By Samuel Owusu-Yeboah
Conflict is defined
as an open clash between two opposing groups. It could also mean opposition
between two simultaneous but incompatible feelings and opinions.
Conflict is catalysed by aggression, which means standing up for your right even
if it is to the detriment of other people’s rights. Historically, conflict has
been aired as wars between groups. In our present world, there have been great
wars which have destroyed a lot of lives and properties.
CONFLICT BETWEEN NATIONS
In the Bible, the earliest account of war was in Genesis 14 where the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah were attacked by five other kings and Lot was abducted.
Abraham was drawn into the war from thence, with 318 men of his household
(Genesis 14), he waged war against the five kings and freed his nephew, Lot.
When Israel moved out of Egypt towards the Promised Land, God gave them
directions for controlling the nation’s military. They used these directions
diligently for many years. In Numbers 1:1-3, God told the Israelites that all
men above 20 years old should be enlisted in the Army and also, Moses and Aaron
should number the soldiers.
Also, in Deuteronomy 20:1-20 God said;
1. The people should not to be afraid of whoever they go into battle with, no
matter how sophisticated their ammunitions were.
2. Before wars, the Priests should encourage the soldiers.
3. The officers were also to tell the soldiers gripped with fear and other
pleasures to withdraw from the army and go back home.
4. Whenever the Israeli Army came to a city, they were to proclaim peace onto
it. If the people answered in peace, the Israelites should make them their
servants. However if they opt for war, Israel should fight with them and destroy
This was the direction from God. As long as Israel followed these decrees of God
faithfully, they won their wars decisively with casualty figures at the barest
minimum. Over the years, after they settled in the Promised Land, the Israelites
disobeyed God. God tried to re-mobilise them by sending his prophets but they
did not take heed to his words.
Centuries on, the Roman Empire took centre-stage. They were simply invincible
and they conquered all through Europe into the Middle East. Israel fell to Roman
rule and Christianity was spread through the Roman Empire after their hostility
towards the religion died out. Christianity became a state religion in the Roman
Empire and many wars were fought to expand Christianity to nations outside the
Roman Empire. Finally, in the 2nd Century AD, the Romans conquered Israel once
more and took many Jews into Europe. From that time, the Jews were scattered all
over the world and the Romans believed that they were now the chosen ones of
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Islam rose under the leadership of
Prophet Mohammed. Mohammed was a good army general. He mobilized the tall,
strong and powerful Arab Bedouin desert dwellers into his army and waged a full
scale offensive into nearby territories in his jihads. After his death, some of
his followers formed different caliphates which sought to succeed Mohammed.
Though there were varying successes from the various groups, Islam spread from
the east of India, through to North Africa and into Europe in Spain and
The entry of Islam into Europe was seen by the European Christians as a threat.
Thus there were many religious-inspired wars fought by European kings and
leaders against the Muslims of the Middle East and North Africa. They were
successful in eradicating Islam from Europe but they could not do much about
Islam in Asia and Africa.
Through the Medieval Ages to the Renaissance in Europe, many wars (Crusades and
Jihads) were fought. In the early years of the 20th Century, globalisation
became apparent and this led to struggles between nations. Between, 1914 and
1918, the 1st World War was fought between the Allies (mainly Russia, France,
Britain, Italy, USA, Japan) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Hungary
and other nations). This war came about because of the need to control the
industrial markets in Europe and around the world. Also, the war erupted because
many nations including Jewish communities around the globe questioned the harsh
methods used by the Germans in pursing her foreign policy. In the 1st World War,
65,000,000 soldiers were presented in battles. Out of this 8,000,000 died or
were reported missing whilst 37,000,000 sustained various degrees of injuries;
amongst them was a junior ranked German soldier called Adolf Hitler, who
suffered temporal blindness and was hospitalized. He blamed the Jews for the
German loss in the World War because he believed they sabotaged the Central
Powers. Adolf Hitler was born in Braunauam Inn, Austria-Hungary, in 1889, which
was then part of Germany.
By 1937, most of the peace treaties signed in the 1st World War had failed.
Adolf Hitler had risen to the highest position of the German government. In most
of his speeches, Hitler made it known to the Germans that they were the most
superior race on earth and with a German support, he could build a German empire
that could last 1000 years. In Italy also, a dictator was rising called Benito
Mussolini. Germany and Italy began to work together in many aspects. Suddenly,
German manufacturing industries experienced a boom and there was the need for
them to establish links in the international community to sell off their
products. The international market was already controlled by Britain and the
tussle for control became stronger. War at that time became inevitable.
Hitler began the war when he signed a treaty with The USSR and took advantage of
the peace to invade many nations east of Germany. He nicknamed these nations
Lebensraum (Living Space) which he considered were necessary for the German
people to expand their production mechanisms. He therefore advocated for the
expelling and killing of the local populations. Also, he ordered for the weeding
out of the minorities in Germany like his long time enemies, the Jews as well as
Gypsies and homosexuals who he ordered to be placed in concentration camps.
Hitler then began to wage war against foreign nations all around Europe and in
other territories far and near. Gradually, Britain, France, USSR were drawn to
the war as their territories were attacked by Germany and Italy. Japan was also
at that time at war with China and they found their policies consistent with
Germany so they joined to support Germany and Italy. USA was totally impaired to
enter the war because she passed a neutrality law that prevented her from
supporting either sides of the war which was mainly in Europe. On December 7
1941 a Japanese aircraft initiated a surprise attack on the US base in Pearl
Harbour. In a matter of hours, Japanese aircrafts had bombed the whole harbour,
killing 3000 US military personnel. The next morning, USA joined the war on the
side of Britain, France, USSR and China. However, people believed after the war
that this attack was initiated by Britain because they wanted their colleagues
in the America to join in the war!
After a series of treaties and war strategy meetings, the most powerful Allied
nations: USA, Britain and USSR then led by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin( The
Big Three) decided to invade Germany from Normandy on the Coast of France. This
operation was dubbed the D-Day and it was to be undertaken by a combined US and
British military personnel. USSR was to attack Germany from the east through the
Lebensraum. With some months of fighting, the Capitalist Anglo-Americans got a
breakthrough in the west whilst the Communist USSR army also won victories from
the east. At that moment, the two forces became sceptical of how each of them
would share and rule the conquered nations. The British and American troops
moved swiftly into German and so did the Soviets. They finally met in Berlin
where the city was divided into two and ruled in halves by Capitalists and
Although this was a strong turn around, Japan was still aggressive in the Asian
Pacific region. They were brutal in battle because their soldiers fought to
death. Wherever they invaded, they were very tyrannical because historically,
Japan had only one punishment for offenders and that was death. So when the
Allies noted that an invasion of Japan would be costly on their armies, they
thought of using the atomic bomb. Finally, on August 6th 1945, the Americans
dropped a bomb on Hiroshima and on August 9th, they dropped another on Nagasaki
causing a total of 240,000 deaths in Japan. America demanded an unconditional
surrender of Japan but the Japanese military refused. The emperor of Japan
however stepped in with his veto powers and agreed to an unconditional Japanese
surrender. At the end of the war, a total of about 113,260,000 men were
presented in the battle. There were causalities on 80,769,000 of them whilst
19,993,000 died. Soldiers from Ghana and Nigeria mainly of Hausa descent who
were trusted for their military prowess entered the British West African
Regiment and they fought in the Indian sub-continent in places like Burma.
After the war, there was scepticism between the Western Europeans and Americans
on one side and the USSR and other Communist nations. This was because each one
of them feared encroachment into her territory so trillions of US dollars were
spent in military ammunitions to guard frontiers. In other nations like Korea
and Vietnam, the Communists and Capitalists fought wars and the result was that
these nations were carved into two; North and South. In Africa, the East-West
conflict led to wars in nations like Angola and Mozambique. In all these wars,
Soviet-backed Communist troops always recorded better results than the American
In the late 1970s, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Knowing the degree of loss
they could incur, the Capitalists led by USA mobilised troops from all over the
Arab world in the name of protecting Islam against the ‘atheist communists’ and
this led to the recruitment of Islamists who flooded Afghanistan through
Pakistan. America provided these troops with a massive stock of ammunitions
including many rocket propellers which the local Islamists or Mujahedin used to
shoot down Soviet aircrafts.
In 1988, the USSR had spent too much on the war in Afghanistan so they withdrew.
A few years afterwards, the Soviet Union collapsed. All the Islamists who
entered Afghanistan from other Arab nations were rejected by their nations
because they feared that they would begin uprisings against their national
governments. These Mujahedin felt betrayed. Afghanistan then plunged into a
civil war and many of these Islamists from nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia
got set to punish America and Britain for making them stranded. Their creeds and
beliefs spread into the Arab world like wild fire from nations Afghanistan and
Pakistan. Their hatred was fuelled by what they believed was betrayal by America
and the influx of Western culture which they believed was destroying Islamic
values. This has led to terrorism all over the world and it appears that many
conflicts would emanate from this conflict until the Islamic and all other
civilisations settle down to live in peace.
CONFLICT IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Mary Parker Follet described two extreme types of conflict in the work
environment; destructive conflict and constructive conflict. Constructive
conflict was described as challenging accepted old ideas to stimulate the
development of a character change and motives. Constructive conflicts defined
responsibility boundaries and provided opportunities for anxiety or personality
challenges to be brought to the open. Destructive conflict on the other hand was
personality based. It was meant to damage whatever came from one particular
person and was malicious.
The main causes identified in conflict initiation were misunderstanding,
mistrust, non supportive relationships, failure to communicate openly and
unreasonable pressures. These causes manifested in regular arguments, ostracism,
strikes, absenteeism, sabotage and low productivity.
When a manager identifies that there is conflict in his organisation, there were
three options opened to him. The first was to confront the situation with the
view of solving it once and for all. Secondly, if the conflict is identified to
be a constructive one, the manager could sit back and do nothing. Finally, if
the conflict was destructive but had the potential of being a constructive one,
the manager could translate it into constructive competition by putting in place
mechanisms that would stimulate positive contest in the conflict.
JESUS’ VIEW ON CONFLICT
Jesus came to promote constructive conflict. He said in Matthew 10:34-35 that;
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,
but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter
against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
This indicates that His teachings were meant to be revolutionary and to bring
changes that may not go down well with many people. This was repeated in Luke
With this mindset, Jesus Christ questioned the simplistic nature of the
Pharisees in many parts of the New Testament. Most of His criticism of these
Pharisees was directed at their religious practises, which they thought was the
ultimate way of getting to God. The most remarkable issues can be found in
Matthew 23:1-39 where Jesus Christ questioned the activities of the Scribes and
In the conflict Jesus Christ proposed in Matthew 10:34-35 however, there are
limits that He observed. The main limitation is the law of God and the Word of
God. This is outlined in Luke 16:17 where Jesus said “And it is easier for
heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” This means that
all things could be challenged but not the law of God.
Jesus went further to say in Mark 13:31 that “Heaven and earth shall pass away:
but my words shall not pass away.” This shows that all things could be
challenged in conflict but not the word of God or Jesus Christ.
VIEWS OF OTHER APOSTLES
Peter in his epistles said in I Peter 5:5 that “Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be
clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the
humble.” That could be construed to mean that humility is a requirement of God.
Therefore in challenging authority, one must do so without pride.
Dr. D. K. Olukoya on a segment of his preaching on the ministry of conflict in
his message titled ‘The Blood on your Doorpost’ juxtaposed war in history with
the ministry of deliverance saying that “…If you are a history student you might
have come across an interesting story about the Roman Army which went to war
with England. The soldiers went to England by sea and as soon as they arrived,
they set their ships ablaze to the amazement of the British soldiers. That means
forward ever and backward to their ship never. Immediately they did that, the
British army knew that they were already defeated. That is what violence is all
about and that is why the Bible describes us as soldiers. We are regarded as
solders because we are supposed to engage in war in the ministry of conflict:
And as soldiers, we are under a Captain or a Commander who is our Lord Jesus
OBSERVATIONS ON CONFLICT
Without conflict there cannot be changes. The absence of conflict means
stagnancy because where there is no war, there can be no peace.
Conflict can however bring progress or retrogression. Conflict could bring good
Conflict can never be wrong for everybody in the universe. It would be
favourable to some people and unfavourable to others
Discrimination, pride and unwarranted aggression are the catalysts to defeat in
For the best results in conflict, there should be control and supervision to
ensure that things are done within the appropriate framework.
Jesus Christ’s ministry was a ministry of conflict.
Microsoft Encarta 2004
D. K. Olukoya’s page‘The Giving of Orders’ by Mary Parker Follet
The Taliban: War and
Religion in Afghanistan, by Peter Marsden