The Graph Model for Conflict Resolution is a methodology for the modeling and analysis of strategic conflicts. An historical overview of the graph model is presented, including the basic modeling and analysis components of the methodology, the decision support system GMCR II that is now used to apply it, and the recent initiatives that are currently in various stages of development. The capacity of this simple, flexible system to provide advice to decision-makers facing strategic conflicts is emphasized throughout, and illustrated using a real-life groundwater contamination dispute.
MotivationThere were two major reasons for developing the methodology of the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution, and later its associated decision support system GMCR II. First, there was a perceived demand for a comprehensive methodology to understand conflict decision-making and conflict resolution. The ubiquity of conflicts means that support is needed not only by decision-makers, but also by mediators -who propose resolutions -and policy-makers who determine the structures within which conflicts are played out. The inescapability of conflict implies that the need for the graph model will continue for as long as humans interact.The second motivation was a view that existing methods failed to provide the kind of analysis and advice that was needed, either because they were too inflexible to be used in most conflict situations, or because they demanded so much information and calibration that they became impractical. The graph model was designed to be simple and flexible, and to have minimal information requirements. At the same time, the suggestions that it makes encourage disputants to 'think outside the box."This paper summarizes the development of the Graph Model, which began in the early 1980s and continues to the present day. The approach is roughly historical: after a discussion of strategic conflicts (Section 2), the basics of the Graph Model are set out in Section 3 (Past),