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An intractable conflict is not a small conflict about who likes oranges and who doesn't. These conflicts are severe in nature, and essentially both sides believe there is no resolution to the conflict. This unwillingness to give in to resolve the conflict has to be on both sides to the degree that neither will budge, thus inciting intense anger. This results in violence in many cases because the immense emotional strain is just bubbling until it has to come out in some way, which can end in wars and death.
There are several characteristics of intractable conflicts. These type of conflicts are like chemicals combined together, where each chemical is added, making the mixture more volatile until it explodes.
Background and history of conflict - The first characteristic is that the conflict has to have a long and complex history to it.
Collective memory/identity - This conflict turns into a collective memory for people. Essentially becoming how they see the world, even though the conflict was generations ago, the younger generations are brought up to believe in this conflict and the self-righteousness that is felt. Additionally, there is a community in hatred of the same thing. If you belong to a community that is in conflict with someone, then you fall into line with those feelings because you want to belong and join the community. The history eventually becomes a part of who you are and your identity, so it becomes impossible to separate pieces of your identity, which is why it is hard to see any way to resolve the issue. This is actually what can lead to xenophobic mindsets and fear because of the environment of an intractable conflict.
Intense conflicts - An intractable conflict has to be immense in nature; we are not talking soda versus pop. Although it does not have to be large in population, it does need to be in feeling. The people on either side have to hate the other; simple dislike would not come to this point.
Resolution attempts gone awry - To go along with the long and arduous history, there have to be previous resolution attempts that did not work. So now, each side of the argument feels like the other is lying or manipulating the situation by offering a resolution. The cynicism of each other's motives makes it impossible for either side to concede.
Assistance - The last characteristic is that, in intractable conflicts, both sides will try to bring in help. Because each side feels self-righteous about their cause, they will found allies that will also agree with their side so that they have support in the conflict. The problem with this is it can make a singular conflict into a larger scale war.
Intractable conflict consists of the following characteristics:
These aspects create a volatile mix of anger and inability to see any way to resolve the issues, which ends up in violence, whether physical or emotional. Although, these conflicts can be severe, some can be resolved; however, it usually take objectivity and third parties to intervene in the conflict, which is also dangerous.
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