Gabriel Le Bras’s presentation of Boniface VIII as ‘symphoniste et modérateur’ remains valid.

Conflicts with adversaries can sometimes be unavoidable. Decision making in conflict can be unpleasant, stressful, and troubling. Success in an adversarial situation will not necessarily be achieved by the participant with the better initial position, but rather by the decision maker who is experienced in conflict situations, understands the dynamics of conflict, and is able to outsmart their adversary. This chapter differentiates between interests, disputes, and conflicts. Methods for conflict resolution are outlined as well as strategies for prevailing in a conflict. The chapter summarizes institutions in society where some disputes or conflicts may be addressed. Important structural similarities found in many disputes and conflicts are highlighted, including the different approaches of offense and defense, and the impact of timing and movement. Whether the parties to the conflict are individuals, corporations, or nations confronting each other at a negotiating table, a courtroom, or in a military battlespace, many of the strategies, dynamics, and interactions are the same.

Examines effects of comprehension, conflict, social status, loneliness, complexity, assertiveness, control, introversion–extroversion, competence, goals, working memory capacity, and first impressions on conversation memory.

Animal rights theory and the One Health approach share similarities in that they are gaining prominence and are presented as pathways to address the challenges of the Anthropocene. These two discourses may, however, be conceived as philosophically incompatible. On the one hand, animal rights theory centres on the inherent worth of individual animals. One Health, on the other hand, emerges from an understanding of ecology and focuses on the health of nature as a broad system. Where the individual rights of an animal and the interests of human/animal/environmental health conflict, animal rights and One Health would presumably propose different resolutions.

In an effort to reconcile these promising theories, this chapter seeks to locate a recognition of animal intrinsic worth within the One Health paradigm. In pursuing this objective, it seeks to conceive of animal rights as compatible with and as part of a broader One Health paradigm. On this basis, it explores the theoretical implications of such an approach for contemporary societies and their common uses of animals.

This chapter introduces the dynamics of ecosystems and chaotic systems, providing an accessible overview for readers unfamiliar with complexity theory. Key concepts such as fractals and emergence are defined and applied to social groups through the FLINT model of Factional Leadership, Intergroup Conflict, Norms, and Time, which explains how factions and subgroups form and ferment within a seemingly unified group. This model examines forces driving subgroup differentiation and the challenges of achieving lasting social change because of the need to influence multiple groups simultaneously and overcome resistance. The chapter revisits psychological research on effective activism, underscoring the importance of addressing both conformity and dissent within and between groups. Finally, we discuss empirical methods for analysing these complex dynamics, including network analyses, person-centred analyses, and agent-based modelling, which offer new ways to understand and study the formation and evolution of groups.

This chapter examines how groups respond to disadvantage, beginning with a discussion of the various ways intergroup inequality manifests across three levels: material (e.g. violence, segregation), symbolic (e.g., stereotypes, devaluation), and systemic (e.g., biased judicial systems). The chapter emphasises the real and diverse impacts of these disadvantages on everyday lives. Further, this chapter explores individual and collective reactions to disadvantage, from acceptance and minimisation to social mobility and reappraisal of group differences. Collective responses, such as social creativity and mobilisation, are highlighted as vital for resilience and social change. The factors are discussed that influence disadvantaged groups’ choice of responses, including individual factors, social support and ‘intersectionalities’ – being part of multiple groups. The chapter also suggests that individual and societal levels of analysis influence internal group dynamics and the effectiveness of collective actions.

This chapter looks at Palestinian doctors’ interactions with their Jewish counterparts as both a political and a professional rivalry. Jewish doctors treated Arab patients, and Jewish and Arab doctors worked together in government institutions, shared clinics, consulted each other, and fought common enemies of morbidity and mortality on the same land. The chapter examines Jewish-Arab interdependency and rivalry, bringing forward its articulations in the Arab and Hebrew press while underlining the effects of intercommunal violence on this encounter and attempts at direct cooperation. At the heart of this chapter is the mass migration of German-Jewish doctors to Palestine following the Nazi takeover, and the ways in which it affected relationships within the medical profession.

This book analyzes the role of different political economic sectors that drive deforestation and clearcutting, including mining, ranching, export-oriented plantation agriculture, and forestry. The book examines the key actors, systems, and technologies behind the worsening climate/biodiversity crises that are aggravated by deforestation. The book is theoretically innovative, uniting political economic, sociological, political ecologic, and transdisciplinary theories on the politics of extraction. The research relies on the author’s multi-sited political ethnography, including field research, interviews, and other approaches, across multiple frontiers of deforestation, focusing on Brazil, Peru, and Finland. Why do key global extractivist sectors continue to expand via deforestation and what are the differences between sectors and regions? The hypothesis is that regionally and sometimes nationally dominant politically powerful economic sectors are major explanatory factors for if, how, and where deforestation occurs. To address the deepening global crises, it is essential to understand these power relations within different types of deforesting extractivisms.

A 2021 report on a study of workplace conflict in the United Kingdom concludes that, in 2018–19, more than 35 per cent of respondents reported workplace conflict, with an estimated 485 000 employees resigning as a result. Managers need to understand that conflict does not resolve itself; rather, it tends to gather intensity and energy. Gupta, Boyd and Kuzmits have found that ‘employees spend as much as 42 percent of their time engaging in or attempting to resolve conflict and 20 percent of managers’ time is taken up by conflict-related issues’. Managing conflict is one of the primary responsibilities of managing staff and teams, particularly in multicultural work environments. Understanding what is ‘culturally normative in terms of self-worth, confrontation, emotional expression, and managerial intervention can help [staff] involved in workplace conflict understand what they are experiencing’. Additionally, it can help managers intervene appropriately. In this chapter, different types and origins of conflict are discussed, as well as approaches to managing and resolving conflict.