Oregon hosted a conference over the past weekend at which Larry Susskind (MIT, PON, and the Consensus Building Institute) was the keynote speaker. I scribbled a bunch of notes on which I’ll blog at some point. But first, I have to confess that I had no idea that Larry Susskind has a blog at http://theconsensusbuildingapproach.blogspot.com/. I’ve spent a good while skimming over his postings from this year, and they’re fascinating. It’s particularly interesting to hear Larry’s take on climate change negotiations.
I’m thinking that I’ll build a little bit of Larry’s material into my Mediation course this coming Spring term, though I don’t yet know exactly what/how. The easy thing to do would be the Larry Suskind vs. Josh Stulberg debates. My students wouldn’t have the stomach for it, but what I’d really enjoy is spending a day exploring the Susskind vs. Habermas divide. We’ll see…
Michael Moffitt
Kudos to you and the Oregon School of Law for a great conference.
I love the Susskind v. Stulberg debates and use those to frame the question of the mediator’s role and neutrality. Students really seem to respond well to that (as opposed, perhaps, to the suggested Susskind v. Habermas debate!)