Perspectives on Conflict - (Acr Practitioner's Guide) by Kenneth H Fox (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This multi-perspective examination provides deep insight into the many ways people can better understand conflict, with practical application to various roles and settings"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

This multi-perspective examination provides deep insight into the many ways people can better understand conflict, with practical application to various roles and settings.

Kenneth H. Fox provides a broadly interdisciplinary examination of conflict insights and dives into implications of how this can inform more reflective, insightful, and comprehensive conflict practice across a range of professional and personal settings. While the book is grounded in theory, it is written to be practical and accessible to students and practitioners.

The book is organized into 3 parts. Part 1 introduces several metaphors that help the reader envision conflict in complementary ways and examines the importance of adopting multiple perspectives for broadening insights into conflict. It also introduces technical language that helps clarify the implications of conflict intervention and invites the readers to appreciate and engage in reflective and reflexive conflict practice.

Part 2 examines sample conflict theories from six, broad disciplinary perspectives: the body; the non-conscious mind; the strategic mind; language and symbols; the co-creation of meaning; and social systems, structures, and the conflict ecosystem. Together, these 6 perspectives help provide a holistic sense of the conflicts we experience. Part 3 shifts focus to practical application of the insights examined. It discusses how the various perspectives impact the work of a conflict practitioner in general as well as particular practice roles and settings.

Review Quotes

As an educator committed to helping students become 'fit for purpose' as conflict practitioners, I find this book invaluable. Ken Fox makes a compelling case for strategies that truly prepare students and practitioners for the complexity of conflict work, addressing persistent gaps in the field. He underscores the importance of reflective and reflexive practice and the need to embody humility and curiosity, even in a profession that often casts us as experts. This book is a necessary companion for cultivating the critical capacities required for effective and ethical conflict practice.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, USA; elder of the National Association for Community Mediation

In this treasure of a volume, Ken Fox shares gathered wisdom from decades as a scholar, teacher, and practitioner. The book is something rare, as relevant for someone starting out as for veterans of conflict work. Fox centers good conflict practice around self-awareness - emotional, cognitive, and somatic - translating theory into practice in ways only possible for a seasoned expert. Both moving and genuine, the book is conversational, accessible and comprehensive, and it will quickly become an essential classic in the field.
Professor of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Kenneth Fox has written the kind of book many conflict practitioners have been waiting for. It helps us slow down, think more clearly, and reconnect with the deeper questions beneath our work. He invites us into a rich exploration of what conflict is, how it works, and what it means to engage with it meaningfully. Fox brings a rare combination of academic breadth, practical wisdom, and genuine curiosity to his analysis. This book doesn't just inform practice; it enriches the practitioner, encouraging deeper reflexivity, greater self-awareness, and a willingness to keep learning.
Director of The Conflict Management Academy, Australia

About the Author

Kenneth H. Fox, JD, is the founding university director of conflict studies at Hamline University and the University Professor of Critical Thinking and Conflict Management. He is also a senior fellow of the Dispute Resolution Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Fox is a Fulbright Senior Specialist grantee in Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies and worked for over a decade on a series of US State Department-funded peace-building and conflict transformation projects in the Middle East. He has served on countless state, national and international boards and committees in the mediation, negotiation, dispute resolution and conflict fields.