lawEvery time a conflict arises, it involves two or more parties.  However, depending on the nature of the conflict, and the law to which it relates, a benefiting method of resolution is necessary. It could be arbitration through a court of law or a mediator who comes in to calm tension between warring parties. In the end, every party involved in a conflict should realize an amicable solution.  For a student of law, understanding how courts work; thereby successfully arbitrating cases means one must understand conflictology. You can always contact Edu birdie if you want to craft a top-quality paper on legal terms like conflictology.

In this post, we look at conflictology, especially its role in law. Keep reading to learn more. 

Understanding conflictology 

For starters in legal practice or studies, you should understand that conflictology refers to the understanding of conflicts and everything to which they related. From conflict management, transformation to resolution, it emphasizes non-violent ways of resolving disputes. Conflictology, therefore, cuts across many disciplines that include but not limited to acquiring comprehensive knowledge about conflicts. 

 

When you understand the nature of conflicts, violence and all forms of crises, not to mention suitable methods/procedures/techniques for resolving them, you become a qualified conflictologist. The big question is what is the role of conflictology in law? First off, you should note that modern conflicts still find their resolution in customary laws, especially those which involve land disputes. However, constitutional laws often take precedence in hotly contested cases. Take, for example, the case of ‘snail in a bottle, ‘which brings to mind landmark ruling on Donoghue vs. Stevenson. You realize that at the heart of a conflict, interests, and grievances of both parties must be considered. 

Defining roles of conflictology in law

From a comprehensive definition of conflictology, we can deduce its roles in law as follows:

Understanding the nature of conflicts 

Conflicts are not the same, hence the need to categorize and concretize them. Without knowledge of the nature of conflicts, legal practitioners wouldn’t make a fair decision on cases. It is because they would treat all conflicts as the same. Take, for example, conflicts that arise out of land disputes and those that involve business deals. Each would require a different approach, especially when it comes to arbitration and resolution. 

Conflictology in conflict management 

Conflicts can be a hard tackle, especially if an arbitrator does not know about crisis management. Things could get worse if the approach to solving conflicts is uneducated. Thus, conflictology as a science grounded in law helps equip legal practitioners with conflict management skills. The study of conflicts from a social perspective, therefore, equips one with observation, interview, document analysis and modeling skills necessary for solving conflicts. 

Negotiating through comparative analysis 

Another role of conflictology in is how it equips a conflictologist with negotiation skills. Through careful analysis of historical facts relating to a conflict, synthesizing information and concretizing conflicts, conflictology plays significance in negotiation. There is always something that leads to the occurrence of conflicts. Thus, arriving at an amicable solution so that warring parties do not become confrontational means a conflictologist must play a part in law enforcement. Whether it is home conflictology, government or a corporation, striking a balance is only possible through effective communication. It is important that negotiators- in this case, a conflictologist-brings disagreeing party to a common understanding that there exists a conflict and that resolution is paramount.

Breaking down complex situations to simple and understandable ones

Conflicts can be complex hence difficult to solve. The involvement of a conflictologist often comes as a reprieve. Another role of conflictology in law is, therefore, to break down complex conflicts into simple and easy-to-resolve disagreements. 

Final Thoughts

Conflictology first became known in early 1960. It was mostly practical in organizations whose roles involved resolving conflicts, whether professional, social, cultural, economic or political. Today, especially with more conflicts around the world, conflictology become an indispensable profession in law.

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X