Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss
How to Lobby — NGO Action at the United Nations
(Earthscan, 8-12 Camden High Street, London NW 1 0JH, UK, 2004, 169pp.)

UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service with Gretchen Sidhu
Intergovernmental Negotiations and Decision Making at The United Nations, A Guide
(NGLS, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, 2003, 108pp.)

Two useful guides written primarily for representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who wish to lobby at the United Nations and UN-sponsored conferences.  read more »

Robert Ricigliano
Choosing to Engage : Armed Groups and Peace Processes
(London: Conciliation Resources, 2005, 104pp.)

In two recent Conciliation Resources publications, "Owning the Process: Public Participation in Peacemaking" and in "Choosing to Engage: Armed Groups and Peace Processes," rather than the analysis of a single armed conflict, there has been a shift to the study of a particular aspect of peace negotiations, drawing on the experiences of a number of conflicts.  In this case under review, the issue is set out clearly by the editor Robert Ricigliano "For people living in the Darfur region of western Sudan, the jungles of Colombia, the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and for the millions of others around the world, the presence of non-state armed groups and the conflicts that often surround them are all too familiar.  Over the last two decades, whether in the context of a peace process or a humanitarian initiative, armed groups have come to be seen as key actors in efforts to ease suffering and rebuild conflict-torn societies."   read more »

Catherine Barnes (Ed.).
Owning the Process : Public Participation in Peacemaking
(London: Conciliation Resources, 2002, 100pp.)

The French Prime Minister during the First World War, George Clemenceau said that "War was too important to be left only to the generals".  Likewise, peacemaking is too important for it to be left only to the political leaders who had created the violence in the first place.  Thus there has to be movements and efforts beyond and outside the parties in conflict to help bring about negotiations and a climate in which peace measures are possible.  read more »

Sue and Steve Williams
Being in the Middle by Being at the Edge
(York: Sessions Book Trust, 1994, 133 pp.)

Sue and Steve Williams have written a very useful study on mediation efforts in politically violent situations by drawing on the experiences of Quaker mediators usually working under the direction of Quaker Peace and Service (UK) or the American Friends Service Committee (USA).  While the study focuses on some of the issues which arise in Quaker work - a religious body with its outlook of non-violence, a belief of " that of God" in every person, and a consensus form of decision-making - much of the study will be of value to others considering efforts in the conflict transformation field.  read more »

Gene Sharp
Social Power and Political Freedom
(Boston: Porter Sargent, 1980, 440pp.)

"The most urgent problem of our age is the problem of discovering a way of overcoming evil without oneself becoming a force of evil in the process."  Laurens van der Post

On the eve of President George W. Bush's meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Brateslava, Slovakia in February 2005, there was a meeting organized by the German Marshall Fund of the US and the Slovak Foreign Policy Association to analyse how civil society organizations using non-violent methods had helped to overthrow authoritarian regimes in Slovakia, Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine.   read more »

Gene Sharp
Gandhi As A Political Strategist
(Boston: Porter Sargent, 1979, 357pp.)

"The politician in me has never dominated a single decision of mine, and if I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircle us today like the coil of a snake from which we cannot get out, no matter how much one tries.  I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake."  M.K. Gandhi  read more »

Diana Francis
People, Peace and Power : Conflict Transformation in Action
(London: Pluto Press, 2002, 264pp.)

As the psychologist Ronald Fisher has written "One of the most serious global problems facing the world as it lurches into the new millennium is how to manage destructive and protracted conflict between groups with differing identities who are interacting within the same political system."  read more »

Louise Diamond
The Courage For Peace
(Berkeley, CA : Conari Press, 2000, 263pp)

Louise Diamond, a co-founder of the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy in Washington, DC, works in areas of inter-ethnic conflict to empower peacebuilders. "Our power to empower is perhaps the most important role we can play in the 21st century.  The more individuals who feel empowered to work in their own systems for peace and conflict transformation, the closer the world comes to that critical mass that will allow for a massive leap of consciousness, allowing new processes for peace that were previously unimaginable to become normative and easy."   read more »

Elinor D.U. Powell
The Heart of Conflict : A Spirituality of Transformation
(Kelowna, BC: Northstone Publishing, 2003, 252 pages)

  
   Elinor Powell sets out briefly the spiritual background of her analysis of conflict transformation techniques. "Our spirituality is that essence of who we are as aware, sentient and intuitive human beings…Spirituality is that fundamental property of our nature that affirms life and inspires, animates and pervades our thoughts, feelings and actions.  It's what inspires devotion to causes, from caring for the sick to saving the earth…  read more »