Preface to the Second Edition

A Reflective Approach to Conflict

There is nothing so practical as a good theory.

Lewin, 1952, p. 169

Conflict intervention is a skill, a vocation, a profession, and a cause. We are all conflict participants and conflict interveners. We bring to this endeavor the totality of who we are—our life experience, our values, our natural talents and limitations, our personality, our training, and our professional background. How we handle conflict is central to how we handle life, whether or not we are conflict specialists, and so developing our capacity to deal with conflict is a lifelong challenge. As we seek to become more adept in conflict, we tend to focus on the central skills that conflict calls forth—for example, we want to increase our capacity to communicate, to negotiate, to use our power effectively, to respond to others’ use of power,....