Volume 42, Issue 5

The Dispute Resolution Institute (DRI) was founded in 1991 under the leadership of Bobbi McAdoo and its first symposium, Moving to the Next Level in Transformative Mediation: Practice, Research and Policy, was held in 1999. Over the course of the next sixteen years, DRI developed and refined a particular methodology for its symposia, captured by…

“The point of political equality is not merely to create spaces free from domination, but also to engage all members of a community equally in the work of creating and constantly recreating that community.” Some years ago, when Christopher Moore, my partner at CDR Associates and I were asked to facilitate a major public dialogue…

The Hamline University School of Law held a symposium discussing public engagement (Symposium) on October 23–24, 2015. As a member of the Symposium’s panel, “Setting the Context,” I agreed to write the current article. At the time, I was the executive director of the Minnesota Council on Latino Affairs, a position I retired from in…

The opening plenary of Hamline University School of Law Dispute Resolution Institute’s 2015 symposium, “An Intentional Conversation About Public Engagement and Decision-Making: Moving from Dysfunction and Polarization to Dialogue and Understanding,” sought to frame a deep and engaged discussion of the most challenging questions and concerns about public engagement. The opening session’s theme leaders approached…

We need community to get things done. Community rests on relationships. Relationships grow from conversations. Conversations cultivate community. I’ve been a gardener for years; for most of them, with hit-or- miss results. Sometimes a pretty good yield, sometimes mostly weeds. That all changed a couple of years ago when a woman at work taught me…

The Circle process is a means of addressing conflict that offers a great deal of promise for addressing the dysfunction and polarization that so often marks efforts to employ direct public engagement in local government decision-making of many ostensibly democratic communities today. This article describes that promise and the structure of Circle practice which give…

In mediation and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes, context matters. For instance, it makes sense that a facilitative mediator would want all sides to share their perspectives and viewpoints on themselves, on the other parties, and ultimately on the conflict itself. This is because the context of a conflict—and those involved in it—provides the…

Minnesota has traditionally been a leader in civic engagement. Its statutes reflect that, with an extensive system of local government bodies and an equally extensive framework of “sunshine” laws designed to promote public access to the information those local governments use to make decisions. However, political conflict is increasing at all levels. As it does,…

The 2015 Hamline University School of Law Dispute Resolution Institute’s symposium brought together elected officials, public managers, scholars, and practitioners of dispute resolution, for dialogue, deliberation, and to brainstorm ideas for how Minnesota might use more innovative public engagement processes across local, regional, tribal, and state governance. How to build more meaningful public engagement in…

Two interesting and contradictory trends in American politics are germane to the field of dispute resolution: polarization and collaboration. The former gets a lot more attention than the latter. Let’s follow the trend and start with polarization. A recent Pew Research Center report shows that Americans are more divided along political lines than any other…

In October of 2015, Hamline University School of Law’s Dispute Resolution Institute held a Symposium titled, An Intentional Conversation About Public Engagement and Decision-Making: Moving from Dysfunction and Polarization to Dialogue and Understanding. The focus was on Minnesota as a microcosm of the larger national conversation. Earlier that same year, Minnesotans saw a drama unfold…