ABSTRACT

The approach to evaluation described in this chapter refers specifically to the model of “track-two” diplomacy that my colleagues and I have developed over the years and applied most intensively – though not exclusively – to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The model, which I have come to call Interactive Problem-Solving (Kelman, 1979, 1996, 1998a, 2002), derives from the pioneering work of John Burton (1969, 1979, 1984; see also Kelman, 1972 and Chapter 4 of this book) and is anchored in social-psychological principles (see Kelman, 1997a). Interactive problem-solving is very much in the spirit of Morton Deutsch’s distinctly social-psychological analysis of conflict and his emphasis on creative thinking, cooperative problem-solving, and the joint process of discovery and invention of mutually satisfactory solutions as defining features of the constructive resolution of seemingly intractable conflicts (see, inter alia, Deutsch, 1973, especially chapter 13).