Public Policy Section
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? This article discusses early cooperation between parties and insurers in resolving complex environmental disputes. It summarizes strategies that recently succeeded in a six-way dispute over the costs of investigating and remediating an extended plume of PCP groundwater contamination. John Paul Lederach describes discussing alternatives to violent conflict with groups who felt powerless and that violence was their only avenue of action. One method he uses is to ask them what violence has achieved historically. Please join Mediate.com in recognizing the importance of effective conversations and mediation by supporting a National Mediation Act. This is the shift in social consciousness, American exceptionalism and American leadership that we and the world now most need. Welcome to the Second Edition of the Electronic Guide to Federal Procurement Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). This is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin with Susan Carpenter, a national leader and author in the field of public policy mediation, filmed for the Mediate.com 'Views from the Eye of the Storm' Video Series. In this seemingly endless election season, just about everyone who believes they have any angle at all on making sense of what is going on has weighed in with their analysis. So why not conflict professionals? This is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin with Gail Bingham, President of RESOLVE, filmed as part of Mediate.com's 'Views from the Eye of the Storm' Video Series. Trump tends to define negotiation as one-sided winning. With all of the knowledge and skills amassed over the years, conflict resolvers have a lot to contribute to the discussion about how negotiations work.
Public Policy & Environmental Articles
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”
Resolving Complex Environmental Disputes
Convincing Violent Groups to be Non-Violent - Video
Effective Conversations in American Society: Time for a National Mediation Act
Second Edition of the Electronic Guide to Federal Procurement Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Interview with Susan Carpenter
Staying with Conflict - Election Edition: A Conflict Practitioner’s Lens on the US Election
Interview with Gail Bingham
Conflict Resolvers' Responsibility To Shape the Message of Negotiation