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Welcome to the Web site for the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (CNCR). The Center is part of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, located at Civic Square, New Brunswick, New Jersey. CNCR is at the forefront of a movement that believes disputes can be settled by constructive negotiation and consensus-building and problem-solving approaches instead of by force or adversarial argument.
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Professor Abdul Aziz, trailblazer, helped build the field of peace and conflict resolution in the United States through his 25 authored and co-authored books and through his initiative to bring peace studies, with its emphasis on justice and the underlying causes of conflict, into dialogue with the field of conflict resolution. This tribute to him is well worth a careful read.
www.american.edu
A remembrance and celebration of the life of Professor Said, a triple Eagle—SIS/BS ’54, SIS/MA ’55, SIS/PhD ’57— who was the founding Mohammed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace and a beloved f...
Simple wishes for "peace and a better future," were written in a diary by a young woman killed in a Taliban bombing of a bus, and, now, inspiring the creation of a library, "a slap in the face to all the terrorist groups in Afghanistan."
They Built Libraries to Honor Loved Ones, Women Felled by Bombings
www.nytimes.com
As negotiations push forward, it is unclear whether Afghanistan can achieve peace with the Taliban while preserving gains made on women’s rights and education.
Evictions will plague the United States given the impact of Covid and the eventual ending of moratoriums. How well are these traumatizing 'events' handled by courts? Here is a good report on the use of mediation:![]()
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COURT ADR NEWS (Resolutions Systems Institute, January, 2021)![]()
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Idaho's Pilot Eviction Mediation Program Shows Early Signs of Success![]()
by Nicole Wilmet, Resource Center Director![]()
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As a result of COVID-19, Idaho’s Canyon County, like many counties across the United States, is facing an increase in eviction cases. After seeing success with mediation programs in two other nearby counties (Ada and Idaho Falls), Canyon County launched its own pilot eviction mediation program for landlords and tenants this past November. This new program offers landlords and tenants the opportunity to potentially avoid the unknowns that can arise during eviction hearings or trials. For landlords, one of the greatest unknowns of an eviction trial may be the significant loss in back rent payment. For tenants, a trial may result in the fear of losing a home and having a permanent eviction judgment on their record - which may make it difficult to find other housing in the future. As a result, with this eviction mediation program, landlords and tenants in Canyon County now have the opportunity to address these unknowns directly and craft their own alternative solutions for their case.![]()
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Since the Canyon County program’s launch in November, 38 eviction cases have been scheduled for a hearing and each case has agreed to try the court’s new mediation program. Recent reports indicate that during the mediations, most renters are agreeing to “[pay] some money in a specified amount of time.” If tenants are able to uphold that agreement, “then at the review hearing their case is dismissed.” Of these 38 cases, recent news outlets further report that only “18% of tenants did not uphold the bargain and evictions were entered” and “only 5%, or two cases, did not reach [any type of] a resolution” during mediation. In the same report, Third District Judge Susan Clark shared that the mediators for the program are hired on a contract basis and, currently, the estimated cost to the county for the program is $150 per case.
A painful, complex and disturbing tension that has existed for some time on college campuses, involving Israel and Palestine, has reached a new level of intensity in the "age of Zoom." This article clearly displays the results on individuals and their institutions. The constant conflict is hard to "manage" because, to Kenneth Stern, the arguments by both "sides" are compelling; both have indigenous claims to territory, both arguments are right and true, messy, and aligned with justice.
What Zoom Does to Campus Conflicts Over Israel and Free Speech
www.nytimes.com
As battles over Israel and the Palestinian territories have migrated online, technology has scrambled the debate.
For those of us with an interest in cooperation and collaboration, there are promising opportunities in public and private partnerships, particularly now, as states and localities are strapped for funds given the costs and economic impacts of Covid-19, and there are compelling investments needs. With the cost of money low, private developers can "front the costs" for needed infrastructure, and towns and states can pay back when revenues start to flow. Some argue that projects can come online faster and expertly saving public costs. But, of course, there are risks as well.
Struggling Local Governments May Get Help From the Private Sector
www.nytimes.com
As their fiscal woes become worse, some government officials are looking more closely at public-private partnerships as a way to jump-start their economies.