A conflict within a conflict: intragroup ideological polarization and intergroup intractable conflict

Ideology plays a central role in conflicts, both on the intergroup and intragroup levels. On the intergroup level, ideology can either contribute to the preservation and escalation of conflicts or serve as the key to resolving them. On the intragroup level, ideology can generate and induce conflicts between opposing ideological groups. However, the interaction between these two levels of conflict and the unique role of ideology in such interactions have not received sufficient systematic scholarly attention so far. We suggest a new theoretical framework emphasizing a possible reciprocal relationship between intractable intergroup conflicts and intragroup ideological polarization: intergroup conflict enhances inner polarization, which in turn, hinders the resolution of the external conflict.