ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of key structural forces impacting conflict and conflict resolution in contemporary democratic society. It discusses four practical prescriptions for the conflict resolution and peacebuilding field, its analysts, and practitioners intended to help address these forces. These are, in brief, the impact of social structures on individual disputes; the use of analytical tools which allow disputants to assess the impact of these forces; support for social movements confronting structural problems; a focus on key issues and conflicts. Karl Marx’s adaptation of Hegelian dialectical idealism continues to be the most prominent of structural theories of conflict, shadowing each succeeding variation. An understanding of structural forces affecting contemporary democratic society begins with an appreciation of the impact of modernity on this society. The structures of global society make centralisation of governance, of work, and of social life unlikely. But community life must nonetheless offer individuals the affiliation they seek and the means to offer the same for others.
