"This book, written by a sociologist with extensive experience in the field, combines theoretical insight and sound, practical advice for scholars and practitioners of conflict management and mediation. . . . Recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses, faculty, and mediation practitioners."—Choice
Description
Since the early 1980s John Paul Lederach has traveled worldwide as a mediation trainer and conflict resolution consultant. Currently the director of the International Conciliation Committee, he has worked with governments, justice departments, youth programs, and other groups in Latin America, the Philippines, Cambodia, as well as Asia and Africa.
Lederach blends a special training method in mediation with a tradition derived from his work in development. Throughout the book, he uses anecdote and pertinent experiences to demonstrate his resolution techniques. With an emphasis on the exchange involved in negotiation, Lederach conveys the key to successful conflict resolution: understanding how to guide disputants, transform their conflicts, and launch a process that empowers them.
Table of Contents
Part One: The Training Project in Perspective
1. Introduction
2. A Framework for Building Peace
3. An Integrated Framework for Training
Part Two: Rethinking Approaches to Training
4. An Analytical Approach to Training
5. The Prescriptive Model
6. The Elicitive Model
7. Prescriptive and Elicitive: The Critical Tension
Part Three: Experiments in Elicitive Training
8. Language and Metaphor as Natural Resources in Conflict Training
9. So to Whom Do You Turn? Discovery and Creation of Mediation Models
10. Role Plays: Tools for Discovery and Creation
11. Facing Multicultural Settings
12. Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
John Paul Lederach is professor of sociology and conflict studies at Eastern Mennonite University and director of the International Conciliation Service of the Mennonite Central Committee. He has traveled worldwide as a mediation trainer and conflict resolution specialist and is the author of numerous books.
August 1996