Scale-up Problem

Scale-up Problem Back to Index

	Most negotiations and other conflict resolution processes occur among a small group of people. In intergroup, inter-organizational, and international conflicts, these negotiators represent a large number of other people, not just themselves. Getting those people – the constituents – to agree to the settlement developed by the negotiators is often a problem, as they have not gone through the same trust-building and understanding-improving process that the negotiators have experienced. We refer to this as the “scale-up problem”, as the small group understandings and trust must be “scaled up” to the larger population if peace building is to be effective.