AbstractBland describes the conversations and background questions that led to development of a joint research project involving Stanford University's Center on Conflict and Negotiation (SCCN) and Community Dialogue (CD), a grassroots dialogue group in Northern Ireland. Beginning with the premise that contentious political parties can be united by the realization that they cannot get what they want without one another's consent, Bland develops a research agenda based on six propositions about reconciliation. He reports on an extended exploratory workshop that was held by SCCN and CD and highlights an important tension existing between the goal of greater understanding that dialogue seeks and the goal of greater partnership toward which reconciliation aims. In response to the workshop and subsequent political developments, SCCN and CD have begun to explore how the activities of dialogue and relationship building affect, positively and negatively, the more immediate need to reduce destructive social and political conflict.