Page 138 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

9781412934633-Chap-08 1/10/09 10:52 AM Page 109

8

Conflict, Competition,

Cooperation in the Sociology

of Development and Social

Transformations

Ulrike Schuerkens

In this chapter, we present the scientific processes of cooperation linking northern
meaning of the notions of conflict, competi- and southern countries in common endeav-
tion, and cooperation in our particular ours. This chapter surveys the history of
research field. These three notions are impor- development cooperation since the 1950s
tant for the analysis of social change in socie- when large groups of countries have been
ties of the geographic, or better, the included in an ever-growing world-system.
economic North and South. The notion Since the end of the global competition char-
of conflict was of interest mainly in the acteristic of the era of the Cold War, processes
1970s and was used by scholars such as of competition play a lesser role in our field
Dahrendorf, Coser, Rex and Collins. In insofar as democratic institutions in the
recent years, with the end of the Cold War South are often weakly developed and elites
and the consequent decline of states in tend to confront each other on ethnic
Eastern European and African countries, grounds, and that often occasions violent
there has been a renewed interest in the topic. conflicts. Insofar as globalization is linked to
Scholars have asked why, in these countries, economic competition, we request which cul-
social transformations have resulted in diffi- tural characteristics competition asks for in
cult social situations and why social the different world regions. The three notions
conflicts, often based on ethnic identities, are important at the macro, meso and micro
have been widespread. The notion of co- levels depending on socio-historical situa-
operation is another important term of our tions. In this chapter, principally because of
research field because of the fact that the constraints on length, we focus on the macro
whole development project is based on level. In the last 50 years, the international