MEDIATION AND

CONFLICT
TRANSFORMATION
Done By
R.KARTIK
KRISHA AJAY SHAH
TEJASIWINI
 CONFLICT
◦ CONFLICT IS “ANTAGONISTIC STATE OR ACTION.”
◦ NESTED CONFLICT
◦ CONFLICT IS DYNAMIC
◦ ESCALATION AND DESCALATION OF CONFLICT
 CONFLICT RESOLUTION
 Conflict Resolution means solving the problems that led to the conflict.
o “Seeks to discover, identify and resolve the underlying root causes”

 Conflict Resolution emerges from an imperative to meet Human Psychological Needs.

 Conflict Resolution encompasses –
a. Negotiation
b. Mediation
c. Diplomacy
 It is focused/utilized to create positive-cum constructive outcomes from a conflict.
 CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
 Conflict transformation can be defined as the process of changing the relationship between parties and in
the wider society, as well as addressing the structural causes that led to the conflict. – “seeks to change the
conditions that give rise to the underlying root causes of the conflict”
 Aims at Ensuring Sustainable Peace.

 An underlying premise of conflict transformation theory is that it deals more with the conflict itself than
with the system.
 There are 4 ways in which Transformations happen: -
I. Actor Transformation 

II. Issue Transformation 

III. Rule Transformation 

IV. Structural Transformation 

 CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
 Conflict Transformation seeks to exceed the goals of Conflict Resolution.
 Principles of Conflict Transformation
i. Envision and Respond
ii. Ebb and Flow
iii. Life-Giving Opportunities
iv. Constructive Change Processes
v. Reduce Violence and Increase Justice
vi. Direct Interaction and Social Structures
vii. Human Relationships
 Apartheid system - Transformation of Conflict 
 For years  violent internal protest, weakening white commitment, international economic and cultural sanctions,
economic struggles took place in South Africa against the Black. 
 Only after international institutional involved the government took steps to end apartheid.
 Role of conflict transformation is that they not only brought an end to black discrimination but also took measures to
restore the peace and rebuilt their position in the society.
 A year before President De Klerk announced the end of apartheid in South Africa, Hendrik W. van der Merwe , a
pioneer in facilitating negotiations between the African National Congress (ANC) and the apartheid government,
observed that “the term ‘conflict resolution’ does not apply to fundamental social problems in South Africa.”
 Because apartheid caused gross inequalities and injustices that were built into the social and political institutions of
South Africa, he concluded that “fundamental structural change [was] essential for constructive accommodation of
conflict”. Since then, the conflict transformation process that van der Merwe was in essence advocating has culminated
in new political institutions at all levels of government in which all South Africa’s population groups participate,
regardless of their race and ethnicity.
 Challenges of social and economic inequality.
 Societal changes through transformation.
 Building common grounds for all categories of people.
 There are Four dimensions of transforming system which are follows: -
I. Personal, or individual changes in the emotional, perceptual, and spiritual aspects of conflict;
II. Relational, or changes in communication, interaction, and interdependence of parties in conflict;
III. Structural, or changes in the underlying structural patterns and decision making in conflict; and
IV. Cultural, or group/societal changes in the cultural patterns in understanding and responding to conflict.