When destructive conflicts persist for long periods of time and resist every attempt to resolve them constructively, they can appear to take on a life of their own.

We label them as intractable conflicts. They can occur between individuals (as in prolonged marital disputes) and within or between groups (as evidenced in the antiabortion-prochoice conflict) or nations (as seen in the tragic events in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, and the former Yugoslavia).

Unfortunately, intractable conflicts are common. Globally, about 40 percent of recent intrastate conflicts persisted for ten years or more, with 25 percent of the wars waged lasting for more than twenty-five years (Smith, 1997). Some con­flicts, such as the hostilities in Northern Ireland and Cyprus, have persisted for centuries. Domestically, nations face countless incidents of protracted intergroup conflict over racial, class, and gender inequities, as well as over issues such as abortion rights, the death penalty, and gun control. Similarly, the list of intractable interpersonal disputes, grudges, and feuds among family members, with former friends and personal enemies is substantial.

The objective of this chapter is to provide a practical overview of our current understanding of intractable conflict. It has four sections. It begins with a discussion of the characteristics of intractable conflict, which distinguish intractable from more manageable conflict. The second section outlines five categories of approaches for addressing these types of conflicts. The third section offers some general guidelines for intervening in such conflicts, emphasizing inter­vention that is multimodal and multidisciplinary. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for training intervenors and disputants.