Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are ... (continue)

Jacob Z. Hess is a Mormon, a community psychologist, and a devoted conservative, while Phil Neisser is an atheist, a leftist, and a college professor. Yet in 2009, after meeting at an NCDD conference, they embarked on a two-year conversation about the issues that divide them. The result is “You’re not as Crazy as I Thought,” an entertaining dialogue about power, government, media, religion, morality, gender roles, sexual orientation, race, and more. Drawing on the latest debates in social and political theory, Hess and Neisser ... (continue)

This 2011 book by Sara Greco Morasso concerns a novel approach to the analysis of the importance of communication in dispute mediation and focuses on how conflicting parties are helped by the mediator become reasonable discussant, able to tackle their problem and possibly find a solution. A fine argumentative and linguistic analysis of real mediation cases is presented, alongside a detailed overview of current studies in dispute resolution. As of February 2012, the book is listed as $143 for hardbound and e-book versions. Resource Link:  www.benjamins.nl/#catalog/books/aic.3 (preview) (continue)

This 2011 book, edited by Roger A. Lohmann and Jon Van Til, focuses on how public deliberation and group discussion can strengthen the foundations of civil society, even when the groups engaged in debate share a history of animosity. Scholars have begun to study the dialogue sustaining these conversations, especially its power to unite and divide groups and individuals. The twenty-four essays in this collection analyze public exchanges and the nature of sustained dialogue within the context of race relations, social justice, ethnic conflicts, public-safety ... (continue)

The Bangalore, India based conflict resolution consultancy, Meta-Culture, has released a paper titled The Importance of Language in Conflict Resolution in response to the Delhi Policy Group and Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue’s July publication Conflict Resolution: Learning Lessons from Dialogue Processes in India (pdf version & more publications), to draw lessons from current conflict resolution efforts that are relevant to policymakers and practitioners. The paper highlights the need for clear terminology and an appreciation of distinct conflict resolution modalities. They look forward to your feedback, which you can ... (continue)

This article examines the results of the Year of Civil Discourse, a program dedicated to engaging nearly 1,000 people in grassroots trainings in civility at four Bay Area synagogues over the course of 2011. From the article… “The purpose was not to have people check their opinions at the door,” Porth added. “We wanted people to bring their passionately held views into the room, and give them the skills to have meaningful conversations about Israel. There was no political litmus test. The institutions all said ... (continue)

The Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC) at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University is a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary research center that advances both theory and practice in the fields of conflict and collaboration (see: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/parcc.aspx). (continue)

A documentary is available featuring a several-day-long dialogue process held in Nigeria in October 2010. 200 Muslim and Christian youth met in a safe place in Nigeria for several days of face-to-face, in-depth dialogue experiences. The women and men discovered their equal, shared humanity and that "an enemy is one whose story we have not heard." It was part of the 2nd International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Communication in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. (continue)

Dialogue: A Virtual Workshop is a FREE series of 12 videos that shares the basics of the Public Conversations Project’s approach to dialogue. From understanding the importance of participant preparation to developing the right questions to ask in a dialogue, this series illustrates PCP’s approach—and the principles behind it—via an in-depth resource that combines videos, guides, and interactive links. (continue)

A website designed to support people and groups who are working for inclusion, racial equity and social justice, racialequitytools.org includes ideas, strategies and tips, as well as a clearinghouse of resources and links from many sources. Racial Equity Tools is a companion site to Evaluation Tools for Racial Equity - which helps people track progress and document results of similar work, in racially explicit and competent ways. (continue)