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Anekāntavāda And Conflict Resolution : (115)
instincts, we can find that the current conflicts of various kinds the world over could be included under them. In fact, the materialistic view of life is the basic cause of conflicts.
Classification of Conflicts
In general, all the conflicts are a form of eighteen kinds of violence- behavioural pattern based on emotions related with the deluding karma. They may be two-foldly classified:
1. Minor or interpersonal like stressful life, family troubles, personal egos, landlord-labour problems etc. which may include soft violence including internal harm (imbalance in proper secretions) and external harm like vocal or physical fights and which may later grow into major war - like conflicts. Many major conflicts start from minor issues.
2. Major or inter-group like murders, wars, terrorism, genocides, communal riots, religious, political, social, economic, psychological, civilisational and other conflicts which involve hard or physical violence involving killings and curbs. Localism, regionalism, fundamentalism, nationalism, dictatorship, foreign influence, inter and intra-statism, power politics and the concept of self-interest over morality and the like have also played part in these type of conflicts. Women, wealth, loyalty, expansion of territory, religious conversions and conservatism, racial or other kind of superiority complex, immunity or insensitivity of political/powerful leaders, overpopulation, illiteracy, pollution, arms race etc. have also been responsible in this area. Conflicts of goals and means have also been stated. All these conflicts may also be classified in the form of short and long terms. In fact, conflicts of any type are the worst enemies of progress. Kofi Annan has stated that poor countries have more conflicts due to horizontal inequalities. In contrast, democracies have low frequency of conflicts in comparison to non-democracies. They can fight the external conflicts better.
The above instincts cannot be eliminated altogether, but looking to their undesirable effects on individual, society and globe, the religious teachers and thinkers have stressed the need of minimizing or lessening the degree of conflicts through short and long term reduction of the intensity of factors causing them. In fact, complete resolution of conflicts is a mirage and impossible.
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