Conflict Negotiation: Groups with Competing Values and Divergent Aspirations

We will discuss processes that been used successfully (and some unsuccessfully) to resolve major social conflicts. We are born with many differences that can lead to discrimination and injustice but beliefs and values we choose can be just as divisive and intractable. We’ll consider both kinds.

Does peaceful coexistence require shared values or is tolerance of irreconcilable values a workable alternative? Which values are the most difficult to reconcile?

Does trust between groups depend on mutual respect, does it require a history of trustworthiness, or can it be achieved through unilateral belief in human kindness, compassion or virtue?

Is empathy possible between people who hold strong conflicting beliefs, especially religious or political? How can devout believers of different religions and non-believers trust each other not to impose their religious and moral values on everyone?

How can people who have been denied justice because of minority status gain their human rights and restore their dignity? Can peaceful protests or violent protests be effective or do they always polarize and divide?

Some differences are intrinsic, such as skin color, ethnicity and ancestry. Are we predisposed to biases against these kinds of differences, based on survival benefits during human evolution? Are we inherently sensitive to differences in appearance, dialect, or other out-of-group indicators? Are we inherently territorial and if can we expand territorial limits from neighborhoods to cities, states or nations? Can their ever be a single world community?

The successful resolution of social conflicts of many kinds and the history of efforts that have failed may offer some useful insights into current conflicts in the United States and around the world.

What processes have been used in reconciliation of group differences? Some of the best known and widely studies examples come from resolution of civil wars, genocides, other atrocities and subsequent regime changes. A number of so-called “truth commissions” have been used, the most successful being the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Nelson Mandela initiated shorted after taking office in South Africa. The chairman of the TRC, Archbishop Desmond Tutu applied some principle that probably contributed to the success of the outcome in South Africa. Nobel Peace Lauriat Tutu has been involved in reconciliation and mediation of social conflicts throughout the world. In this Meetup we will take a look at the principles Tutu teaches and see how they apply to current situations here and aboard. For a good summary of Truth and Reconciliation process, see a video interview with Desmond Tutu and his biographer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOaSbGD7Was . They summarize the truth and reconciliation process: confession: telling the truth, including the truth about the consequences of the action; accepting responsibility for the consequences or the action, asking forgiveness and expressing genuine remorse; and restitution, often some form of compensation. One of the most important principles is often ignored: “We mustn’t pretend we are not different.” Getting at truth requires that differences between factions be acknowledged and understood, but many people are unwilling to do so out of a belief that it may let perpetrators deny responsibility for their acts.

Another resource we’ll discuss is a long-term project on international conflict negotiation at Harvard. Take a look at the TED Talk by Harvard’s anthropologist-turned-international mediator, William Ury: “The Walk from “No” to “Yes” at http://www.ted.com/talks/william_ury?language=en . In this talk he emphasizes the tradition of hospitality and the advantage to “going to the balcony” to get a better perspective. Over the last 30 years, Ury has served as a negotiation adviser and mediator in conflicts ranging from corporate mergers to wildcat strikes in a Kentucky coal mine to ethnic wars in the Middle East, the Balkans, and the former Soviet Union. With former president Jimmy Carter, he co-founded the International Negotiation Network, a non-governmental body seeking to end civil wars around the world. During the 1980s, he helped the US and Soviet governments create nuclear crisis centers designed to avert an accidental nuclear war.