Conflict theories in political sociology pdf

Theories are dynamic, that is, they are continually tested, refined, and revised in the light of new empirical evidences Spata, Every PCR stems from theory, either explicit or implicit. Implicit or informal theories refer to those assumptions a researcher has while explicit or formal theories refers to established theories. However, informal theories are usually related to at least one formal theory. According to Alemika , p. Thus testing and building theories validates and completes the PCR business as a scientific enterprise.

Theories have elements, levels and serve some purposes in the scientific enterprise. Theoretical Assumptions are untested explanations about phenomena of interest. They are the foundation of theory, that is, the underlying structure on which other elements of theory are built.

They are abstract ideas that identify similarities among otherwise diverse social phenomena. Concepts in PCR include peace, conflict, violence, nonviolence, justice, and the likes.

Scientific propositions are statements about the nature of a concept or about the relationship between two or more concepts. They act as the connecting framework holding other elements of theory together. According to Gelles and Levine , there are three levels of theory, which are hypothesis, theories of middle range, and theoretical orientations. Hypothesis is not a complete theory. It refers to concrete statements about relationships between variables that can be tested empirically Frustration-Aggression is sometimes referred to as a hypothesis.

Theories of middle range, according to Gelles and Levine , p. They are relatively easy to test and to revise, if need be. Examples include Sociology theories of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.

Theory is essentially an attempt to explain the phenomena being studied using terms more abstract than the terms use to describe the phenomena. Theory may be about what the phenomena is, its form of existence, and its relationships with other phenomena. Hence, theory is a tool for explaining reality. Theories serve a number of purposes in PCR. It links the philosophical foundations ontology and epistemology to empirical data.

It is critical to explaining empirical data; a tool for explaining reality. In addition, it helps peace and conflict researchers to summarize and comprehend the facts empirical evidences gathered about phenomena.

Facts are dumb without theory. In other words, facts must be fit into meaningful framework—theory. Also, theories highlight which elements of a phenomenon are relevant and important for study; hence, a scientific research must necessarily have a theory ies in addition to methodological issues.

Alemika , p. Classifying Theories in Peace and Conflict Research The scientific study of peace and conflict studies started after when the looming threat of nuclear weapon created an urgent need for it. Philosophers, religions and religious leaders, royalties, practitioners, policy makers have all engage these issues from time immemorial.

However, before the clamor for scientific study of peace and conflict, scholars like Pitirim Sorokin a Russian Professor of Sociology , Lewis Fry Richardson an English man and Philip Quincy Wright an American Professor of Political Science and later of International Relations have been gathering and analyzing empirical evidences that will later fall within the scope of PCS.

Obviously from the list, much theory building effort has been devoted to causes, onset and dynamics of conflict the first seventeen theories than any other issue. The next five of the twenty-five theories are on the conditions for building peace and the last three are on conflict resolution.

Just War Theory may be regarded as being relevant to causes and dynamics of conflict. The agency parameter focuses on the psychological and the social. Theories in the agency situate causes of conflict at the level of individual or collective agency and are based on human behavior.

It has two contending categories of theorizing conflict—the behaviorists and the classical. The behaviorists focus on micro, that is, individual level, examining the unconscious level to understand the unstated motivational factors. Conflict causes are traced to perceptions and misperceptions.

However, some of the views held by the earlier theories in this category have been contested by the Seville Statement on Violence which declares that there is no scientific basis for considering human beings as innately condemned to violence. The behaviorist school tries to establish whether humans possess either biological or psychological characteristics that would predispose them towards aggression and conflict and to explore the relationship between individual and its existence in its environment.

Some of the most important assumptions of the behaviorist school are that the root causes of war lie in human nature and human behavior; and that there is an important relationship between intrapersonal conflict and conflict that pervades the external social order.

They believe in the centrality of stimulus- response hypothesis. They prove a useful asset in our attempt to impose some objectivity on specific situations Cunningham, Classical theories focus on macro level of analysis. The primary concern is to analyze group interactions at the conscious level Cunningham, Therefore, while behavioral or micro theories examine the individual subconscious, classical or macro theories, on the other hand, focus on the interaction of groups, specifically on the conscious level.

They are often occupied with the exercise of power and the use of force in intergroup relations. Classical theories are useful in explaining acts and events; they do not answer questions about subconscious motivational factors.

The use and exercise of power is a central concept of macro theory of conflict. There are many forms of power—economic, political, military, and cultural. This is a psycho-social perspective. Classical theories observe group phenomenon for single events in order to study the problem in depth, and to determine the importance and relationships of many variables rather than using few variables for many cases. They usually employ historical or case study methodologies.

In spite of the progressive sophistication of micro and macro theories, they have been insufficient in explaining conflict in its complexities. A paradigm shift in conflict theory synthesizes both micro and macro theories. These theories have attempted to understand and explain the onset, causes and dynamics of conflicts. The Structural and Political Economy traces the causes and conditions of conflict to the organization of society itself.

The IPE argues that the contemporary global political and economic arrangements are cases of systemic conflict. Theory Verification and Theory Generation in Peace and Conflict Research Science aims to explain and not only to collect or describe its data. Hence, theory, especially, explanatory theory has a central role in science. Therefore, scientific knowledge production involves collecting empirical data about phenomena of interest, building theories to explain the data we have collected, and testing those theories against new data.

This is the scientific method of accumulating knowledge about our world. Theory and empirical data therefore play central roles in scientific research. From the foregoing, scientific inquiries verify test or generate build theory. Theory-testing or theory verification research tests the scientific propositions of a particular theory ies Punch, Traditionally, positivist quantitative research is usually theory-testing research with clearly defined theory ies prespecified before the empirical work of data collection.

Theory verification research is useful in areas or fields where there are many unverified theories. As Punch points out, while both quantitative and qualitative approaches can be used for both verification and generation, however, theory generation research is more likely to use the unstructured fieldwork techniques of qualitative approach.

Theory generation on the other hand is more suitable in areas or fields with scanty theories. Both tradition positivism in the Social Sciences and convention prevalence of quantitative over qualitative research, rooted in the positivist tradition favor the former over the latter.

Hence theory verification researches are disproportionately prevalent over theory generation researches in the Social Sciences. To this end there have been repeated calls to build more theories to understand and explain contemporary social issues Punch, The situation is the same in PCR. Though as a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary field, many theories in other fields are useful in explaining the core field definition and distinctive issues of PCS. This might have been somehow contingent on the relatively young status of the field.

However, this does not augur well for the field given the realities of its phenomena of interest—the ever-so-dynamic contemporary conflicts, the challenges of nonviolent conflict transformation and of building sustainable peace. Therefore, in spite of the relatively young status of the field, the complexity and dynamism of its phenomena of interest require new theories to understand, explain, and predict the realities of these phenomena.

There is therefore the need for concerted effort to build theories to understand, explain, and predict contemporary peace and conflict issues. And more so on contemporary African conflicts.

In other instances it may mean building the capacity of peace and conflict researchers through methodology trainings. This may include boot camps on peace and conflict research methodology. And yet in some other instances the deliberate steps may include changing the attitudes of peace and conflict researchers. This involves reducing hostility to, embracing and building our capacities in the qualitative methodology as the more friendly approach to theory building.

Moreover, there may be need for conscientious effort to encourage theory building among African peace and conflict scholars. It links the philosophical foundations with empirical data, thus completing and validating an investigation as a scientific endeavor. Theoretical assumptions, concepts, and scientific propositions are the elements of theories. There are different levels of theories—hypothesis, theory of middle range and theoretical orientations, based on the stage of formation and applicability.

As a multi- and transdisciplinary field, Peace and Conflict Studies enjoys the utility of theories from other fields in the social sciences. However the complex and dynamic nature of its phenomena of interest and their implications for human existence demands generation of new theories to understand, explain, and predict the contemporary challenges of nonviolent conflict transformation, human security and building sustainable peace.

There is need for conscientious effort to reverse the theory generation versus theory testing research tension in favour of the former. This may necessitate some changes in the Peace and Conflict Studies curriculum, capacity building, and change of attitude to encourage the teaching and adoption of appropriate methodology for theory building. Ontology and Epistemology of Peace and Conflict Studies.

Ibadan: Institute of African Studies. Alemika, E. Epistemological Foundations of the Scientific Method. Erinosho, I. Maduekwe Eds. Asika, N. Research Methodology in the Behavioural Sciences. In particular, the issue of aggressive behavior and bullying in schools in Cameroon is receiving much attention especially from … Expand. Highly Influenced. View 6 excerpts, cites background.

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