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Forms/types of conflict 
1. Inter-state Conflict
: 
This refers to conflict between two or more states e.g. Nigeria and 
Cameroon. 
2. Intra-state Conflict: That is conflict within the state e.g. Insurgency. 
3, Inter-personal Conflict: That is conflict between two or more persons or parties 
4. Intra-personal Conflict: This refers to conflict within individual. 
5. Inter-group Conflict: This means conflict between two or more groups. 
6. Intra-group Conflict: That is conflict within a group. 

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7. Inter-party conflict: Conflict between one political party and the other. 
8. Intra-party Conflict: That is conflict within a party. 
9. Religious Conflict: Conflict between one religion and the other e.g. Islam and Christianity
10. Ethnic Conflict: Conflict between one ethnic group and the other. E.g Miango and Rukuba. 
11. Identity Conflict
12. Communal Conflict 
13. Gender Conflict etc.
 

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15 
CHAPTER TWO 
THEORIES OF CONFLICT 
 
Many theories have been propounded by different school of thoughts which have been 
inter-wovenly advance in respect to conflict. A theory is an idea or belief about something which 
arrived through assumption and in some cases a set of facts, prepositions, or principles analyzed 
in their relations 
to one 
another especially in social sciences is used to explain phenomena (Encarta 
2004). It is a set of ideas that provides an explanations about something. Theories are aimed to 
widen the horizons of students to the debate and discourses in conflict management which are:" 
i) 
The structural theories of conflict:
 
These theories have been put forward by radical scholars, 
particularly of the Marxist school of thoughts. They mean that conflicts occur because of the 
exploitative and unjust nature of human societies domination of one class by another etc. The 
theories was further propounded through the works of scholars like Fredrick Engels, Joseph Lenin, 
Mao Tse Tung, Karl Marx, who blame capitalism for being an exploitative system based on its 
relations to production and the division of society into the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The 
exploitation of the proletariat and lower classes under capitalism creates conflict. To Marxists, 
through a revolution the - bourgeoisie will be overthrown in a socialist revolution led by the 
workers that would bring about the establishment of socialists order through the working class of 
people. "Conflict Theories and Analysis" (Best ND:2). The Marxists view has been extended by 
Neo-Marxists, mostly of the underdevelopment and dependency school, most of them from the 
developing countries. Others on this school are the liberal structuralists represented by Ross (1993) 
and the famous work of Johan Galtung (1990) on structural violence who propounded the theory 
of negative and positive peace to buttress how structural conflicts can 'occur in society. The theory 
looks at social problems like political and economic exclusion, injustice, poverty and exploitation 
as source of conflict. 
ii.