Instead, it is increasingly evident that stark political conditions have weighed heavily on the nature of either side's identity, indicating that that conformity is a powerful force in the Islamic world. Social Perception and Social Cognition:

Social perception and social cognition are rampantly distorted in many parts of the Middle East. For many Shiite and Sunni combatants, a lack of access to education, history or the ability to critically assess global events can elevate the ability of clerics, political leaders and tribal warlords to manipulate followers into perceiving this as a centuries-old conflict. This produces a pattern of social cognition for those on both sides which only understands the conflict as that which may be characterized as having roots with the will of Mohammed himself.

In reality, "if you read the newspapers in the 1950s and 1960s, you don't see anything about Sunni-Shiite riots. There were peasant/landlord struggles or communists vs. Baathists. The kind of sectarian fighting we're seeing now in Iraq is new in its scale and ferocity, and it was the Americans who unleashed it." (HNN, 1) This constitutes the most important feature of tribal-infighting in contexts such as Iraq, Iran and, to a larger extent, throughout much of the developing world where resource and political exploitation have persisted. The unwanted presence of the United States, the insertion of political instability and the undermining of one side in favor of the other at its convenience has helped to project the impression of a state of civil war. Moreover, it has succeeded at projecting this as a war with roots dating back many thousands of years....

In addition to the fact that the split is based on changes taking place more directly within the last century than at any other time in history, this is a deliberate mischaracterization with designs to shift the blame away from American foreign policy. The outcome is a social perception within and without the Muslim world that falsely interprets this conflict as intractable.
Conflict Resolution:

The matters of social perception and social cognition reveal a clear path to conflict resolution. Recent history demonstrates that the factors promoting conflict are not real but fabricated as a misdirection from foreign acts contributing to recession, resource scarcity and political fractiousness. According to Boeree (2006), "most Sunnis and Shiites are liberal, although not by western standards. In peaceful and prosperous times, there is little conflict between them." (Boeree, 1) This is to say that the path to conflict resolution is for the world community to commit both to reversing the acts of aggression and exploitation committed by such powers as the United States and to bringing the Muslim world into the geopolitical scheme in a way that reverses its history of isolation and radicalization.

Works Cited:

Boeree, C.G. (2006). Sunnis And Shiites. Shippensburg University. Online at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/sunnisshiites.html.

Grose, T. (2008). Sunnis and Shiites: Behind the Split. U.S. News and World Report.

HNN Staff. (2002). What is the Difference Between Sunni and Shiite Muslims -- and Why Does It Matter. George Mason University's History News Network. Online at http://hnn.us/articles/934.html