M.A. Program in Peace and Conflict Management Studies Faculty of Social Sciences Paths to Peace: Conflict Management, Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding Spring Semester, 2012, Wednesday 12-4 pm Instructor: Dr. Keren Sharvit Office: 7104 Rabin Complex (Psychology Department) Office hours: by appointment Email: ksharvit@psy.haifa.ac.il Course Description: This core course will survey various approaches to dealing with intergroup conflicts: preventing escalation, minimizing harmful consequences, ending violence, improving intergroup relations and building stable peace. We will begin by discussing processes of conflict management, which take place during an ongoing conflict. We will then discuss various routes to conflict resolution and a formal ending of the conflict. Finally, we will address processes of reconciliation and peacebuilding, intended to improve intergroup relations in post-conflict settings and prevent conflict recurrence. Throughout the course, we will survey the works of scholars from different disciplines on each of these topics in order to become familiar with different perspectives and arrive at an integrative understanding. We will also discuss real world cases in which different approaches to dealing with conflict have been implemented with varying degrees of success. Course requirements: 1. Required reading (11%) Students are expected to: (a) Read all the required reading items for each class (all items are required unless the syllabus specifies otherwise). (b) Actively participate in class discussion of the reading materials (c) Submit approximately one page of your thoughts and responses to the reading materials to the instructor by email no later than 5 pm on Tuesday. There is no need to summarize the reading materials; I already know what is in them. I am interested in your original thoughts as you read through them. Your reactions will not be graded for the quality of their contents; you fulfill the requirement simply by submitting. To aid the writing of the response paper, some guiding questions will be posted on the course s website. Note: Failure to submit 3 or more response papers without a valid excuse will result in an incomplete grade, regardless of the other grade components. 2. Class presentation (19%) Every week starting on the 4 th week of classes, a team of students will present a real-world case of a successful or failed peace process and the activities that were taken in order to facilitate it. A list of suggested cases for presentation appears at the end of this syllabus, but the students are free to choose other cases in consultation with me.
3. Final paper (70%) Select a real-world case of an ongoing inter-group conflict and propose activities that may be taken in order to advance its resolution and/or reconciliation. The proposal should incorporate at least three types of activities that were discussed in class. The chosen case can be one of those presented in class or a different one. Schedule of classes: Week 1: Introduction, some basic definitions (March 7, 2012) Week 2: Conflict management (March 14, 2012) Bar-Siman-Tov, Y. (2007). Dialectic between conflict management and conflict resolution. In Y. Bar-Siman-Tov (Ed.), The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: From conflict resolution to conflict management (pp. 9-40). New York: Palgrave Macmillan Thomas, K. W. (1992). Conflict and conflict management: Reflections and update. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, 265-274. Week 3: Non-violence as a conflict management strategy (March 21, 2012) Vellacott, J. (2000). Nonviolence: A road less traveled. In Fisk, L. J. & Schellenberg, J. L. (Eds.), Patterns of conflict, paths to peace (pp. 103-142). Petersborough, ON : Broadview Press. Cambridge University Press. (Ch. 10: A force more powerful) Week 4: Conflict resolution: an overview (TBA) Kriesberg, L. (2007). The conflict resolution field: Origins, growth and differentiation. In I. W. Zartman (Ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: Methods & techniques (pp. 25-60). Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse T., & Miall, H. (2005). Contemporary conflict resolution. Malden, MA: Polity Press (Ch. 2: Conflict resolution: Origins, foundations and development of the field, pp. 35-62). April 2 April 14: Passover break Week 5: Negotiation (April 18, 2012) Druckman, D. (2007). Negotiating in the international context. In I. W. Zartman (Ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: Methods & techniques (pp. 111-162, but read only 111-135). Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press.
Pruitt, D. G. & Carnevale, P. J. (1993). Negotiation in Social Conflict (Chapter 1: Introduction pp. 1-13 but read only 1-8 and Chapter 3: Strategies and tactics in negotiation, pp. 28-48). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. April 25, 2012: Remembrance Day, no classes Week 6: Mediation (May 2, 2012) Bercovitch, J. (2007). Mediation in international conflicts: Theory, practice and development. In I. W. Zartman (Ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: Methods & techniques (pp. 163-194). Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. Moore, C. W. (2003). The mediation process (pp. 14-20 and 43-69). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Week 7: Informal conflict resolution activities (May 9, 2012) Fisher, R. J. (2007). Interactive conflict resolution. I. W. Zartman (Ed.), Peacemaking in international conflict: Methods & techniques (pp. 227-272). Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. Chigas, D. (2007). Capacity and limits of NGOs as conflict managers. In Crocker, C. A., Hampson, F. O., & Aall, P. (Eds.), Leashing the dogs of war: Conflict management in a divided world (pp. 553-582). Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. Week 8: Peace movements (May 16, 2012) Young, N. (2000). From protest to cultural creativity: Peace movements identified and revisited. In Fisk, L. J. & Schellenberg, J. L. (Eds.), Patterns of conflict, paths to peace (pp. 143-158). Petersborough, ON : Broadview Press. Cambridge University Press. (Ch. 8: Refusing war) Week 9: Intergroup Contact (May 23, 2012) Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Kawakami, K. (2003). Intergroup contact: The past, present, and future. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 6(1), 5-21. Maoz, I. (2004). Coexistence is in the eye of the beholder: Evaluating intergroup encounter interventions between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Journal of Social Issues, 60(2), 437-452. Week 10: Peace Education (May 30, 2012) Fisk, L. J. (2000). Shaping visionaries: Nurturing peace through education. In Fisk, L. J. & Schellenberg, J. L. (Eds.), Patterns of conflict, paths to peace (pp. 159-193). Petersborough, ON : Broadview Press.
Bar-Tal, D. & Rosen, Y. (2009). Peace education in societies involved in intractable conflicts: Direct and indirect models. Review of Educational Research, 79, 557-575. Week 11: Democracy and peace (June 6, 2012) Owen, J. M. (1994). How liberalism produces democratic peace. International Security, 9, 87-125. Sisk, T. D. (2002). Power sharing and international mediation in ethnic conflict (ch. 3: Democracy and its alternatives in deeply divided societies). Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press. Week 12: Justice and peace (June 13, 2012) Biggar, N. (2003). Making peace or doing justice: Must we choose? In Biggar, N. (ed.), Burying the past: Making peace and doing justice after civil conflict (pp. 3-24). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Cambridge University Press. (Ch. 13: Responsibility to protect) Week 13: Reconciliation and peacebuilding (June 20, 2012) Galtung, J. (2001). After violence, reconstruction, reconciliation and resolution: coping with visible and invisible effects of war and violence. In Abu-Nimer, M. (ed.), Reconciliation, justice and coexistence (pp. 3-24). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Lederach, J. P. (1998). Beyond violence: Building sustainable peace. In E. Weiner (ed.), The handbook of interethnic coexistence (pp. 236-245). New York: Continuum. Suggested cases for presentation Northern Ireland Cyprus Lebanon civil war Azerbaijan-Armenia (Nagorny Karabakh) Georgia-Abkhazia Peru-Ecuador Israel-Egypt Sierra Leone Rwanda Burundi Northern Uganda Israel-Palestinians Philippines (Mindanao) Sri Lanka South Africa
France-Germany Colombia