The Next Frontier is Anticipation: Thinking Ahead About Conflict To Help Clients Find Constructive Ways to Engage Issues in Advance

Abstract:     
Conflict resolution spends much time and energy contemplating best practices for solving problems after they arise. This article argues that specialists in conflict resolution, and their clients, would be well-served by focusing on previewing problems in their infancy. Like preventive medicine, the field of conflict resolution can start to study underlying causes, predictable crises, and foreseeable needs. What tools can we bring to bear to anticipate conflict? What advice would we give our clients? How can the field of conflict resolution move to conflict anticipation?

Number of Pages in PDF File: 6

Keywords: conflict resolution, prevention, negotiation, alternative dispute resolution

JEL Classification: K4, K40, K41

Accepted Paper Series