What's Happening in Conflict Resolution" is a roundup of the all the ADR news, jobs, events and more. Check it out, and view past versions [HERE].

Conflict Engagement and ADR in the News

Hou gets to say Houston? 

After two law schools battling over the rights to use the word 'Houston' in their name have requested their judge send them to mediation, a third college joins the fray. (Houston Chronicle; Image: pixabay)

A messy divorce 

After the British government lost the Brexit vote appeal, European politicians and diplomats are predicting that the EU/UK exit negotiations are going to be a 'very messy divorce' (from The Express; Image: pixabay)

More players at the Cyprus table

Cyprus headed for a peace summit to include all members of the UN Security Council: After the past few months have seen the two parties come closer to another, the issue of post-unification security remains unresolved. The Cypriot government has asked the Security Council to be involved in the next phase of the peace efforts (Washington Post)

Blogs 

Still on Cyprus... Gastrodiplomacy, anyone?

Cooking with Conflict

by Noam Ebner on ADRHub.com

Gastrodiplomacy is on the rise, and I, for one, want in on it.

People tend to be more positively inclined towards a country after eating its food. As this issue of Public Diplomacy suggests, this has encouraged many countries to intentionally spread their country’s cuisine as part of the cultural outreach practiced by their embassies and consulates. More recently, the first academic course on this form of conducting foreign relations has been offered at American University. 

Beyond cultural outreach to support traditional diplomacy, another form of gastrodiplomacy focuses on peacemaking and other conflict engagement methods.          

Click here to read the article

Moving Negotiation Theory from the Tower of Babel Toward a World of Mutual Understanding

by John Lande on indisputably.org

Our current negotiation theory needs improvement.  As we develop better negotiation theory, we should start by appreciating the valuable work that has been done by our predecessors.  Moving forward, we should acknowledge that scholars are subject to the same cognitive biases that we document in our work.  For example, it is easy to fall prey to the status quo and confirmatory biases that keep us from developing better understandings of negotiation.  Thus we should take conscious action to carefully consider how traditional ways of thinking distort our understandings and whether there are better ways to understand negotiation.  This is particularly important considering that people – and negotiation – are constantly changing and at accelerating rates.

  Click here to read the article.