CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION …

1 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION MANUAL1 CMDC entre for Multiparty Democracy Table of ContentsPreface4 Acknowledgements 5 How to use the manual 6 Module One:Politics and Political Parties in a democratic Country7 Unit About Centre for Multiparty Democracy7 Unit understanding Politics7 Unit Political Parties in a Democracy10 Module Two: understanding Conflicts12 Unit What is CONFLICT ?12 Unit Types of Conflicts14 Unit and Manifestation of Conflicts14 Unit The difference between CONFLICT and Violence15 Unit What conflicts can do17 Module Three: CONFLICT Analysis19 Unit Introduction to CONFLICT analysis19 Unit of CONFLICT Escalation20 Unit for analysing Political Conflicts21 Module Four:Intervention in a political Criteria for Intervention25 Unit Intervention Steps in Transforming Conflicts26 Unit for Intervention26 Module Five: Managing and Resolving conflicts28 Unit Levels in CONFLICT Transformation28 Unit to Conflicts29 Unit Negotiation and Mediation31 Module Six:A Model CONFLICT RESOLUTION Strategy373 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT and RESOLUTION manual Centre for Multiparty Democracy - MalawiCentre for Multiparty DemocracyArea 11, Off Chimutu RoadPrivate Bag A 216,Lilongwe, MalawiTel: (265) 1 772 098E-mail.

2 Centre for Multiparty Democracy would like to extend its profound gratitude to Mr. ChrisMabwela for developing the module outline and content of this manual . Without his dedication andunderstanding of the target group, this manual could not have become a reality. The Centre is alsoindebted to Dr. Gerard Chigona who worked with Mr. Mabwela during the initial training training sessions underlined the need of the manual and provided an inspiration to the cen-tre to consider developing a comprehensive training manual . The manual has also benefited exten-sively from the work of Dr. Augustine Magolowondo who has previously worked with the Centre infacilitating training sessions in CONFLICT RESOLUTION and MANAGEMENT and for developing the modelConflict RESOLUTION Strategy. Last but not least, CMD would like to sincerely thank the UNDP Malawi for the financial assistancefor the development of this manual . CMD believes that this manual will be an important resource forpolitical parties as they continue exploring and putting together democratic mechanisms of runningtheir political TenthaniExecutive DirectorCentre for Multiparty Democracy5 PrefaceThe Centre for Multiparty Democracy has several objectives that include: to mediate in conflictsbetween Member Political Parties; and to foster national unity, inter and intra party unity, peace pursuance of these objectives, CMD - M decided to make CONFLICT MANAGEMENT and RESOLUTION asone of its core and on going activities.

3 Training is the same has been identifies as one way of devel-oping and sharpening the skills of leaders of political parties at different levels. This manual has therefore been prepared to serve as both a guide and reference material for politi-cians especially those that hold leadership positions in political parties in Malawi. Being a manualfor politicians its actual application whether as a guide or a reference material benefits from theenormous practical experiences of the practitioners themselves who in one way or the other areinvolved in conflicts and/or CONFLICT MANAGEMENT and ONE: POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTIESL earning Objectives:At the end of this module, participants should be able to; Explain the origins of CMD and state the organisation s objectives Explain what politics is. Explain the importance of politics in the life of the individual and society Discuss the main issues that concern politics. Define a political party Explain the importance of political parties and their roles in democracyUnit Centre for Multiparty DemocracyCMD Malawi (CMD M) is a membership organization that is open to political parties that haverepresentation in the National Assembly of the Republic of Malawi through General Elections or by-elections.

4 Its overall objective is to enhance inter-party programs of common interest for the promo-tion of political dialogue, stable multi-party democracy and socio-economic development of specific objectives include the following: To improve participation in parliamentary business; To improve dialogue and interaction between Member Political Parties and institutions thatsupport democracy; To mediate in conflicts between Member Political Parties; To foster national unity by mapping out common goals for national interest and democraticdevelopment; To foster national unity, inter and intra party unity, peace and reconciliation;CMD M s Mandate in relation to CONFLICT ManagementThe CMD - M constitution regards issues of CONFLICT MANAGEMENT as one of the most fundamentalobjectives of the Centre. The Centre s mandate to involve itself in issues of CONFLICT MANAGEMENT isderived from the understanding PoliticsIntroductionPolitics is among the most ancient and persistent source of CONFLICT , as it determines how power willbe distributed among people which in turns determine how resources will be allocated and how rulesgoverning society will be made.

5 conflicts arise as people compete to outwit each other in order togain control of the power to allocate resources and the power to be at the driving force of setting therules of the game. Thus conflicts determine the very existence of truth be told, CONFLICT is the principal means by which significant social and political changes havetaken place throughout history. Wars and revolutions can be understood as efforts to resolve deep-seated political, economic, and social conflicts for which no other means of RESOLUTION was under-stood or acceptable to either or both to use the manual This manual contains basic information about CONFLICT MANAGEMENT and RESOLUTION . The informationis intended to assist the trainer or facilitator with valid reference when giving input for the benefit ofworkshop information is presented in simple language and in brief sections, including bullet points anddiagrams. This is to enable easy access to a cross section of target groups most of whom comprisemiddle range political party form of presentation further assumes a participatory process of learning, hence the use of activ-ities and discussion questions in various sections of the manual .

6 This approach to learning encour-ages participants to talk about their own experiences and perspectives thereby ensuring contextu-alisation of knowledge. The facilitator is encouraged to come up with additional activities that wouldfurther assist in clarifying the different concepts explored in this manual . In terms of structure, the manual is divided into modules and each module is broken down into the beginning of each module, there are objectives that are expected to be achieved upon com-pletion of that particular module. The objectives are stated in such a way as to make evaluation ofresults easy for the trainer or manual is ideal for a training workshop with a sizeable group that will allow for maximum par-ticipation of every participant. 6offers to give all vendors K10 million for business improvement. The hardware vendors claim they will be responsible for distributing the money becausetheir businesses are large and they handle big money. Their capital share of the wholemarket is 60%The agriculture produce vendors claim they will be responsible because they are in themajority.

7 Their capital share of the whole market is 30%The cooked food vendors claim they will handle the money because they are the ones mostin need. Their capital share of the whole market is 10%Immediately a fight wellwisher donor leaves and promises to return after seven days when the vendors a member of this vendor group, how do you contribute to the process of(a) helping the group obtain the K10 million and (b) sharing the money infairness and justice among the different categories of vendors?NOTE: This exercise aims to highlight the importance of politics in life, the making andenforcing of rules, and also the broader question of determining who gets what, when andhow?Let participants freely discuss the merits and demerits of the various choic-es and strategies proposed in the role often whenever a person expresses interest to join politics, the initial reaction fromfamily members and friends is that of discouragement. It is as if no sane person is expect-ed to join politics.

8 The common picture is that politics is about lies, violence, disagreements,cheating, greed, insults, and even promiscuity. There could be valid reasons based on expe-rience that justify viewing politics in this way. However, politics on its own is not , it is an activity through which people make, or defend and amend the generalrules and regulations under which they live as a community or nation. Indeed this activityentails CONFLICT at certain times, but also cooperation. Human life is almost impossible with-out politics. People need commonly agreed ways, means and standards of allocatingresources and achieving common interests. Without this society could disintegrate intochaos. Four key configurations of politics and their relationship with CONFLICT We are going to examine some four configuration of politics and discuss how they relate to the ques-tion of conflictPolitics as this case, it refers to the affairs of the state.

9 Politics is restricted to what happens in governmentby politicians and civil servants. In this understanding politicians are mainly concerned with provid-ing the policy direction while the civil servants are the technical people who operationalize and9We therefore require improved understanding , not only of the CONFLICT but also politics in order to beable to manage or transform the overview of what politics entailsPolitics may be said to be what government is all about for it is concerned with who gets what, whenand how . A few observations are in order here. First, it is clear that politics is a social process thatexists in any social setting. This is because the question who gets what, when, and how is the kindof question that cuts across all societal levels family, community, district, region and , at the centre of politics is the issue of making choices. These choices are largely to do withdistribution and/or redistribution of resources.

10 Such resources exist in different forms and at differ-ent levels of society. Material resources like development projects and money are only some of themany resources we can think of. Others may include power and authority. Furthermore, the ques-tion of who gets what when and how also presupposes diversity of interests and values, a phenom-enon that is a norm in all human societies. Given this reality, politics is, therefore, not concerned with elimination of differences and , it is to reconcile them by creating compromises. That is by finding the right answer to thequestion: who gets what, when and how. Thus, politics involves negotiation, bargaining, persuasionand compromise. In every society people have always organized themselves, regulated the distribution of power,`resources, and resolved conflicts for purposes of peaceful co-existence. That is politics. Thusbroadly defined, politics refers to activities of cooperation and CONFLICT within societies, communitiesand the nation, and even between states and nations.