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Abyss. J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 
© 2017 Wollo University 

 
 

Communicate Beyond Words: Investigating the Polarized Discourses of 
Conflict Entrepreneurs to Secure Peace and Stability  

in Ethiopian Universities 
Abate Getahun* 

Department of English Language and Literature, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia 

 

ABSTRACT 

The prominent objective of this paper is to investigate polarized discourses of conflict Entrepreneurs so as to 
secure peace and stability in the Ethiopian universities. Conflict Entrepreneurs are those who have been 
fabricating hate speeches, disinformation, hate crimes, polarized ethnocentric and religious discourses to 
create crisis. As a result, dozens of universities are at different levels of chaos and crisis starting from 2015 
than ever before in its severity and calamity. The sources of the problem seemed to be the slanted discourses 
of conflict Entrepreneurs.  To unpack the problem, data were collected in natural settings of universities and 
other source by using chain or snowballing sampling techniques focusing on crisis and its causes. Key 
informant interviews, document analysis and reports of all universities at different meetings of universities 
were employed to gather data. The analysis was done on emerging and existing polarized discourses of 
conflict entrepreneurs. The overall findings revealed that because of the polarized and pretext discourses of 
conflict Entrepreneurs, there were crisis on human and non-human elements in dozens of Ethiopian 
universities. Therefore, pragmatic social vaccines (trainings and education), should be designed and 
implemented in all universities to secure peace and stability since the sources of the problem and the 
proposed solutions are almost similar. 
 
Key words: Communication beyond words, conflict Entrepreneurs,   hate speeches, polarized discourses, 

social vaccine 
 
INTRODUCTION 

Existing and emerging discourses have revealed 
that fueled by conflict entrepreneurs, war and 
violent conflict pose one of the most difficult 
challenges and impediments to human 
development. Of the 20 poorest countries in the 
world including Ethiopia, most have continually 
experienced crisis and violent conflict. According 
to the Human Development Report (HDR 2002), 
in the 1990s more than 53 internal conflicts 
resulted in an estimated 3.6 million deaths, the 
majority of whom were civilians such as innocent 
farmers and university students. Frequently these 
wars accompany political, economic, and social 
transition, natural disasters, and profound pressures 
arising from globalization, which tends to make 
them intractable and protracted.  

Crisis, conflict and different form of war today is 
mostly internal, chronic, extending over long 
periods of time, often based on identity politics, 
religion and benefiting from globalized forms of 

financing, which include among others: the drug 
trade, arms trade, the exploitation of natural 
resources and financial remittances.  Preventing 
the death and suffering of millions from violent 
conflict and building a sustainable peace is the 
most urgent challenge for human development 
today (UNDP, 2004).   

According to dozens of scholars (Coombs, 2009b 
and Topper, B., & Lagadec, 2013) and the 
investigation of these researchers, crisis and 
survival struggles are the everlasting human fates. 
A crisis is an event that threatens the 
organization’s tangible resources, such as people 
and property, or intangible resources, such as 
credibility and reputation. It is an unpredictable 
and/or unexpected event, which creates uncertainty 
impact on organization. Traditionally, a crisis has 
been perceived to have only negative outcomes but 
recently it has been seen rather as a turning point 
that presents the organization with both threats and 
opportunities.  

Virtually every crisis contains within itself the 
seeds of success as well as the roots of failure. 
Finding, cultivating and harvesting the potential 

* Corresponding Author 
E-mail; abate6565@gmail.com 

Abyssinia Journal of  
Business and Social Sciences 



 

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Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 

success is the essence of crisis management. The 
core of crisis mismanagement is to make a bad 
situation worse. This is because managing crisis is 
a time memorial prime responsibility for human 
survival. To overcome emerging and existing 
crises for survival, human spices have gone 
through three long eras until now. The first 
strategy to manage crisis appeared to be muscular 
era. In this era the most essential weapon to 
survive or to live and make its offspring live was 
being muscular and became physically strong. This 
is because the one who was very strong could run, 
hunt and fight with wild animals to get food and 
other survival or basic human needs. 

Then, through practical experiences with 
negligible differences, human spices have 
developed primitive weapons like bows and 
arrows, spear and knives from the generous gifts of 
nature such as stones, trees and animal products. 
This era was believed to be weapon era. The one 
who produced better weapon and fought well won 
over the weakest one and made them to the extent 
slave. The third era is Information Communication 
Era. This era has brought round digital 
transformation and intelligence. It appeared to be 
characterized by the rapid shift from traditional 
industry that the Industrial Revolution brought 
through industrialization to an economy based on 
information technology. In this 21st century, 
everything is at the tip of our figures.  

Nonetheless, existing and emerging surveyed 
evidences have stated that although there are many 
religious institutes, churches, mosques and 
educational institutions which are supposed to 
teach the youth, the present generation does not 
seem to be divorced from the previous two long 
aged practices most importantly here in Africa in 
general and in Ethiopia in particular. This is 
because ‘Conflict Entrepreneurs’ came into sight 
blinded with polarized and slanted discourses by 
using the emerging modern technologies than ever 
before. Thus, it is hoped that universities and other 
organizations while preparing manuals to 
overcome crisis and conflicts would use the result 
of the study.  

Hence, this paper is expected to investigate 
polarized discourses of conflict Entrepreneurs so 
as to give tailored trainings towards securing peace 
and stability in the universities. Then suggest 
possible way outs to solve the detected problems in 
tune with the following leading questions: 

1. Why are dozens of Ethiopian Universities in 
crisis mainly for the last four years? 

2. Who are conflict entrepreneurs? Who are their 
targets? 

3. How do conflict entrepreneurs disseminate 
their hate discourses? 

To what extent do universities employ key 
elements of conflict resolutions to manage the 
polarized discourses conflict entrepreneurs? 

Theoretical Frameworks 

Language is a necessary pre-condition for our 
thought and action. This means that the way people 
think, the very categories and concepts that 
provide a framework of meaning for them are 
provided by the language that they use (Morgan, 
2010). Morgan (2010:120) further added, “no 
intervention will be successful if it does not take 
into account the context in which language 
problem is embedded". As to this scholar, the real 
world is to a large extent unconsciously built up on 
the language habits of the group. In full agreement 
with Morgan (2010), Cook underscores, “language 
is at the heart of human life, without it; many of 
our most important activities are inconceivable” 
(Cook, 2003:5). Gee (2011) also proclaimed that 
language is a guide to social realities and human 
life since it powerfully conditions all our thinking 
about social problems and processes. 

Gee, (2011) further emphasized that without 
language, human beings could not live in the 
objective world alone or alone in the world of 
social activity as ordinarily understood.  In full 
agreement with the above scholars, as to 
Fairclough (2003), one can see social life as 
interconnected networks of social practices of 
diverse sorts (economic, political, cultural, and so 
on). 

To demystify and unmask intricate social life, 
discourse analyzes has been employed. This is 
because discourse analysis is the study of social 
life, and offers a method of investigating meaning 
in interactions between and across people and 
systems. Moreover, discursive Practices are 
produced (created) and consumed (received and 
interpreted). Discursive practices, through which 
texts are produced (created) and consumed 
(received and interpreted), are viewed as an 
important form of social practice which contributes 
to the construction of the social world including 
social identities and social relations.  It is partly 
through discursive practices in everyday life 
(processes of text production and consumption) 
that social and cultural reproduction and change 
take place. 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

Discourses of Conflict Entrepreneurs 

According to many scholars (Akinnawonu 2006 
and Garland 2009, to mention some) lots of 
conflicts active in the world now there are 
politicians and individuals present that seek to 
increase their own power and wealth through 
participation in conflict by violent means. It is 
interesting to note that in many countries this can 



 

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Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 

be a (or virtually the only) opportunity for an 
individual to make a career in terms of power and 
finance. Conflicts can offer ways of gaining status, 
influence and money. In other words: conflict as a 
career. Other avenues available to resolving the 
conflict peacefully, might be taken but do not offer 
a future with them at the centre of power, in wealth 
or in any positions of control. This is why the 
integration of 'rebel', 'irregular' forces are so 
important in negotiations for peace deals. 

In full agreement with Grant (2008), Support 
(2006) described that conflict entrepreneurs are 
actors who use a specific situation or condition for 
the purpose of establishing a conflict in order to 
gain something through the exploitation of new 
power relationships. The gain can be personal 
(economic wealth, political power) or it can be 
seen by the conflict entrepreneur to benefit a 
collective with which s/he identifies. Instigating a 
conflict can even be seen as a prerequisite for 
preserving and protecting those collective against 
(perceived or real) external threats. Whether the 
'real' reason is personal or collective gains will 
hardly influence the way the cause is presented.  

As to Turpin-petronin(2009), any conflict 
entrepreneur worthy of the label will mobilize 'his' 
or 'her' group for conflict by convincing the 
potential group members that the mobilization is 
for a collective good or in order to avoid the 
disastrous effect of the other group's mobilizing 
first. The conflict entrepreneur benefits not only by 
mobilizing strength against another group but also 
by gaining uncontested power within the group.  

Communication Beyond Words as Conflict 
Resolutions 

Communication beyond words is not mere 
informative since information is not enough 
although it is important to provide information in 
the early phases of a behavior change intervention 
and to reinforce such knowledge periodically. 

 Communication beyond words is multi-layered! It 
lies on the meaning of culture beyond the words.     
It isn't easy to reach the deeper levels of culture 
and its meanings! In order to understand cultural 
differences better and make communication 
beyond words, view culture as an iceberg. 

As can be seen in fig. 1, large sections of human 
behaviors are hidden and invisible, only a small 
part can be seen. The huge part of human behavior 
is covert behavior. The covert behavior is found in 
the unconscious part of our mind. The unconscious 
is again the source of our motivation whether they 
are simple desires such as food or sex, neurotic 
compulsions, or the motives of an artist or scientist 
(Boeree 2009). Kosslyn and Rosenberg (2004:459) 
assert, “repressed thoughts, feelings and wishes are 
hidden from awareness.”  The largest part by far is 

the unconscious. It includes all the things that are 
not easily available to awareness, including many 
things that have their origins, such as our drives or 
instincts, and things that are put there because we 
cannot bear to look at them, such as the memories 
and emotions associated with trauma (McVittie, 
and Mckinl6ay 2011). Just like that to bridge 
polarized discourses and demystify conflict 
entrepreneurs, communication beyond words 
essential. This is because the deeper meaning of 
the message is not revealed the surface, but shine 
through implicitly.           

The researcher of this paper distilled from different 
sources (to mention some, Bonta, Bruce D.,1996 
and Brigg, Morgan, 2007) and has suggested the 
following conflict resolution principles to solve 
polarized discourse of conflict entrepreneurs. 
Making conflict resolution the priority rather than 
winning or "being right’’ is the prominent 

 

 

Fig. 1: Iceberg Theory of Culture and Hidden 
behaviors (Source: Kosslyn and Rosenberg 

(2004)) 



 

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Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 

principle of conflict management. This is to mean 
that maintaining and strengthening the 
relationship, rather than “winning” the argument, 
should always be our first priority (Andrew, W. 

and R.S. Ratner 2008). Hence, the following key 
elements of conflict resolution principles were 
used as conceptual framework while gathering 
data: 

Key Elements of Conflict Resolution Principles to Solve Polarized Discourses 
 Key Axioms Conflict Resolution Principles to solve Polarized discourses 
1 Education on Media Ethics Education on media ethics should focus on the rights and freedoms of 

consumers and their role in creating and promoting peaceful societies. 
2 Encourage Conflict 

Sensitive Reporting and 
Multicultural Awareness 

campaigns 

Conflict sensitive reporting will help dispel the ‘us’ against ‘them’ 
fallacy. Activists and Journalists should be taught conflict sensitive 

reporting skills. Multicultural awareness campaigns should emphasize 
knowledge about and respect for the diversity of cultures and traditions 

3 Regulate Social media without revoking the right to press freedom. Press freedom can be 
enhanced through education on media laws and ethics since many 

conflict entrepreneurs use FB as free grazing land 
4 Encourage Victims and 

witnesses to report hate 
speech related crimes 

Hate speech remains largely invisible simply because many victims do 
not know where to report the cases or even understand that they are 

victims of hate speech. 
5 End impunity against hate 

crimes: 
establishing monitoring and evaluation units in newsrooms to monitor 

hate speech trends, compiling reports and bringing these to the attention 
of key institutions and the civil society 

6 
 

Listen for what is felt as 
well as said. 

Listening strengthens us, informs us, and makes it easier for others to 
hear us when it's our turn to speak. 

7 Recognize that all of us 
have biased fairness 

Recognize that all of us have biased fairness perceptions by overcoming 
our self-centred fairness perception using jointly hiring a mediator so as 

to avoid escalating tensions with threats and provocative moves. 
8 Focus on the Present. If we are holding on to grudges based on past resentments, our ability to 

see the reality of the current situation will be impaired. Rather than 
looking to the past and assigning blame, focus on what we can do in the 

here-and-now to solve the problem. 
9 Pick your battles. Conflicts can be draining, so it’s important to consider whether the issue 

is really worthy of our time and energy. 
10 Be willing to forgive. Resolving conflict is impossible if we’re unwilling or unable to forgive. 

Resolution lies in releasing the urge to punish, which can never 
compensate for our losses and only adds to our injury by further 

depleting and draining our lives. 
11 Know when to let 

something go. 
If we can’t come to an agreement, agree to disagree. It takes two people 

to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, we can choose 
to disengage and move on. 

12 Don’t Avoid Conflict- moderate conflict speeds up work. you could ignore it, and let the 
participants work it out among themselves. 

13 Choose a Neutral Location One of the first steps to diffuse any conflict is to change the environment. 
People are heated and that anger is often tied to a place. It sounds odd, 

but just removing the people from the room they’re fighting in will help 
put the conflict in perspective. 

14 Don’t Intimidate you are a leader, you’re in a position of authority. Don’t abuse it. It might 
seem like the simple fix to coerce the correct course, but that is not 

thinking in the long-term. The team never learns anything from this but 
to fear you, which means they won’t confide in you when something 
starts going wrong, leaving you in the dark until the issue is possibly 

beyond repair. So, take the time to work through your conflict resolution 
in such a way that it doesn’t pop up again the next day. 

15 Act Decisively Remember, you want to put the time into conflict resolution to do it right. 
But once you have gone through that process, then it’s time to act, and 

you should do so decisively. 
16 Communication beyond 

words 
Communication beyond words means paying attention to both verbal and 

nonverbal cues. This is because the most important information 
exchanged during conflicts and arguments is often communicated 

nonverbally. Use traditional materials and wisdoms to make conflict 
resolutions. 

 



 

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Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 

This study employed qualitative research approach 
because it helps in understanding issues from the 
affected individual perspectives and help to get to 
know the real need rather than the perceived needs 
or felt needs. Moreover, it plays a vital role in 
answering doubts and queries since it endeavors to 
reach multiple audiences via typical case samples, 
extreme cases, or outliers in order to unpack the 
real problems.   

This study uses different samples and sampling 
techniques to recruit relevant participants and 
discourses (texts) in order to gather proper data 
and come up with valid results.  Many students 
were wounded, looted, females were raped, and 
sadly enough at least sixteen (16) university 
students were killed in the university campuses and 
their vicinities starting from 2015 up to 2017.  
Available or comprehensive sampling techniques 
were employed since all of them were sampled.  

Snow balling and extreme case sampling 
techniques were also used to fish genuine 
information from the victimized families, friends 
and other resourceful persons. Leaders from all ten 
universities from which at least one student found 
killed were used as typical case samples. These 
were university presidents, vice presidents, student  

  councils, instructors, administrative workers, 
higher government officials, families and 
colleagues of the victims who were sampled by 
purposive sampling techniques. Thirty (30) key 
informants, three from each university were 
sampled and interviewed by using extreme case 
sampling technique in conjunction with the above 
sampling techniques.  

Moreover, discourses of activists, which are shared 
and propagated, by university students, instructors 
and administrative workers were gathered from 
Facebook walls and other chain sampling 
techniques. Three key government security figures 
and three professionals in Psychology, politics and 
law were interviewed to triangulate and to enrich 
the findings from by using expert sampling 
techniques. 

As highlighted above, all the sources of data were 
selected by using different types of sampling 
techniques on the basis of the following three 
criteria. These are;  (a) the availability of sufficient 
information (b) the possibility of getting a good 
mixture of population such as top leaders from the 
university, instructors, administrative workers, 
students, activists and key government agents from 
police and security (c) accessibility to collect the 
necessary data. Information may be available but 
may not be accessible due to security and other 
confidential matters. 

The polarized discourses of conflict entrepreneurs 
were analyzed within the framework proposed by 
van Dijk (2004). The dichotomous categorization 
of polarized discourses of 'negative other-
representation' and 'positive self-representation' 
(In-group vs. Out-group, US-THEM) has been 
adopted for the analysis of the data.  

In this framework, conflict entrepreneurs use the 
dichotomies of polarized discourses. This 
categorization is very effective in implementing 
the fundamental strategy of 'self-positive-
representation' and 'other negative-representation. 
Virdee (1995) stated that the former is an 
ideological function, which is applied to portray 
oneself as superior than the others; instead, the 
latter is to present the other as inferior or mediocre. 
Positive self-representation or in-group favoritism 
is a semantic macro- strategy used for the purpose 
of 'face keeping' or 'impression management' (van 
Dijk, 2004). Negative other-representation is 
another semantic macro-strategy regarding in-
groups and out groups, that is, their division 
between 'good' and 'bad', superior and inferior, US 
and THEM. Polarized discourses are notably 
degrading, demeaning and denigrating discourses 
(Chakraborti, 2010). 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 

This part of the paper mainly dealt with 
investigating the polarized discourses of conflict 
entrepreneurs. 

Although, commendable achievements are attained 
in managing the stated problems so far, the lived 
and emerging discourses on the ground in almost 
universities have revealed that conflict and crisis 
seem to be prevalent on the ground even today. 
This researcher felt that these gray areas do not 
seem to be given meticulous attention. Hence, the 
following analyses were given: 

Crisis and Polarized Discourses  

Regularly emerging reports from university top 
leaders, professionals and experts in the area from 
typical case sampled universities have reiterated 
that universities were found in different levels of 
crisis and chaos. The findings revealed that dozens 
of conflict entrepreneurs were found: 

1. Blind prejudices while overt prejudice is now 
much less prevalent than in decades past. 
Subtle prejudice which is indirect, covert in 
nature, or difficult to observe, and frequently 
goes undetected by both perpetrator and 
victim. 

2. Defensive perpetrators that engage in hate 
crimes out of a belief they are protecting their 
communities. These are often triggered by a 
certain background event. Perpetrators believe 
society supports their actions but is too afraid 



 

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Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 

to act and thus they believe they have 
communal assent in their actions. 

3. Retaliatory perpetrators engaged in hate 
crimes out of a desire for revenge. The 
attackers were blinded by distorted discourses 
posted on Facebook walls, books deliberately 
written in fictious manner and monument that 
instigate revenge which are proudly erected in 
different parts of Ethiopia. This can be in 
response to personal slights, other hate crimes. 
The avengers target members of a group 
whom they believe their ancestors, ethnic 
groups, religious groups or themselves have 
committed the crime, even if the victims had 
nothing to do with it by now. These kinds of 
hate crimes are a common occurrence after 
verbal or physical attacks occurred in one of 
the government universities in Ethiopia. 

4. Mission offenders/perpetrators engage in hate 
crimes out of ethnic, religious and/ or 
ideological reasons. They consider themselves 
to be freedom fighters and crusaders, often for 
a religious or racial cause. They will often 
write complex explanations for their views 
and target symbolically important sites while 
trying to maximize damage. They believe that 
there is no other way to accomplish their 
goals, which they consider to be justification 
for excessive violence against innocents. 
Dozens of elites in and out of universities are 
members of different political parties and 
religious followers. They were some time 
given devilish missions by conflict 
entrepreneurs.  

Hence, assuring peace and security remain the 
prominent challenges in the university landscapes. 

Conflict Entrepreneurs 

Key informant professionals in the area during the 
interview sated that conflict entrepreneurs seemed 
to be power mongers, politicians, and activists who 
have been working day and night to boost their 
power in any means. Conflict entrepreneurs often 
mobilize individuals through three general tactics: 
appeals to ethnic, religious, and/or ideological 
solidarity; patronage; and positive or negative 
promises regarding security. They also aggravate 
minor good governance gaps to fuel their subtle 
agenda.   This is because their daily bread to make 
a career in terms of power and finance heavily 
depends up on conflict. In other words, conflict as 
a career. Other avenues available to resolving the 
conflict peacefully, might be taken but do not offer 
a future with them at the centre of power, in wealth 
or in any positions of control. They have been 
consciously crafting aggressive quarrel among 
innocent university students. They meticulous fuel 
violence as a path for attaining economic and 
political power. 

 Conflict entrepreneurs often have created chaos, 
havoc and crisis that lead to displacement. They 
are heavily Ethnocentric who falsely distort what is 
meaningful and functional to other peoples through 
their own tinted glasses. They display lack of 
regard for other people and assume that others are 
inferior. They interrupt others frequently, 
disregards what others say and has no qualms 
about literally taking over someone else’s space. 
They attack, verbally or physically, and think that 
all problems are someone else’s fault and also 
believes that everyone else is obligated to provide 
whatever he or she wants.  

They use intimidation and humiliation to get what 
they want, and they feel their behavior is justified. 
They smile at you when he or she is actually angry 
with you. They appear calm and cooperative but 
subtly disrupt, spread rumors and sabotages, etc 
against other groups to quietly get revenge. They 
communicate superficially avoiding the objects of 
their anger while releasing anger indirectly, such 
as through backhanded compliments or talking 
negatively about others behind their backs. The 
devilish targets of conflict entrepreneurs are 
innocent students who were murdered savagely. 
Many students were wounded, looted, females 
were raped, and nearly 20 university students were 
killed starting from 2015 until now. This is 
because conflict entrepreneurs have been 
meticulously crafting fake news, hate speeches, 
slanted discourses and distorted historical 
discourses on books, Facebook walls and different 
audio media.  

They have also produced disinformation, i.e. false 
information spread deliberately to deceive others 
when known misinformation is purposefully and 
intentionally disseminated. It appears apparent that 
hate and dangerous speech is a serious and 
growing problem in Ethiopia, both online and 
offline.  

In a nutshell, findings itemized that dozens of 
conflict entrepreneurs are not empathic toward 
people from other ethnic and religious groups since 
they lack to accurately perceive differences and 
similarities between theirs and others. Many of the 
respondents mentioned that university students 
were found that they cannot even joke in a form of 
mild and friendly insults with other ethnic & 
religious groups. If they do, their discourses have 
been hijacked by conflict Entrepreneurs. Most 
importantly if the university leaders are reckless in 
addressing even minor conflicts and crisis quickly 
and handled in an unhealthy manner that caused 
irreparable rifts, resentments, and break-ups, 
conflict entrepreneurs are very swift to aggravate 
these minor gaps of the University and escalate to 
all universities through different modern 
communication. 



 

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Abyssinia Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. 2, No. 2, 2017, 31-38 

Communication Beyond Words for Conflict 
Resolutions  

No sampled universities had conflict resolutions 
strategies supported by conflict management 
guideline in order to manage the polarized 
discourses of conflict entrepreneurs. The key 
elements of conflict resolution and communication 
beyond words were not employed by the 
universities. Strong student council and peace and 
stability forum should have been organized in the 
university. Student leaders should have practiced 
conflict resolution principles by using both 
traditional and modern ways of conflict resolution 
methods in the form of extracurricular activities in 
the university. Leaders at different levels in the 
universities have failed to address conflicts beyond 
words. Communication beyond words means 
paying attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues. 
This is because the most important information 
exchanged during conflicts and arguments is 
communicated nonverbally.  

CONCLUSIONS AND 
RECOMMENDATIONS 

This section presents a brief conclusion of the 
findings vis-à-vis the research questions and makes 
some recommendation in the light of the findings.  

Conclusions 

Using these distilled lenses, all of the research 
questions were analyzed and the following 
conclusions were fished:  

1. Lack of communication beyond words though 
important information exchanged during 
conflicts and arguments is often 
communicated nonverbally. Nonverbal 
communication is conveyed by emotionally 
driven facial expressions, posture, gesture, 
pace, tone and intensity of voice. The most 
important communication is wordless. When 
people are upset, the words they use rarely 
convey the issues and needs at the heart of the 
problem. Sadly enough, dozens of people tend 
to be unaware of their biases, placing 
stereotype and cultural assumptions on others. 

2. Our country Ethiopia in general and 
universities in particular has no a 
comprehensive policy and/ or guideline which 
focuses on hate speeches, fake news, media 
ethics, conflict resolution, social media, hate 
crimes and the like. 

3. All universities have no pragmatic conflict 
resolution and crisis management guidelines, 
which embraces the key elements of effective 
conflict resolutions and crisis management 
principles to demystify polarized discourses 
and conflict entrepreneurs. 

4. Lack of Education on Media Ethics, Social 
media regulation and other surgical trainings 
in order to manage the polarized discourses of 
conflict entrepreneurs is another finding of 
this study. 

5. The overall findings revealed that the largest 
waves of hate speeches, hate crimes, fake 
news and disinformation have been taken 
place for the last many years in general and 
the previous four years in particular. Violence, 
threats of violence and killings were common. 
Hundreds of lives were lost in and out of 
university campus due to large bodies of Face 
bookers who are working day and night on 
polarized discourses, hate speeches, fake news 
and fabricated lies blanketed with fake names. 
Surprisingly, fake news and distorted 
messages are traveling faster and farther on 
social media than the truth. As a result, 
students were stoned to death in their 
compound, some persons out of the university 
campuses were burnt alive and hanged their 
corpse. Burning of churches and mosques 
were also occurred. 

Recommendations 

In the light of the findings of the study, it is 
possible to suggest the following possible 
recommendations: 

1. To curb crisis, it is high time that government 
of the country should develop alternative 
guidelines in conjunction with the universities 
should give social vaccine trainings for all 
university communities (leaders, instructors 
and students) focusing on conflict resolution 
and unity-in-diversity.  

2. The pragmatic reality on the ground revealed 
that we live in a world where corporate 
reputations are fragile and where crises seem 
to be occurring more and more. 
Communication beyond words appeared to be 
essential. Hence, the role of pragmatic 
communicator in this transient university 
environment is critical. Furthermore, the 
communication planner who might foresee 
and prepare for such eventualities is a 
significant player in our interconnected and 
changing world, a comprehensive approach to 
managing situations that may turn into crises 
and handling crises once they occur. Their 
proposition is that it is impossible to live 
without risk and, therefore, it is important that 
universities are in constant dialogue with all 
the stakeholders with whom they operate. This 
means that communication in the university 
landscapes must be open, regularly evaluated 

3. Conflict arises from differences, both large 
and small. It occurs whenever people disagree 



 

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over their values, motivations, perceptions, 
ideas, or desires. Sometimes these differences 
appear trivial, but when a conflict triggers 
strong feelings, a deep personal need is often 
at the core of the problem. These needs can be 
a need to feel safe and secure, a need to feel 
respected and valued, or a need for greater 
closeness and intimacy. Everyone needs to 
feel understood, nurtured, and supported, but 
the ways in which these needs are met vary 
widely. Differing needs for feeling 
comfortable and safe create some of the most 
severe challenges in our personal and 
professional relationships. 

REFERENCES 

Akinnawonu, BM. (2006): The Methods of 
Conflict Resolution in Peace and Conflict Studies. 
In S. Amuseghan, T. Obamuyi and K. Ogen (eds.), 
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