10/3: Brownbag Discussion: Experimenting with Conflicts Constructively – In Search of Identity

Experimenting with Conflicts Constructively: In Search of Identity
for the Field of Conflict Resolution
A brown bag discussion with Professor Michal Alberstein

Thursday October 3, 2013 at 1:30pm to be presented by an AC⁴ Visiting Scholar, Professor Michal Alberstein, head of the conflict management and negotiation interdisciplinary program, Bar-Ilan University and Visiting Professor, Fordham Law School.

The presentation will take place at Teachers College, Columbia University in Russell Hall 305 (Gottesman Library, 3rd floor).

Professor Alberstein’s talk will address common principles which recur within alternative movements in law, and posits the art of dispute resolution in its various manifestations as an experimental reconstructive methodology for engaging in conflicts, while incorporating various modes of critique of classical liberal thought. The basic argument which will be examined is that there are particular modes of overcoming critical arguments which are reflected in various methods of conflict resolution, including ADR (Alternative Dispute resolution); Therapeutic Jurisprudence; Restorative Justice and Transitional justice. The principles are: an emphasis on process; an emphasis on constructive conflict intervention; deconstruction and hybridization; a search for an underlying hidden layer; an emphasis on relationship and acknowledgement of emotions; community work and bottom up development. These modes of overcoming critique operate simultaneously and with varied manifestation in different specific practices.