by Mark Gerzon, Fall | Winter 2016

Notice that the question in the title is not can we ‘end’ conflict, or even ‘manage’ or ‘contain’ it. These are old and usually unproductive approaches. The more useful question about conflict today is: Can we harness it?

After studying and working directly with conflict around the world for the last quarter century, and now witnessing my home country of America bitterly divided, this question seems both important and urgent to me. In fact, I would argue that the human future depends on how we answer it.