A History of Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Story of a Political, Social, and Cultural Movement

Jerome T. Barrett and Joseph Barrett. Jossey-Bass, 2004.

A History of Alternative Dispute Resolution offers a comprehensive review of the various types of peaceful practices for resolving conflicts. Written by Jerome Barrett - a longtime practitioner, innovator, and leading historian in the field of ADR - and his son Joseph Barrett, this volume traces the evolution of the ADR process and offers an overview of the precursors to ADR, including negotiation, arbitration, and mediation. The authors explore the colorful beginnings of ADR using illustrative examples from prehistoric Shaman through the European Law Merchant. In addition, the book offers the historical context for the use of ADR in the arenas of diplomacy and business.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787967963.html

A Practical Guide to Consensus

Chris Carlson and Jim Arthur. Policy Consensus Institute.

This 75-page step-by-step handbook walks readers through the stages of sponsoring, organizing, and participating in a public policy consensus process. Designed primarily for government agencies or departments, the guide also is useful for any other sponsor of - or participant in - a consensus building process.

Resource Link: http://www.policyconsensus.org

ABA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Listserv

The American Bar Association's ADR listserv is an open list dedicated to dialogue and the promotion of wider understanding and information-sharing of the ADR field, as a public service from the Section's National Dispute Resolution Resource Center. To subscribe, send an email to list[email protected] with 'subscribe adr' in the body of the message.

Resource Link: http://www.abanet.org/dispute/discuss.html

Alternative Dispute Resolution for Organizations: How to Design a System for Effective Conflict Resolution

Allan J. Stitt. Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is a rapidly growing field, due to its popularity as an alternative to long and expensive lawsuits. ADR involves resolving disputes of any kind outside of the judicial system, through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other processes. This book is for people who work within organizations and are involved in disputes themselves, or for people who are required to deal with or resolve disputes. It covers how to set up a dispute resolution process in an organization.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471642959.html

Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.

Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation is the national newsletter covering cutting-edge alternative dispute resolution (ADR) developments, best practices, and trends in business. Alternatives provides authoritative guidance for using ADR at companies, firms, and the courts. Articles focus exclusively on business disputes - and examine all the ADR strategies business use, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and more.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-ALT.html

Arizona State University - Intergroup Relations Center

The IRC provides education and training opportunities to students, faculty, and staff as well as intergroup conflict prevention and mediation services. It sponsors retreats, workshops, seminars, and institutes for faculty, staff and students, and collects, develops, and disseminates educational resources and data on discrimination, hate crimes, and intergroup conflict incidents at ASU.

Resource Link: http://www.asu.edu/provost/intergroup/

Association for Conflict Resolution

ACR is a professional organization dedicated to enhancing the practice and public understanding of conflict resolution. ACR represents and serves over 7000 mediators, arbitrators, facilitators, educators, and others involved in the field of conflict resolution and collaborative decision-making. ACR was launched in 2001, when the Academy of Family Mediators (AFM), the Conflict Resolution Education Network (CREnet), and the Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR) merged into one organization.

Resource Link: http://www.acrnet.org

Beyond Neutrality: Confronting the Crisis in Conflict Resolution

Bernard Mayer. Jossey-Bass, 2004.

In this thought-provoking, passionately written book, Mayer - an internationally acclaimed leader in the field - dares practitioners to ask the hard questions about alternative dispute resolution (ADR). What?’s wrong with conflict resolution? Why aren?’t more individuals and organizations using conflict resolution when they have a problem? Why doesn?’t the public know more about it? What are the limits of conflict resolution? When does conflict resolution work and when does it not? Offering a committed practitioner?’s critique of the profession of mediation, arbitration, and ADR, Beyond Neutrality focuses on the current crisis in the field of conflict resolution and offers a pragmatic response.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787968064.html

Bringing Peace Into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution

Daniel Bowling and David Hoffman, Editors. Jossey-Bass, 2003.

Bringing Peace Into the Room examines the personal qualities that make a mediator effective. The authors of this volume go beyond traditional descriptions of academic training, theoretical orientation, and refinement of technique to confront issues related to personal temperament and the crucial psychological, intellectual and spiritual qualities of the mediation professional - qualities that are often the most potent elements of successful mediation.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787968501.html

Campus-ADR.org

The primary objective of the Campus Conflict Resolution Resources project (Campus-adr.org) is to significantly increase administrator, faculty, staff and student awareness of, access to, and use of conflict resolution information specifically tailored to the higher education context. The Resource Center builds on the success of the Campus Mediation Resources (CMR) website built by Bill Warters and hosted by the Mediating Theory and Democratic Systems program at Wayne State. The CMR site has been phased out.

Resource Link: http://www.campus-adr.org

Center for Collaborative Policy

The Center is a joint program of California State University, Sacramento and the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. The mission of the Center is to build the capacity of public agencies, stakeholder groups, and the public to use collaborative strategies to improve policy outcomes. The Center produces a quarterly newsletter called The Collaborative Edge.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/

Center for Restorative Practice

The purpose of the Center for Restorative Practice is to develop, implement and study collaborative and restorative processes for use by families, communities and organizations in the service of social justice.

Resource Link: http://www.restorativepractice.org

Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems

Barbara Gray. Jossey-Bass, 1989.

Veteran mediator Barbara Gray presents an innovative approach to successfully mediating multi-party disputes. A superb resource for managers, public officials and others working to solve complex problems such as labor disputes, disposal of toxic wastes, racial integration, and the use of biotechnology.

Resource Link: http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1555421598.html

Collaborative Democracy Network

A network of over 100 interdisciplinary and international scholars has been established to focus on the need to enhance the role of deliberative and collaborative methods in democratic governance. The goal of the network is to collaborate on research and theory building to strengthen the capacity of democratic governance institutions to produce better public policy. The Collaborative Democracy Network is being coordinated by the Center for Collaborative Policy at California State University Sacramento.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/cdn/

Collaborative Edge Newsletter

Center for Collaborative Policy at Ca. State University Sacramento.

As collaborative strategies and methods grow more important in dealing with complex and 'wicked' public policy issues, information about cutting edge developments in collaboration methods becomes more essential. The Collaborative Edge, an internet-based newsletter, provides timely information on collaborative strategies and methods to public agencies, civic organizations, and the public. Each quarterly edition includes articles on success stories, tool kits, challenging issues, and news and resources.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/

Collaborative Governance in the CALFED Program: Adaptive Policy Making for California Water

Judith E. Innes, Sarah Connick, Laura Kaplan, and David E. Booher.

A new, collaborative model of governance has emerged in the CALFED program, which manages much of California's vast water system. This model emerged out of many years of dialogue among the state's major stakeholders and public agency leaders frustrated by the inability of traditional governance by the three branches - executive, legislative and judicial - to establish significant policy to address the competing needs of the environment and urban and agricultural water users. This paper reports on our research into the history, logic, and workings of this evolving program from its inception as an informal memorandum among agencies in 1994 to its 2004 incarnation with a formal, legislatively established oversight authority.

Resource Link: http://www.csus.edu/ccp/publications/WP-2006-01.pdf

Collaborative Governance: A Guide for Grantmakers

Doug Henton and John Melville (Collaborative Economics), with Terry Amsler and Malka Kopell (Hewlett Foundation). The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2006.

This 47-page guide focuses on collaborative governance, an emerging set of concepts and practices that offer prescriptions for inclusive, deliberative, and often consensus-oriented approaches to planning, problem solving, and policymaking. Collaborative governance typically describes those processes in which government actors are participants and/or objects of the processes.

Resource Link: http://www.thataway.org/exchange/files/docs/Collaborative_Governance.pdf

Common Ground: Center for Cooperative Solutions, UC Davis Extension

For more than 10 years, Common Ground has been a leader in providing collaborative services through facilitation, mediation, negotiation and training. Our services are broad: we help government entities, agencies, private sector organizations, nonprofits, and communities come together and work out solutions to public policy issues including land use, water quality, health, education, and transportation.

Resource Link: http://www.extension.ucdavis.edu/commonground/

Community Conferencing as a Special Case of Conflict Transformation

John M. McDonald and David B. Moore. In Restorative Justice and Civil Society. Heather Strang and John Braithwaite, 130-148. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press., 2001.

McDonald and Moore seek to broaden the theory of transformative justice and conflict transformation. Specifically, they deal with community conferencing as the major reactive intervention based on a theory of conflict transformation in many settings: criminal justice, the workplace, education, and more. After summarizing the early theory on conferencing, with emphasis on the importance of the expression of shame in the process, the authors reexamine the notions of shame and guilt, particularly in relation to the sequence of a conference.

Resource Link: http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521805996

Conflict Resolution Services Center

Run by Bill Warters, Ph.D., of Wayne State University, this site is dedicated to supporting the development of mediation and conflict resolution services at colleges and universities. Includes searchable web links to more than 150 campus mediation projects, an extensive bibliography, program development resources, links to sample policies, and more.

Resource Link: http://www.campus-adr.org/CR_Services_Cntr/crservices.html