Gabrielle Rifkind is a British mediator who has specialised in international conflict resolution working through non-governmental organisations, (NGOs) in the Middle East and United Kingdom. She is the Director of Oxford Process.[1] She is known as a commentator on international peacemaking and related themes and author of several titles.[2][3] Her work considers the role of human relationships[4] in managing parties with "radical disagreements"[5] with the goal of establishing areas of potential mutual self-interest.[6][7]

Gabrielle Rifkind
Gabrielle Rifkind
Born1953
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
University of Edinburgh
University of London
Occupation(s)mediator, group analyst, psychotherapist
Known forcollaboration, conflict resolution

Early life

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Rifkind is a graduate of the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh. After working for the Probation Service, she trained at the Institute of Group Analysis and became a group analyst and a psychotherapist.[8][9]

Later career

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Rifkind joined the Oxford Research Group in the late 1990s to explore peacemaking in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[10] She became head of the Israel/Palestine programme. She next turned her attention to Iran and the wider Middle East.[11]

In 2016 she founded Oxford Process, which works in conflict situations to build relationships with conflicted parties to identify opportunities to reduce tensions or prevent further escalation of violence.[12] Rifkind's theory of conflict resolution focuses on the non-violent management of radical differences between groups, rather than searching for an elusive common ground.[13] Her work is currently focused on the Middle East and the war between Russia and Ukraine.[14]

Rifkind has frequently appeared on broadcast media in the UK has given public lectures on peacemaking and contributed to a colloquium at Princeton University and has twice debated at the Oxford Union.[15][16] She has been one of the conflict mediators for four series of BBC Radio 4's "Across the Red Line" presented by British political journalist, Anne McElvoy.[17] Rifkind is a featured speaker at the upcoming TED2024 conference in Vancouver.[18]

She is the co-author, with peace activist Scilla Elworthy of Making Terrorism History (2005)[19] and, with former senior UN diplomat Giandomenico Picco, of The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution,[20] and author of The Psychology of Political Extremism: What would Sigmund Freud have thought about Islamic State.[21]

Publications

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Books

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  • Co-author with Tessa Dalley and Kim Terry. Three Voices of Art Therapy: Image, Client, Therapist. United Kingdom: Routledge, 1993 and 2014. ISBN 9780415077965
  • Co-author with Scilla Elworthy. Hearts and Minds: Human Security Approaches to Political Violence. United Kingdom: Demos, 2005. ISBN 9781841801483
  • Co-author with Scilla Elworthy. Making Terrorism History. London: Penguin/Random House, 2006. ISBN 9781846040474
  • Co-Author with Giandomenico Picco. The Fog of Peace: How to Prevent War, Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2017. ISBN 9781780768977
  • The Psychology of Political Extremism: What would Sigmund Freud have thought about Islamic State, 2018. ISBN 9-781-78220-663-7
  • Contributor, "When Empathy Fails: Managing Radical Differences" in Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue 2018.[22]

Articles

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Her contributions to journals include:

Broadcast Media

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References

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  1. ^ "Our Team – Oxford Process". www.oxfordprocess.com.
  2. ^ "Gabrielle Rifkind – The Guardian". www.theguardian.com.
  3. ^ "Gabrielle Rifkind – openDemocracy". www.opendemocracy.net. 9 August 2017.
  4. ^ Wertheim, Eleanor H (2016). "Focusing on the human element to global conflict resolution efforts and suggesting a vision for the future through the lens of the past". Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. 22 (2): 188–189. doi:10.1037/pac0000179 – via APA Psycnet.
  5. ^ Rifkind, Gabrielle; Yawanarajah, Nita (1 May 2019). "Preparing the Psychological Space for Peacemaking". New England Journal of Public Policy. 31 (1): 1–11. ISSN 0749-016X.
  6. ^ Sherry, Richard (2018). "Richard Sherry in conversation with Gabrielle Rifkind; group analyst, psychotherapist and specialist in conflict resolution. Her latest book is titled The Psychology of Political Extremism: What Sigmund Freud would have thought about Islamic State" (PDF). New Associations. 26: 18–21 – via Routledge.
  7. ^ Dobell, Graeme (13 November 2014). "Edging through the fog". Inside Story. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  8. ^ Mark, Peter; Rifkind, Gabrielle (2016). "Establishing group psychotherapy in a student counselling service". In Lees, John; Vaspé, Alison (eds.). Clinical Counselling in Further and Higher Education. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. pp. 87–102. ISBN 978-0-415-19281-1.(See contributors, p. ix)
  9. ^ Rivailland, Monique (5 April 2014). "The light house – A psychotherapist who specialises in conflict resolution has transformed her London home with glass and modern art". The Times.
  10. ^ "Gabrielle Rifkind | Oxford Research Group". Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  11. ^ "Free Thinking – Being Diplomatic – BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  12. ^ "OXFORD PROCESS C.I.C. – Overview (free company information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
  13. ^ "About Gabrielle".
  14. ^ "About Gabrielle".
  15. ^ Gabrielle Rifkind; Elworthy, Scilla. "Hamas: Time to Talk". All-Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues (APPGCI). Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  16. ^ "Iran, the West, and the Region (March 11-12, 2007)" (PDF). Princeton University. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  17. ^ "Across the Red Line – Is Tax a Burden". BBC 4 Today. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Speakers | TED2024".
  19. ^ Making Terrorism History. 2 February 2006. Retrieved 1 October 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  20. ^ Rifkind, Gabrielle; Picco, Giandomenico (2017). The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution. Bloomsbury – I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-7807-6897-7.
  21. ^ The Psychology of Political Extremism: What Would Sigmund Freud have Thought About Islamic State. London: Routledge. 2018. ISBN 9781782206637.
  22. ^ Rosen, A; Green, N, eds. (2018). "When Empathy Fails: Managing Radical Differences". in Encounters: The Art of Interfaith Dialogue. Belgium: Brepols. ISBN 978-2-503-58032-6.
  23. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Analysis, the Middle East Conundrum".
  24. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Across the Red Line".
  25. ^ "BBC Radio 3 – Free Thinking, Being Diplomatic".
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