Conflict managment, prevention, resolution or dispute
settlement are the main study fields of international politics and law.
The terms management, prevention, resolution and settlement
are not synonmious although they all imply the same sort of attempt to approach
the conflictual relations between the parties which have at least regional
impact before the world itself.
A conflict that is confined to internal, domestic politics
is assumed to be a part of national politics and excluded from interational studies
of politics.
Here, I want to suggest that conflict studies in
international politics and law has no any dialectical logic. In addition, they
are based on the assumption that domestic and international or foreign politics
can be separated.
Therefore, whether they aim to manage, prevent, resolve or settle the conflicts under subject, they start with ambigious notion of conflict and a political space whose borders are not exactly defined.
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Conflict is mainly a product of contradictory relations and when
a contradiction leads to it, it has to be known first that contradiction can be
superseded, dissolved or transferred through time and space. The latter means
that contradictory relation develops in time and space, in other words, it is
postponed or deepened.
The other problem is the assumed border between domestic and
foreign. However, politics is conducted
through internal and external relations. Or else, the country, state or nation
is insulated and then excluded by the political forces that operate within and
outside the country.
Domestic actors have a relation to foreign ones and vice
versa. All public policy corrsponds to external relations, at least through
international financial and economic relations. The ruling class maintains its
power and authority within the sybiotic relations to the other ruling classes
in the world. Each domestic policy has a
direct or indirect relation to other countries.
Moreover, military alliances show how the ruling class
associates itself with other ruling classes. Economic policies at home has
rather close relation with other capitalist rulers, states and vested
interests.
Oligarcy at home connects to the oligarchies abroad.
Rentiers demand close relation with international speculators, credit owners.
Industrialists of home wants cheap credit, specialist and
export market and demand a form of foreign policy suitable for themselves.
Workers demand and need a different foreign policy which
creates solidarity, freedom and welfare for themselves.
Small capitalists and farmers want protection, subsidies and
demand correponding foreign relations.
Each section and class of national, or to say, local
society, wants different enemies, friends, allies and solidarty in the world.
Therefore, there is no divison between domestic and foreign
politics and hence, between "politics" and international politics. The latter just refers to a geographical level of analysis.
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As for conflict, first, it should be seen if it is a result
of contradictory relation or only a misconception, miscommunication, abuse or
something else.
A contradictory relation is a host-alien relation, which I
explained as social dialectics in my last book, A Theory of Capitalist Society and Social Dialectics. It
requires the main contradictory relations such as being between ruler and ruled,
exploited and exploiter, among others.
When a conflict is a product of a host-alien relation such
as being between expoited and exploiter or ruler and ruled, it cannot be
resolved without socialism, but can be posponed or trasnferred in time and
space.
A short termed solution can just ease the tensions and
requires a democratic solution at home. However, as home and outside cannot be
separated, the border changes should be followed.
Mandela’s, IRA’s, Bask and Katalan solutions are examples to democratic
solutions. Kosovar solution has been provided with the change in political borders.
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Conflict management, prevention, resolution and settlement,
thus, are the varients of short term solutions to conflicts without
contradiction.
However, conflicst with contradiction can be resolved only
through the dissolution and supersession of contradictory relations.
This is the study field of revolutionary socialism, which is
based on dialectical materialism, anti-political economy and workers politics.
