Browsing by Subject "Conflict"
Now showing 1 - 20 of 23
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A contextual model of conflict in marriage(Texas Tech University, 2005-08) Greene, Rebecca Sorenson; Hughes, Patrick C.; Scholl, Juliann C.; Williams, David E.The contextual model was used to understand the conflict process in marriage. A significant relationship was found between the distal variables of marital satisfaction, attachment, and social support, and the proximal variable of topic salience, to the conflict process. Additionally, findings indicated that women come to the conflict process from a distal context (marital satisfaction), while men approach the conflict from a more proximal context (topic salience).Item A contextual model of conflict in marriage(2005-08) Greene, Rebecca Sorenson; Hughes, Patrick C.; Scholl, Juliann C.; Williams, David E.The contextual model was used to understand the conflict process in marriage. A significant relationship was found between the distal variables of marital satisfaction, attachment, and social support, and the proximal variable of topic salience, to the conflict process. Additionally, findings indicated that women come to the conflict process from a distal context (marital satisfaction), while men approach the conflict from a more proximal context (topic salience).Item Aid and Peace A Critique of Foreign Assistance, Conflict and Development(2012-02-14) Kibriya, ShahriarIn 2000, the World Bank estimated that 2.8 billion people lived on incomes of less than $2.00 a day. Meanwhile about forty percent of the world's population endured conflict, most of them from the same subset. The implementation of foreign assistance to mitigate poverty and conflict is a key focus of politicians, bureaucrats and social scientists. The goal of this research is to discover relationships among foreign aid, conflict, and socio-economic development, and assess the implications. Other evaluations either approach this issue from a hedonistic, theoretical standpoint, or follow a stylized project evaluation method. This research is intended to create a bridge between the two approaches by: 1) proposing theoretical models of assistance and conflict accounting for current status quo, and 2) introducing novel empirical methods to analyze the causes and effects of development, intervention and conflict. The research begins with a comparative analysis of different schools of thought concerning foreign intervention, conflict and development. Contemporary philosophies and policies provide the basis for assumptions and inquiries addressed in the latter part of this dissertation. The review is followed by a critique of relevant data and their sources. A theoretical model of foreign assistance allocation and its possible impacts on conflict is proposed. The theoretical model is verified through an empirical examination using inductive casual inference methods. It is concluded that under current mandates and policies, aggregate foreign assistance has no effect on conflict and development in poor countries. Research is then directed toward analyzing the effect of foreign assistance on conflict, disaggregated by sector. Agricultural and food security assistance were identified as the most effective method of mitigating conflict. The next segments of research concentrate on agricultural development. A model of agricultural development is proposed that will promote food security and mitigate conflict. In the last analysis, a direct causal relationship is found between commodity prices and conflict. Findings are summarized in the conclusion, and recommendations are provided for policy re-evaluations.Item An exploration of conflict roles and communication patterns within the american family(Texas Tech University, 2005-08) Stow, Chelsea A.; Hughes, Patrick C.; Scholl, Juliann C.; Williams, David E.Although numerous studies have examined family conflict, few have described emergent family member roles during conflict, the behaviors associated with these roles, and if or how these conflict roles and behaviors are related to family communication. Through a program of research, this study analyzed respondents’ perceptions of a “typical” family conflict (N = 90) for emergent role themes and behaviors using open coding; using grounded theory, this study also examined the relationship between emergent roles, behaviors, and reports of family communication (N = 469) as operationalized by Ritchie and Fitzpatrick’s (1990) Revised Family Communication Patterns (RFCP) instrument. Initial results found that six different conflict roles and 36 conflict behaviors emerged; however, statistical analysis of the data using t-tests, Pearson product correlations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and ANOVA tests revealed that only four of these six roles and 12 of these 36 behaviors were reliable and could be understood in terms of factors (constructs). Further, several strong relationships were discovered between the Victim, Enforcer, Avoider, and Mediator roles and reports of family communication. Possible conclusions for the emergence of these themes were drawn, and implications for future research were also discussed.Item An exploration of conflict roles and communication patterns within the American family(2005-08) Stow, Chelsea A.; Hughes, Patrick C.; Scholl, Juliann C.; Williams, David E.Although numerous studies have examined family conflict, few have described emergent family member roles during conflict, the behaviors associated with these roles, and if or how these conflict roles and behaviors are related to family communication. Through a program of research, this study analyzed respondents’ perceptions of a "typical" family conflict (N = 90) for emergent role themes and behaviors using open coding; using grounded theory, this study also examined the relationship between emergent roles, behaviors, and reports of family communication (N = 469) as operationalized by Ritchie and Fitzpatrick’s (1990) Revised Family Communication Patterns (RFCP) instrument. Initial results found that six different conflict roles and 36 conflict behaviors emerged; however, statistical analysis of the data using t-tests, Pearson product correlations, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and ANOVA tests revealed that only four of these six roles and 12 of these 36 behaviors were reliable and could be understood in terms of factors (constructs). Further, several strong relationships were discovered between the Victim, Enforcer, Avoider, and Mediator roles and reports of family communication. Possible conclusions for the emergence of these themes were drawn, and implications for future research were also discussed.Item Bargaining and fighting in the moonlight(2011-08) Cohen, Matthew Leonard; Lin, Tse-min; Wagner, R. Harrison (Robert Harrison); Trubowitz, Peter; McDonald, Patrick; Granato, James"Audience costs" models of international relations suggest a purely informational role for domestic politics in conflict settings. Here, domestic politics serve as a rich signal of belligerents' true intentions, allowing them to more quickly resolve disagreements, decreasing the likelihood and duration of war. But if belligerents can have different beliefs about publicly available information, then domestic politics might confuse rather than clarify conflict situations, increasing the likelihood and duration of war. I present empirical evidence of conventional "audience costs" models' shortcomings in explaining the dynamics of the US counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and the response of Iraqi insurgents to those efforts. I then develop a formal model to show how differences in beliefs between insurgents and counterinsurgents about domestic political audiences in Iraq may have contributed to the prolonged nature of the conflict. I argue that the underlying cause of the conflict's duration is disagreement between belligerents about whether and how Iraqi civilians contribute to a successful counterinsurgency, leading belligerents to disagree not only before fighting about who is likely to win, but during fighting about who is actually winning.Item Comparison of marital satisfaction, social support network, social support composition, and conflict communication between interfaith and same-faith marriages(2008-05) Lord, Ashley Michelle; Hughes, Patrick C.; Scholl, Juliann C.; Williams, David E.This is a descriptive study that compares interfaith and same-faith married couples’ reports of intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation, social network composition, social support, conflict communication, and marital satisfaction. Same-faith participants were recruited through a church in a large, metropolitan city in the south. There was an announcement placed a local church’s weekly mail-out asking for volunteers. In addition, there were announcements made within the church during services. Couples who expressed interest in participating were asked if they were involved in a same-faith marriage. Interfaith participants were recruited in three ways. First, area churches, church organizations, synagogues, and mosques were contacted. Second, an advertisement that requests research participants was published in religious organization newsletters as well as three local newspapers. Finally, networking procedures allowed for the researcher to obtain more participants (N= 197). The results suggest several conclusions. First, intrinsic religious orientation is associated with more mutually constructive communication and is present more so with same-faith couples than interfaith couples. In contrast, extrinsic religious orientation is associated with more demand/withdraw communication and less mutually constructive communication. Furthermore, when religious orientation was compared to the communication variables in combination with couple type, it was concluded that extrinsic interfaith partners reported using more demand-withdraw communication than do intrinsic interfaith partners and extrinsic same-faith partners reported using less demand-withdraw communication than intrinsic same-faith partners. Finally, extrinsic same-faith partners reported more satisfaction in their marriage than did extrinsic interfaith partners and intrinsic same-faith partners reported more satisfaction than intrinsic interfaith partners. Thus, it is concluded that same-faith partners report more marital satisfaction overall.Item Conflict mediation discourse examined through a Girardian lens : weapons and wounds in conflict talk(2012-05) Green, Erik William; Maxwell, Madeline M.; Browning, Larry D.; Dailey, Rene M.; Vangelisti, Anita L.; Richardson, Frank C.Mediation promises a way for conflicting parties to address differences and reach an agreement to settle their dispute. This study looks at mediation discourse of five cases from a university conflict resolution center through the lens of Girard’s (1977) theory of mimetic desire. Girard (1977) suggests that we are all in a pattern of mimesis. Antagonism that is prevalent in conflict develops, in Girard’s view, from the cycle of desire when one person wants an object and another person copies that desire for the object. The two parties quickly forget the object, but antagonism emerges as the mimetic desire continues. Girard argues parties have a tendency to place blame on a scapegoat to break the antagonism pattern. Alternatively, in her application of Girard’s theory, Cobb (1997, 2003, 2010a, 2010b) advocates a social constructionist perspective where disputants work on turning thin conflict stories into thicker ones to break the pattern. This project addresses a need for research on cycles of antagonism in discourse constructed by disputants during real mediation sessions. Knowing how disputants construct discourse lends insight into how people handle their most challenging interpersonal problems. The analysis of discourse through the guiding frameworks of conflict tactics, production format, and tenor of discourse sheds light on how disputants construct perpetuated mimicked antagonism and how they break the pattern. Additionally, findings highlight the emergence of weapons and wounds in the discourse suggesting that communicative violence is constructed whether or not there was actual physical violence. Components of thin conflict narratives are evident in findings from all five cases. Yet, while two cases are characterized by discourse of perpetuated mimicked antagonism, three represent a break in that pattern without placing blame on a scapegoat or constructing a thicker conflict narrative. The distinctions between a perpetuated and broken cycle are unpacked through the discussion of: a) animator-only position; b) indirectness and presumptive attribution; and c) shift in footing between talking to the other disputant and the mediators. This project provides a more nuanced understanding of the Girardian perspective relating to conflict mediation to contribute to the extant literature on conflict discourse and mediation practice.Item The contentiousness of land use decisions in Austin, Texas(2012-12) Bojo, Leah Michel; Oden, Michael; Wilson, Robert HinesAustin is alleged to be more contentious than its peer cities with regard to land use decisions. Local blogs and media are critical of the city’s land development code and public processes and there is a perception of unfairness when it comes to changing the city’s zoning ordinance. This research explores land use decisions in Austin, El Paso, and Denver. I look at the level of conflict and the public processes in each city to understand the factors that may make Austin feel more contentious than other cities or if that heightened contentiousness is only the perception of an inherently controversial issue. Through the data collection I found that Austin does have many more changes proposed and granted to its zoning ordinance than its peer cities, likely because of how complicated and out-of-date the land development code is. The approval ratings are similarly high across all cities. This high number of changes, combined with an even higher number of zoning items posted to council agendas but then postponed, may be perpetuating a perception that the land use covenant between the citizens and the city is being amended more often than it should be. I also look at innovative ways that cities across the country are reducing conflict, or the perception of it, with regard to public input, code structures, and public education. With its approval of a new comprehensive plan, Austin is poised to rewrite its land development regulations. The city would likely benefit from exploring some of these, and other, creative solutions to these common municipal conflicts.Item Corporate Security and Conflict Outcomes(2013-10-21) Tkach, Benjamin KThis dissertation investigates the effects of private security firms (PSFs) on conflict outcomes. PSFs are corporations that are publicly or individually owned that provide security services for hire. Security services include, but are not limited to, logistics, technology development, and combat support. Since the 1950s, and particularly since the 1990s, PSFs have become increasingly present in global conflicts. The theory proposed in this dissertation begins by adopting the framework of the state as a firm that trades services for rents. I propose that PSFs' influence conflict based on corporate structure, competition and transparency. The empirical analysis examines PSF operations in the U.S.-Iraq conflict. Insurgent attacks and civilian causalities capture the level of violence and are used as proxy measures of law and order. Expanding the role of non-state actors in conflict by identifying and incorporating economic determinants of PSFs' involvement provides several avenues for future investigation.Item Evaluating a Negotiated Rulemaking Process at Cape Hatteras National Seashore: Toward Piping Plover and People in One Place(2011-02-22) Merritt, LavellLocal communities, individuals, visitors, and special interest groups are often called upon to participate in the decision making processes of the National Park Service (NPS). Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA) engaged in a Negotiated Rulemaking process to create an Off Road Vehicle Management Rule. The rulemaking process involved park stakeholders working with the NPS as a Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee with the goal of creating an Off Road Vehicle Management Rule for CAHA. This dissertation used Senecah's practical theory Trinity of Voice to evaluate CAHA's negotiated rulemaking process. Interviews with park staff and negotiated rulemaking participants provided information about the presence of the grammars of TOV in this decision making process. This dissertation described the affects of negotiated rulemaking on the perceptions of participants towards the park resources and management of the national seashore. The effect of the negotiated rulemaking process was an increase in the knowledge of participants about the decision making process employed by the NPS. In general, participants also developed a stronger relationship with park management. This research suggests critical dimensions for achieving widespread social legitimacy through meaningful public involvement in decision making.Item Genes, judgments, and evolution : the social and political consequences of distributional and differential conflict(2012-05) Meyer, John Michael; Pedahzur, Ami; McDonald, PatrickThe following argument offers a sharper micro-foundational lens for studying human political and social behavior by demonstrating how political science might better incorporate the theory of evolution into its behavioral models, and by showing that differential conflict occasionally prevails over the materialist conflicts depicted in much of the modern social science literature. I take evolutionary psychology's understanding of manifest behavior as a point of departure, and then analyze the manifest behavior in terms of judgments, which are binary measurements at a particular point of reference; in other words, a given manifest behavior either did or did not occur at a particular point in time. I then show that judgments can 1) transmit from one individual to the next, 2) vary according to predictable adaptive processes, and 3) are either extinguished or flourish dependent upon the process of natural selection; judgments, therefore, meet the three requirements of evolutionary theory. Judgments, rather than genes, better describe the process of human political and social evolution, which becomes especially clear when one assesses the consequences of what I term "differential" outcomes in judgments.Item He said, she said: the relationship between reproach and account behavior in organizational conflict(2009-06-02) Paul, Gregory DennisCurrent research on account behavior has focused on responses to failure events in which one person is the victim and another is the transgressor. This study builds on this research by using a framing lens to examine account behavior in a conflict situation in which individuals are both actors and recipients of failures. After establishing the relationship between organizational conflict and failure events, the study explored the relationship between account behavior and three aspects of issue development framing: conflict naming, conflict blaming, and intentionality. Employees of nonprofit organizations were asked to read and respond to a vignette-based scenario depicting a conflict between two directors of a nonprofit organization. The research findings indicated that conflict framing was a significant predictor of account strategies. Specifically, the use of mitigating statements was more likely when the event was cast as intentional and the reproacher accepted blame. A clear interaction emerged between gender and conflict naming. In all, this research indicated that more attention should be paid to conflict framing when studying individuals' or corporations' use of account strategies.Item Nationalism, conflict and education in the Balkans(2014-12) Yildirim, Yetkin; Burnett, Virginia G; Neuburger, Mary, 1966-The following chapters present a history of the Balkans through the lenses of nationalism, capitalism, racism, violence, war, and the intersectional relationship they all had on the conflict in the Balkans. As this essay dissects each point and relates to the grander scheme of how a relatively peaceful and incredibly diverse people became the subject of intolerance and conflict, this essay will also present possible solutions. The solutions consist of leaning the region back toward the peaceful coexistence it experienced in the past. Education is a primary tool for achieving this ideal. The subject matter and course materials should always be open, without censorship or caveats which present the history of the region inaccurately. An example of this kind of educational movement is the Gulen Movement. Although it is small in scale, the philosophy and ideals behind the movement can serve as a possible stepping stone toward not only peace in the Balkans, but peace in other conflict affected areas in the world which experience similar hardships.Item Public Accountability and Conflict Initiation within Democracies(2011-08) Hunter, Young Y.; Biglaiser, Glen; Patterson, Dennis; Rider, Toby J.; Williams, LaronA key feature of democracy is the idea that democratic leaders are accountable to the citizens within their states. That is, scholars assume that democratic leaders are accountable to voters, and the policies democracies develop are influenced by citizens that comprise democratic electorates. However, scholars have largely failed to consider how the ability of the public to hold democratic leaders accountable for foreign policy decisions shapes the foreign policies of democracies. Researchers have rarely considered the role of voters in affecting the foreign policies of democracies across different types of democratic states. Furthermore, democratic leaders are not accountable to their publics to the same degree when comparing democracies. Institutional and political differences among democracies create significant variations in levels of political accountability for democratic leaders. Thus, I seek to investigate the more precise linkages between voters, political parties and democratic leaders in determining when democracies are more or less likely to initiate interstate conflicts with other states. In this dissertation, I address two areas that have been neglected in previous research: the failure of scholars to consider the effect party systems have on political accountability and conflict initiation within democracies; and, the neglect of researchers in considering the role electoral systems have in structuring the manner by which elected leaders are accountable to the public and the resulting effect on the foreign policies democracies pursue. Through a cross-national quantitative analysis, I examine how party systems and electoral systems affect political accountability for democratic leaders, and how in turn, variation in levels of political accountability affect the foreign policies of democracies. The results from the quantitative analysis indicate that as party systems are more stable, and electoral systems promote candidate-centered incentives, democracies are less conflict prone because democratic leaders are more beholden to the public.Item Repression and international conflict(2014-05) Hummel, Calla Marie Buzy; Madrid, Raúl L.Scholars suspect that violence at home is linked to violence abroad but few studies theorize or test any relationship between them. Under what conditions does repression lead to international conflict? I extend the logic of why leaders repress to suggest that repression can alter states' power internationally. I argue that leaders can repress to prepare for a possible international conflict, but the act of repressing alters their international bargaining power through a signaling mechanism. The argument implies that governments continue to use repression because it can increase their power vis-a-vis both domestic and international opponents. With a global dataset on torture, death, disappearance, arbitrary arrests and international conflict, I find that--even after controlling for regime type, civil war, and military capabilities--states that repress are more likely to initiate conflict the following year than states that respect basic human rights. Simultaneously, engaging in extreme repression virtually guarantees that no state will target the repressor.Item The role of emotional capital during the early years of marriage : it’s about the little things(2016-05) Walsh, Courtney Michelle; Neff, Lisa A.; Gleason, Marci Elizabeth Joy; Loving, Timothy J.In ongoing relationships, partners often accumulate a number of shared positive moments together, referred to as emotional capital. Although these moments may seem trivial on the surface, emotional capital has been shown to be an important resource when faced with relationship threats. The proposed study aimed to examine the longitudinal effects of emotional capital using daily diary assessments collected from 167 couples across the first 3 years of marriage. Conceptually replicating prior work, we found that individuals who accumulated more emotional capital on average maintained greater levels of satisfaction on days of greater relationship threat when compared to those individuals who accumulated less emotional capital. We also tested whether (1) the trajectories of emotional capital across time predicted later reactivity and (2) whether the buffering effect of emotional capital became stronger over time. We did not find support for either of these predictions. Lastly, the current study examined whether emotional capital not only reduced reactivity, but also reduced the likelihood that spouses detected threats in the first place. Results indicated that compared to husbands who accumulated less emotional capital, husbands who accumulated more emotional capital exhibited less vigilance for their wives’ daily negative behaviors within the relationship. Wives’ vigilance for their husbands’ negative behaviors was unaffected by their accumulations of emotional capital.Item The Effectiveness and The Goals of Foreign Aid: An Empirical Examination of Sectoral Aid?s Influence on Mitigating Conflicts and Violence(2012-10-19) Zhang, YuThe objectives of foreign aid are closely associated with the global political and economic issues during the last 60 years. In recent years foreign aid flows have been considerably influenced by international terrorism. In this paper I attempt to investigate whether and how sectoral aid has affected international conflicts and intra-country violence. The analysis is initiated by case studies. I use graphical analysis to examine the rationale and disbursements of sectoral foreign aid to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2002 to 2010. It is discovered that aid for agriculture and food are extremely low in these conflict areas. Then I use a comprehensive panel data to show the relationships between conflicts/violence and sectoral foreign aid covering 123 developing countries from 2002 to 2010. It shows that agricultural aid can significantly reduce conflict, and aid for food security can significantly mitigate violence. Aid for some sectors will increase conflict/violence. Finally I use directed acyclic graphs (DAG) to present preliminary results on the structure of causality among conflicts/violence and sectoral aid, showing that aid to government is positively associated with both conflict and violence.Item The Perceptions of Conflict on Strategic Planning in Higher Education Administration(2010-08) Wallace, Garland B.; Paton, Valerie O.; Claudet, Joseph; Price, Margaret A.As is true in most organizations, conflict is not absent in the higher education milieu. On the contrary, “as in the case with all complex organizations, educational systems manufacture the ingredients of conflict and stress” (Hanson, 2003, p.251). The purpose of this study is to determine how the presence of conflict affects the strategic planning processes performed by respective administrators in higher education and specifically how functional and dysfunctional conflict affect their key decision making processes. By placing this context alongside the strategic planning process, stressors become even more apparent and the inevitability of conflict becomes plain. Dominant to higher education and its functionality is the strategic planning process. This practice, loaded with controversy and individual agenda, can and will generate conflict. However, foundational to higher education is the creation of an atmosphere in which diversity of opinion is prevalent and appropriate. Through this diversity is the overwhelming temptation for argumentation. Conflict of ideologies, theories, and perspectives are certainly a vital portion of higher education; however, when the line between academic incongruity is crossed and the participants enter into personal assault, conflict becomes increasingly dysfunctional and counterproductive (Bolman & Deal, 2003; Socci, 2002). Complexity exists when the administrator is faced with a tactical decision to be made, and yet faces conflict without a clear, concise, and complete understanding of the functionality and/or dysfunctionality of that contradictory process. There are several conclusions that were made based on this research in regards to the perceptions of administrators regarding conflict and strategic planning. First, conflict is inevitable in strategic planning. Secondly, functional conflict aides in the strategic planning process. Finally, dysfunctional conflict has the potential of destroying effective strategic planning processes.Item The relationship between conflict and communication, sex, relationship satisfaction, and other relational variables in dating relationships(Texas Tech University, 2007-05) Zacchilli, Tammy Lowery; Hendrick, Clyde A.; Reich, Darcy A.; Garos, Sheila; Hendrick, Susan S.Whether couples have been dating a few months or have been married for many years, conflict is likely an inevitable part of the relationship. According to Canary, Cupach, and Messman (1995), how couples handle conflict informs other areas of their relationship, such as how satisfied they are in their relationship. Thus, when examining other relational variables it is important to understand how individuals approach conflict with their partner. In Study 1, the relationships between three conflict strategies (i.e., compromise, emotional reactivity, interactional reactivity) and other variables such as satisfaction, respect, sexual attitudes, and self-disclosure were assessed. In Study 2, items for a new conflict scale, the Romantic Partner Conflict Scale (RPCS; 39 items), were developed and subjected to a factor analysis. Six factors emerged: Compromise, Domination, Submission, Separation, Avoidance, and Interactional Reactivity. The relationships between these six strategies and respect, commitment, and satisfaction were assessed. The goals of Study 3 were to confirm the factor structure of the RPCS and to relate the six subscales to self-disclosure, sex, commitment, love, satisfaction, and respect. Confirmatory factor analyses tested two, three, five, and six factor models. The six factor model resulted in the best fitting model. Alphas for the subscales ranged from .84 to .96 and the subscales correlated appropriately with the other relational variables. Implications for this new conflict scale, as well as limitations of the studies, are discussed.