Deciphering the Global from the Local: The Conundrum of Contemporary Global Conflict Management

• Author: Michael E. Scott
• Pages: 23-31

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Deciphering the Global from the Local:

The Conundrum of Contemporary Global

Conflict Management

M I C H A E L E. S C O T T

University of Guyana

Introduction

Global conflict or conflict of international

or global significance/implications is often

manifested as a clash of opposing interests,

positions on issues, principles and values

within, between or among states. These

clashes destabilize whatever semblance of

order is existent and create a high risk and

emergency global system whereby the global

citizenry are anxious, expectant, frustrated and

are consumed with a sense of foreboding (an

extant global political economy of fear). These

clashes may progress from simple verbal

flare-up between/among combatants to overt

violent and destructive actions. Contemporary

global conflict is characterized by the following

underlying factors:

• The access to or distribution of resources,

for example, most if not all intra-state

conflicts have this at their roots

• The logic or illogic use of power, for

example, US war on transnational

terrorism — US in Afghanistan.

• Global transparency, for example, US in

Iraq re Weapons of Mass Destruction

(WMDs) where there was a failure in

voluntary and coercive transparency while

non-voluntary transparency (intelligence

information gathering and collating) was

palpably flawed.

•Communal antagonisms including those

resulting from traditional and politico-

ethnic/racial communality, for example,

Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Fiji and Guyana.

•The direct/indirect threat to the national

security of states, for example, the few

inter-state conflicts and the US war on

transnational terrorism.

•Past injustices, for example, the Middle-

East Conflict, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia

Bosnia and Kosovo.

•Perceived violations of rights, for example,

closely related to former, past injustices.

•Cold Stygian anger with the current global

order, for example, Osama Bin Laden vs

the US as in 9/11.

The fact is that contemporary global conflict

is a complex phenomenon with economic,

political, historical, cultural, ideological and

psychosocial dimensions. However, while the

majority of the conflicts in the global arena

are real, they are in most instances induced

and misplaced in that the wrong parties may

be in combat over the right issues or the issues

cited over which the right parties are in combat

are sometimes wrong, respectively.

Additionally, while it is evident that the state’s

continuing primacy in global politics (note the

current role of the US and its Coalition of the

Willing) has not waned, the context of its

activities is fundamentally changed because