Beyond Intractability: A Free Knowledge Base on More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict
Introduction:
Tamra d'Estrée, of the University of Denver, cautions that changes take a long time; improvement comes in little steps.
This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Incrementalism
Tamra d'Estrée
Conflict Resolution Program, University of Denver
I think when I first started doing this, some of the first
workshops I did, you'd come out of it and have a real high because you'd seen
such discoveries in your participants. Like I said, they'd come out of it and be
holding themselves physically differently because of a sense of either some new
hope that would come out of hearing something new or making relationships with
people from their antagonists. That had given them a new view on things, and
they take on life, almost, and that can be really exciting. Any time you work
with these kinds of human relations and you see change that can be really
inspiring.
But, I guess where I was heading is that over the course of years of
doing this now, even though I recognize that each of those individual two- or
three-day workshops can be really exciting, that it's kind of a temporary high
and that it doesn't necessarily translate into any long lasting change. I mean
these are like little drops in the bucket, that look bigger at the time, but
when people go back to their communities and things settle down, they're maybe
little drops in the bucket of change.
...
But after seeing the same dynamic and
getting inspired and then seeing that it's a temporary high, it's like a
chocolate high, it comes up and then it dissipates, and then you're back to
where you were, hopefully with a little bit of change.
Peace is an environment where conflicts are resolved without violence, where people are free, not exploited, living so they can grow to their full potential. -- Gerard Vanderhaar
Other Resources from Beyond Intractability A User's Guide for Third Siders The Third Side concept was developed by William Ury. Third Siders are people who try to see both sides of a conflict and encourage cooperative solutions, fair fights, and decision making that advocates solutions which meet everyone's interests and needs as much as possible.
Nobel Peace Prize Winners
George Catlett Marshall Former Secretary of State and Defense for the United States, originator of the Marshall Plan, and 1953 Nobel Peace Laureate
The Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base Project Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess, Co-Directors and Editors c/o Conflict Information Consortium(Formerly Conflict Research Consortium), University of Colorado Campus Box 580, Boulder, CO 80309 Phone: (303) 492-1635; Fax: (303) 492-2154; Contact
