Public Policy Section
Given that universities have only two primary tasks -- teaching and research – they ought to be willing to invest as much in improving the quality of their teaching as they do in providing an elaborate infrastructure to support basic and applied research. When we’ve put in effort to solve a problem, we want our solution, decision, or agreement to have every chance at long-run success. Ten big ideas on peace and justice from the career of Morton Deutsch. This is article six, focusing on social innovation. Most of us don’t go to the symphony to watch the conductor or to a sporting event to see the referees in action, but imagine the chaos without their participation. This is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin with mediation pioneer Chris Moore, Founder of CDR Associates in Boulder, CO, and a long time leader in the area of public policy mediation, filmed as part of Mediate.com's 'Views from the Eye of the Storm' Series. The evidence is in. After 43 years of federal practice under Rule 408 of the Federal Rules of Evidence (1975); 19 years of New York practice under CPLR 4547 (1998); and 16 years of practice in various states under the Uniform Mediation Act (2001), we can conclude: Statutory confidentiality is not necessary for effective mediation. The use of the joint session in mediation has been a hot topic of study and debate in recent years. Joint Fact Finding (JFF) is a public engagement strategy that creates a needed safe harbor for technical and scientific discussions between all sides. Is your workplace a toxic environment? If there is more than one person per week out sick in your department, chances are it is. Social media is changing how society behaves at a pace that we just cannot fathom. We have embraced it with open arms, but have we taken three steps back to digest it and understand how societal social skills have been affected? Today’s planners are committed to taking action – helping to implement improvements in the quality of life, particularly for the most vulnerable segments of society, often through public-private partnerships of various kinds. They are attempting to establish peaceful societies and minimize community conflicts. In the analyses of this week's budget deal, whether from the politicians of both parties or from the pundits, mostly we are hearing about which side scored the most points. For many years, a tempest has surrounded public policy approaches to consumer protection, largely implicating three utterly inapt legal constructs. In my sometimes over-simplified way of looking at negotiated agreements, I have argued that the most useful way to evaluate a potential deal is to compare it to alternatives that are actually available. When I was twenty-two years old, I did a two-year stint as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Here is a brief account of a dispute resolution meeting with a local governing council called the panchayat. Peace is, and will continue to be, a pain in the butt. A member of the Hawaii State House of Representatives has reportedly introduced a bill that would require mediation for certain real estate transactions occurring in the state. As has been widely reported, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review three conflicting decisions among the circuits on the enforceability of an employer’s unilaterally promulgated waiver of employees’ right to participate in collective redress. Roger Fisher explains that when one party doesn't want to negotiate, talk to others around them to find out their motivations, interests, concerns, and worries. The article describes CONCUR's Chapter in the book: Desalination in California: The California Coastal Commission Poseidon Joint Fact Finding Process” and provides insight into this JFF process by highlighting quotes from participants involved in the case. This article analyzes Republican and Democratic 'bubbles" and how we can build bridges between them. This article tells the story of a collaborative effort between the Bodega Marine Lab, and CONCUR principal Scott McCreary (then an MIT PhD student), and top research scientists in their efforts to ban tributyltin in the United States in the early 1980's. Do the Dems still have enough juice to bargain? Is there a strategy or plan? And, regardless of our individual political proclivities, do we as professionals have anything to suggest to current and future Underdogs when it comes to bargaining with Big Dogs? This is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin with Juliana Birkhoff, national leader in the field of public policy mediation, filmed as part of the Mediate.com 'Views from the Eye of the Storm' Video Series. Wow, what a divisive election! Some reasonably fear that this is the end of civility in American society. One reasonably wonders whether things have ever been worse. So, what do we do on November 9?
Public Policy & Environmental Articles
Universities are Underinvesting in Efforts to Improve the Quality of Teaching
Go Back to the Future to Discover How Your Agreement Could Fail
A Grand Theory of Personality and Environment
How Does Your Mediator Add Value?
Interview with Chris Moore
A California Correction? Legislature Will Consider Allowing Attorney Malpractice Proof from Mediation
Study: Results Point to the Value of a Joint Session
A User's Guide to Joint Fact Finding — "JFF"
Toxic School Environments Make Teachers Sick
Conflict and the Advent of Social media in the Evolution of Society
What's Happening in the Field of Urban Planning?
Winning
Consumer Redress and “The New Handshake”
Compared to What?
Disputing at a Panchayat Meeting
Peace is a Tough Sell
Hawaii Bill Would Require Mediation Prior to Sale of Kuleana Land
Supremes Grant Cert on NLRB Challenge to Class Waiver
Pioneer Series: Working with People Who Don't Want to Negotiate - Video
CONCUR case in just-published book: Joint Fact Finding in Urban and Environmental Planning Disputes
How Can We Build Common Ground Between Bubbles? Part 1 of 4
Leveraging an Early Joint Fact Finding Effort to Propel Use of the Approach and Improve Ocean Health
Underdog Negotiating: A Dialogue on Asymmetric Bargaining
Interview with Juliana Birkhoff
After Trump v. Clinton: How “Stronger Together” and “Great Again” Can Become “Great Together”