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American Behavioral Scientist
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Intractable Conflict as an Attractor

A Dynamical Systems Approach to Conflict Escalation and Intractability

Peter T. Coleman

Teachers College, Columbia University, pc84{at}columbia.edu

Robin R. Vallacher

Florida Atlantic University

Andrzej Nowak

University of Warsaw

Lan Bui-Wrzosinska

Warsaw School for Social Psychology

Decades of research on social conflict has contributed to researchers' understanding of a wide variety of psychological, social, and community-based aspects of conflict escalation and intractability. However, the field has yet to put forth a theoretical model that links these components to the basic underlying structures and dynamics that account for intractability and transformation. This article presents a dynamical systems approach to conceptualizing intractable conflict as a preliminary step toward developing a basic theory of intractability. The authors propose that it is particularly useful to conceptualize ongoing, destructive patterns of conflict as strong attractors, a particular form of self-organization of multiple elements of conflict systems. Their dynamical approach to conflict intractability is outlined, and some preliminary implications of this approach for conflict de-escalation are discussed.

Key Words: intractable conflict • protracted conflict • dynamical systems

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 50, No. 11, 1454-1475 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764207302463
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