International Online Training Program On Intractable Conflict
	Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, USA

Contention Dynamics

by Paul Wehr

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As a conflict emerges, the relationships of contending parties with one another take on a special character. Attention comes to focus ever more on the behavior of the adversary to the exclusion of any non-contenders involved. One justifies one's behavior increasingly by what the other has done rather than by any universal standard of correct behavior. A process Coleman (1957) has called reciprocal causation takes over so that the contenders come to form something like an independent social unit engrossed in tit-for-tat attack and defense behavior. Without some external intervention, such dynamics can lead to extreme force being used at higher and higher cost.

Links to Examples of Contention Dynamics:

Dean Peachy -- Thoughts on the Failure of Negotiations in the Gulf

The Gulf War was an example in which both sides focused on the evil character and wrong-doing of the other, leading to quick escalation and a very violent result.

Claude Rakisits -- The Gulf Crisis: Failure of Preventive Diplomacy

This is a second article examining the contention dynamics that occurred in the case of the Gulf War.

Links to Related Treatments

De-Escalation

Links to Related Problems

Escalation

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