Libros / Outstanding Books

In An Integrated Approach to Elections and Conflict, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) links the conflict cycle and the electoral cycle to highlight effective conflict-sensitive electoral management strategies.

Elections provide an opportunity for peaceful competition between political ideas and an arena for social debate. Maintaining this opportunity requires attention to the entire election process and electoral cycle, not just Election Day.

In An Integrated Approach to Elections and Conflict, IFES links the conflict cycle and the electoral cycle to highlight effective conflict-sensitive electoral management strategies. Overlapping the two cycles shows the breadth of activities that already focus on reducing election-related violence and encourages innovation to fill existing gaps.

Tikkun Books, CA. 2012
ISBN 978-1-58394-307-6

Rabbi Michael Lerner, best-selling author of The Left Hand of God and editor of Tikkun magazine, is now making the case for why peace activists must be BOTH pro-Israel and pro-Palestine.

Rabbi Lerner first tells the story of this struggle from 1880 to 2011, but in a way that shows how both sides have a legitimate narrative and have been unnecessarily cruel and insensitive to the other side. He goes on to challenge the current notion that the key to peace is to get the parties to once again sit and negotiate (as they did in the Oslo Accords).

Instead, he argues that a fundamental transformation in consciousness is needed for any political compromise to work. He shows how we in the West can help shape a global transformation in consciousness (and changes in foreign and domestic policies) that are needed to provide the security, justice, and mutual compassion necessary for a lasting peace.

Who Recommends Embracing Israel/Palestine?

Embracing Israel/Palestine is a terrific book by a pioneer of global transformation. Out of love for both Israelis and Palestinians as equal creations of God, Rabbi Lerner offers us the deepest way out of the bloody conflict. Not just a political agreement, not a simple "real estate" and power sharing transaction, Embracing Israel/Palestine draws from a deep psychological and political understanding of the dynamics of the Middle East. Lerner's book is coming out of a loving heart and a powerful analytic mind. He offers us a strategy of trust that could heal and repair the mentalities of fear that limit the current perspectives that dominate our politics.

—Avrum Burg, former chair of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization, speaker of the Knesset, and interim president of Israel

Rabbi Michael Lerner is one of America's most significant progressive intellectuals and political leaders, and Embracing Israel/Palestine is not only a great conceptual breakthrough in dealing with the Middle East but also demonstrates a methodology for how best to think about global and domestic U.S. politics.