Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict

Escalation-Limiting Language When people are in conflict, they often say things that inflame the conflict more than they intended to. Two project participants, Suzanne Ghais and Roy Lewicki, talk about ways such inadvertent escalation can be avoided by using language carefully.
	Suzanne Ghais talks about ways to help parties to discuss the past without getting caught up cycles of blame.
	What's an "extremist?" Roy Lewicki discusses how language can make a conflict better or worse.
	Calling the other side names contributes to hostility between the sides, as described here by Roy Lewicki in an environmental case.

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The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. -- Albert Einstein

Featured Links
Organizations Making Noteworthy Contributions to Efforts to Promote More Constructive Conflict

International Alert (IA)

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Beyond Intractability

A User's Guide for Third Siders
The Third Side concept was developed by William Ury. Third Siders are people who try to see both sides of a conflict and encourage cooperative solutions, fair fights, and decision making that advocates solutions which meet everyone's interests and needs as much as possible.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Albert Schweitzer
Founder of Republique de Gabon, and 1952 Nobel Peace Laureate

Beyond Intractability Version IV
Copyright © 2003-2007 The Beyond Intractability Project
Beyond Intractability is a Registered Trademark of the University of Colorado
Project Acknowledgements

The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project
Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors
c/o Conflict Information Consortium (Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado
Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154; Contact