FOSTERING RIPENESS IN SEEMINGLY INTRACTABLE CONFLICT: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Disputant “ripeness” is a state and a process of critical importance to the resolution of seemingly intractable conflict. Fostering ripeness is often a primary goal of those who attempt to intervene. This study presents a typology of interventions for promoting ripeness in highly escalated, protracted conflicts, and investigates the distinct effects of four different types of intervention strategies on the commitment of disputants to make peace. The model defines a state of ripeness at the individual psychological level as a high level of commitment by a party to change the direction of the normative escalatory processes of the relations towards deescalation. Lewin's “drive” and “resistance” change‐force strategies are combined with “process” and “outcome” oriented interventions to yield the four strategies. Results indicated that process‐oriented interventions targeted at removing resistance obstacles to peace were more effective at fostering ripeness than outcome‐oriented interventions aimed at driving constructive change. The implications of the findings are discussed.