Louis Kriesberg

Mediation and the Transformation of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:

During the 1990s, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict underwent a profound transformation, which has proceeded slowly and sometimes with severe disruptions and retrogressions. This article examines the diverse contributions of different kinds of mediators to the transformation at various stages of the process. Particular attention is given to the Oslo negotiations, their forerunners, and subsequent negotiations. Comparisons are made regarding the different kinds of contributions made by different kinds of mediators. Mediators include intermediaries with leverage, such as a United States President, and mediators with few material resources, such as unofficial facilitators. At various stages of a conflicts escalation and de-escalation, different kinds of mediators can make appropriate and effective contributions. Making and building peace in protracted conflicts requires a wide variety of complementary actions by diverse actors, including persons within the adversary sides as well as by intermediaries. Mediating effectiveness is constrained by the circumstances of each adversary, the adversary relations, and the historical context.

Careers, Organization Size, and Succession

The analysis is based upon data from a national study of heads of public health programs at the state and local levels. Consistent with Gruskys findings, heads of large public health and of large mental health departments at the State level tend to have shorter tenure than heads of small departments. Although the positions are filled by political appointment, the professional requirements are sufficiently important that the mechanisms discussed by Grusky can operate. Furthermore, the kind of career line, itinerant or home guard, also is relevant; this helps explain the findings that at the local level length of tenure is not inversely related to organization size.

Formal and Quasi-Mediators in International Disputes: An Exploratory Analysis

The distinction is made between mediating services provided to ameliorate international conflicts and who provides the services. The services may be provided by a person, group, or organization playing the role of a mediator, or by a quasi-mediator, a social entity not so designated, who may even be a member of one of the adversaries. The paper examines the kind of contribution social units providing mediating services, but playing different roles, can and do make towards de-escalating international conflicts. The implications of this distinction are examined for various stages of conflict de-escalation: preparing for negotiations, starting them, conducting them, reaching mutual accommodative agreements and sustaining them. Evidence is drawn from cases of mediation conducted officially and non-officially, especially in the US-Soviet and Arab-Israeli conflicts. Certain kinds of mediating actions can be especially well provided by one kind of provider compared to another and the effectiveness of different actions also varies with the stage of the conflict in which the mediating service is conducted.

Occupational Controls Among Steel Distributors

A steel gray market, condemned by the government, flourished in the period following the outbreak of hositilities in Korea. The steel-distribution system was analyzed to understand why some distributors participated in the gray market and others did not. Distributors were typed according to their relationship to the distribution system; each type experienced different degrees of control from suppliers, customers, and colleagues; and the norms prescribed by these agents of control also differed. This analysis then suggested some general observations about the nature of occupational norms and occupational organizations.

The Relevance of Reconciliation Actions in the Breakdown of Israeli–Palestinian Negotiations, 2000

The breakdown of Israeli–Palestinian negotiations toward a final status agreement and the subsequent eruption of violence stunned many partisans of the conflict as well as intermediaries and observers. Although some partisans on each side had argued from the outset that successful negotiations were impossible, leaders of the Palestinians and the Israelis had negotiated directly for several years as if they were possible. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict had become partially transformed but perhaps insufficiently so to support a negotiated agreement acceptable to both sides. The possible role of what might be regarded as reconciliation actions in that partial transformation of the conflict is examined here. The negotiation and mediation processes prior to the breakdown are reviewed, and then different views of the impact of reconciliation actions, or their absence, are assessed.

Changes in Public Support for U.S. Military Spending

The proportion of Americans believing the United States is spending too little on national defense has varied considerably over the past four decades. In recent years; this proportion has increased from 12% in 1973 to 30% in 1978. Using data from the NORC General Social Surveys for 1973 through 1978, this article studies the correlates of opinions about defense spending and seeks to account for the trend toward increased support for greater arms spending. The results of this analysis suggest that factors important in explaining variations in opinions about arms spending vary with different historical periods. Three interconnected changes over the six years under study are suggested by the data to produce the aforementioned trend: the decline of the impact of the Vietnam war, a rise in particular elements of conservative ideology, and an increase in anti-Soviet and anticommunist sentiment.

Rearing Children for Educational Achievement in Fatherless Families

Married and husbandless mothers are compared to assess how certain concomitants of fatherless families may be related to attitudes and behaviors relevant for their childrens educational achievement. The findings indicate that husbandless mothers are generally more, rather than less, concerned about the educational achievement of their children, compared to married mothers. Frequently lacking supportive environments, however, the conduct of husbandless mothers is often, inappropriate and their aspirations for their children depressed. The analysis focuses particularly upon neighborhood characteristics and also income and employment of the husbandless mothers and their children.

Changing conflict asymmetries constructively

The complex and fluid nature of asymmetry is analyzed and then the sources of changes in conflict asymmetry are discussed. This analysis is then applied to particular conflicts that have followed different trajectories of asymmetry and conflict transformation. The trajectories include (1) transformation toward symmetry and equitable resolution (South Africa and the civil rights struggle in the US South) and (2) protracted failure to achieve appropriate symmetry or to have unilateral imposition (Sri Lanka, Palestinians and Israelis).

The Retail Furrier: Concepts of Security and Success

The separation of the artisan functions into specialized manufacturing, distributing, and retailing occupations has occurred in most trades. In studying a contemporary example of this process, different occupational values were found to be associated with different occupational situations. Retail furriers operating custom fur shops think of the secure furrier in self-oriented terms; those operating business fur shops think of the secure furrier in customer-oriented terms. Because of the nature of success in the United States and the social organization of the retail fur trade, less difference was noted in their characterization of the successful furrier.

NEIGHBORHOOD SETTING AND THE ISOLATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING TENANTS

THE KINDS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN LOW-INCOME PUBLIC HOUSING PROJECTS VARY A GREAT DEAL - EVEN COMPARING FOUR PROJECTS IN ONE MEDIUM-SIZED CITY. THE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS, AND THE PROCESSES OF SELF-SELECTION BY TENANTS AND OF ADMISSION BY THE HOUSING AUTHORITIES ALL AFFECT THE SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF EACH PROJECT. GIVEN SUCH VARIABILITY, IT IS POSSIBLE TO STUDY HOW CERTAIN CONDITIONS AFFECT THE SOCIAL ISOLATION OF PROJECT TENENTS FROM RESIDENTS IN THE SURROUNDING AREA. FOUR CASES ARE STUDIED AND DISCUSSED. THE RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS YIELD SOME CLEAR FINDINGS. RESIDENCE IN PUBLIC HOUSING DOES CONSTITUTE A BARRIER TO SOCIAL INTERACTION. CONSIDERABLE DIFFERENCE IN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS BETWEEN PROJECT TENANTS AND RESIDENTS IN THE SURROUNDING AREA MAY NOT NECESSARULY BE AN IMPORTANT IMPEDIMENT TO SOCIAL INTERACTION. ON THE BASIS OF THE EVIDENCE FROM THIS ANALYSIS, IT SEEMS THAT THE HETEROGENEITY WITHIN A PROJECT AND WITHIN THE AREA SURROUNDING THE PROJECT IS OFTEN LARGE ENOUGH TO PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR ESTABLISHING NEIGHBORLY RELATIONS AND EVEN FRIENDSHIPS.