Who Should be at the Table?

Peter Coleman

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and Director of the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia

Interviewed by Julian Portilla, 2003


This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

One example is degree of inclusivity of the parties. Some people that work in these areas believe that you've got to get as many of the stakeholders and the members of their groups to the table, engaging together as possible. Others say, it's not possible, it's not feasible, you need to work with key influencers, three influential is what Herb Kelman calls them, that level of people under First Track, who have influence in the communities, who you can transform and can become agents for a change. That decision about being exclusive or inclusive with a group

is a huge decision and it has impact on the system. Because some would say, working with a exclusive group creates spoilers, creates people who are excluded with the process and therefore become bent on sabotaging it.