INTRODUCTION
“The international community is faced with a wave of new conflicts. Taken together they amount to nothing less than an epochal watershed: a time that future historian may describe as the moment when humanity seized or failed to size the opportunity to replace obsolescent mechanisms for resolving human conflict.” – Michael Renner
CONFLICT OVERVIEW/THE DYNAMIC OF CONFLICTS
Global manifestation of conflicts: Conflict is a universal phenomenon, which occurs between individuals, groups and nations worldwide over. It is therefore not limited to our own local environment. In Nigeria, we have had one major civil war (the Biafran war) and several “small scale insurgencies” (Boko haram and Banditry) currently happening in different parts of the country.
COST OF CONFLICTS:
The cost of these conflicts includes loss of lives, property and time; displacement of persons, trauma, pains, anger, distrust, neglect, poverty and under-development.
WHAT IS CONFLICT?
The word “Conflict” usually brings to mind pictures of war, fighting, misunderstanding, arguments, anarchy, stress, crisis, aggression and so on. We tend to see conflict as something negative to be avoided or ignored or fought about.
Is conflict always negative? The Chinses do not think so, in their language, conflict means “an opportunity or chance for change as well as risk or danger”. In essence conflict is neither positive nor negative. It is our response to conflict that determines how it turns out. Our background, attitudes, perception and environment among other things influence our responses.
People with a negative connotation of conflict tend to handle conflicts in a destructive way with negative effects. However, having a positive approach to conflict helps one to manage it in a constructive manner with positive results like dialogue, development, change, understanding, friendship, improved communication, progress, peace, love and a relationship building.
Due to our individual differences conflict is an inevitable and recurrent fact of life, we should therefore develop our understanding of conflict and it’s positive management. We need to develop open minds towards conflict knowing that it might be an opportunity for positive change and development, if properly managed and not avoided or left to result into violence and anarchy.
We don’t always create the conflicts that we find ourselves in but we can always choose our responses to those conflicts.
TYPES OF CONFLICTS
It is important that we know the kinds or types of conflicts we encounter daily. There are numerous kinds of conflicts but we will limit ourselves to the following:
Intrapersonal Conflicts: the type of conflict that occur within the person. Examples of the such are use of time, choice of partner, moral questions, goals and aspirations.
Interpersonal Conflicts: Conflicts between two or more individuals, over an issue.
Intragroup Conflicts: Conflicts between individuals or factions within a group.
Intergroup Conflicts: Conflicts between groups such as clubs, class versus class, family versus family.
Intranational Conflicts: Conflicts within a nation, involving difference groups within the nation. This could be interethnic, interreligious, or competition for resource as manifested in the revenue sharing in Nigeria.
International Conflicts: Conflicts between nations. This could be for ideological reasons, territorial claims, political competition.
CAUSES OF CONFLICT
As said earlier, conflict is inevitable and it keeps occurring, everyday, individual encounters at least two or three conflicts, either at home, at work, at social outings or even when we sleep in our bedrooms without talking to anyone. Therefore, we are no longer new to those things that cause these conflicts, know as sources of conflicts. These causes though inexhaustible can be categorized into three:
Conflicts over resources
Conflicts over psychological need
Conflicts involving values
Conflicts over resources are usually easy to identify because they can be seen and are also more potentially easy to resolve. This conflict occurs when two or more people want the same thing and there is not enough to go round.
Conflicts over psychological needs are conflicts which cannot be seen but affect the psyche of the individual and his/her productive capacity. For example if an individual is denied love, Security, belongingness, and friendship, he is most likely to become frustrated and aggressive.
Conflicts involving values are the most difficult to understand and resolve, they are based on belief system and world view. Most times people could die for what they believe in.
CONFLICT CAUSES
(Perceived or Actual)
PERCEPTION
Perception refers to how we see, understand or interpret the situations around us. Perception could generate conflict individually or as a group in the following ways:
– Others might not see same issue the way we see it;
– What we see is sometimes different from what it is. It is a reflection of who and what we are;
– In some cases, we draw absolute conclusions from a little (and not all) that we see.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PERCEPTION
* Heredity * Worldview
* Environment * Culture/ethnicity
* Education * Gender
* Experience/exposure * Generation
* Religion/Belief system * Information
A combination of these factors will determine how individuals and groups respond to conflict situations. This means that all of us cannot respond to a conflict situation the same way. Things work better however when we assume that everybody has the right to his/her own ways of seeing things. In order for there to be peace, we must all be prepared to harmonize our perceptions of a given problem and come to a common ground over what it is. This requires tolerance.
STAGES OF CONFLICT
A. THE FORMATION STAGE
Here a problem emerges and things that were previously taken for granted now become serious issues. The obvious antagonistic shifts in attitude and behaviour patterns are the early warning signs of conflict formation and these need to be addressed if further escalation is to be avoided.
B. THE ESCALATION STAGE
This stage is characterized by the development of images. People begin to take sides, positions harden, communication stops, perception becomes distorted and parties begin to commit resources to defend their positions, leaders begin to make inflammatory public statements regarding those position. Street demonstrations intensify.
C. THE CRISIS STAGE:
Parties now begin to use physical barricades to demarcate their territories. Attempts to defend or expand territories lead to direct confrontation and eruption of violence. Weapons are now freely used. Total breakdown of law and order and essential. Services are virtually disrupted. People experience discomfort as a result of lack of food, water and other essential goods.
D. DE-ESCALATION STAGE
Gradual cessation of hostility arising from conflict weariness, hunger, sanctions or external intervention.
E. IMPROVEMENT STAGE
Needs for dialogue are recognized and efforts are made towards attaining relative peace
F. TRANSFORMATION STAGE
At this stage all the causes of the conflicts have been removed, and reconciliation has occurred. This stage is difficult to attain in any conflict situation, though desirable.
PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR)
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Public relations and publicity differ in that PR is controlled internally, whereas publicity is not controlled and contributed by external parties. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. The exposure is mostly media-based, and this differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communications. Public relations often aims to create or obtain coverage for clients for free, also known as earned media, rather than paying for marketing or advertising also known as paid media. However, advertising, especially of the type that focuses on distributing information or core PR messages, is also a part of broader PR activities.
PR is the strategic communications process that sets out to build and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between two or more parties.
PR (Public Relations) can be defined as the strategic management of communication between an organization and its various stakeholders, including the public, media, investors, employees, and other relevant parties. The PR full form involves a wide range of activities and tactics aimed at building and maintaining a positive reputation
CONCLUSION
Clarity in the definitions of conflict can also bring clarity about the requirements for peace building, and the distinction between negative and position peace. Futhermore, keeping the goals of positive peace in mind helps to reveal connections between the short an long-term goals and activities. It also points to the need for a much wider set of policies that expressly move in the direction of positive peace by addressing the major inequalities and social division in society.
Using the public relations (PR) approach, is significant and can help in reaching amicable resolution both at intra and inter party dispute particularly among countries , communities and institutions, although that might be difficult strategy among couples, nuclear family and individual as public relations goes beyond one person, as it compares of many individuals, groups and even institutions, but applying public relation principles in conflict management could be possible if properly utilized with strategic communication.
RECOMMENDATIONS
– The institutional frameworks for conflict management in the society need to be strengthened;
– The federal, state and local governments should increase the value important of CONFLICT MANAGEMENT through formidable sensitization programmes and as part of the training of key sectors of society;
– CONFLICT MANAGEMENT should be incorporated into the training curriculum of states agents and relevant institutions of governance, especially the Nigeria Police, the Armed forces, para-military and educational institutions and other similar institutions;
– MEDIATION should become an integral part of the legal system, in order to bring justice closer, faster and cheaper to the generality of Nigerians. The role of the judiciary as the final arbiter should be recognized by all arms of government;
– Federal, state and local government authorities should embark on more coordinated process of National integration and reconciliation;
– Inter-governmental and community relations should be strengthened and joint problem-solving approached evolved by relevant authorities.
– Government should form partnership with interested and genuine institutions and NGOs in order to assist the government to proffer solutions to the conflicts in this country.
– The Nigerian Media should assist to nurture democracy by exercising restrain in reporting conflict situations and managing information maturely. However, government should ensure that journalists and other citizens have better access to information.
– There is the need to strengthened the country’s internal security;
– There is need for youth empowerment and promotion of mass employment;
– Government should sponsor a (peace) colloquium at the federal, state and local government levels.
REFERENCES
– The Challenges of Peace Building in the 5th Republic by Idris Miliki Abdul 2007
– Conflict Management Training Manual by Conflict Resolutions Stakeholders Network (CRESNET) 2001
Being a presentation by Comrade Idris Miliki Abdul at Leadership Exchange Programme (LEP) organized by JELA’s Development Initiatives (JDI) on February 11, 2025 at Edge Drive Hotel, Lokoja, Kogi State.
