Conflict Management in Mature Rivalry

Rivalry is a form of conflict in which relatively few opponents must make decisions in full knowledge that rivals will perceive those decisions as interfering to a greater or lesser extent with their welfares. Actors' autonomous actions must be undertaken only after opponents' potential reactions have discounted the favorable effects on the initiating agent's welfare in the absence of such reactions. This paper defines an environment of mature rivalry in which this prospective interaction of decisions takes place in a manner that restrains conflict through the fostering of mind-sets, institutions, and conditions that enhance cooperation. The role of uncertainty is featured as a facilitator of these stabilizing tendencies. A formal framework for analyzing the solution process in contexts of mature rivalry is presented using the theory of rivalrous consonance.