Plainfield and Its Intractable Conflicts: Which Role Do You Play?

I have been in Plainfield for now almost 7 years and while I see progress on some parts of the city, there are others that well, don't seem to move much from where they were when I first got involved with community matters, politics is one of them and whether we like it or not politics have a deep impact in our quality of life here in Plainfield.  For years I have been hearing about how evil old democrats are (old democrats are represented by Jerry Green and his followers) and how the new democrats are trying to change things (new democrats are represented by Adrian Mapp and his followers).  Never mind that there is also the always present, never mentioned, kingmaker, John Campbell (an ex-republican turned democrat who has supported new democrats and now is supporting his own group, the Grand Slam).  

But are these three groups the only guilty ones for the state Plainfeld is in when it comes to politics and who gets elected to power?  What if we were to look at the different roles we all play on this (comic at times) rather comfortable setting that has been set for us and that has been widely accepted by most?

So, I searched for conflict-resolution methods and I found the web has a lot more answers that I was looking for.  The following excerpts come from THIS WEBSITE.  Take a look below at the roles, and their links, and see if you can tell which role all players you know are playing; then take it a step further (gulp!) and see which role you have been playing.  Understanding the different roles we all play here in Plainfield might help us all to see things in a different manner, what is more, this might help us all to see if the role we are playing is really the role we want to play.

By the way, I find assets on all three groups, the old and new democrats as well as the kingmaker's, this despite the conflict they always seem to find themselves in.  If only we could take all three, mixed them all in, and take the best of each....

By
Heidi Burgess
January 2004


The people involved in conflicts hold many roles. These are described briefly below, and then in more detail in the associated essays.


Disputants or first parties differ in the directness of their involvement and the importance of the outcome for them. Primary parties are those who oppose one another, are using fighting behavior, and have a direct stake in the outcome of the conflict. Secondary parties have an indirect stake in the outcome. They are often allies or sympathizers with primary parties but are not direct adversaries.[1] Disputants also can be divided up according to their stance towards the other side. We divide interest groups into moderates, hardliners, external supporters, conflict profiteers, and spoilers.

[]


In addition to the disputants, there are third parties. Some may be acting in active intermediary roles, such as mediators, arbitrators, or dialogue facilitators, while others may be by-standers. As conflicts become increasingly polarized, however, the by-standers tend to be pulled in, being forced to join one side or the other, and polarizing the conflict even further.


In addition to the traditional intermediaries, William Ury suggests that there are other "third-siders" who can help play a transformative role. These include:


Most intractable conflicts are so deeply-rooted that the parties need outside help to transform the conflict into something more constructive. Most often, people think in terms of mediators. But there are many more roles people can play to help transform intractable conflicts. In his book, The Third Side[1], Ury suggests that there are at least 10 roles that people can play: provider, teacher, bridge-builder, mediator, arbitrator, equalizer, healer, witness, referee, and peacekeeper. Some of these roles are traditional "third party roles," while others are not. The chart below summaries what each role does.


Process:  Prevention  

Roles and What they say:

Provider:   What is needed here?


Teacher:   Here's another way. (Or, let's look at this more carefully.)


Bridge Builder:   I'd like to introduce you to ...

Process:  Resolution


Roles and What they say:

Mediator:  Let's work it out.


Arbitrator:  What's fair here is ...


Equalizer:  Let's level the playing field.


Healer:  Let's make amends.

Process:  Containment

Witness:   Hey! Look what they are doing!


Referee:   No knives! No guns!


Peacekeeper:  OK! Break it up!


All of these people can contribute to making a conflict less intractable. With many people in each role working at different levels of a conflict, a great deal of good can be accomplished, even when the conflict is not ripe for resolution.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:  Burgess, Heidi. "Parties to Intractable Conflict." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: January 2004 .