NCJ Number
117378
Journal
Negotiation Journal Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1989) Pages: 133-147
Date Published
1989
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The leaders of the Comparative Seminar on Disputing in Asia and the Pacific at the University of Hawaii describe the purpose and nature of the seminar and what it has revealed about interdisciplinary inquiry, comparative analysis, and theory building.
Abstract
The seminar was designed as part of a multidisciplinary program that aimed to conduct research and test a variety of dispute resolution procedures, with emphasis on the cultural aspects of disputing. The seminar tried to attract Asian and Pacific scholars from the university community and to develop a group of researchers to initiate individual or collaborative projects in dispute settlement in Asia and the Pacific. About 15 individuals attended regularly. This seminar gradually developed an emphasis on a naturalistic approach to inquiry, in which the knower and the known are interactive and realities are multiple. The seminar members also generally questioned the axioms of positivism, which emphasizes the possibility of making generalizations that are free of time and context. The seminar's outcome was not what was expected, but the seminar has become the informal intellectual core for the University's Program on Conflict Resolution. Table, notes, and 7 references.