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Reconciliation Research: a Rationale
Are
there issues in these early years of the twenty-first century
requiring scientific research more critical than the process of
reconciling with its outcome -- reconciliation? Perhaps. Events
being reported daily through media outlets would cause one to
stop, however, and ask what priorities might be more pressing or
essential in the world of today.
Approaches to conflict resolution reach the news from
perspectives that are international, national, community,
corporate, domestic and personal. Virtually every sector of
human life and societal interaction face conflicts that must be
addressed politically, economically, psychologically,
philosophically spiritually, academically, environmentally, etc.
Conflict can be positive and productive – moving organizations
and individuals to new and greater levels of association and
achievement. Without conflict, complacency, lethargy and decline
may result.
The
conflicts that find their way to the printed and broadcast
media, although sometimes productive, are far more often
counterproductive, coercive, divisive and destructive, even to
the desired goals or outcomes being pursued. In conflict
situations, from the intra-personal issues of an individual
personality, to the domestic struggles of couples and families,
one needs only to cite statistics on mental and emotional
breakdowns or the statistic that over 50% of first time
marriages end in separation and divorce.
Individual and domestic conflict, as tragic as it may be, often
takes a back seat to examples of divisive behaviors in the
business and corporate domain. As is often known from former
experiences, many of these conflicts emerge from practices that
are illegal, amoral if not immoral and illustrative of practices
known to be coercive and unproductive. Even these tragic
examples of conflict seem minimal in the media reports to the
destructive implications of national, international and global
conflict.
Whether one is observing human versus nature’s conflicts within
earth’s ecological or environmental balance or watching the
political/economic conflicts that impact the health of a
national or world economy, the importance of conflict resolution
is undeniable. The process of resolution that reaches beyond
simple return to or maintenance of the status quo, to a
reconciling process in which relationships in product and
personnel are developed, restored or renewed describes a status
to be achieved in reconciliation. (See Reconciliation Research and Technology)
Starting from reconciling the individual or family, the business
or corporation, the community or the nation (all important
settings for debilitating conflict to find reconciliation), let
us now go a step further and consider the international and
global scene. This justification for reconciliation research is
being written on December 7, 2006. I cannot forget the words of
my father that Sunday morning sixty-five years ago when he spoke
with disbelief: “Pearl Harbor has been bombed, and we are
probably at war.” I asked the location of Pearl Harbor, having
no idea where it was. I did not need to ask about war; that
conflict was fearfully vivid, even to a ten year old.
Six decades later our “enemies” have become our friends; our
friends in many instances, our “enemies.” Historians argue about
whether there has ever been a time in human history that
destructive conflicts, usually entitled “wars,” have not been
prevalent in several places at all times. As we enter the year
2007 the names of countries such as Darfur, Sudan, Ethiopia,
Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea,
Congo, Haiti, Indonesia all bring images of varying types of
debilitating conflict – ethnic “cleansing,” civil war, political
unrest and upheaval, sectarian violence, economic suppression,
graft and greed, displaced persons and refugees, terrorism, and
human or car bombs. Where is the process of reconciling being
successful? Where does one find reconciliation? Several
paragraphs in the report received this week by the President of
the United States from a ten person bipartisan panel, which
studied the Iraq conflict in “the war on terrorism,” used the
terms reconciling and reconciliation in its recommendations.
The
initial task in preparing for reconciliation research is a
comprehensive definition of the reconciling process and status
of reconciliation to be achieved. (See Reconciliation as Process and Product [Definitions].) The
second task is to design a survey instrument that can be proven
statistically valid in the process of identifying factors
(components, elements or stages) in the reconciling process and
the status of reconciliation.
Research in coming to understand the process of reconciling and
the status of reconciliation must be empirical, not ideological.
Theoretical aspects in this research hypothesize the existence
of factors (components, elements or stages) that go into the
process of reconciling if reconciliation is to be achieved.
Also, it is to be shown that achieving reconciliation has
factors that identify components in its status as an outcome.
Reconciliation research must survey random populations,
stratified to include valid samples by career, education,
gender, age, nationality, political affiliation, religious
affiliation, geographical upbringing, etc.; the research must
identify first the factors used by persons to achieve
reconciliation, followed by a factor analysis showing any
statistical significance existing demographically among the
various populations or configurations of populations.
Early findings in this empirical research will enable networking
with existing research and study programs and associations and
institutions involved in related subjects as it seeks ways to
apply the research findings to existing conflict situations.
Among these applications will be the utilization of capabilities
within existing and developing technologies. (See Reconciliation PROBE: (Probability Research for Outcome Based
Evaluation.) Another of these applications will be in areas of
the academic community. (See Reconciliation:
Emerging Academic Discipline?)
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