Conflict is an intrinsic and inevitable aspect of social change. It is am expression of the heterogeneity of interests, values and beliefs that arise as new formations generated by social change com up against inherited constraints. It is agreed by most that not all conflicts can or should be resolved. In most cases the conflict wants to be won by both parties involved. This essay will attempt to critically analyse theories and models held within the topics of conflict, conflict management and conflict resolution. An understanding of the nature of conflict including both the positive and negative aspects, using the reconciliation debate within Australia, should be reached.
Condliffe (2003) defines conflict as a perceived thereat to our collective or individual goals, which are associated with our intrapersonal and interpersonal wants. Conflict is sometimes used to refer to inconsistencies in the motions, sentiments, purposes or claims of entities and sometimes to the process of resolving these inconsistencies as stated by Burton (1990). The process of conflict characteristically goes through stages of perception, realisation, avoidance, flashpoint, intervention, strategy and evaluation. Conflict is a necessary process that has both negative and positive aspects but is always present in our society. Conflict is not always straightforward and in fact some conflicts cannot be resolved at all or if they are resolved, time limited solutions can be a result and things may fall apart again later, this relating to Tidwell's statement. The issues that lead to conflict are those that are deeply rooted in human behaviours. The resolution of conflict or conflict resolution is the transformation of relationships in a particular case by the solution of the problems, which led to the conflictual behaviour in the first place as stated by Burton (1990). This transformation does not necessarily eliminate future problems in relationships or remove residual antagonisms.
