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4 J. Conflict Resol. 1 (1960)

handle is hein.journals/jcfltr4 and id is 1 raw text is: The geography of conflict: introduction J. DAVID SINGER University of Michigpn In the three years since this Journal first appeared, conflict has been examined at a number of levels: intrapersonal, small- group, labor-management, interindustry, in- terracial, and international. And, with a few exceptions (7, 8), such conflict has been ap- proached primarily from a behaviorall point of view, with the emphasis on personality, attitude and ideology, and communication. It is not that the social or institutional en- vironment has been ignored; this aspect of the ecology of conflict has received more than adequate attention. But what has re- ceived relatively little attention has been the physical environment. The total result of such an emphasis might well be to con- vey an implication of individual or group autonomy-the notion that the only varia- bles exercising any appreciable impact on the behavior of the actors are the internal characteristics, the external behavior, and the social setting of the individuals and groups involved. Aware of the limitations of such an ap- proach, and its incompleteness as a frame- work for the study of social conflict, the editors decided to devote a special issue to the role of geography2 in the generation and resolution of intergroup conflict. The 1 The word behavioral is not used here in the restricted sense in which Duncan and Schnore (3) use it but rather in the broader sense, merely implying unconcern with physical and geographical variables. purpose here is to examine and emphasize those variables which are only partially, if at all, subject to human modification. Such environmental dimensions as climate, to- pography, land-sea configurations, and dis- tribution of flora, fauna, and mineral re- sources impose considerable limitations on man's total autonomy. He may accept such limitations fatalistically, he may attempt to adapt to them, or he may seek to modify or rearrange these natural phenomena in order to broaden his range of alternative responses to the environment. But, in each case, the individual or the group is by no means completely the master of his destiny -there are certain givens to which man must adjust one way or another. In an effort to illustrate the nature and significance of the environment as an inde- pendent variable in social conflict, we have sought a broader range of papers than one might ordinarily expect to find in a special issue devoted to some single topic. The four articles in Part I are all attempts to locate and identify the place of geographical con- siderations in the study of social conflict and the role of geography vis-A-vis the other disciplines involved in such research. The Koch, North, and Zinnes paper first offers a general model of goal conflict among na- 2 What we subsume under the rubric of ge- ography is never altogether clear, but the pa- pers by Kristof and Hartshorne should help dis- pel some of the ambiguity.

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