Human Conflict and Violence

Human Tendencies Towards Violence A study that focuses on the emergence of conflict presumably aims to use whatever knowledge is gained in efforts to prevent conflict. The history of humanity is laden with accounts of people engaging in violence. It is so ingrained within society, yet we seem to not have a concrete understanding of what provokes it to the extent that recent events have shown violence can go.

The study of conflict and violence in humans have been explained through various schools of thought, of which the conflict theory is the most prominent and more appropriate in the study of humans' tendencies towards violence. Conflict theory explains that humans have the tendency to experience conflict within and in his/her society, demonstrating that to a certain degree, conflict and the emergence of violence is structural in nature.

This school of thought further characterizes conflict into the following key stages: latent conflict, manifest limited conflict, and escalating violent conflict (Lund, 2009). A multitude of factors and variables that leads and results to violence have been explored in studies for many years, but these factors and variables can be broadly categorized into the following: political and institutional, socioeconomic, or resource and environment (GSDRC, 2014).

In addition, relevant to today's societies, conflict has evolved and became associated with feelings of nationalism, political legacy, unresolved religious or ethnic conflict, and still, the long-standing unequal access to critical sources (Pederson, 2002).

Research Question and Objectives This general survey of the conditions and factors the lead to conflict and violence develops the research question of this study: Will a resolute increase in inquiry at the nexus of latent conflict and peak periods of environmental scarcity yield information that reveals what accounts for the emergence of conflict? Specifically, this study aims to describe and uncover relationships relevant to the emergence of conflict.

The following objectives will be looked into as the researcher's guide in his pursuit to studying and answering the research question (presented above): Objective 1. To identify the institutional, socioeconomic and environmental factors that contribute to the development of conflict; Objective 2: To determine the nature of latent conflict and the factor and nature of factors that contribute to it; and Objective 3: To determine from current literature the general synthesis on the possible causes of latent conflict in people and societies.

The following hypothesis will also be tested in the study: Hypothesis: Institutional, socioeconomic and environmental factors has a significant relationship to the development of latent conflict in individuals Research Design and Methodology This study will be dominantly quantitative and non-experimental design, with a focus on narrative synthesis as the primary method of analysis. A non-experimental quantitative design is more appropriate to the study as conflict and violence are delicate topics to focus on and may not be suitable if simulated and tested within an experimental environment.

Since there have been numerous studies on the topic developed over the years, the researcher will use this wealth of information and 'study' these studies to answer the research question of this study.

Narrative synthesis is a quantitative method of analysis that provides a "systematic review of research evidence…[t]he (synthesis) product, at a minimum [sic], is a summary of the current state of knowledge in relation to a particular review question." One of the important contributions of this methodology to the study is its strength in providing a "more extensive and detailed" implications for future research and/or interventions (Popay et. al., 2006).

This is important in the study of conflict and violence as the expected outcome of research studies on this topic is to develop recommendations that could help mediate and lessen, if not totally eliminate, conflict and its adverse effects to individuals and societies. Sampling units for the.