The Industrial Revolution marked a profound period in human history that witnessed economic, technological, and social innovations that led to cascading changes all around the world. The technological advancements such as machinery and steam engines modernized manufacturing processes that enabled the mass production of goods that was unlike anything ever seen before. The industrial improvements led to an increase in productivity and a demand for laborers to work at factories, spawning the urbanization movement; or the mass migration of families from rural areas to cities to secure steady employment (Inikori, 2020). The mass production of goods created an increased demand for raw materials and resources leading to western countries exploiting colonies and developing nations for resource extraction to fuel these new industries. Simultaneously, the transportation and communication industries experienced rapid and innovative advancements that facilitated the exchange of goods at a faster pace than ever before, leading to the expansion of markets on a global scale.

The consequential rise of these industries and private business ownership fueled colonialism, and led to sophisticated financial systems establishing the foundation for capitalism to grow and be replicated around the world. Despite the immense wealth industrialization had brought to some countries, it led to significant inequality and exploitation of others furthering the social gap between the working and owner classes. The Industrial Revolution set the foundation for our current global economy with capitalism being the dominant economic model. The primary goal of capitalism is private ownership and profit, exploitation and inequality funnel increased profits to the ownership class. If exploitation is an act of violence, and the system was designed to competitively reward those with the greatest profits, intractable conflict is inevitable under a system of global capitalism.

Dr. Peter Coleman, a Psychology Professor at Columbia University describes intractable conflicts as the long-standing, psychologically and physically violent conflicts that are seemingly impossible to solve. Though scholars refer to these conflicts as intergenerational violence that involves the withholding of resources that leads to counter violence; I personally feel referring to it as “counter violence” as opposed to resistance to be a sincere disservice that paints the oppressed with the same brush as the oppressors. The term “counter violence” insinuates that it is optional and not in defense of or for survival. This could further explain why these conflicts are resistant to traditional conflict resolution because these is a clear aggressor and without acknowledging the suffering caused by the aggressor, there cannot be any healing and any solution will only be temporary.

Capitalism has created opportunities for growing economies to emerge from poverty and transition into stable societies. The increased capacity for productivity in growing societies demands an increase in resources and labor that has historically led to inequalities between both the working class and owner class as well as between more advanced countries and those that are developing. As capitalism began to expand across the world, the competition for resources began to heighten as many of these industries demand finite resources and hard labor to extract them. The desperation of these developing economies and the competition between industries paved the way for generational exploitation that has created the conditions and context for persistence in the development of intractable conflict. 

According to Coleman (2014), many peace scholars emphasize the importance of recognizing the structural variables that are responsible for the persistence that defines intractable conflict. One of those variables has been historically at the foundation of the development of global capitalism; legacies of dominance and injustice. Intractable conflicts, or deeply persistent and difficult to resolve conflicts often occur when there are severe imbalances of power between the parties, and the more powerful party exploits, controls and abuses the other. Coleman (2014) explains that most of these conflicts are rooted in colonialism, ethnocentrism, racism, sexism, and human rights abuses between the relationship of the disputants. Exploitation is the action of taking unfair advantage of a party and using their vulnerabilities for your benefit (Exploitation, 2022). 

The example of legacies of dominance and injustice as a structural component of conflict can be seen in many conflicts active to this day. The persistence of these conflicts has been built on the foundation of years of beliefs consistently confirmed by behaviors reinforcing those attitudes. The United States has upheld a trade embargo on Cuba for over sixty years as a punishment for resisting the exploitation committed by American business owners operating sugar plantations in Cuba. The trade embargo has reinforced the beliefs held by Cuba that were founded on violent actions. Haiti has held deeply persistent conflict with colonial powers for centuries with having to pay reparations for their freedom to France, and their vulnerabilities exploited by the United States for their resources and direct theft from the Haitian National Bank (Wilson’s War Message to Congress, 1917).  

Global capitalism has allowed more economically advanced countries to have access to poorer countries for sourcing resources, that would otherwise be more expensive. Private ownership and profit are integral to capitalism as an economic theory and with the primary goal to increase profits, sourcing labor and resources as inexpensively as possible leads to increased profits. As capitalism dominates the global economic landscape, the opportunity for increased profits expands as poorer countries enter the global marketplace through technological advancements. The developing countries are vulnerable to exploitation because of their desperation for goods necessary for survival, that they provide resources to powerful countries much cheaper than they could source within their own. The exploitation that global capitalism has created has left these countries in worse conditions, leading to instability and a deep distrust that strengthens over time. 

The elements of global capitalism and the expansion of markets has created powerful alliances between countries resisting imperialism and colonization that continue to manifest in intractable conflict and proxy wars based on alliances and proximity. The conflicts that global capitalism has created are complex and deeply interconnected throughout the entire world. As capitalism continues to expand throughout the world, developing countries desperate to improve their conditions will seek a less advantaged party to exploit to capture the profits promised by capitalism. Continued exploitation inevitably leads to increased profits but will continues to create the context and framework necessary for the development of intractable conflict that is deeply interwoven into the structure of the global economy. 

Resources:

Inikori, J.E. (2020) Capitalism and the Rise of Global Inequality. Journal of Human Rights, 20(1), 7-23.https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/709818

Coleman, P. T., Deutsch, M., & Marcus, E. C. (Year of Publication). The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2022). Exploitation. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/exploitation/

U.S. Department of State. (2024). Wilson’s War Message to Congress: Request for Declaration of War Against Germany, April 2, 1917. Retrieved from https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/88275.htm