Classroom Courses

Disputes and grievances over land and property are implicated in practically all conflicts. This course provides policymakers and practitioners with analytical tools for assessing and addressing an array of complex land and property disputes, from competing ownership claims and restitution to customary land rights and illegal urban settlements. Drawing on case studies of peace operations and peacebuilding efforts, participants explore the range of entry points (humanitarian, human rights, state building, development, etc.) and options for dispute resolution and structural reform.

Learn a core set of gender analysis skills, how to deal with gender role expectations in conflict resolution, and how international legal frameworks apply to gender and peacebuilding.

Develop key facilitation skills such as planning and designing a facilitation, setting the stage, communicating effectively, using exercises to prompt discussion, and managing group dynamics.

Gain essential problem-based learning skills and examine the dilemmas faced in humanitarian and human rights law promotion through the use of case studies and interactive exercises.

Understand the roles of arms control and nonproliferation regimes, as well as the U.S. strategic posture, in confronting the challenges of nuclear weapons, with a special focus on the growing role of China as a regional and world power, and the dangers of North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability at a time of regime transition.

Examine the challenges and implications of Iran’s nuclear program and Pakistan’s expanding nuclear arsenal, in terms both of regional stability and the global nonproliferation regime. Increase your understanding of the role of nuclear weapons in international security challenges and of ways to manage the threats they pose.

Understand the causes of conflict and violent extremism in tribal Muslim societies and learn how to develop policies and programs in conflict resolution, governance, justice, security, and development that contribute to sustainable peace.

Learn about the sources of ongoing conflict and possible emergence of new conflict in the two Sudans, including the issues of oil revenue, citizenship, debt, and border demarcation between the north and south.

Learn how to develop effective strategies for establishing stable institutions and a robust civil society, including how to address the interplay among issues of corruption, accountability, rule of law, elections, political party development, public administration, and economic reconstruction in divided societies.

Identity-based conflicts rooted in ethnic or religious differences pose distinctive challenges for third-party mediators and other advisers. The course will outline strategies for addressing these issues, including responding to leaders who enflame identities, approaching the touchy issue of religion—both your own and local people's, building relationships through dialogue and ritual, and making use of indigenous or traditional reconciliation measures.