Smolny Beyond Borders

A Liberal Arts Initiative

Through Aggression to Peace: Thoughts on Conflict Resolution and Mediation

Speaker

Date

Thursday, 9 February, 10 am EST

Throughout history aggressive means of conflict resolution remain one of the most commonly used ways. No matter whether it is a conflict in families or business or between countries, ethnicities etc. Sooner or later most of them turn into wars. This discussion will try to answer if more peaceful and cooperative ways may ever become more popular and a new norm? What prevents people from acting emphatically and respectfully towards each other? What actions could be taken on individual and societal levels to address the issues? Do we even need to address them? How mediation practices may help people in these situations? We will try to look at these questions from our experience of psychology, politics, conflict management and mediation.