The Definition of Competitive Conflict
Competitive conflict is defined by its irrationality. Putting it simply, competitive conflict is marked by the desire to win the fight or argument, even if winning costs more and causes more pain than not fighting at all. Costs do not matter in competitive conflict, and therefore, irrationality remains its main mark.
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History
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World War I is one of the most glaring and bloody examples of competitive conflict. Austria and Russia were competing over the Balkans and the fate of the Turkish empire. Britain was in economic competition with the rapidly growing German Reich. When the war was over in 1918, tens of millions were killed, wounded or missing and the entire countries of France, Russia, Ukraine and Austria lay in ruins. In this case, the fruits of competitive conflict were far greater for the "winners," namely Britain and France, than had they not fought at all.
Features
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Competitive conflict, according to conflict writer David Augsburger, is marked in its irrationality by several important sub-features. The first is fear, which is one of the important ingredients in a conflict becoming irrational. If one is personally invested in the outcome, this too leads to irrational conclusions, especially if issues of self-esteem, whether personal or national, are involved. Competitive conflict can either begin by, or be rationalized by, conflicts of ideology or principle. Even more, when the desire to win overtakes any specific reason for the conflict, irrationally develops. Importantly in history, when powers are roughly equal, such as the World War I alliances were, conflict that becomes competitive and irrational nearly always develops.
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Significance
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When studying any kind of irrational or violent conflict, whether political, economic or personal, the basic theory of competitive conflict can serve to explain how and under what conditions a conflict became irrational. When a personal conflict over a minor issue forces friends apart for years, the conflict itself becomes its own cause; a vicious cycle. In cases like these, the desire to win an argument or to appear noble or moral is far more important than the actual issue that caused the fight in the first place.
Effects
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Competitive conflict is accumulative. That is to say that competition (in this sense) is based on the desire to be vindicated. The original issue that began the conflict becomes irrelevant. The original issue is more of a pretext than a cause of the conflict.
Benefits
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In economic competition, the irrational competitive form of conflict may benefit consumers. In order to attract customers, firms might give products away in order to steal clients from others, even though the firm loses money in the short run. There may be a sort of rationality to this if the plan is long-term market share rather than short-term profits. It remains however, a risky strategy. If other firms are then forced to lower prices in response, firms may risk substantial losses.
While most of the work on competitive conflict stresses the negative and irrational definition, it is possible, such as in a sports contest, that the stress on winning can be helpful as it continues to condition the players to better performance. However, few will doubt that humiliating your opponent and gloating in victory over an opponent is sometimes hard to resist.
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