Thu Aug 26, 2010
An Interactive Review of Limited World Resources: What's Left?
This interactive review of limited resources on the earth from Scientific American might interest conflict studies folks with respect to possible conflict zones of the future.
Fri Aug 13, 2010
Talking to the Enemy - BBC radio story series on negotiation
This audio program on Talking to the Enemy explores how negotiators bring groups classified as terrorists to the negotiating table. It features Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, who took part in the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. It is available for listening on the BBC iPlayer. It is the first of a three-part series. See the related news story here.
Spotted via a USIP Science, Technology and Peacebuilding newsletter.
Mon Aug 02, 2010
Video Interviews with Peacemaking Women - Quest for Peace
The Quest For Peace Series captured the thoughts of many inspired peacemakers, and in particular, a number of women that we have not heard enough from. Of special interest is the interview with Elise Boulding who sadly has just recently passed away after a long and full career as a peacemaker. The Quest for Peace series of interviews, conducted between 1983 and 1985, was completed prior to the effects of glasnost and perestroika, and thus they provide an overview of issues involved in seeking peace in the nuclear age during the Cold War of the early 1980s. The interviewer, John Whiteley, is a Professor in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine, with a research focus on the social ecology of peace, a safer nuclear world, international cooperation, and global peace and conflict studies.
Here's a subset of interviews from the larger collection that particularly interested me.
Making Peace a Real Possibility
Betty Reardon, 1985
Transcript
Watch using RealPlayer
Visioning the Possible: What Can I Do In the Present?
Elise Boulding, 1987
Watch using RealPlayer
The Drift to War
Laura Nader, 1984
Transcript
Watch using RealPlayer
The Urgency of the Problem
Helen Caldicott, 1984
Transcript
Watch using RealPlayer
The Female World Can Lead to a More Peaceful World
Jessie Bernard, 1984
Transcript
Watch using RealPlayer
See the full Index of Interviews.
Sat Jul 17, 2010
PLO Negotiations Affairs Department Negotiations Primer
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Negotiation Affairs Department has produced a magazine-style primer exploring some of the history of Palestinian - Israeli negotiations and providing an overview of the issues that concern them in Permanent Status negotiations. While I've just discovered it, I believe the 50-page document, available as a pdf, was produced in 2008. The document is nicely laid out with photos and maps and graphs to help illustrate the points made.
Sun Jun 13, 2010
Conflict Resolution Activity Guide - Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
A nice set of 6 learning activities are available to accompany the movie Jimmy Carter Man from Plains.
Each activity (see full set here) focuses on a different aspect of conflict resolution, from community building, social action, and communication to non-violent peace efforts in this country and abroad, racism and bias, and domestic and international aid.
(Note: The takepart.com site providing the full set of individual activity downloads shows the link as a "video" link, when in fact it is a pdf.)
Fri May 21, 2010
Together for Transformation - Men, Masculinities and Peacebuilding
A good looking new publication has been released focused on the role of masculinity in peacebuilding. Published by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) for the celebration of the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament (May 24), Together for Transformation - Men, Masculinities and Peacebuilding seeks to contribute towards further understanding of masculinities and the inclusion of a gender perspective within the peace and security agenda.
From the announcement:
"It shares some of our (IFOR's) own experiences with our Training of Trainers program with male peacebuilders. It features the story of a male ally who looks back at the days when he was not yet on board in terms of the 1325 agenda, introduces you to gender theory of war in an article by Cynthia Cockburn reflects on the link between militarization, masculinities and guns and focuses on how gender can work against men as well. You will be able to read about the inspiring work being done by men and women who are bravely challenging the patriarchal conditioning of their respective societies. The Pack will provide you with a number of recommendations in terms of working together with male allies. Lastly, it includes suggestions for funders, resources as well as actions, and includes a directory of organizations working for peace and gender justice."
Spotted thanks to an announcement by John Schot on the Peace and Collaborative Development Network site.
Mon May 10, 2010
FlatworldKnowledge Textbooks - Sample chapter on Conflict and Negotiations
One of the exciting new publishers in higher education is FlatworldKnowledge.com. They bring a Web 2.0 and open source sensibility to textbook publishing. The books are readable online at no cost, and available in print versions (print on demand) for a reasonable cost. Faculty who adopt texts can modify/customize their versions prior to releasing them to students, providing for some much-needed flexibility in the textbook market.
As an example of the textbooks available in the current catalog that might interest readers of this blog, I point you to the Organizational Behavior text by Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan. In particular, check out the chapter on Conflict and Negotiations.
Also of interest is the related graphic novel that Bauer and her colleagues have developed to teach organizational behavior concepts in an accessible and interesting way. While you'll have to purchase the book to get the chapter on conflict, you can view the chapter on Effective Communication for free online. See it embedded below.
Chapter 6: Effective Communication - Can you hear me?
Fri May 07, 2010
Video Introduction to the World Cafe Process
One quite useful group process tool for "harvesting the wisdom of a group" is called the World Cafe. This 5-minute video entitled World Cafe Guidelines and Principles introduces the philosophy of World Cafe and walks through the basic elements. It was originally made to introduce faculty at Florida State College at Jacksonville to the underlying principles of the cafe process.
Mon Apr 19, 2010
The Eight Rules of Framing - a Mediator learning module from Zena Zumeta
Mediator and Mediation Trainer Zena Zumeta has released a nice new learning module providing tips for framing issues during mediation. Built using Captivate, the interactive and visually appealing module provides a hypothetical case of a divorcing couple as an example. The Eight Rules of Framing, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, walks you through each suggest rule and often provides an opportunity for you to choose possible alternative approaches and see how the couple might react. Nice job Zena!
Fri Apr 16, 2010
World Economic Forum 2010 Risk Interconnection Map
The World Economic Forum has produced an interactive economic risk browser that lets you look at the strength of connections between various risks in a network diagram format. It's interesting to see what economists consider to be the significant risks and how they are linked to each other.
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