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Summary: a new path for resolving conflicts
Review: Chris Mitchell's book is a treasure trove of brilliant insights into the role that symbols and gestures play in resolving deeply rooted conflict. I have studied each page and put it down because so many ideas come to my head about how his insights could be applied to both personal and international conflicts. The Middle East continues to be a place of endless conflict while few diplomats understand the power and importants of consistent patterns of unilateral and bilateral gestures that parties should be encouraged to engage in. Mitchell's work is really the path to a completely different future for diplomacy, and it is high time that government officials take notice. Still deeper, we all need more advice on how to move beyond the power of words to the power of deeds as we struggle with how to change the direction of our conflicts, how to right basic wrongs, and how to stimulate in ourselves and in others a path to reconciliation. this is precisely what Israelis and Palestinians need the most, and it is what we need so badly between the United States and Islamic civilization. There are surely many destructive forces in the world that need to be resisted, but Mitchell shows us a path out of the madness of cycles of violence. His view is sober, not utopian, it is scientific to the core, and it is hopeful based on sound empirical judgements and recommendations. I wish everyone could read and study this seminal book.
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Summary: An Essential Book on Why Peace Processes Succeed or Fail
Review: Christopher Mitchell's GESTURES OF CONCILIATION is a brilliant, pioneering study of the psychology of peace processes. Clearly and popularly written, it identifies critical obstacles to the successful conclusion of peace negotiations and offers important practical suggestions about how these roadblocks can be removed. Mitchell is one of the first analysts to deal in depth with questions like, "How does a party to a conflict know that they other party's offer to negotiate isn't merely a sign of weakness or a cynical trap?" Thinking his way into the minds of the parties to violent, protracted conflicts, the author throws new light on a host of critical issues, including the problems of radical mutual distrust, self-entrapment, ambiguous peace gestures, and "ripeness" for resolution. No official should consider negotiating a serious conflict without first consulting this book. It is a must both for specialists in conflict studies and for general readers interested in discovering why peace processes succeed or fail.
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Summary: How peace processes work
Review: This outstanding book offers a thorough analysis of the conciliatory initiatives that are taken by adversaries as peace processes unfold. It examines the nature of such initiatives, the contexts in which they are produced and recognized, and the conditions for their success. The book is must reading for all students of international politics and conflict resolution.
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