On Thursday, November 23rd, the sixth annual State of Conflict conference took place in Amsterdam. With over eighty participants, it was a vibrant and successful day filled with knowledge sharing and development. Environmental professionals, academics, students, mediators, and humanitarian workers, among others, gathered at the University of Amsterdam Library to discuss questions surrounding the theme: “Beyond the Stable State.”.

As the world changes, so do citizens' expectations of the roles of professionals and public institutions, making current roles and routines seem no longer aligned with the challenges of reality. In addition, we can no longer assume a stable state, which no longer seems so stable in such moments of transformation. How do we, as professionals, deal with changing expectations? And how do we ourselves become part of a possible transformation?

The discussion on the (in)stable state was introduced by Alexander Rinnooy Kan, David Laws, and Fleur Ravensbergen, followed by two rounds of working sessions on various subthemes. During these workshops, participants delved into models, studies, and topics from the speakers’ work; engaged in dialogues about their practical experiences and the challenges they face; and brainstormed possible future perspectives and new questions.

During the second round, under the theme “Bridging the Gap,” Mart Scheepers and Robin Schram from WesselinkVanZijst discussed the potential of the AARC model. AARC, which stands for Acknowledgment, Agency, Reciprocity, and Clarity, is a model developed by the Consensus Building Institute as a guideline for conducting dialogue among stakeholders in a dignified manner. The model was developed in the context of unstable institutions in Latin America and may also be well-suited for use in the Netherlands in situations where trust in the government is low. Together with participants, Robin and Mart explored whether AARC offers the right benchmarks for assessing and adjusting the dignity of a dialogue process.

The day concluded with a World Café and drinks, where insights from the day and further questions for the future were discussed. The guiding question was: what insights can we take into our work to help repair, or even transform, the ship? All in all, sharing experiences and ideas throughout the day offered inspiration for the future, in which professionals can continue to work with a fresh perspective and from various viewpoints on their approach to and the transformation of the (in)stable state.

website. Public Mediation website.

Senior consultant

Robin Schram