Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict
Introduction:
Silke Hansen of Community Relations Service suggests that mediation
often means more than simply reaching an agreement. On her view, the process that parties
go through to reach agreement sometimes changes the dynamics of their relationship.
This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Negotiating Your Own Solution
Silke Hansen
Senior Conciliation Specialist, Community Relations Service
Mediation is so much more than coming up with a good agreement.
In a case like that, let's say you had a brilliant judge heard the case and came up with the
same agreement. The outcome would have been totally different and probably would
not have been accepted by either side, or certainly either side would have been
quite unhappy with it. The key part of the agreement is the process that the
parties went through to reach the agreement. The process totally changes the
relationship and the dynamics between the parties. That's such a key part. It
doesn't mean that they will never have conflicts again, but the dynamics of how
to deal with those conflicts has changed somewhat and that's wonderful.
We challenge the culture of violence when we ourselves act in the certainty that violence is no longer acceptable, that it's tired and outdated no matter how many cling to it in the stubborn belief that it still works and that it's still valid. -- Gerard Vanderhaar
Other Resources from Beyond Intractability Preventive Diplomacy and International Violence Prevention "The concept and practice of violence prevention have evolved from being focused almost exclusively on the short-term interventions of preventive diplomacy, to a new, more comprehensive approach that can be defined as structural prevention and includes long-term initiatives targeting the root causes of conflict."
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
