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)

The Kettering Foundation’s soon-to-be-released book, Democratizing Deliberation: A Political Theory Anthology, brings together recent and cutting-edge political theory scholarship on deliberative democracy. Edited by Derek Barker, Noelle McAfee, and David McIvor, the collection reframes deliberative democracy to be sensitive to the deep conflicts, multiple forms of communication, and aspirations for civic agency that characterize real public deliberation. In so doing, the book addresses many of the most common challenges to the theory and practice of deliberative democracy. Here’s what NCDD member Katherine Cramer Walsh (University of Wisconsin-Madison) says about the ... (continue)

This 2011 article by NCDD member Caroline W. Lee of Lafayette College was published in Volume 7 of the Journal of Public Deliberation. A free download of the article is available at http://services.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=jpd. Abstract: Academic research on public dialogue and deliberation is abundant and sophisticated. This body of multi-disciplinary scholarship draws on the insights of political theory and case studies, such that much is known about the promise and practical nuances of designing engagement processes with authentically deliberative outcomes. The socio-historical and institutional contexts in which public ... (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 resource was submitted via the Add-A-Resource form by NCDD member Joe Raelin, author of the article and Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented Education professor at Northeastern University’s Center for Work and Learning.  His work can also be found at www.leaderful.org. The first purpose of this article is to make the case that democratic leadership, referred to as “leaderful” practice, should be the fundamental form of leadership that characterizes participatory organizational change. The article appeared in the Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol 25, No. 1, 2012. I wrote the ... (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)

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)

Pathways to Participation is a 2011 report from the UK that explores why and how people participate in their society. Tim Hughes, one of the report researchers, pointed out in an email to NCDD member Susanna Haas Lyons a critical finding for public engagement efforts: too often public consultation changes nothing for citizens but a decreased willingness to continue to be engaged. The reason for this is two-fold, he said. One, the engagement exercises are seen as tokenistic, and participants believe that nothing will really ... (continue)

This 2008 book by Olav Eikeland discusses the concepts of dialogue and deliberation as they emerged in the writings of Aristotle (especially) almost 2500 years ago, but with a clear link to modern action research. The full title of the book is "The Ways of Aristotle – Aristotelian Phrónêsis, Aristotelian Philosophy of Dialogue, and Action Research." Bern: Peter Lang Publishers (2008). (continue)

The Pathways through Participation looks at participation in a very broad way, and covers a wide range of participatory activities that are often viewed in isolation. This broad approach to participation has informed our literature review. (continue)