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Conflict
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What is Conflict?

Conflict is a foundational concept in communications studies, examined across courses in interpersonal communication, organizational behavior, international relations, and intercultural dialogue. It describes the tension that arises when individuals, groups, or states pursue incompatible goals, resources, or values. What makes conflict academically compelling is its presence at every scale of human interaction — from disagreements within school systems and organizations to armed struggles between nations — and the ways societies develop or fail to develop mechanisms for managing it.

The papers archived on this topic reflect a genuinely broad range of approaches. Historical and military analyses examine specific armed conflicts such as the Soviet-Afghan War, the Philippine War of 1899–1902, and the American Civil War, asking how and why certain outcomes occurred. Comparative theoretical work sets frameworks like neorealism and neoliberalism against each other to explain interstate behavior. Case studies focus on post-conflict nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan or ongoing instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Other papers shift to interpersonal and institutional settings, exploring organizational conflict, intercultural misunderstanding, and conflict within school systems, while some take a more reflective or ethical angle, addressing forgiveness, reconciliation, and cases like the Tuskegee syphilis study.

A strong essay on conflict begins with a clearly scoped thesis that identifies the type of conflict, the parties involved, and the central argument about its causes, dynamics, or resolution. Evidence carries the most weight when it is specific — drawn from documented events, theoretical frameworks, or concrete case data rather than general assertions. The most common pitfall is treating conflict as inherently negative without analyzing the structural or cultural conditions that produce it, which leads to surface-level conclusions rather than genuine analytical insight.

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Paper Doctorate
Ethics, responsibility, and decision-making in genetic medical testing
What does the patient have the right to know?
Research Paper Undergraduate
American art history and cultural significance
¶ … Armory Show of 1913 was one of the most influential events in the history of the American artistic movement. The exhibit was special because it contained a myriad of highly controversial paintings.
Research Paper Undergraduate
Manage a Diverse Workforce --
¶ … Manage a diverse workforce -- making diversity an asset
Research Paper Undergraduate
Cold War and Its Legacy.
¶ … Cold War and its legacy. The Cold War between America and the Soviet Union had its origins at the end of World War II, when the two former allies began to look at the world and each other through different eyes.
Research Paper Undergraduate
Human population growth trends and implications
Despite the modern separation from the means of production most people are at least marginally aware of the fact that everything we need to sustain us is provided by the earth. The earth gives us all the objects we need…
Paper Undergraduate
Analysis of modern drama
Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts as the Prototypical Modern Drama
Paper Masters
Metropolitan Museum of Arts: Johannes Vermeer (Dutch,
Metropolitan Museum of Arts: Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, Delft 1632 -- 1675 Delft)
Paper Doctorate
The importance of body language in effective communication
This is a 4-page essay persuading the audience that body language is essential for communication. The paper addresses the importance of body language from the perspective of both the listener and the speaker or audience. Issues related to culture and gender are addressed. Statistics are included to bolster the argument.
Paper Doctorate
NAFTA Clinton, Congress, the Constitution and NAFTA
This paper analyzes NAFTA and the play between the President and Congress that was set in motion to subvert the Constitution. The play had actually been set in motion thanks to the policies of FDR during his final term. The result was the creation of a loophole that allowed Congress to view NAFTA not as a treaty.
Paper Masters
Computer Addiction: Causes and Potential
The determinants and predictors of computer addiction cannot be isolated only to a specific series of demographic, psychographic or socioeconomic variables, it is an equal opportunity disease. Empirical studies indicate that computer addiction is contrary to popular opinion, not just reserved for male teenagers who have been known to spend 48 hours straight playing games on their computers or engaging in online chat sessions (Soule, 65, 66). The determinants of computer addiction are more based on lineless and isolation, and the reliance on the computer as a means to find autonomy, mastery and purpose in life (Quinn, 175, 176). The symptoms of computer addiction include significant swings in a person's mood when they are online or off, whether they have been able to attain the level of activity on the computer they deem significant, and when denied access, conflict and feelings of anger, desperation and at times mood swings that bordered on psychosis (Soule, 72, 73). Computer addiction's best cure is to remove patients from the often extreme isolation conditions they have and create more suitable triggers of dopamine release, including accomplishing tasks in the real, not virtual, world (Quinn, 174, 175). Analysis of Computer Addiction It has been problematic for researchers to isolate a specific series of attributes or traits that distinguish those that are predisposed to computer addiction relative to those that aren't. This has made prediction difficult and opponents of the research, including PC hardware and software companies, able to refute these claims of their products being the basis of health problems for consumers (Neumann, 129, 130). Fortunately PC manufacturers including Apple and others have also studied the implications of computer addiction in the context of ergonomics and usability, and discovered that those that seek recursive feedback constantly, creating virtually what they need in person, are the most prone to this psychiatric condition (Neumann, 128, 129). The quick release of dopamine is at the center of the computer addictions millions of people have today (Soule, 72). The Internet acts like a dopamine accelerator for computer addict, accelerating the physiological and psychological changes their brains go through when interacting with their computer and especially the Internet (Quinn, 175, 176). The continual isolation that society today is continually creating along with the affinity that dopamine creates when it finds a source are powerful catalysts of behavioral change. The combination of these two factors are being helped along with the growing role of social media in general and Facebook specifically in people's lives. Posting on Facebook gives Internet addicts a dopamine rush that is highly addictive and lead marathon sessions of posting updates. This is what creates the continual need to share literally everything going on in their lives, as each post releases a significant dopamine rush (Charman-Anderson, 17, 18).