Social Conflict, Social Interactions in Relationships, Stress & Anxiety Management - Self-Help
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Overview
This popular, highly regarded, and comprehensive book synthesizes pertinent theories and evidence about diverse conflicts. Kriesberg examines the strategies that partisans and intermediaries can use to minimize the destructiveness of these conflicts. Not only does he examine large-scale forces that affect the various stages of conflict, but also the elements that contribute to constructive transformations at each stage. The diverse conflicts discussed are; the American civil rights struggle, the struggle for women's rights, apartheid in South Africa, labor-management relations, Palestinian-Israeli relations, protecting the environment, the Cold War, and countering terrorism, as well as conflicts in Northern Ireland, Chiapas, Mexico, and Sri Lanka. In addition to updating the conflicts examined in earlier editions, this new edition examines current issues, pertaining to ethical concerns, ideological and religious developments, and the changing global role of the United States.
Synopsis
This comprehensive analysis of all kinds of social and political conflicts reveals an important, but neglected truth: conflicts often are waged constructively. Drawing on past and current theory, research, and practice, Constructive Conflicts presents a systematic and coherent approach to understanding how a wide variety of struggles can be waged constructively in a new global context.
Roy Licklider
Kriesberg . . . is one of the few people at home with the literature of conflict resolution and international politics, of psychology, sociology, and political science, moving readily back and forth between them. His judgements are insightful and judicious. . . . The sweep and balance of the analysis make it a good choice for a textbook in a graduate or undergraduate course on conflict resolution.
Editorials
Johan Galtung
Louis Kriesberg's book is already a classic in our rapidly expanding field, making a new edition a most felicitous event. Particularly useful is the elaboration of three distinct approaches, mediation, negotiation, and transformation. People in the field beware, you have to know all three - and Louis Kriesberg is a most skillful guide.John Murray
Kriesberg uses his rigorous analytical approach in this third edition, plus recent examples from real-life conflicts, to guide scholars and practitioners toward more constructive ways of handling conflicts. His analysis identifies strategies that serve not only to change destructive conflict into more peaceful, productive interaction, but also to prevent normal problems from degenerating into violence. Constructive Conflicts lays out the basic frameworks needed to understand the process of change in social conflict. This third edition is a required reference manual for anyone who studies or tries to manage serious social conflict.Chester A. Crocker
The third edition of Kriesberg's masterful study of social conflicts includes new and updated case material, detailed exploration of the impact of internal party structures on conflict behavior, and expanded analysis of the role of values and beliefs in conflict behavior. This holistic study explores a vast purview of conflict material from every possible angle, with particular attention to the origins and cycles of the most destructive conflicts. Well-suited as a core text for coursework in conflict resolution, Kriesberg's study adheres rigorously to his long-standing quest for ways in which conflict parties, as well as third parties, can conduct conflict constructively, offering the reader a richly illustrated synthesis of work in the field.Pamela Aall
Louis Kriesberg’s Constructive Conflicts is an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners of conflict management and resolution. It sharpens our insights into why some conflicts descend into violence while others—driven perhaps by the same bitterly contested issues—do not. It also helps us identify windows of opportunity – moments when a conciliatory gesture or third party intervention may be possible and effective. Building on the clarity of presentation and rich examples of the previous editions, this new version is both an excellent classroom textbook and an accessible examination of conflict transformation for people who are already practicing it.October 2008 Peace & Change
Kriesberg offers the reader an extremely useful framework through which to examine the stages of conflict....The book is replete with many strengths.Roy Licklider
Kriesberg . . . is one of the few people at home with the literature of conflict resolution and international politics, of psychology, sociology, and political science, moving readily back and forth between them. His judgements are insightful and judicious. . . . The sweep and balance of the analysis make it a good choice for a textbook in a graduate or undergraduate course on conflict resolution.Roy Licklider
The writing style is clearly social science professional but good of its kind. The sweep of balance of the analysis make it a good choice for a textbook in a a graduate or undergraduate course on conflict resolution, particularly since Rowman and Littlefield was good enough to simultaneously publish paperback and hardcover editions.— Political Science Quarterly
Political Science Quarterly
An impressive statement of where we are now in conflict resolution. . . . The sweep and balance of the analysis make it a good choice for a textbook in a graduate or undergraduate course on conflict resolution.Nod and Conversion
The work by Louis Kreisberg is one of the best works available on conflict theory, providing a veritable textbook on the state-of-art of the discipline(s). . . . Suffice it to say that it is an absolute must for anyone interested in conflict studies.Peace Forum
It does not happen too often that a reviewer of a new publication has nothing more to offer than praise and a strong recommendation for experts and laymen to study the book and the riches it holds. . . . One can only hope and wish that such a fundamental work will be read by scholars and practitioners alike and that future students of human conflict will benefit from this outstanding and enriching expansion of the interdisciplinary understanding of peace and conflict in human society.Ethnic Conflict Research Digest
Louis Kriesberg's book is a gift to those of us attempting to make sense of what often seem to be senseless conflicts. We must thank him! . . . The book is highly recommended, not least because it is written in comprehensible English. It is unburdened by jargon and avoids the stream of consciousness literary style so favored by many in the field of conflict studies.— Roger MacGinty, Lancaster University
Social Forces
Over the years, Louis Kriesberg's prolific research has greatly assisted our understanding of conflicts and their resolution. Constructive Conflicts represents the culmination of the author's past work integrated with other major advances in the field to date. Kriesberg's latest work constitutes a major contribution to peace studies. It should serve as a useful resource for years to come.Deborah M. Kolb
Captures the complexity of major disputes and shows how cycles of constructive and destructive actions coexist and play out over time. This is a must read for scholars and practitioners in the field.Harold H. Saunders
This comprehensive book should become THE analytical bible for those who want to direct the energies generated by conflict, on any scale and in any place, into constructive channels.Political Science Quarterly -
Kriesberg . . . is one of the few people at home with the literature of conflict resolution and international politics, of psychology, sociology, and political science, moving readily back and forth between them. His judgements are insightful and judicious. . . . The sweep and balance of the analysis make it a good choice for a textbook in a graduate or undergraduate course on conflict resolution.Chris R. Mitchell
Dr. Kriesberg has once again produced a work that learnedly covers the whole of the conflict cycle from emergence to solution. He has done so with remarkable clarity and coherence, and backs up this theoretical argument with apt examples from recent conflicts. . . . Excellent.Elise Boulding
Kriesberg's calm, incisive and well-written analysis of the varieties and processes of conflicts reminds us that conflicts can be constructive, that they have predictable sequences, and that there are many alternative strategies for handling each successive stage. By focusing on constructive conflict sequences in a variety of contexts, including civil rights struggles, terrorism, ethnic conflicts in various regions and inter-state struggles, he shows that conflicts over identity politics or political or economic interests need not inevitably become destructive. . . . This book is the fruit of a lifetime of study of conflicts, including so-called intractable conflicts, and will be an important resource for peace researchers, students in the social sciences and—not least of all—citizen activists.Ethnic Conflict Research Digest -
Louis Kriesberg's book is a gift to those of us attempting to make sense of what often seem to be senseless conflicts. We must thank him! . . . The book is highly recommended, not least because it is written in comprehensible English. It is unburdened by jargon and avoids the stream of consciousness literary style so favored by many in the field of conflict studies.December 2006 Future Survey
Social conflicts are an inherent part of human life, but they vary in their destructiveness. This book analyzes why some struggles deteriorate terribly and become highly destructive for all parties, while others do not....Concludes that constructive ways of waging conflicts are more important than ever....Highly detailed and clearly an authoritative statement on conflict resolution.Book Details
Published
August 1, 2006
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Pages
448
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780742544239