Gabrielle Rifkind
Gabrielle Rifkind is the Director of Oxford Process.
She is a group analyst, specialist in conflict resolution and an accredited mediator. Gabrielle combines in-depth political and psychological expertise with many years’ experience in promoting serious analysis and dialogue. Her focus of work over the past two decades has been the Iran nuclear issue, the proxy wars in Syria and the Palestine-Israel conflict. More recently she has been working on the Ukraine/ Russia conflict on keeping lines of communication open between the warring parties. She is a passionate believer in preventive diplomacy.
An energetic woman, Gabrielle is an author and frequent contributor to the media, with over 50 publications nearly always from a conflict resolution perspective. She has written for various newspapers, online publications and academic journals, including; The Guardian, The Times, Prospect, The Independent, Open Democracy and the New England Journal of Public Policy and is the co-author with Gianni Picco of Fog of Peace: how to prevent war. Bloomsbury 2016. In her latest article in Prospect Magazine, Gabrielle Rifkind argues that we need to get behind public rhetoric and aggression to talk peace. More information about Gabrielle is available at www.gabriellerifkind.co.uk.
Publications:
The Psychology of Political Extremism (Random House 2018)
The Fog of Peace: The Human Face of Conflict Resolution (I.B. Tauris 2014), co-authored with the former senior UN diplomat Giandomenico Picco
Making Terrorism History (Routledge 2005)
She has been the conflict mediator for four series of BBC Radio 4’s Across the Red Line, twice debated at the Oxford Union and regularly gives public lectures.
Gabrielle appeared on the Parlia podcast to discuss How Extremists Think and explained how emotional investment affects Being Diplomatic on BBC 3.
Article contribution and Op-Eds:
A better future can be built for Gaza, Prospect Magazine, November 2023
Letter to the Editor: Centrist approach won’t solve world’s problems, Financial Times, August 2023
Letter to the Editor: Use experience of Ukraine to avoid a war with China, Financial Times, March 2023
How to talk peace while waging war: To end wars we need to get behind the public rhetoric and all its aggression, Prospect, January 2023
I’m a conflict mediator. This is a way out of the Ukraine crisis The Guardian, February 2022
The Deal of the Century: any chance of an honest broker? Open Democracy, March 2020
We Need A Path Towards Reconciliation for Labour and British Jews The Times, December 2019
Ancient Hospitality co-authored with John Harris, New Humanist, 2019
Preparing the Psychological Space for Peacemaking co-authored with Nita Yawanarajah, New England Journal of Public Policy. May 2019
Afghanistan’s Fragile Future Shows the Paradoxical Nature of Peacemaking Prospect Magazine, February 2019
National Dialogue: Post-Brexit, We Need a UK-Wide Coming Together Open Democracy, January 2019
Gaza Regeneration: We All Need Dreams for the Future Open Democracy, June 2018
When Empathy Fails: Managing Radical Differences Encounters of Interfaith Dialogue, January 2018
Job Creation Would Solve One Problem with the UK’s Burgeoning Military-Industrial Complex Open Democracy, November 2017
What Does North Korea Want? Open Democracy, August 2017
Let’s Try to Understand North Korea’s Actions: It Sees the World as its Enemy The Guardian, July 2017
Chilcot: All Peaceful Options Were Not Exhausted Open Democracy, July 2016
We Need Emotional and Political Intelligence in Politics Jewish Chronicle, July 2016
Chilcot Tells Us What We Already Knew - How Do We Implement? Open Democracy, July 2016
We Need to Defeat Islamic State - But How? Open Democracy, December 2015
Britain Needn’t Withdraw from the World Stage, but We Need a Vision Independent, May 2015
Alternatives to Military Intervention: a Commando Team of Mediators Open Security, September 2014
The New Great Regional Game: Saudi Arabia and Iran co-authored with Giandomenico Picco, Open Democracy, July 2014
The Fog of War: it is Hard to Think about Peace Open Democracy, July 2014
Our War-Torn World Needs a New Mediating Body to Resolve Conflicts The Guardian, March 2014
One Signature by Assad Could Help to Avert the Bombing The Times, September 2013
A New Levant: a Possible Way Through in the Syrian Crisis co-authored with Giandomenico Picco, Open Democracy, February 2013
To Help Syria, Talk First to Iran and Saudi Arabia co-authored with Giandomenico Picco, The Guardian, February 2013