discussion forum 65

Please help me answer the following posts.

Post 1

Conflicts are inevitable, and in today’s world, it is not only important for better conflict resolution intervention principles to be applied but also necessary. Various authors have pointed out that “intervention that came after the conflict had escalated elicits more control-oriented strategies” (Rubin et al., 1994; Pinkley et al., 1995). Conflict resolution is the best weapon through which the entire humanity and posterity can be protected from the scourge of war and violence (Wani, 2011). “Most intractable conflicts require outside intervention in order to be constructively transformed or resolved” (Burgess, 2004). Some of the principles include identifying the source of the conflict, considering all perspectives presented by the conflict, discussing ways to meet a common goal, identification of the common solutions between the parties and finally resolving the conflict (Wallensteen, 2015).

Identification of the source of the conflict

A successful conflict resolution process involves identification of the source of conflict and the reasons behind the conflict. Since the lack of adequate information on the elements of the conflict has the potential for making the situation worse, it is increasingly important to verify the issues presented and the points of views expressed. Questions are instrumental in obtaining the truth and finding the source of conflict. While conducting this part of the process, it is important for impartiality to be exercised.

Consider all perspectives presented by the conflict

Consideration of both parties which is essence is showing impartiality the resolution process is significant. Conflicting parties should be allowed to share their side of the story in a manner that is civil and provide all the information without omitting details. All the perspectives should be presented to the resolution facilitator or mediator and then an analysis of the common themes that are causing the conflict conducted. It is possible that the source of the conflict is a minor issue that over time incrementally causes involved parties a lot of stress. Helping the parties be calm is one of the ways that can be used in focusing on the minor issue and stopping the triggers and eventually the conflict. To do this, you need to discuss what needs are not being met on both sides of the conflict and ensure mutual understanding. During the process, obtain as much information as possible on each side’s point of view. Continue to ask questions until you are certain that all parties involved (you and those on either side of the conflict) understand the issue.

Discuss ways to meet the common goal

After listening to the parties, calming them and hearing both perspectives, the next best thing is to have each side present alternative solutions to the problem. This involves listening, communicating, and brainstorming together. . “Effective listening comprises of taking into consideration the intonations as well as body language displayed by a certain party” (Bercovitch, and Richard, 2009). This part of the process allows the parties to identify the solution that iscommon to both of them and also provides the mediator with different approaches to solving the problem in a manner that does not benefit one of the parties only. The solution provided can be biased seeing that the involved parties suggest them, but common ground can be found in the process. Soliciting answers and solutions from the parties affords them the opportunity to stop the name-calling, shouting matches and pointing fingers at each other and they become more invested in getting a long-term solution. Continue working with both sides to discuss ways that they can meet the goal they agreed on in step 2. Keep going until all the options are exhausted.

Identifying the resolutions that are acceptable to the conflicting parties and resolving the conflict

Conflicts occur due to differences in interest among two parties. To come up with a real conflict resolution method, a person should establish why certain outcomes are relevant to the conflicting parties (Ramsbotham, Woodhouse, and Miall, 2011). Besides, parties involved should establish the importance of the issue causing conflict among the parties. Through this one will be able to bring the two parties into a consensus according to their different differences. Hearing the solutions given is helpful in devising the best options to both parties and ending the conflict. The conflicting parties have to agree to the solution presented and also adhere to it to avoid a repeat of the same problem. The end of the conflict resolution intervention process means having both parties agree and adhere to the solution given. Most often the involved parties shake hands over the agreement.

References

Bercovitch, Jacob., and Jackson, Richard. 2009. “Conflict Resolution in the Twenty-First Century Principles, Methods, and Approaches”. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Burgess, Heidi. 2004. “Intervention Processes.” Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Accessed November 21, 2019 from https://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/large_s…

Pinkley, R.L., Brittain, J., Neale, M.A. and Northcraft, G.B. 1995. “Managerial third-party dispute intervention: an inductive analysis of intervenor strategy selection”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 80, pp. 386-399.

Ramsbotham Oliver, Woodhouse Tom, and Miall Hugh. 2011. “Contemporary Conflict Resolution”. John Wiley (Polity).

Rubin, J.Z. 1983, “The use of third parties in organizations: a critical response”, in Bazerman,M.H. and Lewicki, R.J. (Eds), Negotiation in Organizations, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA,pp. 214-224.

Wani, Hilal A. 2011. “Understanding Conflict Resolution,” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 1(2). Accessed November 20, 2019 from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hilal_Wani3/publication/312146776

Wallensteen, Peter. 2015. “Understanding Conflict Resolution: War, Peace and the Global System”. 4th Edition Sage Publications Ltd., London.

QUESTION 1:

What are two potential conflicts solutions (two for each side) that might be helpful to “resolve” the Chechen conflict?

POST 2

In the last three decades, China has demonstrated a vast growth and development in all aspects that have brought a significant concern among Neo-realist students of international relations. “The rise of the People’s Republic of China has created significant debate for 21stCentury international politics” (Whyte 2013). Neo-realist ensures the proper distribution of power and national interest. Breslin (2010), suggests that, “in many respects, the interest in the rise of China’s soft power should be seen alongside the concomitant concern about the loss of US soft power in particular, and challenges to US hegemony in general” (Breslin, 2010). China is in many ways mimicking America’s own emergence as a great power; the largest and potentially most powerful state in Asia, “is seeking a more assertive political, military, and economic role in the region, and even challenging America’s present dominance in East Asia” (Layne, 2008). Zhang defines China “as a rising civilizational state and argues that as such it should not accept the Western political model, otherwise it will lose its advantages and risks disintegration” (Zhang, 2011).

Daniel Bell argues that Westerners tend to divide the political world into “good” democracies and “bad” authoritarian regimes. But the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category (Bell, 2015). Over the past three decades, “China has evolved a political system that can best be described as political meritocracy” (Bell, 2015). The Chinese model is a political reform made by China after the cold war. China set out on its independent political strategy while other nations sort to embrace the western changes. It is this independence that has led to the upcoming of the Chinese Model. The Chinese model is unique from other reforms in that the market system of the economy propels it and at the end develops its political path (Li, 2015). “The China model sees commerce as a means to promote national interests, and not just to empower (and potentially to make wealthy) individuals. And for over three decades, China’s model of development has delivered staggering successes” (Kurlantzick, 2013). The China model incorporates four main pillars which are preliminarily focusing on a state-led development, making development a priority, focusing on good governance, and making gradual reforms with time (Zhang, 2011).

The state-led development ideal is based on the idea that the state in China directly controls the economy and owns most of the enterprises thereby creating a politically stable regime (Zhang, 2011). The state-led development ideal is based on the idea that the state in China directly controls the economy and owns most of the enterprises thereby creating a politically stable regime. Over the last three decades, the Chinese economy has attracted significant amount of foreign direct investment, and has become the largest trading country (Li, 2015). Such remarkable successes were attributable to the model of the developmental state (Zhang, 2011). China was able to prioritize the need for democracy and development. While other nations rushed for equality, the model aligned that the move would only make China collapse as seen by other economies such as the Soviet Union. The Chinese model challenged that a working economy could now try luxuries such as democracy. Furthermore, the model insists that with good governance, there is the likelihood of an improving economy due to established reforms in any failing areas.

A developmental state is a better alternative for countries of the south as they can be considered to be developing nations (Li, 2015). The developmental model, in general, “focuses on creating an economy that bases all its operations on development before any other social or political luxury” (Zhang, 2011). Once a country embraces this model, it aligns its political issues by creating a competition free economy led by the state. The state is now able to effectively control market operations thereby limiting competition for the market and prioritizing local initiatives. The viability of this model sets in because countries can restructure their development plans and begin a new era of development which in this case, is controlled internally.

“There is a growing consensus among Chinese scholars that good governance is crucial for the establishment of a functioning democracy” (Li, 2015). Good governance has been reflected in reform practices at all levels of government in response to emerging social, political, economic, and environmental issues, as well as to challenges posed by China’s market-oriented reforms and rapid modernization (Deng & Guo, 2011). Broadly defined, “good governance” is about the “exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels,” with special consideration for such good universal norms and practices as participation, the rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, consensus orientation, equity, effectiveness and efficiency, accountability and strategic vision (UNDP, 1997). For Zhang (2011), “good governance matters most”. “The core value of democracy is to reflect the will of the people and achieve good governance” (Zhang, 2011). In the words of Yu Keping, “We must innovate social management and at the same time prioritize the self-governance of society, mutual governance by the government and the people is the basic path to good governance” (Bandurski, 2012).

China’s reform has been marked by incremental and piecemeal changes (Li, 2015). Since there is no reform blueprint, China’s reform is known as “crossing the river by feeling the stone”, partial reform composed of economic liberalization and political conservatism. Since then, China has been “feeling the stones” for more than three decades (Li, 2015). In the words of Zhang, like with its economic reform, “while China does not have a roadmap for democracy, it has a compass. The broad orientation of the compass toward a new type of democracy in China is to establish (1) a first-rate mechanism for selecting the right talents at all levels of the Chinese states, (2) a first-rate mechanism for exercising democratic supervision, and (3) a first-rate mechanism for carrying out extensive and intensive social consultation (Zhang, 2011).

However, the developmental model is a challenger to free-market capitalism because it opposes all its doctrines. Free market capitalism is based on the ideology that the government has no intervention in market operations, and the economy runs on the forces of activities which means that advocating for developmental models is directly disbanding free markets. Developmental models challenge the open market in that in a developmental ideal; the government controls all the activities in the market by dictating the ventures to be made and how (Li, 2015). Liberal scholars believe that, “the main goal of the China model is to affirm and support the current system of governance which stresses the authoritarian value of state power” (Li, 2015). In 2015, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also acknowledged that “using stimulus to generate growth is not sustainable and creates new problems” (Li, 2015).

Bibliography

Bandurski, D. 2012. Yu Keping: Prizing the will of the people. Retrieved from http://cmhku.hk/2012/04/16/21469/

Bell, D. A. 2015. “The China model: Political meritocracy and the limits of democracy”. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Breslin, S. China’s Emerging Global Role: Dissatisfied Responsible Great Power, Politics, Vol. 30, No. 1, 52-62. (2010)

Deng, Z., & Guo, S. 2011. “China’s search for good governance”. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kurlantzick, Joshua. 2013. “Why the ‘China Model’ Isn’t Going Away: From Bangkok to Caracas, Beijing’s style of authoritarian capitalism is gaining influence.” The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/…

Layne, C., 2008. ‘China’s Challenge to US Hegemony’, Current History, 107 (705), pp. 13–18. World Journal of Social Science Research, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2015).https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/457f/3a2dcdaa49b3…

UNDP. (1997). “UNDP report, governance for sustainable human development”.

Whyte, Alexander. Interpreting the Rise of the China: A Challenge to American Hegemony and Liberal Global Order? E-International Relations,2013. Accessed July 9, 2019. https://www.e-ir.info/2013/02/13/interpreting-the-…

Zhang, W. (2011). The China wave: Rise of a civilizational state. Hackensack, NJ: World Century Publishing Corporation.

QUESTION 2:

One question that comes up has to do with where the free market, if it’s true, after encountering the Chinese interventionists?

Post 3

“In the 1990s, the United States reigned supreme after the collapse of the Soviet Union discredited alternatives to liberal capitalism and removed the only global counterweight to Western influence” (Stephen, 2017). According to Layne (1993), “the Soviet Union’s collapse transformed the international system from bipolarity to unipolarity.” “Infused with the liberal zeitgeist of the time, global governance began to emerge as a perspective on world politics as well as a new approach to managing international affairs” (Klaus and Pattberg, 2006). The creation of strong and encompassing international institutions means that emerging powers are pursuing their interests in a system not of their making but which they cannot ignore. Because new powers are economically, politically, and culturally different from established powers, they are likely to have different preferences regarding international rules and to pursue different social purposes in their foreign policies (Stephen, 2014).

Fareed Zakaria’s take on post-cold war world asserts that a shifting global influence creates tension among world powers. Policies proposed with countries leads to rivalry among political partners in the current dispensation. Western countries limitation to assist vulnerable countries leads to shifting global power influence, hence creating competitions. Political identities are unique currently compared to the past where regional blocks were emphasized to ensure political stability (Weiss and Thurbon, 2018). Great powers rivalry is depicted in the current situation between the United States and China. “Emerging powers have no intention of repeating their 1990s experiences with Washington-dominated institutions and would prefer to create their own than remain subordinated” (Chin and Thakur, 2010).

United States and China are global superpower but have been in constant conflict due to trade disagreement. The current world structure of politics seeks to develop nationalism which is a cause of concern among scholars to maintaining global stability. Nationalism policies influence relationship among global superpowers negatively. Influences from Brexit leads to a poor relationship among global partners. Countries seek to control for their benefit instead of a united front to create stability globally. World leaders have emerged in the current dispensation with a desire to find selflessness rather than unity that would ensure inevitability of great power rivalries (Stephen, 2017).

Based on the disagreements over policies, great power rivalry will develop soon. Policies that supported nationalism among global superpowers created conflicts since irrational decision making emerged. Leaders are emotional in making decision hence creating poor policies that are not inconsistent with international relations. “The Chinese see virtue in a strong state, a disciplined society, stable economic growth, and national security over ‘‘imported’’ notions of human rights, democracy, and unregulated markets” (Chin and Thakur, 2010). Even those who argue that China is ‘‘ill prepared’’ to lead the world’s needed adjustments, because it lacks experience in international financial systems management, acknowledge that China is ‘‘facing a turning point in its relationship with the international system (Chin and Thakur, 2010).

Demands among countries that supports nationalism lead to the emergence of conflicts in the society. Great powers that will fail to create a consensus are Britain with European member countries hence leading to great power rivalry. Trade influences lead to great power rivalry among member countries. Organizations fail to deliver on the proposal to ensure countries adhere to international policies hence great rifts emerge. The political class will propose policies that are archaic thus rifts widen creating tensions globally. Flouting policies that provide unity among global political class are causes of global conflict in the future. Countries seek to identify themselves as global powers hence creating differences in policies (Stephen, 2017).

References

Chin, Gregory and Ramesh Thakur. “Will China Change the rules of Global Order?” The Washington Quarterly, 33(4): 119-138. (2010). DOI: 10.1080/0163660x.2010.516145. Accessed November 21, 2019 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273037138…

Klaus Dingwerth and Philipp Pattberg, “Global Governance as a Perspective on World Politics,” Global Governance 12, no. 2 (2006): 185–203

Layne, Chistopher. “The Unipolar Illusion: Why New Great Powers Will Rise.” International Security, 17(4): 5-51. (1993). Accessed November 21, 2019 from

http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539020

Stephen, Matthew D. “Rising Powers, Global Capitalism and Liberal Global Governance: A Historical Materialist Account of the BRICs Challenge,” European Journal of International Relations, 20, no. 4 (2014): 912–938.

Stephen, Matthew D. “Emerging Powers and Emerging Trends in Global Governance.” Global Governance, (2017): 483–502. http://search.proquest.com/docview/1926529332/.

Weiss, L. and Thurbon, E. Power Paradox: How the Extension of the U.S. Infrastructural Power Abroad Diminishes State Capacity at Home. Review of International Political Economy, Vol. 1 (2018): 1-32.

Zakaria, Fareed. 2014. Fareed’s Take: The Post-Cold War World. Accessed November 21, 2019 from: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/04/19/exp-gps-0420-take.cnn.html

Question 3

Thank you for your discussions! Major examples of great power rivalries are clearly introduced. The role of nationalism in current global politics is also pointed out. Regarding the conception of China as a “superpower,” are there any material or normative factors which China might still be missing compared with the U.S. (or even the Soviet Union)? You have introduced some writers’ suggestion that China lacks experience in international financial system. Could this imply that China already possesses sufficient material resources?