Conflict escalation

Encyclopedia : C : CO : CON : Conflict escalation

Conflict escalation is the escalation of a conflict to make it more destructive, more confrontational, more painful or otherwise "less comfortable". In systems theory it would be modelled as positive feedback.

Contents

1 What peacemaking prevents
2 Gandhi's method
3 Systems view
4 Military

What peacemaking prevents

Most of peace and conflict theory is concerned with heading off such escalation or creating a mindset of avoiding it and pursuing peacemaking instead. Since World War II and the emergence of the atomic bomb there has been no serious theory of peace and conflict that argued that violent conflict escalation was any more than an ultimately self-defeating strategy on a large scale.

However much nonviolent conflict resolution does in fact rely on someone escalating the conflict in a protest, strike or other direct action.

Gandhi's method

Mohandas Gandhi, a major theorist of nonviolence, used satyagraha to demonstrate that:

peaceful control of a group of people with a common cause was possible
they would use that solidarity to pursue their goals without fear of violent attack
they would mutually support each other under attack
they had the self-discipline to avoid "hitting back" in any retributive way
they had no ultimate desire to inflict punishment even when grievously wronged

By engaging in conflict escalation only of this kind, and in particular avoiding all technological escalation, it was possible to demonstrate to those who held power that:

the group was held together by its own discipline, not authority of any violent kind
the group was effectively an unarmed militia that waited only for proof that violence was inevitable before taking up arms
authority could surrender without being violently held to account
authority could depart without being attacked as they departed
authority could devolve, e.g. to democracy, without obstacles, as the dissent was already so well organized as to constitute an effective political party

Systems view

Gandhi himself did not elaborate all these observations but Carol Moore, a later theorist, did in fact take them up and describe Gandhi's method from the perspective of systems theory. Jay Forrester and Donella Meadows observed that people in crisis would often push twelve leverage points "in the wrong direction" - that is, towards escalation, first, and only then agree to de-escalation when the resistance worsened and the situation became so much worse as to demonstrate futility of any attempt to preserve the status quo.

Internet trolls also may sometimes be applying this theory - by pushing key points of policy or tolerance or group cohesion deliberately, they provoke a reaction "in the wrong direction", e.g. sysop vandalism, which permits them to point out errors of policy or trust in the system by which hard security or any unethical practices such as wiki witchhunting are authorized.

Military

Conflict escalation also plays a tactical military role in all conflicts, as may be manifest in explicit rules of engagement.

One example of this understanding is expressed in the USMC Continuum of Force (as found in MCRP 3-02B):

Level 1: Compliant (Cooperative). The subject responds and complies to verbal commands. Close combat techniques do not apply.

Level 2: Resistant (Passive). The subject resists verbal commands but complies immediately to any contact controls. Close combat techniques do not apply.

Level 3: Resistant (Active). The subject initially demonstrates physical resistance. Use compliance techniques to control the situation. Level three incorporates close combat techniques to physically force a subject to comply. Techniques include: Come-along holds, Soft-handed stunning blows, Pain compliance through the use of joint manipulation and the use of pressure points.

Level 4: Assaultive (Bodily Harm). The subject may physically attack, but does not use a weapon. Use defensive tactics to neutralize the threat. Defensive tactics include: Blocks, Strikes, Kicks, Enhanced pain compliance procedures, Impact weapon blocks and blows.

Level 5: Assaultive (Lethal Force). The subject usually has a weapon and will either kill or injure someone if he is not stopped immediately and brought under control. The subject must be controlled by the use of deadly force with or without a firearm or weapon.

Some of the most successful military tactics are those which provoke a reaction at a time of the opponent's choice, which causes the force attacked to pursue and be caught in a trap. Napoleon and Guderian were noted advocates of this approach. So was Sun Tzu although he elaborated it in a more abstract way and was clear that military strategy was about minimizing escalation and diplomacy was about eliminating it.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.