Protracted social conflict is a technical term that generally refers to conflicts which are complex, severe, enduring, and often violent. The term was first presented in a theory developed by Edward Azar and contemporary researchers and conflict scholars continue to use it.

There are a number of sources and preconditions that lead to protracted social conflict. One understanding focuses on hostile interactions between groups that are based in deep-seated racial, ethnic, religious and cultural hatred. These conflicts often also have other causes, such as entrenched economic inequality and differentials in political power. They usually persist over long periods of time with sporadic outbreaks of violence. When a group's identity is threatened or frustrated, protracted social conflict is more likely to occur.

There are a number of different methods utilized for resolving protracted social conflict. Some of these include the ARIA model, the STAR model, truth and reconciliation commissions, contact models, identity affirmation frameworks, and amnesty models.

Protracted social conflicts have proliferated throughout the world. Examples include the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Kashmir conflict, the Sri Lankan civil war, the Cyprus problem, the first, second, and current Sudanese civil wars, apartheid in South Africa, the Rohingya genocide, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the Western Sahara conflict.

Protracted social conflict describes a theory originally developed by Edward Azar. The term refers to conflict situations characterized by prolonged and often violent struggle between communal groups for such basic needs as security, recognition, acceptance, fair access to political institutions, and economic participation.

The communal groups may experience deep-seated cleavages based upon racial, religious, cultural or ethnic lines. These cleavages are characterized by continuing hostility with sporadic outbreaks of violence. They are caused by the frustration of human needs for security, recognition, and distributive justice. Cross-cuttiness is also very common along cleavage structures where divisions within society overlap and “cross-cut" on another group that may have similarities in ethnicity, religion, or social background. Greater association with ethnicity and religious affiliation leads to solidified loyalty groups, motivating harmony on social issues and reducing the chances of civil war onset which hinders protracted social conflict.

Such identity-driven rifts are the result of an underlying fear of extinction that often grows within vulnerable ethnic groups who live with the memories or fear of persecution and massacre. Ethnic divisions and perceived threats often result in the domination of the state machinery by a single group or coalition of elites who deny access to basic human needs for the majority of the population.

The causes of protracted social conflicts are diverse and numerous. However, there are often common themes: disputes over land, entrenched racial or ethnic tension, political marginalization of certain groups, and prolonged structural inequality are all examples. Since Azar's original work on protracted social conflict, other scholars have developed and continue to contribute to our understanding of its causes and preconditions.