The Conflict Tipping Podcast
Episodes
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Monday Mar 25, 2024
Peace, Conflict, and the Power of Inclusion: Insights from Dr. Julia Palmiano Federer
What happens if you put two mediation fangirls who also happen to be intersectional feminists together into the same conversation? This episode! Host Laura May and guest Dr. Julia Palmiano Federer dive into critical discussions on peacebuilding and conflict mediation. Highlights include:
Julia's journey from Manila to Vancouver, and her path to becoming a researcher in peace and conflict studies.
Exploration of critical, feminist, and decolonial approaches to peace research and the significance of unofficial peace dialogues.
Insights from Julia's work on NGOs mediating peace in Myanmar, highlighting the importance of inclusivity and local cultures in peace processes.
Discussion on the impact of climate change on conflict, with a focus on Indigenous communities in Turtle Island (North America).
Preview of Julia's forthcoming projects, including a book on mediation process design and an edited volume examining apocalyptic narratives in peacebuilding.
This episode provides a look into the challenges and opportunities within international peace mediation, emphasizing the importance of empathy, inclusivity, and critical self-reflection in addressing modern conflicts.
Links
Julia's academic website - https://juliapalmianofederer.com/
The Power to Protect (Report) - https://ottawadialogue.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/PowertoProtect-Report_IDRC_JDr.-Julia-Palmiano-Federer-Ms.-Lorelei-Higgins-Parker_compressed.pdf
NGOs Mediating Peace (Book) - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-42174-7
University profile - https://css.ethz.ch/en/center/people/dr-julia-palmiano-federer.html
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliapalmianofederer/
Co-authors mentioned: Samantha Marie Gamez, and Lorelei Higgins Parker.
Julia Palmiano Federer
Dr. Palmiano Federer is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zürich. She is also currently a Senior Fellow at the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Collaboratory at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership. Her research interests include critical, feminist and decolonial approaches to inclusive peace processes, unofficial peace dialogues and the nexus between climate change and conflict. She is the author of NGOs Mediating Peace: Promoting Inclusion in Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Negotiations, published in Open Access format by Palgrave Macmillan. She is a Laureate of the 2022 Women, Peace and Security Research Awards for her work on women, peace, security, and climate change. She was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver).
Bookmarks
00:00 Meet Dr. Julia Palmiano Federer: A Trailblazer in Peace Research01:25 The Journey to Peace Building: Manila, Geneva, and beyond09:06 Unpacking the Ethical Ick16:21 NGOs in the Peace Process: Mavericks or Cowboys?23:13 Decolonizing Peace: A Critical Look at Norm Spreading27:46 The Future of Peace Mediation: More Caveats, More Care28:28 Unveiling 'The Power to Protect'29:02 Bridging Worldviews: Indigenous and Western Perspectives on Conflict31:11 The Journey of Research: Unlearning and Relearning33:47 Exploring Indigenous Women's Agency in Climate Change37:02 Positionality and Identity: Navigating Research as an Outsider44:50 Mediation Process Design and Apocalyptic Imaginaries48:37 Witches and Peacebuilding: Reclaiming Feminist Imagery52:57 Find out more about Julia's Work
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
The Rise of the Masses with Dr Benjamin Abrams [Ep. 21]
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
Tuesday Jun 13, 2023
In this episode, meet Dr Benjamin Abrams, who has just released his brand-new book about mass mobilisations called "The Rise of the Masses". Listen if you are interested in:
Why mass mobilisations such as protests happen
The Black Lives Uprising, Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, or even the French Revolution
The emotions of protest
How physical space can support mass mobilisations
Ben's admiration for guillotines
Buy the book at theRiseoftheMasses.com.
About Dr Abrams:
Benjamin Abrams is Lecturer in Sociology and Leverhulme Fellow at University College London. Alongside the study of mobilization, Benjamin also works on revolutions, resistance and contentious politics broadly considered. His approach to these topics focuses on exploratory macro-causal comparisons and case studies, designed to generate new, durable theoretical insights. Much of his work fuses these macro-level techniques with in-depth investigative within-case methods, with a specialism in the analysis of ethnographic interviews and archival sources.
In addition to authoring The Rise of the Masses, Benjamin's second book is called Symbolic Objects in Contentious Politics. Written in collaboration with Peter R. Gardner and bringing together an international and interdisciplinary community of scholars, the book was published open access by the University of Michigan Press in 2023.
Benjamin is also Chief Editor (with Giovanni A. Travaglino) of Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest.
More information about Benjamin's scholarly work can be found on his faculty page at UCL. He tweets at @bdmabrams.
About the host:Laura is a facilitator, people and culture director, and former Executive Director of the International Mediation Institute. Her doctoral research asked “in what ways does blame make villains in politics” and covered the gamut from literature studies and linguistics to psychology and neuroscience, victimology to political science. Her expertise includes emotions, polarization, blame, and international politics. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn or ResearchGate—or even both!
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
In this episode, Laura speaks with Dr. Shannon Wheatley Hartman of the Interactivity Foundation. Listen if you are interested in learning more about:
A collaborative approach to academia and the classroom
Dealing with group think
When NOT to collaborate
Embracing cultural humility
Community conversations and democracy as an aspirational idea
Avoiding both-sides-ism
Bringing together communities and building inclusive events
About Shannon:
Shannon is vice president of the Interactivity Foundation in the US, an organisation that engages citizens in the exploration and development of possibilities for public policy. Prior to working at IF, she was full-time lecturer of international relations at Arizona State University, and her academic interests include nonviolent resistance, postcolonialism, participatory action research, and deliberative democracy.
Links:
https://www.interactivityfoundation.org/people/shannon-wheatley-hartman/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-wheatley-hartman-420ba41b
https://www.collaborativediscussionproject.com/
About Laura:
Laura is a former Executive Director of the International Mediation Institute and a negotiation and mediation lecturer. Her doctoral research asked “in what ways does blame make villains in politics” and covered the gamut from literature studies and linguistics to psychology and neuroscience, victimology to political science. Her expertise includes emotions, polarization, blame, and international politics. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn or ResearchGate—or even both!
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
Thursday Oct 20, 2022
In this episode Laura interviews Jan Gerrit Voelkel, who is a Ph.D. Student in Sociology at Stanford University. Jan's research studies intergroup and interpersonal relationships with two guiding research questions. First, what causes people's willingness to harm others and defend inequalities? And second, how can personal or societal change be achieved that increases equality and/or reduces harm? Jan has developed interventions that increase support for policies that aim to reduce economic inequality or increase opportunity for immigrants. Jan has also led the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, a megastudy that tested 25 crowdsourced interventions for reducing anti-democratic attitudes and partisan animosity.
Jan's academic page: https://sociology.stanford.edu/people/jan-gerrit-voelkel
Jan's twitter: https://twitter.com/jgvoelkel
Project: https://www.strengtheningdemocracychallenge.org/
Lab twitter: https://twitter.com/pascl_stanford
Monday Oct 10, 2022
Monday Oct 10, 2022
In this episode Laura interviews Professor Aleksandra Cichocka, Professor of Political Psychology at the University of Kent School of Psychology. Prof. Cichocka received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Warsaw in 2013. During her doctoral studies she was a Fulbright Fellow at New York University. After completing her PhD, she joined Kent, where she leads the Political Psychology Lab.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alekscichocka, https://twitter.com/PolPsychKent
Publications: https://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/people/219/cichocka-aleksandra
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
Convergence with Rob Fersh and Monika Glowacki [Ep. 02]
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
Wednesday Jul 13, 2022
Step into the world of consensus building and collective action as Laura speaks with Rob Fersh and Monica Glowacki from the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution in the US, which is all about bringing diverse voices together to tackle critical national issues. From education to gun violence, they've seen it all! But what sets them apart is their secret sauce: the magic of co-creation and empathetic listening. Get ready to dive into this first full episode of the Conflict Tipping podcast, where Rob and Monika spill the beans on their successes, failures, and the transformative power of consensus building.
In this episode, you'll discover:
The fascinating stories behind Convergence's projects, like how they brought gun control activists and Second Amendment enthusiasts together, and the impact they've made on the Affordable Care Act.
The nitty-gritty of consensus building and why it leads to higher quality and more innovative solutions by incorporating diverse perspectives.
How co-creation can transform adversarial interactions into cooperative problem-solving sessions, where all voices are heard and respected.
The early successes that paved the way for Convergence's groundbreaking work, including their involvement in healthcare reform.
The innovative project on digital disinformation, where they're bringing together tech platforms, media, academia, and more to combat the harmful effects of false information in our society.
The challenges of power imbalances and disparities that they grapple with while striving for consensus and how they navigate those complexities.
So, if you're ready to explore the unexpected connections and transformative potential of consensus building, tune in to hear from Rob Fersh and Monica Glowacki as they take you on a journey of co-creation, collective action, and the pursuit of common ground.
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About the guests:
Prior to co-founding Convergence, Rob served as the United States country director for Search for Common Ground, an international conflict resolution organization. While at SFCG, he directed national policy consensus projects on health care coverage for the uninsured and U.S.-Muslim relations. In the 1986-98 period, Rob served as president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), a leading NGO working to alleviate hunger in the United States. Rob also served on the staffs of three Congressional committees, working for U.S. Representative Leon Panetta and for Senators Patrick Leahy and Edmund Muskie. While a Congressional staff member and at FRAC, he was deeply involved in shepherding passage of bipartisan legislation to reduce hunger in the United States.
Monika is the Director of the initiative on Digital Disinformation at Convergence, where she will bring together people across differences to explore the root causes of problems with online information and media systems, and pathways towards a more equitable vision for the future of the internet. Monika has worked in research and analysis exploring the intersection of technology, people, politics and power. She is interested in critical analysis of the impact of technology on our lives, societies and economies, as well as how technology can be reimagined to serve the public interest and our wellbeing.
Learn more at http://convergencepolicy.org
About the host:Laura is a facilitator, people and culture director, and former Executive Director of the International Mediation Institute. Her doctoral research asked “in what ways does blame make villains in politics” and covered the gamut from literature studies and linguistics to psychology and neuroscience, victimology to political science. Her expertise includes emotions, polarization, blame, and international politics. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn or ResearchGate—or even both!