Book review. The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice.

Book Review
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Book Review
Part 1
Chapter 1
* Goal interdependence can either be positively or negatively collated. Individuals can take two actions. They can either take effective actions, which increase the chances of the actor to attain a goal or bungling actions which diminish the chances of the actor of obtaining a goal.
* It is advantageous to employ a cooperative problem-solving process as opposed to a competitive process which leads to a loss for all the parties
Chapter 2
* Injustice often takes six forms
* The distributive injustice which causes individuals to feel they received unfair outcome.
* Procedural injustice, concerned with unfair treatment when implementing decisions.
* The sense of injustice which entails whether an injustice is experienced.
* Retributive and reparative injustice, concerned about rectifying the violation.
* A moral exclusion which looks at the individuals included in the moral community.
* Cultural imperialism where a dominant group imposes its value system on a subordinate group.
* Perceived injustice is often a source of conflict.
* Where people perceive the outcome of a conflict as unjust, the conflict is likely to escalate.
Chapter 3
* Individuals who are relatively privileged can play a critical role in challenging inequality, privilege and construct structures of solidarity in the society.
* For instance, men are more willing to fight for the grievances of women on gender issues. Similarly, more white people are eager to fight for the rights of the claims of the Aboriginals.
* Dealing with the problem of inequality and privilege involves:
* Policy changes aimed at reducing inequality gaps through compressing social and organizational hierarchies.
* Policies and practices aimed meant to encourage cultural inclusivity.
* Organizational transformation to enable the distribution of resources and democratic participation.
Chapter 6
* Power refers to a stable characteristic of individuals. However, it is not merely determined by the qualities of individuals; rather it encompasses how they interact with the situation at hand.
* Using power, individuals can influence their environment, other people or satisfy their desires.
* Adaptive orientations to the conflict are more effective outcomes in the long-term. It is vital to use a combination of hard power (e.g., military) and soft power (e.g., moral) depending on different circumstances.
Chapter 7
* Human communication involves the transfer of ideas from one person to another.
* For the effectiveness of communication in conflict resolution, parties should:
* Restate the idea to avoid misunderstanding
* Try to understand what the other person is saying
* Consider how the listener will interpret the words
* Take into consideration into the perspective of the listener
* Listen actively
* Establish conditions that allow effective communication to take place.
Reflection
I have learned that competition is constructive where both the losers and winners gain, or destructive where only the winners gain. Instead of employing destructive competition, parties can agree to cooperate so th...