CEU Summer University
Nádor u. 9, Budapest, Hungary 1051
Tel.: (36 1) 327 3069, 327 3811
Fax: (36 1) 327 3124
E-mail: summeru@ceu.hu
Website: http://www.ceu.hu/sun/sunindx.html
Managing Conflict and Fostering Democratic Dialogue
(In cooperation with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York and
Hamline University School of Law, Minnesota)
July 9-August 3, 2001
Course directors: Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky (Central European University)
Lela P. Love (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law)
Resource persons: Stephen J. Adler (Judge, President, National Labour Court of Israel,
Adjunct Professor of Hebrew University, Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv
University, Faculty of Law)
James R. Coben (Hamline University School of Law, Saint Paul,
Minnesota)
Kinga Goncz (Eötvös Loránd University)
Charles D. Nupen (ILO Project, South Africa)
Richard C. Reuben (University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law,
Columbia, Missouri)
Joseph B. (Josh) Stulberg (Ohio State University College of Law,
Columbus, Ohio)
Manfred Weiss (Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main)
Biographies:
Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky (Central European University)
Professor of Law, Central European University, Legal Studies Departmen, Eötvös Loránd University,
Faculty of Law. J.D., 1968, Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law, Ph.D. in 1987, Hungarian
Academy of Sciences. She has been teaching at Eötvös Loránd University since 1969. She was serving
as Associate Dean in Charge of International and Academic Affairs of ELTE Law School from 1991
through 1995. Became the Chair of the Labour Law Department in 1992, and has been active in this
position with an interruption from 1997 to 2000. Between 1997 and 2000 she served as the Dean of
Legal Studies at the Central European University. Fulbright Professor at Stanford Law School in
1990-1991. Beyond a short period of working as practicing lawyer besides university teaching (1988-
1990) she has been active as board member or advisor in a number of professional and civil
organizations active in the field of labour law, industrial relations as well as minority and gender
protection.
Lela P. Love (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law)
Clinical Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law/Yeshiva University. J.D., 1979,
Georgetown University; M.Ed., 1975, Virginia Commonwealth University; B.A., 1973, Harvard
University. Professor Love has served as a mediator, arbitrator, and dispute resolution consultant in a
variety of community, family, commercial and public disputes. In 1993, she was awarded a citation by
the City of Glen Cove for successfully mediating a long-standing dispute between the city and its
Salvadoran community. Professor Love co-chairs the Committee on Qualifications and Training for
Neutral’s for New York’s Unified Court System. She has assisted the State of Florida in implementing
its mediator qualification requirements; developed a program for training mediator trainers and a
teaching manual for the State of Michigan; and written a mediator’s manual for a mandatory mediation
program for Louisiana’s Office of Workers’ Compensation. As a member of George Washington
University’s clinical law faculty, Professor Love developed and directed the Small Business Clinic at
the National Law Center. She is member of the Bar in New York, New Hampshire, and the District of
Columbia.
Stephen J. Adler (National Labour Court of Israel, Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv University)
Judge and President of the National Labour Court of Israel and Professor of Law at Hebrew University,
Faculty of Law and Tel-Aviv University, Faculty of Law. J.D. 1965 - Columbia University Law School
B.S. 1962 - I.L.R. - Cornell University School of Industrial and Labour Relations. Justice Adler has
several decade long experience in theory and practice of dispute resolution. Before becoming a Justice
of the National Labour Court in 1985 he was a judge and from 1981 Chief Judge of the Jerusalem
Regional Labour Court. Parallel with the judicial profession he has been active as a teacher in higher
lever legal education. He is a Professor of Law of the the Faculty of Law of Hebrew University and the
Faculty of Law of the Tel-Aviv University since 1996. His teaching experience includes lecturing at
Max Planck Institute, Munich and teaching as Adjunct Professors in Cardozo Law School in 1997 as
well as being a faculty and member of the Board of Directors of the Israel Judges' Training Institute.
He is the President of the Israeli Chapter of the International Society for Labour Law and Social
Security.
James R. Coben (Hamline University School of Law, Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Associate Clinical Professor and Dispute Resolution Institute Fellow, Hamline University School of
Law. J.D., 1986, Northeastern University School of Law. Professor Coben has pioneered a variety of
innovative ADR clinical opportunities, including mediation advocacy on behalf of clients in family and
employment cases. He is a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court ADR Review Board and is a
Board Member and Ethics Columnist for the Journal of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment,
published by CCH Incorporated. He currently is serving as co-chair of the Second Annual Legal
Educator’s Colloquium co-sponsored by the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar
Association and the Association of American Law Schools. He regularly mediates civil and family
law disputes. Since 1994, Professor Coben has been a Senior Trainer for Hamline’s Dispute
Resolution Institute designing and conducting a wide variety of ADR trainings for lawyers, judges, and
other professionals.
Kinga Goncz (Eötvös Loránd University)
Executive Director of Partners Hungary Foundation since 1994; Adjunct Professor in Social
Work - Social Policy Training. Degree in Psychotherapy, 1986, Institute for Postgraduate Medical
Training, Budapest; Degree in Psychiatry, 1978, Institute for Postgraduate Medical Training, Budapest;
M.D. 1972, Semmelweis Medical University, Budapest; Visiting Scholar, University of Michigan
School of Social Work, 1995; Lecturer, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western
University, Cleveland, Ohio; Extensive publications in the field of social work supervision and
training; Active private practice in psychotherapy; Member of the Board of the Soros Foundation and
Director of the Board of the Foundation for Self Reliance.
Charles D. Nupen (ILO Project, South Africa)
Law Degree, at Natal University, Durban, South Africa, 1977. Director Nupen was practicing public
interest law (human rights and labour law) at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg. 1987 to
1994 he was active as the Director of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa. During this
time the institution grew into a national conflict management agency. In 1995 he became the Chair of
the National Bargaining Forum in the South African Auto Industry. Upon request from the government
in 1996 he established and for the first year of operation directed the Commission for Conciliation,
Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Was active as trainer and practitioner in the field of conflict
management as well as directed several ILO projects. Currently he is Chief Technical Advisor and
Director of ILO projects on labour law reform, development of labour dispute settlement in South
Africa, Namibia and Lesotho.
Richard C. Reuben (University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, Columbia, Missouri)
Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. S.J.D. and L.L.M.,
Stanford Law School; J.D., Georgia State University. Professor Reuben is a former Senior Research
Fellow in Law and Dispute Resolution at the Harvard Negotiation Project of the Program on
Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and a Reporter for the Mediation Law Project of the American Bar
Association/National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law. A lawyer and journalist,
he has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court and other legal
matters, and is currently the Editor of Dispute Resolution Magazine, a quarterly publication of the
American Bar Association. He also is a consultant to various federal and state agencies on dispute
resolution issues, and served for two years as the Associate Director of the Stanford Center for Conflict
and Negotiation.
Joseph B. (Josh) Stulberg (Ohio State University College of Law, Columbus, Ohio)
Professor of Law, Ohio State University College of Law; J.D., New York University School of Law;
M.A., Ph.D,, The University of Rochester. Professor Stulberg has worked in the area of dispute
resolution in a variety of contexts. He has headed the Community Dispute Services of the American
Arbitration Association, acted as a private consultant, taught as an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law
School and as an Associate Professor in the Department of Management, School of Business and
Public Administration, Baruch College of the City University of New York, and directed the Master of
Arts in Industrial Relations Program (while teaching law courses) at Wayne State University. While at
Wayne State, he also chaired the Department of Management and Organizational Science.
Immediately before coming to Ohio State in 1998, Professor Stulberg was Professor of Law and
Director of Advanced Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. He has written
extensively in the area of dispute resolution.
Manfred Weiss (Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main)
Professor of Law, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Faculty of Law, Frankfurt am Main. Graduated
in Law in 1964, Freiburg University. In 1965-66 Research Fellow at U.C. Berkeley. Professor Weiss
has been a full Professor since 1974, first at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hamburg and then
from 1977 at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law
from 1989 through 1990. He has held visiting professorships at the law schools of the Catholic
University in Leuven, the University Paris-Nanterre, the University in Strasbourg, the Sorbonne in
Paris, the University Montesquieu Bordeaux, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the
University of Florida in Gainesville and the New York University. He has also been a visiting professor
and governmental advisor on labour law reforms in Central- and East European countries and in South
Africa. He is President-of the International Industrial Relations Association.
Course Objectives
This course is designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and cooperative projects among academics,
professionals and students in the East and West who are pursuing the study of conflict and conflict
resolution processes. The program, set in the context of Central and Eastern Europe’s emerging
democracies, will focus primarily on mediation and other consensual methods for addressing and
resolving conflict and promoting understanding between peoples.
Students will begin the sequence by participating in a two-week course centered on mediation theory
and skills and methods to foster democratic dialogue. They then can elect to take either a two-week
course in conflict theory or a two-week course exploring ADR methods in the employment arena. All
of the offerings will include multi-national perspectives and examples. This program will enable
students to critically examine the challenges of the design and delivery of ADR initiatives in multiple
contexts, including countries where the "rule of law" still is being established.
Intended Level of Instruction
The primary target group of this course is junior and middle career faculty as well as doctoral students
at law schools or faculties of social science and public administration in the CEE region as well as
American law students pursuing the J.D. degree who have completed prior relevant course work in
dispute resolution, labor or employment law. Additionally, course targets include academics and
professionals in psychology, social work, public policy, political science, government and labor
relations.
Mediation Theory and Skills and Methods to Foster Democratic Dialogue
(Lela P. Love, James Coben, Kinga Goncz, Joseph Stulberg)
Course Description
Through lecture, discussion, demonstration and role-plays, students will be introduced to mediation
theory and skills and examine the impact of culture and context on the mediation approach adopted.
Examples will focus on mediation models and scenarios from both the United States and Central and
Eastern Europe. The course will also examine a variety of strategies to foster and support democratic
and constructive dialogue, particularly focusing on "high-conflict" situations involving inter-ethnic
tensions. Students will study efforts in Central and Eastern Europe to promote meaningful democratic
dialogue in times of national and international crisis. Participants should come prepared for a highly
interactive learning experience.
Week 1: July 9 to 13
July 9 Principles of Dispute Settlement and Introduction to Negotiation Theory
Lecture and general discussion examining assumptions about dispute settlement, analyzing various
dispute settlement methodologies, and exploring the role of mediation within that context. A small
group negotiation exercise will illuminate the principles and dynamics underlying voluntary dispute
settlement methodologies.
A brief history of conflict in Central and Eastern Europe will be presented.
July 10 An Overview of the Mediation Process and Related Mediator Skills
A demonstration of a mediator at work will be followed by an examination of the various functions
the mediator fulfills and the types of traits/interpersonal skills required of persons discharging these
functions.
A summary description of conflict resolution initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe will be
presented.
July 11 Structuring and Beginning a Mediation Session
Analysis of the appropriate ways for convening and structuring the participation of parties, witnesses,
support persons, attorneys and other representatives and interpreters in the mediation conference.
Room design and seating arrangement for mediation sessions will be examined, as well as the
components of an opening statement by the mediator.
The class will view and analyze a movie portraying a variety of conflict resolution processes.
July 12 Listening Constructively to Disputing Parties and Crafting a Discussion Agenda
Lecture and interactive exercises will focus on fact-gathering, note-taking and questioning
techniques. The task of translating hostile and adversarial communication into building blocks of
collaborative dialogue will be explored, as well as the mediator’s role in identifying, framing and
ordering the issues in dispute.
July 13 Generating Movement Towards Understanding and Agreement
Lecture, discussion and exercises examining the rationale of various settlement strategies that a
mediator can use to move the parties towards agreement. Analysis will highlight persuasive techniques
for moving parties from impasse to settlement.
Practice in using techniques presented will follow.
Week 2: July 16 to 20
July 16 Dealing Effectively with Diversity and Difference in the Mediation Context
An analysis of the effects of ethnic, religious, gender and other differences on the conflict resolution
process.
An overview will be presented regarding conflicts between ethnic minorities and majorities in
Central and Eastern Europe.
July 17 Meeting Separately with the Parties (Using the Caucus) in Mediation, Bringing Closure to
Sessions and Capturing Agreements between Parties
An examination of the purposes and strategies of meeting in caucus sessions with the parties.
Participants will review procedures for closing a mediation session and drafting mediation agreements.
A case study will be presented regarding an ethnic conflict.
July 18 Ethical Considerations in Mediation
Discussion and exercises focusing on ethical dilemmas faced by mediators, particularly challenges to
a mediator’s impartiality, and the potential for abuse of discretion and power.
July 19 Using Mediation Skills to Foster Democratic Dialogue
An examination of the use of mediation and facilitation skills to encourage and support democratic
dialogue in emerging democracies.
July 20 Pulling the Pieces Together: Final Mediation Simulations
Participants will conduct a mediation session and analysis will follow the completion of each
simulation.
Course closure and evaluation.
FOR THE SECOND TWO WEEKS OF THE SEQUENCE STUDENTS CAN ELECT TO TAKE
ONE OF THE FOLLOWING COURSES:
Dispute Resolution Approaches in Labor Disputes in Emerging Democracies
(Manfred Weiss and Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky)
Course Description
The concept of "justice" in the context of labor disputes has gone through dramatic changes and
fluctuations in Central and Eastern Europe. From the law of lawless societies where rights and duties,
liabilities and remedies were decided primarily on the basis of political and ideological considerations,
the region is moving towards the "rule of law" where the law, set by the State, is enforced and recourse
to independent courts is a right of every citizen. Labor disputes, once handled through workplace
committees, "peoples' courts," or similar organs of "social justice," are now being channeled to an
independent judiciary applying the "rule of law".
The initial burst of enthusiasm and optimism accompanying this trend has been tempered by the harsh
realization that in countries with very limited resources, open access to a court system is severely
limited by insufficient staff and infrastructure. The lack of real enforceability of rights through the
state court system has prompted use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes to deliver
justice and resolve labor disputes. Mediation and conciliation are now among the standard and primary
processes for conflict resolution in the new labor codes for resolution of collective labor conflicts, as
well as being targeted, in some countries, for individual labor disputes too.
Even though ADR processes now are available, they are used far too infrequently. Education about,
and consequently awareness of, the available processes has been lacking. Past manipulative use of
non-court-based institutions (particularly "soft" methods like mediation) has led to a loss of credibility
and legitimacy of ADR processes. Finally, the lack of adequate quantity and quality of expertise in the
CEE countries about ADR methods hampers their use and growth. This course is intended to fill the
educational gap, offering a course of study in both theory and skills connected with ADR and labor
disputes.
Week 1: July 23 to July 27
July 23
Introduction to the course and defining the starting point for the two weeks program.
Analysis of the suitability of mediation/conciliation in labor and employment situations involving a
power imbalance between the parties. The class will distinguish between legal and non-legal disputes
and compare traditional and alternative dispute resolution methods.
July 24
International, regional and historic comparison and survey of conventional and non-conventional
dispute resolution methods. This class will examine: Central-East European developments from party
commissioners to private mediators; the impact of the short term and long term history and traditions
on the preferred ways of dispute resolution; advantages and disadvantages of pursuing various dispute
resolution alternatives; and the influence of Western (primarily American and British) dispute
resolution methods on the legislation about and practice on industrial disputes in the Central and East
European countries.
July 25
Individual disputes. Options of conflict resolution. Similarities and dissimilarities in European and
Central- East European employment dispute resolution. Principal and pragmatic background of the
actual solutions and their changes. The impact of the business and constitutional environment to
accepted methods of individual labour law disputes. A critical analysis of the operation of the labour
courts in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Germany. Advantages and disadvantages of
judicial intervention and options for dispute resolution connected to the role of the judge. Termination
of the employment relationship as a special case for the use of ADR methods.
July 26
Collective interest disputes. Categories of typical subject matters of collective interest disputes.
Principal differences dividing the two sides of the world of labour: share in the results of the
production. Fundamental conflicts and secondary conflicts in an employment relationship and their
solution possibilities. Disputes about share of gains and burdens deriving from the economic activity of
the employer. Whose interest is efficiency and restructuring? Negotiation and conciliation about
modernization. The role of mediation before and during institutionalized forms of disputes. How to
know the dividing point between Models of successful conciliation and mediation in the course of
restructuring and privatization.
July 27
Tripartism at national and regional level in the European context. Social Dialogue between poles and
strata of the post-industrial society. The role of institutionalized forms of negotiation and conciliation
(mediation) in the maintenance of peace at various levels of social and industrial relations. The
protection and protectors of the different subordinated (disadvantaged) interest groups, such as
unemployed, aged people, disabled people and disadvantaged ethnic minorities in the process of social
negotiations and reconciliation. The importance of the culture of negotiation and mediation and its role
in the future of the countries of Central Eastern Europe in comparison to the highly developed
industrial democracies.
Week 2 July 30-August 3
(Charles Nupen and Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky)
July 30
Conflict management options and approaches in labour management negotiations in transitional
countries with highly polarized societies. The reflection of external tensions and conflicts in the
organizational and operational structure of the company and the scale of possible reactions to emerging
internal frictions. Optimal managerial and trade union attitudes in tensioned situations.
How to prevent disputes by balancing interests. Dispute prevention.
July 31
Involvement of third party into employment disputes. General views about third party involvement.
Forms and possible outcomes of third party intervention. The need and limits of the involvement of
public (state) institutions into the prevention or resolutions of labour disputes in a comparative analysis.
August 1
Mediation in individual disputes. The situation to be submitted to mediation. When is the need clear for
involving a mediator? The way and main principles of selecting the mediator for a labour dispute.
General preferences on the employer's and employee's side with respect to the person of the mediator
and place of mediation. Who should be present at mediation? Preparation for mediation, documents
and preparatory communications requested by the mediator.
August 2
The process of mediation in the case of organizational change. The involvement of managerial
employees and employee representatives into the preparation of the decision making on the need for
organizational change. Situation in need of mediation before and after the decision made on
organizational changes. The extent of involvement of the hierarchical chain and horizontal
relationships into the preparation and implementation of the decision. The form and role of the
mediator.
August 3
Mediation in social conflicts beyond employment. Conciliation of interests of the various groups in
need of social protection. Participation of affected social groups in economic and social policy making
in transitory countries. The legal, social and political factors determining the room for negotiating and
conciliatory techniques.
Conflict Theory and its International Applications
(Richard Reuben)
Course Description
This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to the wide array of theoretical approaches for
understanding conflict and approaching dispute resolution. Students will explore the sources of
conflict, the conditions that may cause conflict to be constructive or destructive, the nature of conflict
escalation, stalemate, and de-escalation, negotiation theory and the barriers to negotiated settlement,
and the relationship between conflict theory and the various approaches and processes for resolving
disputes. The course will examine the application of theory to interpersonal, inter-ethnic, domestic and
international conflicts. Students should come prepared for an interactive learning experience, as they
will be called on to share their own experience of conflict to demonstrate the application of theory to
real world disputes.
Week 1: July 23 to July 27
(Richard C. Reuben)
July 23. What Is the Nature of Conflict?
Introduction to the course and defining the starting point for the two weeks program.
We will seek to define conflict, and in so doing we will explore the different approaches to the source
and nature of conflict in general. We will emphasize three basic schools of thought in this regard:
individual characteristics theories, social process theories, and social structure theories. This class will
also introduce the themes of international and cross-cultural -- particularly ethnic conflict – as the
primary vehicles of illustration for the rest of the class.
July 24. Constructive Versus Destructive Conflict.
This class will examine the differences between conflicts and disputes, the desirability of conflict, the
functions of conflict, and the conditions that facilitate conversion of conflicts from destructive to
constructive, as we work toward a general framework for analyzing conflict.
July 25. Perceptions and the Development of Conflict
This class focuses on the role of perceptions in the development of conflict, underscoring the important
psychological and related work that has been done with regard to our perceptions of ourselves and our
perceptions of others. This discussion will include identity theory, attributional error, as well as the
many variables and heuristics that can distort judgment in perceiving and responding to conflict. To
better get a sense of how we relate to conflict, participants in the class will take a test on their conflict
styles, which we will debrief as a group.
July 26. Conflict and Trust
This class introduces students to game theory as it relates to the nature and escalation of conflict, as
well as the related literature on trust theory, competitive and cooperative strategies for dealing with
differences. Students will also play and debrief a game set in the international context designed to
illustrate these tensions.
July 27 The Escalation of Conflict
This class will analyze the nature of the escalation of conflict (emphasizing the capacity of our choices
of conduct to contribute to escalation or de-escalation), and the concomitant ways in which conflict is
transformed and changes structurally during the escalation process. The Cold War and other, more
recent international conflicts, will serve as primary illustrative vehicles.
Week 2 July 30-August 3
(Richard C. Reuben)
July 30. Why Conflict Endures
This class will explore the mechanisms that tend to cause escalation to persist, focusing in particular on
international and intranational ethnic conflict. Students will also participate in a role play to help
illustrate the principles of escalation and persistence, which will be debriefed as a group.
July 31. Stability and Instability
We will discuss the concept of stability, and factors that contribute to the development or erosion of
stability. Similarly, we also analyze the concepts of stalemate and de-escalation. There will be either a
film or role play that will help illustrate the principles of stability, stalemate and de-escalation.
August 1. Conflict and Conflict Resolution
We will formalize the connection between conflict theory and the different methods of conflict
resolution, including in particular negotiation, mediation, and multi-party consensus-building.
August 2. Pulling it All Together
This class will use a major international role play exercise to synthesize the various elements of the
course, which will be debriefed at length by the group.
August 3. Moving Forward with Conflict Theory, as People and as Citizens
This final class will look at the relationship between conflict theory and democratic theory, in
particular the consolidation of new and emerging democracies, and work toward a framework that will
permit students to apply their conflict theory teachings in practice when they return to their home
countries and resume their normal lives.
Non-discrimination policy statement
Central European University does not discriminate on the basis of--including, but not limited to--race, color, national and ethnic
origin, religion, gender or sexual orientation in administering its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan
programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.