Welcome
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.
Read More
Latest From Facebook
See discussion below on why these cross-border state disputes require fresh thinking in order to avoid win-lose outcomes that fail to solve problems and can often make them worse.
economist.com
BALANCING on an inflatable ring in a river is not easy. Balancing a cooler full of beer at the same time is only for experts—many of whom can be found among the...
Cross-border disputes involving states (which, if not resolved, wind up before the U.S.Supreme Court where original jurisdiction resides) require some fresh thinking. Costly litigation that establishes a winner and a loser generally fails to solve problems much as was the case with the Statue of Liberty and the dispute between NY and NJ, both claiming "ownership" of the island.
Subsequent cases have illustrated the need for alternative processes. The National Governors Association is a likely suspect to provide mediation services but it declines the opportunity. So, absent any process, the disputes get worse and, often, even worse after they are "decided." New case in point: Florida and Georgia fighting over shellfish harvests. They've been battling, since 1990, over the water from two river basins...Now Florida has sued Georgia and Georgia filed its answer in January.
From a recent issue of "The Economist," the concluding paragraph: "Whoever is right, and whatever the Supreme Court eventually decides, one thing is certain: urban growth and climate change between them are likely to trigger plenty more water disputes in America's south-east in future."
So, time, once again, to imagine a better problem-solving process than litigation?
We need more of this kind of thinking! Ms. Mason wants to develop integrated approaches in which schools and nonprofits not only share space, but also share expertise, planning, decision-making power... She asks, "What if we aligned our operations and service delivery modalities with our knowledge....we might find ourselves able to do more with less so that the children and families in our communities could do more with more." Read more....
Opinion: Community schools and nonprofits could work together, 'live' together
nj.com
Another compelling reason why we should integrate efforts between schools and the nonprofit community: the strong connection between poverty and education.
The complexity of negotiations often challenge what may be our intuitive sense about things. Take climate treaties. As this column points out, voluntary agreements are more likely to attract nations and lead to greater compliance than binding agreements.
Surprisingly, a Voluntary Climate Treaty Could Actually Work
nytimes.com
The binding nature of international agreements like the 1997 Kyoto Protocol can do more harm than good by dissuading countries from joining.
The Centre for Argument Technology is having an intriguing session at the beginning of March which is worth keeping a close eye on: The Centre, at the University of Dundee, Scotland, is organizing a workshop on practical applications and uses of technology in mediation practice.
"Most areas of professional activity are supported by bespoke software tools — but not dispute mediation. The subtlety and sophistication of the process and the highly charged, sensitive atmosphere that often accompanies mediation have effectively acted as barriers to development and deployment of useful technology.
The Leverhulme Trust has funded a project at the Centre to explore and ultimately rectify this situation, and are bringing together academics (including Prof. Mark Aakhus from Rutgers University in the US, Prof. Sara Greco Morasso from the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano and Prof. Charlie Irvine from Strathclyde University in the UK) and practicing mediators from across the UK to identify key challenges and avenues to solutions, in order to build a roadmap for worldwide research and development in this crucial area."
Stay tuned!