How to Approach a Peacemaking Situation

Elise Boulding

Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Former Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association

Interviewed by Julian Portilla, 2003


This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).

One thing I feel very strongly about, especially since I see it being violated so often, is that for people who are taking on a role of a peacemaker or a mediator or a conflict resolver, they need to be an apprentice to any situation they go into. They really have to know where people are coming from, what is going on, what are the priorities, and so on, in order to apply what they know. But you see, it happens too often that the people who are trained in all of this set themselves up as outsider experts, and go in and say, "Here is what you need to do."