Public Dispute Resolution Around the World

Public dispute resolution has great appeal around the world. In countries like Holland, Canada, and Germany mediation and other forms of assisted negotiation have been in use for some time. Some countries like the Philippines are just beginning to build their public dispute resolution capabilities. When and how the idea of using assisted negotiation to resolve public disputes "jumps" from one country to another is a subject of great interest to both dispute resolution practitioners and anthropologists. Often, an individual from one country will do some reconnaissance in another and serve as the inspiration for a kind of "technology transfer." Other times, officials in one country will invite dispute resolution practitioners from another to come and talk about their experience. A great deal of written material is making its way around the world. No matter what the source, the dangers of "exporting" public dispute resolution from one part of the world to another are substantial. Only those who know the "receiving" culture can do the appropriate tailoring and make the necessary translations. The chances that techniques or strategies will be taken out of context and used inappropriately are great. So, public dispute resolution practitioners working cross-culturally have a heavy burden. First, they need to be sure that they tell the whole story of what has happened in their home country. Then, they need to be certain that they are being understood. Next, they need to find partners who can make the necessary alterations and adjustments. Finally, they need "to put themselves out of business" by sharing everything they can with their partners and training them (particularly as trainers) so that no dependency is created.

See:
Localizing public dispute resolution in Japan : lessons from experiments with deliberative policy-making. Matsuura, Masahiro 2006.

Effective public dispute resolution practitioners are now operating around the world. Below is a preliminary list of such contacts.

Canada
Larry Sherman
IBI Group - Toronto
230 Richmond Street West, 5th Floor, Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5V 1V6
416.596.1930 ext. 229
416.596.0644

Holland
Ida Koppen
Executive Director
Sustainability Challenge Foundation
Localita Santa Chiara 5, Castelnuova, Sienna
Italy 53019
390.577.359.323 phone
390.577.358.907 fax
koppen@unisi.it

South Africa
Manie Spoelstra
Negotiation & Management, Spoelstra & Associates
5 Clifford Road, Irene
South Africa 1675
27.1266.72610 cc27 phone

Jerusalem
Gershon Baskin, Ph.D.
Director, IPCRI (Israel / Palestine Center for Research and Information)
Laham Building, El-Doha, Bethlehem
P.O. Box 9321 - Jerusalem 91902
972.2.277.6054 phone
972.2.277.6054 fax
gershon@ipcri.org

Japan
Masahiro Matsuura, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 9-316, Cambridge 02139 USA
masam@mit.edu

Korea
Dong-young Kim, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, KDI School of Public Policy and Management
Rm 9617, 207-43 Cheongnyangri 2-dong, Dongdaemoon-gu
Seoul 130-868, Korea
dykim@kdischool.ac.kr

Phillipines
Dinky
Co Multiversity
80-A Malakas Street, Bgy. Pinyahan
P.O. Box 2631, QCCPO 1166 Quezon City
Philippines 1100
632.920.2415 phone
632.920.2434 fax
dinky@comultiversity.org.ph