by Heidi Burgess

August, 2019

Purpose: To allow students to expore factors that tend to make conflicts intractable, while simultaneously examining the complexity of the typical intractable conflict.

Directions: The following is the procedure I use in online classes. I have a different, but related exercise that I use in my face-to-face classes. (See Causes of Intractability Exercise - for Face-to-Face Classes.) 

Preliminaries:  Students might be asked to read the following essays before engaging in this exercise:
    •    What Are Intractable Conflicts?
    •    Nature of Intractability
    •    Characteristics Of Intractable Conflicts 

Part 1:

• Read through all the directions first
• IIf, after reading the directions, you decide you would like to do Part 1 with a partner, you may. (Then I suggest ways to “partner up.”) This exercise can also be done individually.
• Start by downloading the "Causes Grid" (which is included at the bottom). (It is partially filled out to illustrate what I want you to do.  But erase the sample entries before you start and replace them with your own.)
• After watching the videos and doing the readings, choose a conflict which you think is fairly intractable and which you know a fair amount about. (For example, commonly chosen conflicts are the "red-blue divide" in the U.S., abortion, Israel/Palestine, and U.S./Iran or U.S./China or U.S./Russia. But you can choose others that you are familiar with.)
• Write the name of your chosen conflict on the grid in row two under the heading "Conflict 1." (See example)
• Then identify characteristics of your conflict that are making it so difficult to solve, and list those below, in the left column, under "causes."  (Don't write them under Conflict 1, but rather, list all the causes in the left-most column--see example on the grid.)
• Put a check mark in column 2 for all of the causes you identified that relate to Conflict 
  • So, for example, if you chose Israel/Palestine, as Conflict 1, in row 3, you might write "unwillingness to share land," in row 4, write "long history," in row 5, write "hatred" etc.
  • Keep going to fill out as many causes as you can think of. (See if you can fill the whole column!)
• When you run out of ideas, choose a different (ideally quite different) conflict for "Conflict 2." 
  • So, for example, I put "abortion" under Conflict 2.
  • Go through the causes you already identified as relating to conflict one, and put check marks under conflict 2 for all those that apply.
  • Then, under causes on the left column, add all the additional causes that explain the intractability of your second conflict. (You may need a second sheet to do this
  • Consider which of those actually do apply to conflict one, and add check marks under that conflict, as appropriate. Then do the same thing for a third conflict.
•  Then look at your grids, and see what causes appear in all three.  What does this suggest to you?

Part 2: 

[I generally have students do this part individually, even if they did Part 1 with a partner.]

Write a short (approx. 500 word) essay that compares their findings from the grid exercise to the readings on the causes of intractability. Did your findings on causes of intractability agree with what those readings said, or did they differ?  Explain why you say that, and what conclusions you can draw about the most important causes of intractability.

[I ask students to post their answers, not to the assignment area of the Learning Management System, but rather to the Discussion Area. Then I have them read each others’ posts and compare their findings with their peers’. (See below.)  ]

Part 3:

Read at least half of your classmate's essays and, if you have time, look at their grids.  Compare them to your own. What can you learn by multiplying your findings with the findings of others?  Please make such comparisons by responding to the essays of at least 5 of your peers, comparing and contrasting what they found with what you (and/or others) found.