, conflict attributions (self/partner blame), and perceived conflict behavior (similarity/difference). The results are discussed in the light of literature.

Since 1988, the states of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in conflict over the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. The conflict has developed into one of the most intractable and complicated disputes in the international arena, with the main parties being the two rivalling sovereign states plus the 'unrecognised state' of Nagorno Karabakh. Despite the optimistic statements and claims by the OSCE and after many years of negotiations and talks, the peace process remains in stalemate. The research argues the virtues of Track Two diplomacy and highlights the successful instances where it has made important contributions to the 'official' or Track One diplomatic process. It also explores the potential of a 'no war no peace' situation by discerning the factors influencing the progress of the conflict. The research shows that a deeper understanding of the obstacles to peace is achieved by appreciating the significance of historical events as well as recognising the motives and interests of the different parties. The study reviews all major factors which have led to the failure of resolution efforts, particular the negative role played by Russia. It concludes that the scholars in the field of conflict resolution can bring about a lasting peace to this region, provided there is a fundamental change in the structure of the co-chairs of the OSCE.

In the recent years, majority of African countries have been faced by conflicts during election periods. Some of the electoral related conflicts escalated into violence, and they have been transformed or managed. While other electoral related conflicts have just been prevented during the election periods but remain latent conflicts that would escalate triggered by future elections. This study focuses specifically on electoral conflicts in Kenya and its conflict management perspective from 2002-2013. To transform and manage the conflict, peacebuilding initiatives have been integrated in the study. The prime actors in Kenya electoral conflict includes the; the ruling party coalition, the leading opposition coalition and ethnic groupings affiliated to the ruling party and opposition. Other peripheral actors include: the Independent, Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the judiciary. Triangulation (the combination of two or more methods of collecting and analysing data) has been adopted both in data collection and analysis. Focus group interviews, selected individual interviews, and literature reviews were used to collect data, while research findings were analysed systematically using the constructivist grounded theory. Moreover, the liberal peace theory, Institutionalisation before Liberalisation (IBL) and findings from other researchers like (Elder, Stigant and Claes 2014:1-20), and the Afrobarometer research findings (Kivuva 2015) have been used to authenticate the research findings. Research findings indicates that claims of election rigging, numerous institutional failures, negative ethnicity and economic disparity, among other factors heighten the fear and anxiety that escalates during elections. Towards achieving peacebuilding and sustainable peace, the following reforms were undertaken: constitutional changes and reviews, electoral body reform, judicial reform, pursuit of transitional justice, extensive range of local initiatives reforms and police reforms. However, findings in the study also reveal that despite the latter reforms, peacebuilding measures have been short-term, temporal, and not fully successful, leaving behind a latent conflict that could be triggered again with future electoral conflicts. Besides that, negotiation, dialogue and mediation played a role in restoring trust and confidence in the democratic structures after escalated elections. We also recommend that multi-ethnic composition for electoral coalitions should also be adopted as a means to mitigate ethnic triggered conflicts.

I simulate a population of agents playing the repeated Nash Demand game. The agents adopt strategies from the infinite strategy space and the population evolves over cycles in a survival of the fittest fashion. Certain strategies become stable during the simulation, causing different levels of average payoff.

I simulate a population of agents playing the repeated Nash Demand game. The agents adopt strategies from the infinite strategy space and the population evolves over cycles in a survival of the fittest fashion. Certain strategies become stable during the simulation, causing different levels of average payoff.

This research explores dance as method to elicit conflict transformation and unfold peaces at the intrapersonal level. Peace is understood as presence, as a way of being in the world, and conflict as a natural feature of human relationships. This thesis investigates how to provide a frame which renders the embodied here and now moving experience meaningful, creating auspicious conditions for eliciting conflict transformation and unfolding peaces. Exploring elements that contribute to this process, it analyses interpretations of peaces and dance expressions. Furthermore, this thesis discusses the transrational peace philosophy and an approach to dance that acknowledges its potential for peace, and suggests twisting harmful tendencies with balance and awareness. It then explores elicitive conflict transformation and methods to facilitate it. Finally, this text presents a theoretical and practical approach to those elements through embodied movement, which informs the potentials and limitations of dance as method to elicit conflict transformation
La presente tesis explora la danza como método para elicitar la transformación de conflictos y desdoblar paces en nivel intrapersonal. Se investiga cómo propiciar un contexto en el cual se haga significativa la experiencia del movimiento corporal consciente en el momento presente, creando condiciones auspiciosas para elicitar conflictos y desdoblar paces. En busca de elementos que concierten tal método, esta pesquisa pone en diálogo interpretaciones de paces con expresiones de danza. Asimismo, se elabora sobre la filosofía de las paces transracionales y sobre el potencial de la danza para la paz, y se sugiere distorsionar tendencias nocivas con equilibrio y consciencia. Se explora también la perspectiva elicitiva de transformación de conflictos y los métodos para facilitarla. Finalmente, se presenta un abordaje teórico y práctico de estos elementos por medio del movimiento corporal consciente, que informa el potencial y las limitaciones de la danza como método elicitivo de transformación de conflictos.

The purpose of the thesis is to see how operational prevention has been carried out in cases of internal conflicts in the last five to six years in order to see whether it has been ineffective just due to lack of political will or if there could be other explanations to it. To fulfil the purpose, two main questions are answered in two steps. The first question is:

What other factors than political will are necessary for operational prevention to be more effective? These other factors then form a model for more effective operational prevention together with political will. The second question is based on this model and is as follows:

Is the model that these factors form followed when operational prevention is applied in practise?

Three cases of conflict are looked at in order to answer the second question, Darfur, Nepal and Haiti. Both steps of the analysis are conducted by means of qualitative text analysis. The results support the common notion that effective conflict prevention is due to political will to act within the international community, but the results also indicate that political will is not all it takes for operational prevention to be effective.

This study examines and analyzes conflict management and effective communication from several complementary perspectives. The purpose of the study is to identify common types of conflicts that learners confront in the process of EFL learning
to examine and analyze EFL learners'
own strategies to deal with conflicts based on the conflict handling modes in the process of EFL learning
to find out their needs in terms of effective communication skills necessary to manage conflicts
and to analyze their attitudes toward conflict management learning and their needs for conflict management strategies. In order to achieve this aim, a survey research is preferred and the quantitaitve data gathered through the questionnaires were supported with the qualitative data obtained from the interivews with participants EFL learners. In the questiionnaire, there were two parts. The first one was a demographic inventory designed to gather the demographic characteristics of the participants. In the second part, four sub-sections were desgined: (1) a rank answer questionnaire to identify common types of conflicts that learners confront in the process of EFL learning
(2) a slightly adapted, Likert scale questionnaire which was translated to Turkish by Gü
mü
seli (1994) from the Rahim Organizational conflict Inventory II (ROCI II) to identify EFL learners'
conflict management strategies
(3) another Likert scale questionnaire to find out their needs in terms of effective communication skills necessary to manage conflicts
and (4) an alternative answer questionnaire to analyze learners'
attitudes toward conflict management learning and their needs for conflict management strategies. The result of these questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS 15.0. This data gathering instrument was implemented on 339 students at the preparatory school TOBB University of Economics and Technology. Data gathered from 171 students from the same school were used for the piloting of the stduy. The data gahthered from 339 students at ETU Preparatory School represented the results of the main study. In analyzing the data, descriptive statistics as frequency, percent, average, and standard deviation and inferential statistics as ANOVA was used. As the second scale of the current study, semi-structered interviewsw were conducted with 12 students studying at the same university. The results of the interviews were analyzed through content analysis. The results of the study revealed that there is a relationship between EFL learners'
conflict managament strategies, need for effective communication skills, and their gender, scholarship status, last school graduated, and duration of study at a particular university. Additionally, the study displayed that students confornt various types of conflict and they need to learn conflict management skills and effective communication skills to deal with conflicts successfully.

This thesis proposes a new method for solving systems of linear constraints over the rational and real numbers (or, equivalently, linear programming) - the conflict resolution method. The method is a new approach to a classic problem in mathematics and computer science, that has been known since the 19th century. The problem has a wide range of real-life applications of increasing importance in both academic and industrial areas. Although, the problem has been a subject of intensive research for the past two centuries only a handful of methods had been developed for solving it. Consequently, new results in this field may be of particular value, not mentioning the development of new approaches. The motivation of our research did not arise solely from the field of linear programming, but rather was instantiated from problems of Satisfiability Modulo Theories (or shortly SMT). SMT is a new and rapidly developing branch of automated reasoning dedicated to reasoning in first-order logic with (combination) of various theories, such as, linear real and integer arithmetic, theory of arrays, equality and uninterpreted functions, and others. The role of linear arithmetic in solving SMT problems is very significant, since a considerable part of SMT problems arising from real-life applications involve theories of linear real and integer arithmetic. Reasoning on such instances incorporates reasoning in linear arithmetic. Our research spanned the fields of SMT and linear programming. We propose a method, that is not only used for solving linear programming problems, but also is well-suited to SMT framework. Namely, there are certain requirements imposed on theory reasoners when they are integrated in SMT solving. Our conflict resolution method possesses all the attributes necessary for integration into SMT. As the experimental evaluation of the method has shown, the method is very promising and competitive to the existing ones.

The conflict research subdiscipline within international relations commonly distinguishes international conflict between nation-states from civil war within nation-states. By regarding conflict research as a state-centric geopolitical discourse the thesis challenges this categorisation because (1) of the many links and therefore blurry practical distinction between the two, and (2) stateless nations can be involved in conflict with other nations, thus constituting an 'international' conflict. To overcome this problem an alternative, nation-centric critical geopolitics of international conflict is proposed. In this way the thesis aims to extend both conflict research and critical geopolitics. To do this the critique utilises recent literature on the contemporary conceptualisation of nation and nationalism to argue against the conventional conflation of nation and state and to reconstruct the adjective "international". Recognising that nations can exist without also being states enables the conceptualisation of international, and when such nations come into conflict, either with other stateless nations or nations that are states, this becomes 'international conflict'. This typology allows for conventional 'international' conflict, or rather inter-state conflict, by distinguishing between ethnic and official nations. The theoretical argument is reinforced by consideration of an empirical case study, that of the Kurds of the Middle East. The Kurds are presented as a distinct and unique stateless nation, the largest in the world, in conflict with the Persian (Iran), Arab (Iraq), and Turkish (Turkey) nations that surround them. The case study is undertaken through analysis of the Kurds and their national homeland of Kurdistan at the local, Middle Eastern, and global scales, each demonstrating in different ways the divergence of nation and state and, in the case of the latter two discussions, an example of an international conflict.

This study used qualitative methods to examine if there was a connection between conflict resolution styles used with siblings in adolescence and conflict resolution styles utilized in current romantic committed relationships. The Conflict Resolution Behavior Questionnaire (Reese-Weber, & Bartle-Haring, 2003) and Gottman‟s (1994a, 1994b) couple-conflict types as adapted by Holman and Jarvis (2003) were administered to 144 participants through an online questionnaire. Analysis of the CRBQ using a multiple regression indicated participant‟s self-rating of compromise, attack, and avoidant conflict resolution styles used with siblings when an adolescent predicted current self-ratings of compromise, attack, and avoidant conflict resolution styles utilized in current romantic relationships.

Since the 1990s, participation has become the dominant method for multinational mining corporations to contain conflict with people affected by mining. Yet conflict, including violent confrontation, remains prevalent. The literature documents a wide range of outcomes of participatory mechanisms – they may produce compromise, exacerbate conflict or even create new opportunities for conflict – yet there is little literature explaining such variance. This thesis explains this diversity in terms of (a) factors involved in the design and implementation of participatory mechanisms by multinational miners and (b) factors determining how, when and why people affected by mining participate or not. I use the ‘modes of participation’ framework to analyse how institutional and ideological foundations for participation shape who can participate, on what issues and when. I argue that participatory mechanisms including corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community development are neither simple outcomes of corporate ethics nor merely greenwashing strategies, as they are often presented. Rather, participation is a mechanism of rule to both contain manifestations of conflict risky to corporate profitability and create social relations amenable to extractive accumulation. Qualitative data are drawn from fieldwork across three case studies in Indonesia – the proposed coastal Kulon Progo sand iron mine in Yogyakarta, Newcrest’s Gosowong gold mine in North Maluku and Rio Tinto’s ex-Kelian gold mine in East Kalimantan. These cases are placed within an analysis of global corporate self-governance that has arisen in response to broader crises of legitimacy. Findings highlight the importance of historically constituted social relations and contestation across local and global scales in shaping participation. Particularly important for how people affected by mining participate are their control of land, histories of organisation, alliance structures and ideologies. These factors shape the desire and capacity of people affected by mining to resist or secure benefits from participation in mining developments.

The thesis is an attempt to fill the theoretical and empirical gap in current conflict management research, which has failed to examine methods of conflict management comparatively. Two dominant paradigms exist, neither of which is adequate to the task of comparing negotiation and mediation in the real world of international politics: the Psychology paradigm and the Third Party Intervention paradigm. An alternative theoretical framework, the Contingency framework of negotiation and mediation was therefore, constructed. This model suggests that negotiation and mediation are conceptually and empirically different, and specifies a series of contextual and process variables which are vital to any examination of conflict management. Utilising a unique data set of thousands of cases of negotiation and mediation coded according to the variables specified in the Contingency model, a general bivariate analysis, followed by a more in-depth multivariate analysis, revealed a number of important differences and similarities between the two methods. The results suggest that negotiation and mediation are different forms of conflict management, which are most likely to be successful under contrasting conditions in international politics. Negotiation is the most successful method overall, but tends to be limited to low intensity, interstate conflicts. Mediation tends to occur in the most intense, intractable, and primarily civil conflicts, and is useful under a number of onerous circumstances.

Inter-state conflicts are a key area of study in international relations, and have been approached with a variety of techniques, from case studies of individual conflicts, to formal analysis of abstract models and statistical investigations of all such conflicts. In particular, there are a variety of theories as to how states make decisions in the face of conflicts – such as when to threaten force, when to follow through, and when to capitulate to an opponent’s demand. Some scholars have argued that states may be viewed as rational decisionmakers, while others emphasize the role of psychological biases affecting individual leaders. Decisionmaking is challenging to study in part because of its complexity: the decisionmakers may not just be individuals but organizations, following internal procedures and reflecting institutional memory. Furthermore, the decisions are often believed to be strategic, reflecting the decisionmakers’ anticipation of multiple other actors’ potential responses to each possible decision.

In this dissertation, I demonstrate that agent-based models (ABMs) provide a powerful tool to address this complexity, and advance their use as a bridge between different methodologies. Agents in ABMs can be used to represent countries and endowed with a variety of internal decisionmaking models which can operationalize a variety of theories drawn from case studies, psychological experiments or game-theoretic analysis. The specific decision model agents utilize may be changed without altering the sub-models governing how the agents interact with one another. This allows us to simulate the same overall interactions utilizing different decisionmaking theories and observe how the outcomes differ. Furthermore, if these interactions correspond to real-world events, we may directly see how much explanatory or predictive power the outputs of the model variants provide. If one variant’s outputs correspond closer to the empirical data, it provides evidence supporting that variant’s underlying theory.

I implement two agent-based models, extending well-established prior models of international conflict: the International Interaction Game (Bueno de Mesquita and Lalman, 1992) and the Expected Utility Model (Bueno de Mesquita, 2002). For each, I start with their original agent decisionmaking models, and develop several variants grounded in relevant theories. I then instantiate the models with historic, empirically-derived data and run them forward to generate sets of simulated outcomes, which I compare to empirical data on the relevant time periods. I find that non-rational models of decisionmaking in the International Interaction Game provide similar explanatory power to the purely rational model, and yield rich satisficing behavior absent in the original model. I also find that the Expected Utility Model variant implementing a Schelling (1966)-inspired model of coercion yields richer dynamics and greater explanatory power than the original model.

In addition to providing evidence in support of particular theories and hypotheses, this work demonstrates the power of the comparative modeling methodology in studying international conflict. Future work will involve adding more statistical controls to the model output analysis, comparative analysis between the outputs of the two overall models, and extension of the decisionmaking models for each. The same methodology may also be expanded to other formal and computational models of international relations, and social science more broadly.

Les conflits armés ont toujours été émaillés de nombreuses exactions commises contre les populations civiles, notamment lorsque la guerre présentait une dimension identitaire ou politique relativement affirmée. C'est encore le cas dans de nombreux conflits contemporains. Le droit international n'a pourtant cessé de se renforcer pour garantir à ces populations une meilleure protection contre les effets des hostilités, notamment par la signature de plusieurs conventions internationales à La Haye ou Genève qui constituent aujourd'hui le socle du droit international humanitaire. Il existe donc un contraste flagrant entre l'état du droit et la protection effective des populations sur le terrain. Pourquoi ? Recentré sur l'analyse de la conflictualité contemporaine, ce travail s'efforce d'en rechercher la cause dans l'évolution des cadres de référence des combattants et dans la manière dont ils influent sur leur définition de l'ennemi et sur leur conception de la place des civils dans la guerre. Il démontre comment l'évolution des causes de conflit comme de la pratique des combattants dans les guerres asymétriques ou déstructurées tend à replacer toujours plus les civils au coeur de la guerre. Cela ne signifie pas pour autant que le droit international humanitaire, adopté pour l'essentiel à l'issue des deux Guerres mondiales et au cours des années 1970, soit obsolète. De fait, au contraire, ses principales règles relatives à la protection des populations civiles sont assez souples pour s'adapter aux défis que posent les conflits contemporains, pour peu que les combattants veuillent les appliquer et en faire une interprétation raisonnable et de bonne foi
Armed conflicts have always been interspersed with numerous abuses committed against the civilian populations, notably when the war was of identity or political nature. This is also the case in number of modern conflicts. International law has however continued to strengthen in order to guarantee better protection to civilians against the effect of hostilities, notably by the signing of several conventions at the Hague and Geneva, which today constitute the basis of international humanitarian law. There is, therefore, a sharp contrast between the state of the law and the effective protection of civilians on the field. Why ? Refocusing on the analysis of modern conflicts, this work attempts to look for the cause in the development of soldier's references and in the way they influence their definition of the enemy and their conception of the role of civilians in war. It demonstrates how the evolution of the causes of conflict and the practices of soldiers in asymmetric and deconstructed conflicts tend to place more and more civilians at the heart of the war. This does not mean that international humanitarian law, adopted for the main part after the two World wars and during the seventies, is obsolete. On the contrary, its principal rules relative to the protection of the civilians are flexible enough to adapt to the challenges of modern conflicts, as long as the soldiers are willing to apply them and interpret them reasonably and honestly

En esta tesis doctoral, utilizo estrategias empíricas en economía aplicada para proporcionar evidencias cuantitativas que pueden ayudar a mejorar las políticas de bienestar en los países en desarrollo. Mi principal objetivo es comprender la efectividad de las políticas y cómo los factores económicos pueden alterar las decisiones de las personas. En el capítulo 1, Evaluación de las políticas educativas sobre las tasas de matriculación en Ghana, analizo el impacto de las políticas educativas implementadas en Ghana en 2004 y 2005 sobre las tasas de matriculación en el nivel escolar básico. Estas políticas; La Subvención de Capitación, el Programa de Alimentación Escolar y el Kindergarten Obligatorio se implementaron con el objetivo principal de aumentar el acceso a la educación en el nivel básico. Usando el nivel del distrito datos del Ministerio de Educación, Ghana, y datos de encuestas de las Encuestas demográficas y de salud de Ghana, utilizo una estimación de diferencia en diferencias para estudiar cómo estas políticas han aumentado las tasas de matriculación a lo largo del tiempo. Los datos del nivel del distrito muestran que, en comparación con 2004, el NER aumentó en un 25% en 2006 y desde entonces ha fluctuado alrededor de este número, mientras que el GER aumentó en un 10% en 2006 y aumentó en un 20% en 2014. El nivel individual los datos también muestran un incremento en NER en un 10% en 2008 y un 8% en 2014, en comparación con 2003. Al examinar cómo las políticas afectaron a diferentes distritos y personas, ambos conjuntos de datos muestran disparidades en las tasas de matrícula por riqueza y lugar de residencia, pero no hay evidencia de disparidad de género. Además, la brecha que existe entre las regiones del norte y del sur se ha reducido. Desde la perspectiva de las políticas, estos hallazgos requieren atención sobre la equidad y los efectos sostenidos de estas políticas. En el capítulo 2, “Matrimonio precoz y conflicto, Evidence of Biafran War en Nigeria”, exploro las variaciones proporcionadas por la guerra civil nigeriana, conocida como la Guerra de Biafra, para estudiar el efecto del conflicto en el matrimonio precoz de las mujeres expuestas. Específicamente, realizo un análisis de diferencia en la diferencia mediante la explotación de la variación entre etnias y cohortes, que determinan si una mujer estuvo expuesta a la guerra o no. Encuentro que las mujeres expuestas a edades de 10 a 15 años tenían, en promedio, 6% más de probabilidades de casarse antes de cumplir 16 años que aquellas que no estuvieron expuestas. Este hallazgo llama la atención sobre el hecho de que el conflicto podría exacerbar el matrimonio precoz ya que los individuos pueden recurrir a esta dañina tradición solo para hacer frente a las crisis económicas que enfrentan. En el capítulo 3, “El impacto del conflicto sobre la edad al contraer matrimonio en el África subsahariana”, analizo el impacto de la variación en la intensidad del conflicto experimentado durante los años de matrimonio de las mujeres en el África subsahariana con respecto a su edad en el primer matrimonio. Usando datos de la Encuesta Demográfica y de Salud y estimando un modelo de riesgo discreto, encuentro que la exposición al conflicto tiene un impacto diferencial en el espectro de edad: el conflicto aumenta el riesgo de contraer matrimonio entre los 18 y los 21 años, sin efectos en el otra subpoblación de edad.
In this doctoral thesis, I use empirical strategies in Applied economics to provide quantitative evidences that can help improve welfare policies in developing countries. My main aim is to understand the effectiveness of policies, and how economic factors can alter the decisions of individuals. Specifically, I concentrate on the domain of gender and education. In the domain of gender, I study how the marital decisions of women can be altered when they are exposed to economic shocks such as conflict. And in the domain of education, I look at impact evaluations of educational programs aimed at improving access to education. In chapter 1, Evaluation of Educational Policies on Enrollment Rates in Ghana, I analyze the impact of educational policies implemented in Ghana in 2004 and 2005 on enrollment rates at the basic school level. These policies; the Capitation Grant, School Feeding Program, and Compulsory Kindergarten, were implemented with the main aim of increasing access to education at the basic level. Using district level data from the Ministry of Education, Ghana, and survey data from Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys, I employ a difference-in-difference estimation to study how these policies have increased enrollment rates over time. I measure enrollment rates as Net Enrollment Rate (NER) and Gross Enrollment Rates (GER): the NER measures the percentage of the official age population of a particular grade that are enrolled in that grade while the GER measures the total enrollment irrespective of age, expressed as a percentage of the official age population. The district level data shows that, compared to 2004, NER increased by 25% in 2006 and has since fluctuated around this number, while GER increased by 10% in 2006 and has increased over time, to about 20% in 2014. The individual level data also shows an increment in NER by 10% in 2008 and 8% in 2014, as compared to 2003. Examining how the policies affected different districts and individuals, both data sets show disparities in enrollment rates by wealth and place of residence, but no evidence of gender disparity. In addition, the gap that exists between the northern and the southern regions has reduced. From policy perspective, these findings call for attention on the equity and sustained effects of these policies. In chapter 2, Early Marriage and Conflict, Evidence from Biafran War in Nigeria, I explore variation provided by the Nigerian civil war, known as the Biafran War, to study the effect of conflict on early marriage of exposed women. Specifically, I perform a difference-in-difference analysis by exploiting variation across ethnicities and cohorts, which determine whether a woman was exposed to the war or not. I find that women exposed at ages of 10 to 15 years were, on average, 6% more likely to get married before they turn 16 than those who were not exposed. This finding draws attention to the fact that conflict could exacerbate early marriage as individuals may turn to this harmful tradition just to cope with the economic crises they face. In chapter 3, The impact of Conflict on the age at marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa, I analyze the impact of the variation in the intensity of conflict experienced during the marriageable years of women in Sub-Saharan Africa on their age at first marriage. Using data from Demographic and Health Survey and estimating a discrete-time hazard model, I find that exposure to conflict has differential impact across the age spectrum: conflict increases the hazard into marriage at the ages of 18 to 21 years, with no effect on the other age sub-population.

La influència de la família propietària en la gestió i en el govern de les empreses familiars imprimeix un caràcter únic per a l'emergència de la gestió constructiva del conflicte, sent precisament aquest l'objecte d'aquesta tesi: comprendre la gestió constructiva del conflicte en les empreses familiars. Per a això es van plantejar dos objectius: 1) Desenvolupar un model conceptual que explica com les relacions de mutu benefici es creen en aquest context específic, generant open-*mindedness i una gestió constructiva del conflicte. 2) Aportar evidència empírica del model per a poder refinar la teorització plantejada. El primer objectiu, es va dur a terme a través de la revisió conceptual del model de Tjosvold (et al., 2014) derivant en la proposta d'un model que estén la teoria de familiness (Habbershon i & Williams, 1999; Pearson et al., 2008) plantejant que existeix una configuració especial de recursos (estructurals, cognitius i relacionals) definida com familiness col·laboratiu que fonamenta les relacions de mutu benefici i l'adopció de debats oberts, elements implicats en la gestió constructiva dels conflictes en l'empresa familiar (Alvarado-Álvarez et al., 2020). Aquesta revisió conceptual ha estat publicada en la revista acadèmica Negotiation and Conflict Management Research (Volum 3, Número 2, Maig 2020) durant el procés doctoral. El segon objectiu, es va dur a terme a través d'un estudi de cas múltiple sota l'enfocament de mixed methods. Es van estudiar cinc empreses espanyoles en l'etapa de societat de germans amb un destacat acompliment innovador. L'estudi va utilitzar l'observació indirecta (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018) de narratives de 17 entrevistes semiestructuradas (gravades en àudio i transcrites) aportades per persones que ocupaven càrrecs de direcció o en el govern de l'empresa familiar. Addicionalment, es van revisar fonts documentals de diferent procedència (internet, documents de l'empresa, entre altres). Seguint els passos per a dur a terme una observació indirecta (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018), aquestes narratives van ser segmentades en unitats de significat i codificades (obtenint-se una matriu de codis per a cada cas) a través de l'ús d'un sistema d'observació indirecta ad hoc. El control de la qualitat de la dada va ser dut a terme amb el 10% de les unitats textuals permetent confirmar la concordança intra i inter-observador. Les matrius de codis obtingudes es van analitzar amb la tècnica de coordenades polars. Una vegada obtingudes les estructures de relacions associatives significatives de cada cas, es va fer una comparació entre elles que va permetre identificar aquelles estructures de relacions associatives significatives que coincidien en almenys tres dels casos i servien com a evidència empírica del model conceptual. Els resultats obtinguts van mostrar una nodrida estructura de relacions associatives significatives (d'activació i inhibició) entre la visió compartida i la confiança i a diferents nivells del sistema de gestió constructiva del conflicte. Els rols exercits en l'empresa també guardaven relació amb aquests components. Es va obtenir evidència dels processos cerca de concurrència i open-*mindedness en fòrums familiars i de propietat indicatius de la rellevància de la governança familiar. Addicionalment, es va evidenciar que les empreses familiars són la suma de diversos subsistemes amb les seves respectives configuracions de recursos relacionals i cognitius. Els resultats també apunten que la confiança, la visió compartida i el conflicte participen en la innovació de les empreses. Aquest estudi ajuda a la comprensió de la gestió constructiva de conflictes en les empreses familiars en etapa de societat de germans i ofereix vies per a futures recerques i implicacions pràctiques per a gerents, accionistes i assessors.
La influencia de la familia propietaria en la gestión y en el gobierno de las empresas familiares imprime un carácter único para la emergencia de la gestión constructiva del conflicto, siendo precisamente éste el objeto de esta tesis: comprender la gestión constructiva del conflicto en las empresas familiares. Para ello se plantearon dos objetivos: 1) Desarrollar un modelo conceptual que explica cómo las relaciones de mutuo beneficio se crean en este contexto específico, generando open-mindedness y una gestión constructiva del conflicto. 2) Aportar evidencia empírica del modelo para poder refinar la teorización planteada. El primer objetivo, se llevó a cabo a través de la revisión conceptual del modelo de Tjosvold (et al., 2014) derivando en la propuesta de un modelo que extiende la teoría de familiness (Habbershon y & Williams, 1999; Pearson et al., 2008) planteando que existe una configuración especial de recursos (estructurales, cognitivos y relacionales) definida como familiness colaborativo que fundamenta las relaciones de mutuo beneficio y la adopción de debates abiertos, elementos implicados en la gestión constructiva de los conflictos en la empresa familiar (Alvarado-Álvarez et al., 2020). Dicha revisión conceptual ha sido publicada en la revista académica Negotiation and Conflict Management Research (Volumen 3, Número 2, Mayo 2020) durante el proceso doctoral. El segundo objetivo, se llevó a cabo a través de un estudio de caso múltiple bajo el enfoque de mixed methods. Se estudiaron cinco empresas españolas en la etapa de sociedad de hermanos con un destacado desempeño innovador. El estudio utilizó la observación indirecta (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018) de narrativas de 17 entrevistas semiestructuradas (grabadas en audio y transcritas) aportadas por personas que ocupaban cargos de dirección o en el gobierno de la empresa familiar. Adicionalmente, se revisaron fuentes documentales de distinta procedencia (internet, documentos de la empresa, entre otras). Siguiendo los pasos para llevar a cabo una observación indirecta (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018), dichas narrativas fueron segmentadas en unidades de significado y codificadas (obteniéndose una matriz de códigos para cada caso) a través del uso de un sistema de observación indirecta ad hoc. El control de la calidad del dato fue llevado a cabo con el 10% de las unidades textuales permitiendo confirmar la concordancia intra e inter-observador. Las matrices de códigos obtenidas se analizaron con la técnica de coordenadas polares. Una vez obtenidas las estructuras de relaciones asociativas significativas de cada caso, se hizo una comparación entre ellas que permitió identificar aquellas estructuras de relaciones asociativas significativas que coincidían en al menos tres de los casos y servían como evidencia empírica del modelo conceptual. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron una nutrida estructura de relaciones asociativas significativas (de activación e inhibición) entre la visión compartida y la confianza y a diferentes niveles del sistema de gestión constructiva del conflicto. Los roles desempeñados en la empresa también guardaban relación con dichos componentes. Se obtuvo evidencia de los procesos búsqueda de concurrencia y open-mindedness en foros familiares y de propiedad indicativos de la relevancia de la gobernanza familiar. Adicionalmente, se evidenció que las empresas familiares son la suma de varios subsistemas con sus respectivas configuraciones de recursos relacionales y cognitivos. Los resultados también apuntan que la confianza, la visión compartida y el conflicto participan en la innovación de las empresas. Este estudio ayuda a la comprensión de la gestión constructiva de conflictos en las empresas familiares en etapa de sociedad de hermanos y ofrece vías para futuras investigaciones e implicaciones prácticas para gerentes, accionistas y asesores.
The influence of the owning family in the management and governance of family businesses provides a unique character for the emergence of constructive conflict management. This phenomenon is precisely the object of this thesis: to understand how constructive conflict management is carried out in family businesses. To achieve this aim, two objectives were proposed: 1) Developing a conceptual model that explains how mutually beneficial relationships and open debates exercise as roots for the emergence of constructive conflict management in family businesses. 2) Providing empirical evidence of this conceptual model to refine the proposed theorization. The first objective was carried out through the conceptual revision of Tjosvold’s model (et al., 2014) and its concurrent adaptation to the family business setting including the antecedents based on familiness concepts (Habbershon & Williams, 1999; Pearson et al., 2008). The conceptual model developed, states that there is a special configuration of resources (structural, cognitive, and relational) defined as collaborative familiness that roots mutually beneficial relationships and the adoption of open debates, two main elements involved in the constructive conflict management in the family business (Alvarado-Álvarez et al., 2020). This conceptual review has been published in an academic journal -Negotiation and Conflict Management Research (Volume 3, Number 2, May 2020)- as part of the doctoral process. The second objective was carried out through a multiple case study using a mixed methods approach. Five Spanish family businesses, in the sibling partnership stage, were studied, interviewing individuals who held management or governance positions in the family business (family and non-family). These businesses also demonstrated outstanding innovative performance. It involved indirect observation (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018) of narratives of 17 semi-structured interviews, recorded on audio and transcribed. In a complementary way, documentary sources of different origins were reviewed (internet, company documents, among others). Following the steps to carry out an indirect observation (Anguera, Portell et al., 2018), these narratives were segmented into units of meaning and coded through the use of an ad hoc indirect observation system. Data quality control was carried out with 10% of the textual units, allowing to confirm intra- and inter-observer concordance. The analysis of codes obtained from the coding process, was carried out through polar coordinates analysis individually for each case and according to a previous selection of focal behaviors and conditioned behaviors in coherence with the conceptual model. After obtaining the structures of significant associative relationships, a comparison of the five cases was made that allowed identifying those structures of significant associative relationships that coincided in at least three of the studied cases to identify those structures shared by the cases that could serve as empirical evidence of the conceptual model. The results obtained from the indirect observation of the narratives show a rich structure of significant associative relationships (activation and inhibition) between shared vision and trust at different levels of the constructive conflict management system and according to the different roles played by the family members within the company. Evidence on the specific processes of search for concurrence and open-mindedness in family and ownership forums that account for the relevance of family governance in this type of organization is also provided. Additionally, it can be observed that family businesses are the sum of several subsystems that present a particular resource configuration, highlighting relational and cognitive resources. Results also suggest the potential influence that shared vision, trust, and conflict have on innovation. This study sheds light on constructive conflict management in family businesses that are going through the sibling partnership stage, offering interesting avenues for future research and suggesting a series of practical implications for managers, shareholders, and advisers.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Psicologia de la Comunicació i Canvi

Studies on the effects of marital conflict and child adjustment have documented a consistent relationship between higher amounts of marital conflict and increased child adjustment problems. Recently, researchers have focused on viewing children's perceptions of marital conflict as an important variable that may influence the strength of the association between marital conflict and child adjustment. Recent research has indicated that children's perceptions of interparental conflict may influence overall child adjustment. The present study examined the relationship between marital conflict and child adjustment and the role of children's perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample.Forty-four 8- to 12-year-old children and one of their parents participated in this study. Adult participants completed four questionnaires: (1) The O'Leary- Porter Scale; (2) The Conflict Tactics Scale; (3) The Child Behavior Checklist; and (4) a demographic questionnaire. The child participants completed one scale, The Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale. The following research questions were investigated: (1) Is parental assessment of marital conflict related to child adjustment in a clinical sample? (2) Are children's appraisals of marital conflict related to child adjustment in a clinical sample? (3) Are boys' appraisals of interparental conflict related to the parents' appraisals of interparental conflict in a clinical sample? (4) Are girls' appraisals of interparental conflict related to the parents' appraisals of interparental conflict in a clinical sample? And (5) Are children's perceptions of marital conflict better predictors of child adjustment than parents' perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample?A significant relationship was found between parents' perceptions of marital conflict and child adjustment. However, children's perceptions of marital conflict did not significantly predict their overall adjustment. In accordance with these findings, it was also found that parents' perceptions of marital conflict were better predictors of child adjustment than children's perceptions of marital conflict in a clinical sample. It was also found that boys' appraisals of marital conflict were significantly related to parents' appraisals of marital conflict. Whereas, girls' perceptions of marital conflict were not significantly related to parents' perceptions of marital conflict. Implications and limitations of these findings and recommendations for future research were discussed.
Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This thesis explores conflict and its management among Quakers by probing deeply the dynamics of cultural and social change. This interpretation is based on three months of participant observation, semi-structured interview with informants, and a brief literature review of Quaker literature regarding conflict management. Conflict was examined by revising the model employed by Clifford Geertz to study social change. The model uses the concepts of social structure, culture and self to identify potential areas of conflict among Quakers. Four constructions are identified. The first, 'The Principled Construction of Conflict is based on Quaker principles of conflict and its management found in their formal statements. The 'Conceptual Definitions' come from the informants conscious attempts to define 'conflict.' A 'Folk Construction' is based on the informants informal discussions about conflict. A'Practiced Construction of Conflict' deals with the manner Quakers go about managing conflict in their daily behavior.
Department of Anthropology

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of History, 2006.
Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 17, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4659. Adviser: John H. Hanson.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008.
Vita: p. 253. Thesis director: Wallace Warfield. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 16, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-252). Also issued in print.

Researchers have begun to utilize advances in technology to complement self-reports in an effort to understand intrapersonal and interpersonal factors that are involved in conflict. The objective of this study was to use skin conductance to measure physiological arousal during and after couple conflict to provide clarity to the association between attachment styles, physiological reactivity to conflict, and recovery from couple conflict. Ten couples (n = 20) were connected to skin conductance equipment while engaging in a 10-minute conflict task, and a distraction task and discussion that was used to represent recovery from conflict. The t-tests results showed that the difference from baseline scores for gender and attachment styles were not significant. Bivariate correlation analysis was used for descriptive variables and attachment and physiological arousal. Multiple regressions were used to analyze skin conductance difference scores with attachment avoidance and anxiety. Results showed that attachment anxiety was associated with greater physiological reactivity during the conflict and recovery portions of the study. These findings are the first to link attachment anxiety and physiological reactivity with the use of skin conductance as a measure of physiological arousal. The results from the multiple regressions for avoidant attachment were not significant. The implications for the study include a methodology for future researchers to follow to study attachment, conflict, and recovery from conflict. Clinical implications are also present in that the study highlights the importance of assessing for attachment styles when working with couples to better understand physiological reactions during and after conflict, and emphasizes the utility of biofeedback devices to facilitate emotional regulation. Research implications are also discussed.

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia, ramo de Psicologia Clínica e da Saúde
O conflito faz parte da nossa vivência enquanto seres sociais em constante interação com os outros. Está cientificamente comprovado que a sua existência não é prejudicial, antes pelo contrário, promove o crescimento e o desenvolvimento. A Saúde é uma área em que, devido às dinâmicas que nelas se desenvolvem, se torna suscetível ao surgimento de conflitos entre os diversos atores intervenientes. Assim sendo, os estudos da gestão de conflitos e da negociação associada aos contextos de saúde têm vindo a ser tema de investigação, nomeadamente no contexto dos Cuidados de Saúde Primários, em modernização desde 2006. Neste sentido, os instrumentos de avaliação apresentam-se com um elemento chave para podermos caracterizar a situação em Portugal e, assim, podermos investir nas áreas em défice, planeando eventuais formações dirigidas às reais necessidades da nossa sociedade, o que seria benéfico não só para os utentes dos serviços de saúde, mas também para todos os profissionais de saúde e as próprias instituições de saúde. Deste modo, o presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar a qualidade da interação profissional de saúde-doente, bem como as estratégias de gestão de conflitos dos sujeitos selecionados na nossa amostra. Para tal, recorreu-se à aplicação do questionário da Qualidade da Interação Profissional de Saúde-Doente (QQPPI) e do Questionário DUTCH- Test For Conflict Handling. No que concerne aos participantes no estudo, estes são 150 utentes de uma Unidade de Saúde Familiar da Zona Centro. Os resultados obtidos foram positivos, e no que se refere ao seu cruzamento com as variáveis sócio-demográficas da amostra não há um estilo que se destaque em particular, tendo obtido diferenças significativas em todas elas á excepção da variável sexo. Quanto á qualidade da interação profissional de saúde-doente constatou-se que os utentes avaliam a mesma como razoável.
Conflict is part of our lives as social beings in constant interaction with others. It is scientifically proven that their existence is not harmful, on the contrary, promotes growth and development. Health is an area where, because of the dynamics that develop, becomes susceptible to the emergence of conflicts between the different agents. Therefore, the study of conflict management and negotiation associated with health contexts have been subject to research, particularly in the context of Primary Health Care in modernization since 2006. In this sense the assessment tools are presented with a key to be able to characterize the situation in Portugal and so we can invest in the areas in deficit, planning any training courses for the real needs of our society, which would be beneficial not only for users health services but also for all health professionals and the very health institutions. Thus, this study aims to analyze the quality of professional interaction Health-patient as well as the conflict management strategies used by them. To this end, based on a quantitative study, we used the questionnaire of Quality Interaction-Ill Health Practitioner (QQPPI), and the Questionnaire DUTCH- Test For Conflict Handling. Regarding the study participants, these are 150 users of a Family Health Unit in Downtown Area. The results were positive, and with regard to its intersection with the socio-demographic variables of the sample there are highlights that style in particular, having died significant differences in all of them with exception of the sex variable. As for the quality of professional interaction of health sick it was found that users evaluate the same as reasonable.

Los conflictos son. En esta frase, aparentemente incompleta, residen muchos elementos importantes para el estudio de los conflictos y su transformación - la práctica. En una visión más reciente de los conflictos, estos no son percibidos como algo estrictamente negativo, limitados por el tiempo y violentos, sino principalmente como relacionales, que no deben ser juzgados de antemano, considerados desde un enfoque positivo y, sobre todo, transformables. Esta es la noción de los conflictos que será fundamental en este trabajo según la encontramos en el discurso contemporáneo sobre la transformación de los conflictos. De esta manera, los conflictos están omnipresentes en por lo menos cuatro dimensiones de nuestro Ser fenomenológico: intrapersonal, interpersonal, estructural y cultural. Los conflictos siempre tienen elementos psicológicos y sociológicos que coexisten y por lo tanto habrá que contemplar lo psicosocial de ¿Quién y cómo soy yo en los sistemas sociales? Nuestro Ser está siempre vinculado a los sistemas de los cuales formamos parte. No podemos no formar parte de ciertos sistemas. Tan pronto como la vida humana comienza, tan pronto como estamos en el mundo, es la familia; son padres y niños. De esta manera nuestro Ser sistémico está más entre nosotros que en nosotros. Las relaciones que formamos y que naturalmente tenemos nos influyen mucho más de lo que yo soy como individuo. La hipótesis de este trabajo es: "La esencia de la transformación de conflictos son las relaciones dentro de, y en particular entre, las partes en conflicto. Una mayor consciencia acerca de la relacionalidad suscitada con el método fenomenológico de las constelaciones sistémicas, permite acercarse con más transcendencia al Ser, el cual consiste en cuatro dimensiones: translocalidad, -personalidad, -racionalidad, y -temporalidad."
Conflicts are. This seemingly incomplete sentence bears many insights for the study of conflicts and their transformation - the practise. A newer consciousness of conflicts perceives them not per se as something negative, timely limited and violent but as first of all relational, not to be immediately judged on, also positive, and only transformable. This is the notion of conflicts that will be underlying this work and as we find it in the contemporary conflict transformation discourse (e.g. Lederach, 2005, 2007a; Galtung, 2000; Senghaas, 2004; Wills and others, 2006). Thereby conflicts are ubiquitously present on at least four dimensions of our phenomenological Being (Heidegger, 1995): the intrapersonal, the interpersonal, the structural, and the cultural one (e.g. Lederach and Maiese, 2003; Galtung, 2003). Conflicts always have psychological and sociological elements which coexist and therefore have to be contemplated psychosocially of: How and who am I in social systems? Our Being is always bound to systems we are forming part of. We cannot not be in systems. As soon as human life is formed, as soon as we are in the world, is family; are parents and child (Mahr, 1996). Thereby our systemic Being is more between us than in us. The relationships we form and naturally have, shape us much more than what I am individually

War has been one of the most destructive forms of interactive behaviour in the world. There has been a vast body of work that try to make better understand of the nature of war and its causes. The various types of inter- and intra-country conflict have received increasing attention by economists in the past few decades. The aim of this thesis is attempting to contribute to the study of conflict. Using a game-theoretic framework, we study the economic causes of inter- and intra-state conflict, and analyse the relationship between political regime and war. Our study reveals the possible mechanisms of conflict escalation by applying bargaining theory, and thus provides a new perspective for understanding the “democratic peace" hypothesis and the feasibility theory as important explanation for the onset of war.

Thesis advisor: Maureen E. Kenny
Work can be a very satisfying experience; for many people, work defines a large piece of their identity. Yet work sometimes intrudes into other aspects of our lives in ways that are problematic. Work-family conflict results when the needs of the family and the needs of the workplace cannot both be met, because the time and effort required by one of these roles makes it difficult to fulfill the other. When it is present in people's lives, work-family conflict can have negative effects on physical and psychological health and the overall quality of life. Certain personality characteristics and learned skills can mediate or exacerbate the effects of work-family conflict. A family systems perspective aids in understanding the many ways in which work-family conflict can affect and can be affected by different subsystems and family members. Finally, the employer has a role in mediating work-family conflict by creating formal programs and fostering an organizational culture that help people to reduce or eliminate work-family conflict in their lives
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Education, Lynch School of
Discipline: College Honors Program

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of conflict witnessed in Pakistan from 2007 onwards on educational outcomes, particularly pertaining to female education. It consists of three distinct chapters, each focusing on a unique aspect in which conflict affected educational outcomes. The first chapter deals with the first phase of conflict witnessed between 2007 and 2011, and analyses the impact of violence, and the ban on female schooling implemented with it, on enrolment rates. It suggests that although conflict resulted in a decline in overall enrolment rates at primary and middle level, militants were successful in using violence as a tool to deter female education, as enrolment rates for girls declined more compared to boys in areas that witnessed conflict. The second chapter studies the short-term and medium-term impact of conflict on enrolment rates after the end of the first phase of conflict. Results show that although the negative impact of conflict was larger in magnitude on girls than boys in the short-run, enrolment rates for girls recovered in the medium-run to match those of girls that did not witness conflict. However, enrolment rates for boys at middle level continued to suffer in the medium-run, possibly due to the permanent substitution of boys into the labour market. The third chapter examines the impact of conflict on degree choices of students applying to university. We find that students who live in districts affected by conflict are less likely to apply to degrees that require mathematics as a prerequisite, compared to students who live in districts that do not witness conflict. However, a gender-wise breakup of results suggest that this is only the case for degree choices of boys, and not of girls.

ABSTRACT Narrative conflict coaching is a counseling technique which focuses on separating clients from their problems and encouraging them to see their lives and futures from new perspectives. It has been used in a variety of arenas and is consistent with other practices within the field of narrative conflict resolution, such as narrative mediation. In this project I utilized qualitative research methods to analyze the immediate effectiveness of conflict coaching questioning techniques within the setting of a counseling conversation. The analysis focuses on the detail of the process of narrative conflict coaching more than on the final outcomes. The data was collected through two different conflict coaching conversations, one of which was about a conflict in a work context and one in a family context. The conversational data collected was compared with a set of detailed guidelines for narrative conflict coaching specified by Dr. John Winslade and the question that was asked was whether the conflict coaching process corresponded with these guidelines. The data confirmed that this was the case and also showed some indicators of the effectiveness of narrative conflict coaching techniques through documenting the participants’ responses to each of the steps in the process. Analysis of discursive positioning from statements early in each of the conversations and also from late in each conversation indicated positioning shifts in the direction of creating an alternative narrative into which the participants might live. Both participants were shown to reach a place of difference in perspective in relation to the conflict story. It is therefore argued that the guidelines for a conflict coaching process are adaptable in at least two different areas of life. It cannot yet be generalized to all areas of conflict but looks promising for multiple personal conflict situations.

Interpersonal conflict is a research topic increasingly gaining importance in project management. The purpose of this exploratory study was to find out how relationship conflict affects task conflict in projects. The research investigated the styles individuals prefer to handle task conflict with colleagues in bad personal relationship. The influence of four personal characteristic variables (Gender, Age, Work experience and Culture background) on the choice of conflict handling styles were examined at the same time. ROCI-II was used as the data collection instrument. Questionnaires were published through web-based online survey system. 182 valid responses were collected in two weeks. Data was analyzed with statistic software SPSS. The results revealed that integrating, compromising, avoiding, dominating and obliging are the five styles ranked from highest to lowest preferred by individuals to handle task conflicts with colleagues in bad personal relationships. High value of assertiveness and negative value of cooperativeness indicated that in a situation of relationship conflict, individuals are more assertive and less cooperative to deal with task conflicts with colleagues. Results of the study didn't show significant difference among personal characteristic groups. High correlations among conflict handling styles were discovered from this study. Implications of the research findings for theoretical and practical organizations or individuals are provided. Areas and recommendations for future research are suggested.

Intragroup conflict research has shown task and relationship conflict have different effects on group outcomes, and suggests groups promote task conflict while avoiding relationship conflict. However, these suggestions have not yet been tested. This study examines the moderating role of group conflict handling on conflict type-group outcome relationships. Results of a field survey of 96 business school project groups showed task conflict inhibited performance when groups used avoidance tactics; however, these effects were negated when avoidance tactics were not used. Similarly, relationship conflict was only harmful to performance when avoided. When the use of avoidance was low, relationship conflict improved performance. Collaboration mitigated the harmful effects of task conflict and compromising mitigated those of relationship conflict on group satisfaction. Results from this work provide an important first look at how group conflict handling behaviors moderate the relationships between conflict types and group outcomes.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Mar. 27, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of masters in the Department of Political Science." Discipline: Political Science; Department/School: Political Science.

The impact of parents' marital conflict and parent-child conflict on the adjustment of children is well documented. Given the theoretical and empirical data to support a relationship between experiencing interparental and parent-child conflict during childhood and later conflict in romantic relationships, it is important to investigate the potential mechanisms that operate in this relationship. Thus, the present study sought to investigate the extent to which attributions of conflict mediate the relationship between experiencing interparental and parent-child conflict and later conflict in a romantic relationship. Results were based on the responses of emerging adults (190 males and 473 females) enrolled in psychology courses at a large southeastern university. Compared to males, females reported experiencing lower levels of permissive parenting, as well as higher levels of interparental psychological aggression, maternal emotional availability, attachment with mothers and peers, and overt violence in their current romantic relationships. Consistent with extant research, significant correlations were found among interparental conflict, parent-child conflict, attributions of conflict, parenting style, emotional availability of parents, attachment, and conflict with current romantic partners. Regression analyses (for males and females separately) suggested that different types of interparental and parent-child conflict predict greater hostile attributions and greater levels of conflict with current romantic partners. Although attributions of conflict predicted conflict with current romantic partners, conflict attributions did not mediate the relationship between family conflict and conflict with current romantic partners. These findings emphasized the importance of research investigating the long-term cognitive and emotional effects of family conflict and violence in order to provide a context for understanding the development of risk and resilience factors for relationship violence.
Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Sciences
Psychology PhD

Marital distress has been shown to negatively affect child outcomes. John Gottman has claimed that he has developed a concept that can buffer children from the negative effects of marital distress. The concept is emotion coachin g (EC), which teaches children about emotions. emotion regulation. and effective problem-solving. Children who are emotion coached have better out comes regardless of level of marital di stress. Gottman also claims that emotion coaching parents report higher marital satisfaction and tend to score higher in positive conflict resolution styles and lower in negative conflict resolution styles. This study set out to test Gottman's concepts of EC and emotion dismissing (ED) and their relationships with marital satisfaction and marital conflict. In addition, this study explored the relationships between marital conflict and marital satisfaction. Lastly, this study set out to use a se lf- report instrument to measure EC and ED, the Maternal Emotional Style Questionnaire (MESQ: Legace-Seguin, 200 I). Unfortunately, the MESQ in this study d id not have adequate reliability to answer the questions of how EC and ED were related to marital satisfaction and marital conflict. However, results were reported for relationships between marital conflict, marital satisfaction. and demographic variables. Results suggest that when one uses one negative way o f resolving conflict, one is likely to use other negative strategies. Also, when one uses the positive way of resolving conflict, negative strategies are less likely to be used. Resu lts showed that frequency/severity of conflicts were related to the perceived seriousness of arguments and reports of conflicts being resolved. Also. number of times conflicts were resolved was related to decreased perceived seriousness of argument topics. Marital satisfaction was related to higher scores on· positive conflict strategies and conflict efficacy and lower scores of frequency/severity of conflicts and negative conflict strategies. Discussion includes implications for further research and family therapy.