By Donald Gilpin

Amaney Jamal, dean of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), presented a discussion of “Dialogue in Action: Leading for the Public Good” in McCosh 10 on the University campus on October 9 before a gathering of about 150, mostly SPIA graduates attending the University’s three-day Many Minds, Many Stripes conference.

The timeliness of this forum “about how to have difficult conversations and why they are more necessary today than ever,” in Jamal’s words, is indisputable with ongoing negotiations about the future of Gaza and the future of Ukraine, clashes in the U.S. Congress over the current government shutdown, and, closer to home for Jamal as SPIA dean, recent conflicts over freedom of speech on university campuses and between universities and the federal government.

Joining Jamal on the podium were two SPIA alumni, Cara Abercrombie, 2003 master’s in public affairs SPIA graduate; and Ajay Bisaria, 2009 master’s in public policy SPIA graduate. With extensive work in high stakes environments, they both, as Jamal pointed out, “have had considerable experience with constructive engagement.” Abercrombie served as U.S. principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy and Bisaria served as high commissioner of India to Canada and Pakistan and as India’s ambassador to Poland and Lithuania.

Emphasizing throughout that ”the ability to remain in conversation even when we disagree is not just a skill but a responsibility for public service,” Jamal focused her opening presentation on her personal journey and her vision for the role of constructive dialogue in public service.

A Palestinian born in the United States, Jamal at age 10 moved with her family back to Palestine to Ramallah in the West Bank. “I learned early on in life that I would often be in conversations among loved ones, friends, neighbors where I didn’t agree with what was being said,” she recalled. “But I needed to understand and appreciate where people were coming from with their viewpoints. There was an aura of respect and civility and always an opportunity to learn.”

Jamal went on to describe how as a young child in Ramallah she learned to deal with clashing opinions.

“I had to confront difference,” she said. “I had to process differences of opinion. Sometimes these opinions would make me uncomfortable, but if I was to become a member of the community and the society I would have to deal with difference.”

She also grew up with a compelling desire to understand and learn about other people. “I grew up in a strong community with many different perspectives and opinions,” she continued, and she emphasized how important it was for her to be able to “engage others on a personal level and to appreciate and understand people, where they were coming from.”

Jamal added, “It was an obligation, and I discovered that I loved learning about people.”

Traveling to the U.S. for college, she earned her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. “In studying political behavior, I continued to explore people’s beliefs, people’s attitudes, and how beliefs and attitudes shaped their behavior,” she said. “This became my life’s work. Through my scholarship and my teaching I have been able to ask the same questions that intrigued me when I was a young child growing up in Ramallah: ‘What do people think and what do they believe? Why?’ And perhaps most important: ‘How does all of this affect their behavior?’”

Jamal went on to discuss how her lifelong passions brought her into the realm of public policy and diplomacy, and, four years ago, to SPIA, where in addition to dean she serves as the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Politics and former director of the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice. “We as people should and must engage with one another, work with one another and learn from one another,” she said. “Politics and public service bring people together to work for common goals and outcomes, all in the service of the common good.”

Jamal cited the global eradication of smallpox in the 20th century and in the U.S. the establishment of Social Security and Medicare as public service endeavors that benefited millions of people.

“Some of the world’s most fraught conflicts — the Cold War, the future of Ukraine, the ongoing ceasefire and negotiations about Gaza — are going to be resolved by public servants through diplomacy, negotiation, and peace building,” she said.

Jamal noted that her “passion for collaboration and consensus building and respectful dialogue” had confronted “significant challenges, not least of which is the recent polarization of Americans within our society.”

She pointed out recent public opinion polls that show that 50 percent of people from both parties believe that members of the other party are evil, 65 percent of Americans feel exhausted, and 55 percent feel angry about politics these days, while only 10 percent feel hopeful about politics.

Jamal worries most about apathy and disengagement. She worries about her students, who are pursuing public and international affairs at SPIA but are declining to enter careers in politics. “It’s so toxic in our country,” she said. “If the best and brightest are not serving, then who will serve and fill the vacuum? The realm of politics has lost its civility, and for politics to continue to do its job in this society we must work to bring civility back into politics.”

Jamal concluded with the account of an incident that highlighted for her the dire need for the work that SPIA is pursuing. One of her colleagues asked her if he could quote a statement she made in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel when she said, “Empathy is not zero sum.”

“What I said at the time and what I will still say is the following: ‘I can and do feel deep empathy and pain for the victims of the October 7 attacks, while simultaneously feeling deep empathy and pain for what Palestinians have experienced in Gaza. I can feel empathy for both people.’”

It was an honor to be quoted by a colleague, she said, but she despaired that “We are at a moment in history when simply acknowledging that all people deserve empathy has become worthy of being a notable statement.”

She continued, “I’d like to believe that what I’d said was common knowledge, what I said is part of our everyday vocabulary, part of our universal values, but unfortunately today this is not the case. The recognition that we might do better helps to lead the development of SPIA’s constructive dialogue initiative.”