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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Conflict, Cooperation, and Kabbalah: Lessons for Environmental Negotiations

    June 10, 2009 By Wilson Center Staff

    Often during tough negotiations, an “ah-ha” moment transforms the parties’ thinking and enables them to move forward. Recognizing that such moments are also common to many spiritual traditions, Oregon State University Geography Professor Aaron Wolf decided to study several world religions for insights that could be applied to disputes over water resources, and to negotiation processes in general. Although Western cultures tend to view spirituality as a purely private matter—a legacy of the Enlightenment—in a June 3 invitation-only meeting at the Wilson Center, Wolf argued that much of the rest of the world understands spirituality as integrated with all parts of life.

    According to Wolf, spiritual traditions can illuminate two aspects of water negotiations:

    1. Understanding Conflict
    • Could addressing the ethical aspect of negotiations supplement the more common focuses on economic development, ecosystem protection, or environmental security, which have shown only partial success?
    • How does personal faith impact decision-making; can universal values be more explicitly invoked to facilitate negotiations?
    • How does global water management address the spiritual needs of stakeholders?

    2. Process Techniques

    • Might spiritual transformation have tools or approaches that could improve the difficult dynamics of international environmental negotiations?
    • How could the tools of personal transformation—such as guided imagery, prayer, ceremony, silence, and transformative listening—aid the mediation process and/or group dynamics?

    Wolf drew parallels between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual), the criteria for water allocations (based on rights, needs, interests, and equity), and the four stages of negotiations (adversarial, reflexive, integrative, and action).

    Wolf argued that, while semantics may vary, certain concepts’ universality makes them an effective means of communicating across cultures. For instance, the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah highlights the importance of bringing justice (din) and mercy (chesed) together in a partnership that promotes compassion (rachamim): that is, being partly rooted in one’s own needs while having the ability to recognize and care for the needs of others.

    This concept of compassion has an important role in Islam, as well. The Arabic word for reconciliation, musalaha, means that hostilities are ended, honor is re-established, and peace (sulha) is restored in the community. Wolf also stressed the concept of tarrahdin—resolving a conflict without humiliating either party—as key to a sustainable negotiation and peace.

    But how to apply these spiritual concepts to real-life negotiations? Wolf suggests that mediators employ transformative listening skills and help parties move from a stance based on rights or needs to one based on interests or equity. Wolf also suggests that instead of being seated across from one another, which is the most adversarial arrangement, parties should be seated side by side, in a manner more reflective of prayer than argument. Another effective technique is structuring introductions so that personal narratives are shared, helping create connections between individuals.

    Although the union of spiritual and rational processes is a somewhat foreign concept in the West, Wolf hopes that reaching across cultural divides will lead to the more effective resolution of environmental and other disputes.

    By Comparative Urban Studies Project Program Assistant Lauren Herzer.
    Topics: conflict, cooperation, environmental peacemaking, Middle East, water
    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/10253941236283733737 Steve

      I agree with Aaron that we can learn much from various spiritual traditions, particularly when it comes to resolving conflicts and, in particular, when these tensions or conflicts involve water. But as water becomes increasingly commodified in the West we become even further removed from the role water plays in other cultures. The problem as I see it is not the lessons that can be learned from these traditions – which Aaron clearly documents – but the fact that for many in the West spirituality plays a very minor role in their lives or, when it becomes important, it becomes rigid and intemperate. In either case, it further separates science and religion (or spirituality) rather than integrating the lessons from both realms. We become either bound by the morals of our particular brand of spirituality or controlled by more powerful political or economic institutions. These obfuscate the possibility of a world where we value the lessons and behaviors of other spiritual traditions. To paraphrase Edmund Burke, as a polarized society, our passions forge our fetters, whether one is agnostic or Pentecostal. And the wonderful lessons and experiences from “other” are viewed with suspicion rather than integrated into our decision making processes. SL

    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/12130944527257315651 Kayly Ober

      Aaron’s premise, to use spirituality to negotiate peace, is particularly of use in countries with strong religious ties. We can see its real-life implications in Peru, where bishops have been asked to aid mediation processes in the Amazon. After weeks of bloody clashes between indigenous protestors and police, Peruvian Prime Minister Yehude Simons paid a visit to Episcopal conference headquarters to ask for help to resolve the conflict.

      Archbishop Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, the president of Peru's Episcopal conference agreed to his proposition. “We are all Peruvians and so we should all work toward reconciliation,” he said. "We invite all to be calm, serene. We think in terms of Peru, we don't think in terms of groups, or certain people; we think in terms of the country. We are all Peruvians and this is something important to keep in mind.”

    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/18337694112852162181 Geoff Dabelko

      A couple of additional helpful links. Aaron's valuable interstate water conflict and cooperation work rests on research and data compiled in his Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database. His 2003 Basins at Risk article in Water Policy is a classic. He did a short version of the article for the Wilson Center's Navigating Peace Water Initiative.

      Second, Aaron published an article on this spirituality and water negotiations topic in the 2008 water special issue of the Columbia University Journal of International Affairs. Unfortunately it is only the first couple of pages available online.

    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/07886310217851584956 quba

      Hi,

      We have just added your latest post "The New Security Beat:" to our Directory of Science . You can check the inclusion of the post here . We are delighted to invite you to submit all your future posts to the directory and get a huge base of visitors to your website.

      Warm Regards

      Scienz.info Team

      http://www.scienz.info

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