Continuing with the series on models of conflict resolution that are not based on the parties' interests, below is reproduced another chapter in a proposed book on alternatives to Western mediation methods. This one -- the Arab practice of sulha -- is centuries old, pre-dating even the Prophet, and its motivating considerations are an...
As the next installment in a series of essays on alternatives to interest-based negotiation, the Hawaiian practice of ho'oponopono is discussed. In this spiritually-influenced ritual, secular conflicts are identified, brought to the table, admitted, and forgiven, and the family group achieves reconciliation and forgiveness....
Harvard Prof. John Ruggie, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for business and human rights, has released the final report of his work and presented it to the UN Human Rights Council. The Final Report is the definitive statement of principles for stakeholders in disputes implicating violations of human rights as a...
Attention must be paid to an important new publication from the Insurance Institute of London, Alternative Dispute Resolution in Practice. Written by a team of contributors (of which I am one) under the Chairmanship of Paul Moss of Montpelier Re, and assembled through the tireless efforts of General Editor Alex...
Readers may remember a post concerning game theory and negotiation strategy that appeared in April 2010. It has proven one of the most frequently visited posts in the past year. A featured speaker on the panel reported in that post has contacted me to advise that many of his ideas have...
This post comes from the island of Luzon, in the Philippines, where a team from the Corporate Social Responsibility Project of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government has worked on a film documenting the tensions between operators of two hydroelectric dams and the communities that were inundated, destroyed and displaced during the...
Over the past years, many of us have been impressed by the limitations of both institutional dispute resolution systems (i.e., courts) and their alternatives (i.e., arbitration and mediation). At the same time, I've been increasingly drawn to examples found in certain societies whose shared spiritual beliefs have produced systems of dispute resolution that...