Books

The Morton Deutsch Online Library

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The Five Percent

One in every twenty difficult conflicts ends up not in a calm reconciliation or tolerable standoff but as an acute and lasting antagonism. Such conflicts—the five percent—can be found among the diplomatic and political clashes we read about every day in the newspaper but also, and in a no less damaging and dangerous form, in our private and personal lives, within families, in workplaces, and among neighbors. These self-perpetuating conflicts resist mediation, defy conventional wisdom, and drag on and on, worsening over time. Once we get pulled in, it is nearly impossible to escape. The five percent rule us.

So what can we do when we find ourselves ensnared? According to Dr. Peter T. Coleman, to contend with this destructive species of conflict we must understand the invisible dynamics at work. Coleman has extensively researched the essence of conflict in his “Intractable Conflict Lab,” the first research facility devoted to the study of polarizing conversations and seemingly unresolveable disagreements. Informed by lessons drawn from practical experience, advances in complexity theory, and the psychological and social currents that drive conflicts both international and domestic, Coleman offers innovative new strategies for dealing with disputes of all types, ranging from abortion debates to the enmity between Israelis and Palestinians.

A timely, paradigm-shifting look at conflict, The Five Percent is an invaluable guide to preventing even the most fractious negotiations from foundering.

View videos, read an excerpt, and find out more at The Five Percent site.

Conflict, Interdependence, and Justice: The Intellectual Legacy of Morton Deutsch

Morton Deutsch is internationally known for his pioneering theoretical and research contributions relating to cooperation, conflict resolution, prejudice, social justice, and peace. This book collects six of Morton Deutsch's most influential papers, which together analyze essential issues in social relations and identify conditions necessary for addressing them constructively. Complementary chapters by top contemporary scholars in the conflict resolution/social justice/social interdependence field imbue these works with particular relevance for today. In addition, Deutsch's introduction reflects on the wartime milieu and social reform era that set him on the path toward his penetrating insights, and his concluding essay reveals implications of his work not only for training, mentoring, and research, but also for promoting a larger culture of sustainable peace and justice.

If you have a Columbia University ID, you should be able to access the ebook version through the Columbia library. Students with access to the Columbia University library may access the e-book for free or purchase a print copy for $24.95, which is substantially cheaper than the sticker price of over $100. If you are not a CU affiliate, check with your local library to see if it can be accessed through their resources.
View a video of the book launch.

The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice

Many practitioners of conflict resolution dismiss the contributions of theorists and researchers, particularly when the research challenges their own opinions or methods. At the same time, scholars often fail to utilize the expertise of highly skilled practitioners in their development of theory, and research designs often fail to take into account what practitioners and policy makers want or need to know. In response to the growing concern in the field of conflict resolution over this “gap” between theory and practice, in 1999 the ICCCR began convening an informal seminar on conflict resolution theory and practice. The lively discussions from this seminar inspired the development and publication of The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice, edited by Professors Morton Deutsch and Peter T. Coleman (Jossey-Bass, 2000). Many of the chapters of the book are organized by first presenting the theoretical ideas in the substantive areas being discussed, then drawing out the implications of these ideas for understanding conflict, and concluding with the development of these ideas for educating or training people to manage their conflicts more constructively. This book was the recipient of the Center for Professional Responsibility (CPR) 2000 Award for Excellence. The new second edition, with Eric Marcus joining the editing team and coordinated by Kathryn Crawford, was published in 2006.

Click here to view a pdf of the book.

ICCCR Research Team Publishes 2-paper Practice-to-Theory Series in Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Summer 2008

What moves people to work with each other rather than against each other when locked-into destructive, long-term conflicts? This two-part series, part of our ongoing practice-to-theory project, presents the findings from a study that explored various methods of eliciting constructive engagement from stakeholders - through interviews with 17 expert scholar-practitioners working with protracted conflicts. A grounded-theory analysis was applied to the interviews to allow new insights into constructive conflict engagement to emerge from the data. Our objective was to enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of constructive engagement in settings of protracted conflict for the purposes of developing more robust theories and practices.

American Behavioral Scientist on Intractable Conflict

Peter Coleman, Barbara Gray of Pennsylvania State University, and Linda Putnam of Texas A&M University have edited a new special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist on intractable conflict. Intractable conflicts are characterized by intransigence, longevity, complexity, and serious trauma for the disputants and often for bystanders as well. In this special issue we explore the nature of intractable conflicts, their root causes, and innovation approaches for reversing or ameliorating them.

Special Issue of Peace and Conflict

Featuring Pioneering Work of Morton Deutsch Honored
The career of Morton Deutsch, Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of ICCCR, is being honored Fall, 2008 in a special issue of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. The issue contains a biographical article on the decades of prominent work by Deutsch on conflict, cooperation, and social justice. It also includes articles by several of his former students, including Kenneth Kressel, Susan Opotow, and Peter T. Coleman.

Special issue of Social Justice Research

Features papers from a conference on interrupting oppression sponsored by the ICCCR (2006).  This series of papers provides a framework for thinking about oppression and how to overcome it. It considers the value premise underlying the use of the term “oppression.” It then discusses the nature of oppression, the forms it takes, and what keeps it in place. In its final two sections, it focuses on awakening the sense of injustice and the strategies and tactics for overcoming injustice.

Special issue of Peace & Conflict on dynamical-systems approaches to addressing conflict edited by Peter Coleman

This special issue of Peace and Conflict will present a series of theoretical articles that approach the study of conflict and conflict resolution from the perspective of dynamical systems theory. This perspective has been employed to conceptualize and investigate complex, dynamic phenomena in many areas of science (Weisbuch, 1992; Johnson, 2001; Strogatz, 2003) from cancerous cellular mutations to catastrophic global climate shifts. It includes six papers; an introductory article which answers questions about the utility of the dynamical-systems perspective for understanding and addressing conflict, and five conceptual papers which employ the metaphors and methods of the perspective to critical issues of conflict and peace.

Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century 

Dr. Peter T. Coleman and Dr. Morton Deutsch wrote Chapter 19 of this book. The purpose in editing this volume is to bring together in one place international perspectives on key concepts, themes, theories, and practices that are defining peace psychology as we begin the twenty-first century. The editors share with our international colleagues a broad vision of peace psychology, covering a wide range of topics such as ethnic conflict, family violence, hate crimes, militarism, conflict management, social justice, nonviolent approaches to peace, and peace education. In addition to providing a useful resource that integrates current research and practices for scholars and practitioners, they wanted the book to be accessible enough to introduce a new generation of students, both graduate and upper-division undergraduate, to the field. When organizing the topics in the book, they have tried to capture the four main currents in peace psychology: (1) violence, (2) social inequalities, (3) peacemaking, and (4) the pursuit of social justice.

Free online access here.

Distributive Justice

This book is concerned with the social psychology of distributive justice.  The concept of distributive justice centers on the fairness of the distribution of the conditions and goods that affect individual well-being.  Issues of distributive justice pervade social life.  They occur not only at the societal level but also in intimate social relations.  They may arise whenever something of value is scarce and not everyone can have what he wants, or whenever something of negative value (a cost, a harm)) cannot be avoided by all.  They also may be brought into play whenever there is an exchange in a relationship.

Click here for a pdf of this book.