Conflict is conventionally understood as “controversy; quarrel; discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles”. This definition is taken from a dictionary. My understanding of conflict as a concept presupposes, first of all, misunderstanding and absence of intention to reach an agreement. Conflict manifests itself in various forms: war, terrorism, crimes, argumentation, competition, silence, protest. The forms of manifestation can’t be regarded as positive or negative ones, they are neutral, as well as the very notion of conflict. Conflict is just a result provoked by innumerable causes. No form of conflict is constructive; constructivism is intrinsic to the ways of a conflict’s solution – negotiations, discussion, compromise, alienation, isolation. A Peace Pledge Union Project’s site holds a strong position on the essence of conflicts. “The first important thing to grasp is that it is entirely dependent on the people involved. It depends on their having a particular point of view”. Thus we cannot say that conflict possesses a feature of objectivity. Conflict stops to exist when the points of view coincide. The confronting points of view may not have independent and irrefutable facts and evidence to support them. The participants (subjects) of a conflict are individuals, groups of people (nations, countries) and supranational institutions. Conflict can also be ranked among global issues but it is a controversial matter to what group of global issues it can be added. Conflict is rightfully called a metaconcept as it stands above all the classifications. Conflicts can arise in the sphere of social interrelations, environmental issues, human rights, economic well-being, politic tendencies, etc. The metaconcept of conflict as an explanatory principle in a scientific system helps to establish relationships within certain categories of global problems. What is important here is that conflict is both a consequence and a trigger of a certain issue. If we take the sphere of law and its implementation, we are likely to see that conflicts are born in both cases: when there is a conflict and it facilitates the adoption of a law and when the issuing of a law gives rise to conflict. At times it seems conflict is an all-piercing phenomenon we can’t overcome. However, scholars have successfully worked out certain rules helping to minimize the effects of conflict situations and to “put out the fire” quickly. The first step to solving a confrontation or a quarrel is listening. We are taught effective communication and the strategies of keeping up the conversation but we seldom take notice of listening strategies. And I’m convinced this is the key point in solving a conflict. You should listen showing sympathy and care; concentrate on the topic of discussion; treat the speaker respectively; you should not give assessment until you’ve listened to the end; let the speaker know what has been understood and what was unclear; use non-verbal communication to assure the speaker he or she is being understood. The more detailed instructions on how to deal with conflict situations are given, for instance, here.
