Articles

28 Jan 2009

What does a new global leader mean for the creation of a climate for resolving conflict?

By Eileen Carroll

"America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity”, were the words of President Obama’s inaugural address on 20 January 2009.  Making the world a better place through, in part, the resolution of conflict, is also a common theme in his book The Audacity of Hope [Canongate Books, 2008], a recent bestseller around the world. This is also, I believe, a theme that resonates with all of us in the world of conflict management and ADR. What might a commercial mediator be able to learn from the latest leader of the free world?

President Obama appears from his writings and oratory to be a natural collaborator, who recognises that far from being a “settling for less approach” this requires even greater insight, patience and persistence.  Despite the red state-blue state divide in America, despite racial, religious and economic divisions, he writes, “we are becoming more, not less, alike” beneath the surface: “Most Republican strongholds are 40 percent Democrat, and vice versa. The political labels of liberal and conservative rarely track people’s personal attributes.”

The effects of discrimination are not abstract concepts for the African-American community but Barack Obama’s solution is not one of retribution but of activism and using the law to achieve balance. Unsurprisingly for one of such an international background, President Obama's interest is not in waging war, but in promoting peace. In his book he states, "We need to build on these glimmers of hope and help those committed leaders and citizens throughout Africa build the better future they, like we, so desperately desire."

This new ‘leader of the Western World’ by his own account is driven by his intellect in his search for common good, whilst he also displays the necessary pragmatism and confidence to move beyond partisan concerns to be appropriately inclusive and to listen to a wide range of voices. He appears to understand the potential benefits of integrative bargaining and as we mediators say ‘expanding the pie’. He has a difficult, but potentially a manageable task, to nudge America to work harder and be more steadfast and responsible in searching for and delivering behaviour that will serve the interests of many and not a few. His inaugural address set a clear agenda for what is expected of US citizens, there are choices but he did not shrink from his listing the risks citizens and all mankind face if they do not chose well.

As mediators and professionals one could say we are already privileged to work in a field where we have the resource and the tools to help people to stand back, listen, understand and connect at various levels, emotionally, intellectually and practically in order to resolve their differences.

The change in US leadership will undoubtedly change the mood and tone of world events. This change in time may bring substantive change and all of us in the field of conflict management and mediation will be the richer for it. Whether in the field of community projects or world finance we should have greater confidence and hope in using collaborative approaches to solving and averting deadlock.

If Barack Obama carries through on his rhetoric the era of ‘real men do not eat quiche’ has been ushered to the wings. Certainly the election and the world support for the new President demonstrates we are now in an era where emotional intelligence and engagement are respected dimensions of policy. His new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, talks not of ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ power but ‘Smart power’.

As the world is wishing this new administration well, we in our profession should be seizing the opportunity in the change of mood to work harder and smarter, improving our own contribution to effectiveness in the field of conflict management.

CEDR

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