Carsten Alvén

    

Hooked on dialogue, fascinated by unconventional thinking and occupied with creating win-win. 

   

My passion in life, and how it connects to the theme of "The Power of Love and Compassion in Governance":

I’m passionate about developing dialogue as the most important tool within the security sector. Security sector officers all over the world are generally well trained in how to take and be in control, but not so much in letting go of control, sharing power and working with mutual trust towards common interests. In my experience everybody wants to be in control, but nobody wants to be controlled. This is crucial to understand to be able to de-escalate tensions. 

Preventing and de-escalating conflict are the core missions of the dialogue police unit. If the purpose of the police in the broadest possible sense is described as ‘promoting behavioural change’, dialogue policing focuses on promoting positive powers to promote that change rather than focusing on the ordinary repressive means of the police to combat negative powers.

Working with dialogue as the only tool within a sector focused mainly on repression is very much of a challenge, albeit definitely a most rewarding one.

Personal Quote

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” 

- Martin Luther King, Jr.  

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” 

- Albert Einstein