The National Conference on Current Trends in
Conflict Resolution in Higher Education

Concurrent Workshops II

A Dialogue on the Development of Graduate Academic
Programs in Conflict Resolution

Workshop Presenters

    Daniel Druckman is the Vernon M. and Minnie I. Lynch Professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia where he has also coordinated the doctoral program at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.  He received a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and was awarded a best-in-field prize from the American Institutes for Research for his doctoral dissertation. He has published widely (11 books and more than 125 articles and chapters) on such topics as negotiating behavior, nationalism and methodology, including simulation. He is a board member or associate editor of seven Journals. He received the 1995 Otto Klineberg award of Intercultural and International Relations from the Society for the Psychological Analysis of Social Issues for his work on nationalism, a Teaching Excellence award in 1998 from George Mason University, and an award for the outstanding article of 2001 from the International Association for Conflict Management. He is the recipient of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement award from the International Association for Conflict Management.

    Dean G. Pruitt is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University at  Buffalo: State University of New York and Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and resolution at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University and did postdoctoral work in psychology at the University of Michigan and in international relations at Northwestern University. His specialties are social conflict, negotiation, and mediation. He is a fellow of the American Psychology and the American Psychological Society and has received the Harold D. Lasswell Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Political Psychology from the International Society of Political Psychology and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Conflict Management. He is the author or co-author of five books: Theory and research on the Causes of War; Negotiation Behavior; social conflict: Escalation, Stalemate, and settlement ( now in its 3rd edition); Mediation Research; and Negotiation in Social Conflict.

    Dennis J.D. Sandole is a Professor of Conflict Resolution and International Relations at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), at George Mason University. A founding member of ICAR, he worked closely with Dr. Bryant Wedge, ICAR's first director, as well as with conflict resolution pioneer Dr. John Burton at ICAR and earlier at the University of London (University College). He received his Ph.D. in Politics at Richard Rose. Recently, Dennis has been awarded a Fulbright to teach in the postgraduate programs in International Students at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, Austria, during spring 2004. He has been a William C. Foster Fellow as Visiting Scholar with the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), where he worked on the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) negations and the negotiations in Vienna, Austria. Dennis has also been a NATO research Fellow, a Fulbright OSCE Regional delegation to the CSCR/OSCE in Vienna, distilling from them their wisdom on peace and security in post-Cold War Europe. These surveys are part of the CSCE/OSCE project dealing with the development of peace and security systems relevant to preventing the kinds of ethno-religious conflicts that brought genocide back to Europe during the 1990’s. His publications are in the areas of, among others, generic theory of conflict and conflict resolution, the use of simulation in the analysis of international conflict, applications of conflict resolution theory and practice to the ethno-religious conflicts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and conflict resolution program design.

    Louis Kriesberg (Ph.D. 1953, the University of Chicago) is Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies and founding director of the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts (1086-1994), at Syracuse University. His most recent book is Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution (2nd ed., 2003, 1st ed. 1998). In addition to over 150 book chapters and articles, his other books include: The U.S.-USSR and Middle East Cases (1992). He is currently doing research on American foreign policy and on reconciliation and changing accommodations between ethnic, religious, and other communal groups. He lectures and consults regarding Middle East issues, conflict resolution, peace studies, and national security.

Workshop Notes

Daniel Druckman, George Mason University- ICAR (founded in 1984)

• Balance between general and specific curriculums and required courses

  • 2 theories courses, 1 micro level, 1 macro level

  • Most theories came from other fields (POSC, SOCI, PSYCH)

  • ADR tried to get away from quantitative and qualitative research and teaching methods

  • Instead tried to use case studies, language analysis, cultural analysis, etc.

  • More emphasis on philosophy and methodology

  • Attached methodology and theory to applied practice

  • Came to a conceptual practice to merge research with lab practice

  • 1 year of theory, 1 year of research and 1 year of practice

• Electives- Culture & ethnicity; Conflict Resolution in organizations and “ism’s”; Conflict Resolution and Roles.

• Qualifications and Requirements:

  • Qualifying Exam (Comprehensive)

  • Dissertation

The new program (ICAR) lets student’s talk with professors.

• Issues and Observations-

  • Issues; Respect for Practice and Roles

  • Standards for professionals

  • How to qualify

  • Fundraising for ADR programs

  • Where are the jobs

• Observations; Diversity and Integration

  • Diverse faculties are good but make integration hard

  • Very hard for students to do individual research

  • Research methods- Students prefer qualitative instead of quantitative methods

  • Working Students- Most students work outside the program

  • Want to encourage paid work within the program

  • Dissertations and Later Research- Many student view their dissertation as the end of their education though the field is constantly changing

  • Practice- Confusion between academic and professional degrees and where does ADR fit in?

Dean Pruitt

• Techniques have drastically changed

  • Track II diplomacy

  • Peace keeping and Peace Building

  • Technological growth is high

• Fundamental Research has not grown

  • Look to practice of medicine in Conflict Resolution (early stage)

  • Look to what we have and try to make it better

  • Look to reach a contingent theory

• Mediation to Arbitration

  • Mediator becomes and arbitrator if mediation doesn’t work

    • Pos.-encourages people to solve their problems

    • Neg.-gives mediator too much control and may appear pushy

• OK for mediators to have control but they must be trained to use it correctly.

Dennis Sandole; ICAR

5 Needs for ADR Programs:

1. Need for University wide support

   • Funding, books

   • Access to an interdisciplinary array of professors to teach ADR

2. Know how broad the program needs to be

   • Environment, business, International community, family, etc.

3. Need to select relevant theories

   • Search for the best practice methods

4. Integrate Theory and Practice

   • Short term trainings (20, 30, 60 minute courses)

   • Change from preaching practice to studying and analyzing theory in undergrad and masters programs

   • Include Research Methods (1 for masters 2 for PhD)

   • Put research between theory and practice

5. Additional Funding

   • To sustain research and practice

   • Overseas effort is very expensive

   • Funding from Hewlit Foundation, local citizens, US Institute of Peace and the US government

Luis Kreisberg- Chicago, PARK program

• Many models for Conflict Resolution

• PARK is not a Degree granting Program-

  • No set faculty

  • Started by Hewlit funding for training in CR and ADR

  • Students very interested so they created a PhD. Program and additional certification

  • No curriculum so students develop their own method of research

  • Relation with Masters Program –certification given to accompany a degree

  • Students make their own program to fit their own needs

• Expanding the Field- Diffuse; language skills, listening skills, CR techniques, Negotiation, specialized writing

  • High need for diverse array of professors.

  • There is too much emphasis on the intermediary in Conflict Resolution teaching when it should be on the parties and their actions in mediation and negotiation and how they further or destroy the chance of resolution.

  • “We need to pay attention a helluva lot more to what the parties are doing.”

  • With growth in the field there has been emphasis on making conflict nice maybe when it not always ought to be.

  • If we can not mediate between lions and lambs we are pointless

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