Preparing For Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures

Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution

by John Paul Lederach

Since the early 1980s John Paul Lederach has traveled worldwide as a mediation trainer and conflict resolution consultant. Currently the director of the International Conciliation Committee, he has worked with governments, justice departments, youth programs, and other groups in Latin America, the Philippines, Cambodia, as well as Asia and Africa. Lederach blends a special training method in mediation with a tradition derived from his work in development. Throughout the book, he uses anecdote and pertinent experiences to demonstrate his resolution techniques. With an emphasis on the exchange involved in negotiation, Lederach conveys the key to successful conflict resolution: understanding how to guide disputants, transform their conflicts, and launch a process that empowers them.

Genres: Nonfiction

146 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

About the author

Dr. John Paul Lederach is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in the fields of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He is widely known for the development of culturally based approaches to conflict transformation; the design and implementation of integrative, strategic approaches to peacebuilding; and for carving a robust integration of the arts and social change. Over the course of his career, Lederach has garnered extensive experience working with non-governmental organizations, community-based initiatives impacted by cycles of violence, and national peace process design. He has worked extensively as a practitioner in conciliation processes in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast and Central Asia.

Lederach is the author or editor of 30 books and manuals (translated into a dozen languages), and numerous academic articles and monographs on peace education, conflict transformation, international peacebuilding, and conciliation training. He has developed training materials and manuals available in Spanish on peace education, conflict transformation, and mediation, now used widely throughout Latin America.

Lederach received his bachelor’s degree in history and peace studies from Bethel College and his doctorate of philosophy degree in sociology, with a concentration on social conflict, from the University of Colorado. He currently serves as Senior Fellow for Humanity United and Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Reviews

[Bobbie Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly written, thought-provoking, and prescriptive. Highly recommend.

[Linh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great discussion on prescriptive versus elicitive approach in training in conflict resolution setting, advocating for a more participatory approach.

[Aaronmac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lederach does a great job of describing the tension between prescriptive and elicitive models in cross-cultural training for conflict resolution or transformation. He then takes a step further in offering some examples, insights, and reflections on what this has looked/could look like.

[Trinh Do]

Good