August 1997 Peacewatch

Teaching about Conflict and Peacemaking

Above: About 75 faculty from around the country attended two Institute faculty seminars this summer.

bout 75 faculty from around the country developed multi-disciplinary course descriptions for their own use in teaching about international conflict and peacemaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace's two faculty seminars held in June and July. Participants were selected from a broad range of disciplines at universities and colleges. The goal was to draw on the special insights and approaches that each person could contribute to the process of designing thoughtful and engaging instruction on peacemaking and conflict issues, says Pamela Aall, acting director of the Education and Training Program, which organizes the seminars.

The focus this year on building syllabi for classroom use reflects the Institute's ongoing support for the teaching of international peace and conflict.

In related efforts, the Institute recently published Teaching About Conflict and Peacemaking, a collection of 16 syllabi for college classes developed by college and university faculty who had attended previous faculty seminars. Also, the Institute's Press has published two books that pull together the latest thinking on conflict resolution, international security, and peacemaking. The first, Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict, is a 670-page volume of essays edited by Chester A. Crocker, professor of diplomacy at Georgetown University, and former senior fellow Fen Osler Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, with Aall. This text explores the full range of instruments, actors, techniques, and policies for managing and resolving international conflict.

The second volume, Peacemaking in International Conflict: Methods and Techniques, is a 400-page collection of essays edited by I. William Zartman, professor of international organization and conflict resolution and director of the African Studies and Conflict Management programs at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and J. Lewis Rasmussen, program officer in the Education and Training Program. This book--written for practitioners and scholars--presents both the traditional approaches to peacemaking as well as newer, "unofficial" approaches that have attracted considerable attention for their innovative qualities-- social-psychological approaches, conflict transformation, and training.

Each year, the summer institutes provide an opportunity for educators to discuss the rapidly changing international sphere with policymakers, official and non-official practitioners including staff of nongovernmental organizations, and other educators. Presentations by experts address topics such as sources of conflict, the role of the United Nations and regional organizations in conflict management, negotiation and mediation, grassroots peacemaking efforts, and post-conflict reconstruction. As part of the seminars, participants explore ways to teach effectively about these topics.

Many participants say that as a result of attending the seminars, they design or alter courses, launch into new areas of study, and widen their contacts through networking among themselves, with seminar presenters, and with Institute staff, notes Aall. However, a major challenge they face once back in the classroom is how to combine the teaching of analytic skills and conceptual materials with a sense that there are practical things that can be done to work toward peace and international security, she says. "We have developed these new materials to help guide faculty in that important process."

For a free copy of Teaching About Conflict and Peacemaking, write to the Institute's Office of Communications or call 202-429-3828.

To order Managing Global Chaos ($29.95, paper) or Peacemaking in International Conflict ($14.95, paper) call 1-800-868-8064.

© 1997 United States Institute of Peace

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