Intergroup hatred, mistrust, and fragmentation—these deeply polarized behaviors have swept through many nations. How and why has such polarization, and at times its accompanying violence, occurred? And how can polarization be transformed to pro-social interactions?
This lab offers a space for students, scholar-practitioners, academic researchers to dive deeply into polarization and violent conflict from multiple perspectives.
Mission
- To discover the causes, character and consequences of extreme polarization as a source of conflict that can become violent.
- To explore and develop measures that would reduce or eliminate these negative effects, such as attacks on social groups and violence against perceived enemies.
- To recognize, engage and foster positive change of polarized groups from conflict agitators to conflict mitigators, or even possibly peacemakers.
What We Do
- Investigate: Researchers and students join the Lab to pursue primary source research and academic publication.
- Act: We translate research findings into on-the-ground programs aimed at active conflict transformation.
- Collaborate: We link scholars, practitioners and civilians dedicated to conflict transformation, within the Mason community, the academic world, and beyond.
2026 DeLTA Summit
The 2026 DeLTA Summit: Emerging Scholarship on Polarization will showcase pieces of a needed toolkit for addressing polarization that is finally robust enough to warrant coordinated, cross-disciplinary action. The DeLTA Summit offers a forum for students at all levels to present research related to political polarization and interventions to an audience of their peers as well as a panel of conflict resolution faculty around the DC area.