Conflict Resolution

Message from Dean Özerdem on the renewed cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 14:17:43 +0000

Message from Dean Özerdem on the renewed cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine a2c8605a-8799-… Thu, 10/19/2023 - 10:17

The recent renewal of the vicious cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine, once again, has shown that civilians are the ones who primarily shoulder the brunt of war with their lives, livelihoods, and human dignity. This ongoing conflict, like so many others across the globe, is the direct result of the failure of the international community to develop just and sustainable peaceful resolutions.

Peace, whether in the Middle East or anywhere else, is not a mere lofty dream; it is not just the absence of conflict but an active, relentless pursuit for positive peace so that structural injustices can be addressed. It requires courage, resilience, and a tireless belief that our common humanity must and will prevail. This work is not easy, and history has shown us that it is always darkest before the dawn, but we must persevere in our unwavering pursuit of peace during these very dark days.

As someone who has committed his entire career to peace and conflict resolution, I condemn all acts of violence against civilians in Israel and Gaza. Violence has never been a solution to any conflict. Instead, we must all continue to actively support all initiatives of conflict resolution that aim to bring about lasting peace to the region. Our children and future generations depend on us.

The great mystic poet Rumi reminded us, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

Alpaslan Özerdem, Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

In This Story

Alpaslan Özerdem

Topics

Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Carter Summer Symposium: Hot Topics and Chill Skills for Students

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 14:03:17 +0000

Carter Summer Symposium: Hot Topics and Chill Skills for Students a2c8605a-8799-… Mon, 08/21/2023 - 10:03

Carter Summer Symposium: Hot Topics and Chill Skills for Students

High School Students Learn Valuable Skills at the Carter School’s Conflict Resolution Youth Summit

During July 17-20^th, 36 passionate students could be found on George Mason University’s campus, facing some of today’s toughest challenges and buzzing with potential solutions. While the field of Conflict Resolution may not be known to all, these students took advantage of an opportunity to engage in discussions over topics like minority issues, climate change, guns in society, immigration, and discrimination.

Launched in 2017, the Conflict Resolution Youth Summit (CRYS) is a four-day learning experience for 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grade students on the George Mason campus in Fairfax, Virginia. This year, the 36 attendees represented 21 different high schools – most from northern Virginia – as well as students from Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Utah, and Kazakhstan.

Developed and run by the undergraduate program at The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, CRYS helps students explore topics related to global conflict, peacebuilding, and collaborative leadership through engaging activities, lectures, and team-building exercises. Many of the core conflict resolution skills taught to students are taken from the undergraduate curriculum. The theme for this year’s summit was “The Intersection between Technology and Conflict.”

As part of this year’s theme, attendees completed short video podcasts that facilitated group dialogues over current topics of importance to them, including minority issues, climate change, guns in society, immigration, and discrimination. Attendees also participated in discussions with Carter School faculty and other skill-building workshops.

One participant noted, “It was an amazing experience to learn about how people use conflict resolution to overcome challenges, especially how people within the field of peace use conflict resolution to de-escalate tension. I also enjoyed discussing and debating with other participants that have different worldviews and upbringings. This broadened my perception on global conflicts. My experience at the Conflict Resolution Summit was wonderful and inspired me to research more about Conflict Resolution.”

Alpaslan Ozerdem, Dean of the Carter School, proudly added, “The Carter School’s Youth Summit is all about conflict resolution skills which are universal and necessary in all aspects of life from family and the classroom to international relations. We believe that the unique nature of this program will also help attendees stand out in their college applications and shine like the North Star amongst their peers.”

Another student summed-up their CRYS experience by saying “The Conflict Resolution Youth Summit was so fun and a cool way to talk about the latest world problems.”

For more information about CRYS, please visit https://carterschool.gmu.edu/prospective-students/conflict-resolution-youth-summit

About the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution:

George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution is a community of faculty, students, staff, alumni, and partners with a fundamental commitment to building peace. Through the development of cutting-edge theory, research, education, and practical work, we seek to identify and address the underlying causes of conflict and provide tools for ethical and just peacebuilding on the local, national, and global stages. Learn more at https://carterschool.gmu.edu.

In This Story

Alpaslan Özerdem

Topics

Youth

Conflict Resolution

Press Release

Helping Teachers Develop Student Conflict Resolution Skills

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 15:46:16 +0000

Helping Teachers Develop Student Conflict Resolution Skills a2c8605a-8799-… Thu, 08/10/2023 - 11:46

For Immediate Release:

Helping Teachers Develop Student Conflict Resolution Skills

The Carter School at George Mason University Launches Conflict Resolution Resource Hub for Teachers

The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution has launched a new website: “Conflict Resolution Resource Hub for Teachers” (https://teach.conflictresolution.gmu.edu). Designed for high school teachers, this site provides free resources and activities to help teachers include non-partisan conflict analysis and resolution tools into their lessons regarding historical and contemporary real-world problems.

The creation of pertinent activities and lesson plans that will resonate with and engage students can be a challenge for busy teachers. The Conflict Resolution Resource Hub was built to help ease this burden. The hub soft-launched on August 4^th with a selection of teacher tools, including analytical exercises, lesson plans, team-building exercises, and case studies/simulations with plans to add additional material in the future. Sample activities available at launch include Understanding Propaganda and Nationalism in WWII, an Israeli-Palestinian Facilitated Dialogue Simulation, and skill development, such as active listening, negotiation, and interviewing.

According to Jane Walker, Director of Student Services at the Carter School, and a former high school social studies teacher and driving force behind the development of the resource hub, “The Carter School has resources to help teachers give students the tools they will need as next-gen citizens who can collaborate to build solutions together. Our mission is to equip teachers with high-quality materials that foster the development of critical thinking, creative problem solving, civic engagement, communication, and perspective taking."

Carter School Dean Alpaslan Ozerdem added, “For a more peaceful society both at home and in the world, we need to teach our students how to resolve their disputes peacefully. With the Carter School’s Conflict Resolution Resource Hub for Teachers, we provide tools and materials to teachers who lift the heavy weight of this important responsibility for all of us, and we are so proud of working with our nation’s amazing teachers.”

For more information about the Conflict Resolution Resource Hub for Teachers and the free resources available, please visit https://teach.conflictresolution.gmu.edu.

About the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution:

Visit the new site:

Teach: Building Bridges, Cultivating Skills, Developing Next Gen Citizens

In This Story

Jane Walker

Alpaslan Özerdem

Topics

Education

Conflict Resolution

Press Release

Ernest Ogbozor

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 18:19:04 +0000

Ernest Ogbozor a2c8605a-8799-… Mon, 08/08/2022 - 14:19

Adjunct Faculty, Carter School

Contact Information

Email: eogbozor@gmu.edu

Biography

Dr. Ernest Ogbozor is a scholar-practitioner of conflict and development, peacebuilding, and humanitarian action. He was a recipient of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship and taught at George Washington University, Northeastern University, and Brandeis University. His research addresses two fundamental questions: to understand the micro-level impact of conflict and the strategies used by local communities to cope with violence and protect their livelihoods. His recent research focuses on understanding household resilience to violent extremism in the African Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin. His professional experience includes work at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a frontline humanitarian response officer, research contractor for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), and monitoring & evaluation consultant at Search for Common Ground (SfCG). He previously worked for TechnoServe Inc., Enterprise for Development International (EfDI), and Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA/Nigeria).

Degrees

Ph.D., Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
MDiv, Practical Theology and Peacebuilding, Virginia Theological Seminary
MA, Sustainable International Development, Brandeis University
MBA, International Business Management, Lagos State University
BS, Agricultural Economics, University of Benin

Research Interests

Conflict Resolution
International Development
Humanitarian Assistance
Peacebuilding
Informal Security

Publications

Ogbozor E.N. “Co-existence in Boko Haram’s Caliphate: Making a Living in Militant

Controlled Areas in Rural Borno, Nigeria.” African Journal for the Prevention and

Combating of Terrorism (AJPCT), 2020.

Ogbozor E.N. “From Counter-terrorism to Livelihood Destruction: Factors Causing Systemic And Continuing Destruction of Livelihoods in the Lake Chad Basin.” African Journal for the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism (AJPCT), 2019. http://caert.org.dz/Publications/Journal/Journal-19-1.pdf

Ogbozor E.N. Protectors or Outlaws? The CJTF of Nigeria Show the Benefits and Challenges of Working with Civilian Security Actors. Africa Defense Forum, May 3, 2019 (Pages 44-48). http://adf-magazine.com/protectors-or-outlaws/.

Ogbozor, E. N., Mara L. Schoeny, and Andrew E. Baer. "Preventing torture for people

deprived of freedom: The Atlantic Hope and Black Swan Prison Model." Torture Journal 27.1. 2017. https://tidsskrift.dk/torture-journal/article/view/26535

Ogbozor, E.N. “Resilience to Violent Extremism: The Rural Livelihood Coping Strategies in the Lake Chad Basin.” Households in Conflict Network, Institute for Development Studies (IDS), 2016.

Ogbozor, E.N. “Understanding the Informal Security Sector in Nigeria.” Washington DC:

United States Institute of Peace, 2016. https://www.usip.org/publications/2016/09/understanding-informal-security-sector-nigeria

International Community Leaders Join Carter School for a One-of-a-Kind Fellowship

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:42:25 +0000

International Community Leaders Join Carter School for a One-of-a-Kind Fellowship a2c8605a-8799-… Fri, 07/29/2022 - 14:42

In partnership with the U.S. Department of State-sponsored Community Solutions Program (CSP) and IREX, a global development and education organization based in Washington, D.C., the Carter School is proud to welcome five community leaders from Bangladesh, Guatemala, Palestine, and Slovakia.

Together, the CSP Fellows will complete a four-month fellowship with the Carter School where their work will focus on the thematic areas of environmental issues, peace and conflict resolution, transparency and accountability, or women and gender issues.

Upon completion of the fellowship, the Fellows will return home to apply their new skills through community action projects.

Fellows

Jonathan Jiménez

Founding Partner, Family Lawyer and Professor of Law, Universidad Regional de Guatemala, Central America

Jonathan Jiménez was born in Chimaltenango a Mayan indigenous village of Guatemala. He is the legal team lead and founder of Jiménez & Jiménez Family Law Firm that provides legal services to victims of violence in the local indigenous community of Chimaltenango since 2019. Jonathan is certified by the Supreme Court of Guatemala as Law Attorney and Notary Public.

He has more than two years of experience in Human Rights litigation focused on Children and Adolescents and Family law including domestic violence and sexual abuse, mediation and arbitration, illegal immigration, and family disintegration matters.

Jonathan often serves as a speaker and panelist at human rights justice programs and seminars in his community. In addition, he is a Professor of Law at Universidad Regional de Guatemala.

Karam Al-Zaanin

Communications for Development Specialist

Karam Al-Zaanin, holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Al-Azhar University in Palestine, and a diploma in Communication for Development. His skills in communication, networking, presentation, and strategic planning are key assets to his career as a pioneer project coordinator for humanitarian and aid organizations in Gaza.

Karam has the talent to visualize success and identify unconventional yet highly effective strategies for achieving success. He skillfully balances organizational objectives and productive relationships, strategizing and recommending ways in which to achieve and maintain a competitive business edge. Karam’s decision-making and leadership talents have supported his professional growth efforts.

Karam aspires to improve his knowledge and career and pursue making a positive impact in his local community, expanding it to other communities.

Niamat Ullah

Licensed Advocate of the District and Sessions Court, Bangladesh Bar Council
Legal Officer of Legal Cell, Office of the Registrar at the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
Lead of Curriculum, Training & Project Development at Surge Bangladesh
Trainer of Peacebuilding at Peace Maker Studio (partner of UNDP Bangladesh)

Niamat Ullah is an Advocate of the District and Sessions Court under Bangladesh Bar Council and professionally works as a Legal Officer (Legal Cell), Office of the Registrar at the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). Prior to joining BUP, he worked as an Assistant Manager (Complaints management) at BRAC, where he developed documentation processes for investigations by maintaining sensitivity and confidentiality with the highest levels of efficiency. He started his professional career with the PVE works at Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center as a Lead Instructor for a special project on 'Promoting Equality in Madrasa Students' supported by the US Embassy, Dhaka in 2018 & 2019.

Niamat also volunteers as a Lead, Curriculum, Training & Project Development at Surge Bangladesh. In 2020, Niamat was awarded the ‘EMK Center Small Grant 2020 award for a PVE-related project, where he successfully implemented a nine-month-long project called Project C-FRIYS “Countering fake news and radicalization with the inclusion of young students”.

He completed his Master of Laws (LLM) from the Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP), where his thesis was “A Critical Study on the Impact of Fanaticism over Freedom of Religion for the Religious Minorities of Bangladesh.”

Simona Marcinková

Humanitarian and Co-Founding Member of STEP-IN

Simona is a passionate teacher and a lifelong humanitarian worker. As a teacher, Simona is an ambassador of Teach for Slovakia leadership program. Simona spent two years among the Roma community, teaching in the largest Roma settlement in Slovakia. As a humanitarian worker, she is a co-founding member of STEP-IN, a Slovak medical non-governmental organization focused on providing healthcare in humanitarian and post-humanitarian contexts. Simona worked with STEP-IN over two years in Iraq, coordinating a medical team in a refugee camp. Since the war spread to Europe, together with STEP-IN team, Simona continues to provide medical help in Ukraine. 

Ula ElHindi

Peacebuilder and Project Coordinator for Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung/Rosa Café

Ula ElHindi, is a project coordinator for Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung/Rosa Café in the Gaza strip, Palestine. She holds a bachelor's of English Commerce-Business Administration. Ula has several years of experience working with women in the peace field, through specialized trainings and workshops. In 2021, she was selected as a peacebuilder by UNWOMEN, a UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She is the founder of Metoogaza, which raises awareness about sexual harassment and rape.

Topics

Terri Dickerson

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 01:41:01 +0000

Terri Dickerson a2c8605a-8799-… Fri, 06/24/2022 - 21:41

Adjunct Faculty
Civil Rights Director for the U.S. Coast Guard

Contact Information

Email: tdicker4@gmu.edu

Biography

Dr. Terri A. Dickerson is an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, one of the nation’s few schools dedicated to social justice and peace. Her research focus is untold, lost, distorted and co-opted stories of marginalized individuals and communities. Dr. Dickerson is also Civil Rights Director for the U.S. Coast Guard. Previously she was Assistant Staff Director for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where she led investigations and produced reports to Congress and the American public on issues across the civil rights spectrum including voting, equality in education, access to health care, and equal employment. Prior to that, she was Associate Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration where she worked on enterprise development for minoritized individuals. She began her career in the private, non-profit sector, eventually becoming Executive Director of American Women in Radio and Television and its 501(c)(3) Foundation. She also was diversity director for a newspaper association foundation. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, she is among students who were the first to integrate New Orleans Catholic schools.

Honors and Awards

NAACP Benjamin L. Hooks Distinguished Service Award, 2014

U. S. Government Senior Executive Service (SES) Presidential Rank Award, honors the top 5% of senior Federal employees for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment,” 2009

Provost’s Award, George Mason University, 2018

James H. Laue Award, George Mason University, School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, 2015

Alumni Award, George Mason University, for academic achievement, community service, 2015

Affiliations

Member of the government Senior Executive Service.

Member, Senior Executive Service Qualifications Review Board, U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Member, Security Appeals Board, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Member, Board of Advisors, Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Patrick AFB, FL.

Member, Board of Trustees, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, 2007-2014

Member, Board of Directors, University of Virginia, Walter M. Ridley Scholarship Fund, 2004-2005

Presentations and Performances

September 2021 – Graduation Speaker for Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute

September 2020 – Assn. for the Study of African American Life and History, Annual Conference Speaker

July 2020 - Federally Employed Women National Training Conference Speaker

January 2020 – Naval Surface Warfare Center, MLK Day Speaker, Philadelphia PA

March 2020 – Defense Logistics Agency, Women’s History Month Speaker, Richmond VA

August 2019 Blacks in Government National Training Conference Speaker, Dallas TX

2020 - Defense Equal Opportunity Mgt. Institute, Patrick AFB, FL, Senior EEO Advanced Course

December 2017 – Graduation Speaker, George Mason University, Eagle Bank Arena, Fairfax VA

Dr. Dickerson has testified before the U.S. Congress, House Sub-Committee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

Publications

50 Activities for Managing Cultural Diversity, HRD Press, 1993. (Same book re-printed as Activities for Diversity Training.)

Dr. Dickerson has written articles for industry and national publications including The Washington Post, USA-TODAY, and The Ladies' Home Journal. Her book on diversity training (1993) was a bestseller for its publisher. She has been responsible for researching and publishing many reports that bear the U.S. Government seal.

Degrees

PhD, Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

MA, Government, Johns Hopkins University

BS, Education and Human Development, University of Virginia

Remembering Joseph V. Montville (1937-2022)

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:37:24 +0000

Remembering Joseph V. Montville (1937-2022) a2c8605a-8799-… Wed, 06/15/2022 - 12:37

In This Story

Marc Gopin

Richard Rubenstein

Kevin Avruch

We at the Carter School were saddened to learn of the passing of our friend and colleague, Joseph V. Montville. Joe died peacefully surrounded by family, a well-deserved blessing.

Professor Emeritus Kevin Avruch has this to say about Joe:

Joe led a full and consequential life as a foreign service officer, educator, author, and committed activist in the service of peace. Among his many accomplishments, he is recognized as having termed the concept of Track Two diplomacy, giving a name to and thereby formally recognizing the contributions citizens – “non-professionals” -- could make in mitigating violence and working to achieve peace. He was a longtime supporter of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and the Carter School when I was dean of S-CAR (2013-2019). As we worked to name the school in honor of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Joe was my closest and most trusted advisor. He reached out to his own large network to engage the necessary support. Not a few of my letters and memoranda (in the inimitable style of the foreign service, but with a lot more “heart” than one would find in a diplomatic cable) were first drafted by Joe. He believed deeply in what became the Carter School and its mission. Joe was a loving, generous, and empathetic man.

Professor Richard Rubenstein elaborates further on the intellectual foundations of Joe’s work and his pioneering practices of diplomacy:

Joe Montville had many talents and interests in the field of conflict resolution, but his great passion was to develop an understanding of the methods by which religion might become a source of sustainable peace. During the time that I was writing and teaching about conflict and religion, Joe often lectured in my classes or appeared in symposia that I organized. He had a broad understanding of religion both in terms of its more orthodox institutional expressions and as a key element in the “civil religion” that often determines how groups relate to each either cooperatively or with hostility. He also was in close contact with religious leaders in the U.S. abroad whom he thought should work with each other towards the goal of positive peace.

An outstanding illustration of this was Joe’s key role in bringing Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran, to give a lecture at National Cathedral. The trip was almost called off half a dozen times because of its political sensitivity at a time of continuing hostility between the US and Iran. I was present on January 6, 2006, when Khatami stood in the pulpit and declared (as Washington Post reporter Robin Wright reported) that “the United States is a ‘great’ country ‘with great people, great capacities, and potential’ -- language that stood in stark contrast to more than a quarter-century of Iran calling the United States ‘the Great Satan.’”

Wright’s article continued: “But he also condemned its unilateral foreign policy, and he cautioned at a news conference before last night's speech that Washington would be more effective if it worked alongside other nations.”

The second strong connection I had with Joe related to his deep friendship with Dr. Vamik Volkan, whose work he consistently advocated and publicized for years. He supported Volkan’s Center for Mind and Human Interaction at the University of Virginia and connected him with government officials to further his own practice in places like the Baltic nations. This made Joe more than the usual “social psychologist” – it allied him with an outstanding depth psychologist whose work deepened his understanding of the relationship of violent political conflicts to deep mental processes.

The person at the Carter School who knew Joe best, and whose relationship to Joe through the School’s Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, was the longest, is Professor Marc Gopin. Marc reflects on Joe in the following words:

There were key events in Joe’s life that led him to his pioneering and most lasting contribution to world peace and conflict resolution theory. The first was his profound reaction, along with key friends that he had made across the world, to the paralyzing standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was then that they swung into action in 1980 with behind-the-scenes unofficial diplomacy at a far deeper level of relationship between select Americans and Soviets who were in a better position to communicate and build trust.

Joe realized then that practitioners of peacemaking and their unofficial diplomacy were essential to the future of the world. But he knew that he needed to spend a lifetime building the theories as to why and how those relationships could make a difference. Joe would spend the rest of his career supporting, in highly innovative and strategic ways, any and all institutions and practitioners who deepened the work of Track Two unofficial diplomacy.

The second seminal moment that led to a lifetime dedication to Track Two diplomacy was when he himself witnessed the terrible limits of official diplomacy during the Iran/Iraq war. He bore witness to the moral compromises and human rights violations that come with nations making despicable friends against common enemies, instead of healing the roots of conflict. These were stunning moments of revelation for Joe. Joe courageously struck out on his own after ending his official diplomatic work. He singlehandedly built a community of Washington and global influentials to embrace alternative forms of diplomacy. Thus, he continued his work at Esalen in California with his colleagues there, but he also embraced several other tributaries of research and practice that fed into Track Two Diplomacy. He championed research into the psychodynamics of conflict, into the wounds of war and incomplete mourning. He called for the need to innovate healing at a deep level that must accompany peace processes and peace treaties.

Joe built and expanded conflict resolution theory and practice by highlighting the important work of many others. He did this selflessly and generously, placing many other careers above his own when the needs of the world outweighed his own needs as he saw it. He also pioneered the field of memory and history as critical to conflict analysis. Influenced by positive psychology and other luminaries such as Elise Boulding, Joe promoted positive memories of shared civilizations versus the obsessive traditional emphasis on warring civilizations. He did this, for example, through promoting shared memories of the Golden Age of Moorish Spain and its unparalleled examples of Abrahamic family coexistence, a favorite theme of his decades-long writing and practice.

Finally, this direction of research and practice evolved into an intellectual embrace of the central importance of religion and religious actors for the future of inclusive peacebuilding and diplomacy. He did so decades before K street and everyone else scrambled to understand religion and violence after 9/11, which in reality was not a serious interest in religion but a thinly veiled fear of Islam. Joe by contrast embraced all religions in their capacity to promote peace and daringly established beachheads of research and practice right on K Street at CSIS, and at George Mason University’s then Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Joe was singularly responsible for the writing and publication of every Oxford book on religion and peacebuilding that established a new field of religion and peacebuilding. Naturally he became chair of the board of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution in 2003 from its inception, a Center that still exists today at the Carter School.

None of these initiatives would have secured platforms for research and practice without the quiet, selfless, visionary and generous helping hand of Joe Montville. He gave and gave for what he believed to be the single most important path to global peace. His students and colleagues have gone on to assert the vital importance to lasting peace of including numerous stakeholders in every corner of the globe who would never have been included in official diplomacy. The United States Department of State, his former employer, established entire departments that began to invest in programming for religion and peacebuilding and the inclusion of many stakeholders in peacebuilding. It is difficult as I look back to imagine any of these important innovations coming about without Joe’s dogged determination and quiet hand behind the scenes.

Joe claimed to have been not religious personally, and yet the zeal with which he pursued world peace, his dogged determination, and his tireless optimism combined with savvy strategy, all spoke to Joe Montville being a man on a mission – a man of vision, hope, and abiding faith in the future of humanity.

Topics

Bill Potapchuk

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 02:54:43 +0000

Bill Potapchuk a2c8605a-8799-… Thu, 04/07/2022 - 22:54

Adjunct Faculty, Carter School
Senior Fellow, Center for Peacemaking Practice
President, Community Building Institute

Contact Information

Email: wpotapc2 @gmu.edu

Biography

Bill Potapchuk is President and founder of the Community Building Institute (CBI), an organization created to strengthen the capacity of communities and organizations work collaboratively, inclusively, and equitably healthy, sustainable futures. His work over the past three decades has spanned a wide array of policy arenas and work with nonprofits, community groups, philanthropy, and every level of government. In recent years, his work has focused on community development, early childhood education, democracy reform, and large landscape conservation. Potapchuk has been affiliated with all of the previous incarnations of the Carter School starting with the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 1987. Potapchuk is widely published. He has co-authored chapters in significant textbooks for the field, including the Deliberative Democracy Handbook, Consensus Building Handbook, and theCollaborative Leadership Fieldbook, and a wide array of monographs and journal articles.

Point of View Statement on Conflict in Ukraine: Negotiate Peace Now

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 19:38:10 +0000

Point of View Statement on Conflict in Ukraine: Negotiate Peace Now a2c8605a-8799-… Wed, 03/30/2022 - 15:38

In This Story

The opinions and views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Carter School or George Mason University, its affiliates, or employees.

Add Your Signature

Peace and Conflict Resolution scholars and foreign affairs practitioners convened at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School’s Point of View research and retreat facility in Mason Neck, Virginia issued the following appeal to the conflicting parties in Ukraine:

All parties to this conflict are now hurting. The costs in human life and suffering are mounting and the damaging effects of the conflict are rippling around the world. It is high time for the parties to agree to an immediate and complete cessation of hostilities. Continuing the struggle inevitably multiplies the damage and poses increasing risks that nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction may be used.

Along with the U.N. Secretary General, we believe that conditions now exist for negotiating an agreement acceptable to all parties. The parties should therefore set about negotiating a comprehensive peace agreement with no preconditions.

We call on the international community to support peace as it emerges, offering humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding support for the long-term process of recovery.

In addition, it is imperative that all OSCE Participating States commit to a throughgoing review of the existing security architecture. This review should begin immediately with a view to updating the Helsinki Final Act and other security agreements at the OSCE’s forthcoming 50th Anniversary in Helsinki in 2025.

Signatories are listed below. Others are invited to join the statement and to distribute it widely. To be added as a signatory, please provide your information here.

John M. Evans
Former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia

Jeffrey Sachs
University Professor at Columbia University

Jack F. Matlock, Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1987-91

Richard Falk
Professor of International Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University

Ambassador Jacques Paul Klein
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (Ret.)

Alpasian Ozerdem
Dean, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Christopher R. Mitchell
Professor Emeritus, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Susan H. Allen
Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice, George Mason University

Richard E. Rubenstein
University Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Karina Korostelina
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Sergey Utkin, Leading Researcher, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences

Daniel Rothbart
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Prabha Sankaranarayan
President and CEO, Mediators Beyond Borders International

Hugh DeSantis
Former career office, U.S. State Department, Author

Sara Cobb
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Dr. Margarita Tadevosyan
Research Assistant Professor
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University

Ivan Kislenko
Fulbright Scholar

Alex van Oss
(Former) Coordinator, Caucasus Area Studies
Foreign Service Institute

Michael Shank
Adjunct Professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and George Mason University's Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Dr. Lara Olson
Consultant, Peacebuilding and Conflict Sensitive Development
Research Fellow, Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies (CMSS), University of Calgary, Canada

David Carment
Professor of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Fellow, Institute for Peace and Diplomacy,

Cynthia Lazaroff
Founder and Director, Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy

Omar Grech
Director, Centre for the Study and Practice of Conflict Resolution, University of Malta

Rene Wadlow
President, Association of World Citizens

Kevin Avruch
Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution Emeritus
Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, George Mason University

Peggy Mason
Former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament to the United Nations
Current President of the Rideau Institute

Antonio Carlos da Silva Rosa
Editor, Transcend Media Service

Jake Lynch
Associate Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies
The University of Sydney

Diane Perlman
U.S. Convenor, TRANSCEND

John Scales Avery, PhD

Michael Loadenthal
Executive Director, The Peace and Justice Association

Jeremy Wildeman
Adjunct Professor, Adjunct Professor at the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, Carleton University; and in International Development Studies, Trent University

J.M. Flagg
Chicago, Illinois

Jan Oberg, dr hc, director
The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF
Lund, Sweden

Dr. Mary Wade
Founder, Building Respect in Community (BRIC), Philadelphia, PA

Professor Marianna Muravyeva
Russian Law and Administration
For Legal and Peaceful Conflict Resolution
Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki

Tatsushi Arai
Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University

Dr. Paula Garb
University of California, Irvine Center for Citizen Peacebuilding

Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah
Advisory Board Member and Part-Time Faculty, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Sean Howard
Adjunct Prof. of Political Science, Cape Breton University

Douglas Irvin-Eriksen
Assistant Professor, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Dr. Peter Langille
Director, Sustainable Common Security

Marie Myers Lloyd
Member, Ceasefire.ca

Nicholas Ourusoff
Educator in Computer Science, Chomskian Activist

Dr. Gordon Yanchyshyn
Psychiatrist

Connie Duchene
Council of Canadians

Emmanuel K. Akyempong
Graduating Senior, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Irene McPhee
Mother, Grandmother, Human

Dr. Paul Owen
Retiring Politician, Counselor

David Parnas

Phyllis Creighton
Honorary Life Member, Science for Peace

Sara Petite

Eleanor Coffey

Larry Kazdan
Global Citizen

Crl Boychuk

Sk. Tawfique M. Haque, PhD.
Professor and Director South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS) Chair, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Katherine Li
Assistant Professor, Department of English & Modern Languages Adviser, Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Ambassador Shahidul Haque
Professorial Fellow South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), North South University

Dr. Abdul Wohab
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology Coordinator, Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Dr. Ishrat Zakia Sultana
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. M Jashim Uddin
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Bulbul Siddiqui
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Helal Mohd. Mohiuddin
Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Harisur Rahman
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Md Rizwanul Islam
Professor & Chair, Department of Law, North South University

Dr. Norman K. Swazo
Professor, Department of History and Philosophy, North South University

Ahmed Hossain
Professor, Department of Public health, North South University

Dr. Nova Ahmed
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North South University

Dr. Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Mohammed Nuruzzaman
Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Ms. Parisa Shakur
Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, North South University

Tata Zafar
Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Tasmia Nower
Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Hasanuzzaman
Assistant Director, Office of External Affairs, North South University

Dr. Md. Jakariya
Professor, Department if Environmental Science and Sociology, North South University

Mizanur Rahman
Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Fahd Bin Zahed
Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, North South University

Dr. Tasnuva Enam
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of History and Philosophy, North South University

Farin Shabnam Ritu
Research Associate, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Md. Parvez Hasan Yousuf
Research Associate, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Rudmila Khan
Research Associate, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Miad Islam
Research Assistant, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

This image by Zach Rudisin is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license via Wikimedia Commons.

Topics

Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Jeff Helsing

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 20:25:09 +0000

Jeff Helsing a2c8605a-8799-… Wed, 03/23/2022 - 16:25

Research Associate Professor
Executive Director of the Better Evidence Project

Contact Information

Email: jhelsing@gmu.edu

Biography

Jeffrey Helsing is Executive Director of the Better Evidence Project and Research Associate Professor in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution. Prior to joining the Carter School, he spent over 20 years at the United States Institute of Peace, including as Associate Vice President where he led USIP’s education and training programs as well as curriculum development that included conflict resolution training for civil society organizations, peacebuilding practitioners, youth and religious leaders, humanitarian aid workers, and diplomats. Helsing has taught a broad range of subjects, including conflict resolution, analysis of war and peace, negotiations, human rights and conflict, comparative foreign policies, American foreign policy and international relations theory, and helped develop a master’s degree concentration in international relations at the American University in Cairo. His published articles have focused on conflicts in the Middle East and he co-edited Human Rights and Conflicton the links between human rights, humanitarian law and peacebuilding. He has also written articles and delivered numerous conference papers on the impact of education policies and projects in conflict zones. Helsing holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University and a doctorate in political science from Columbia University.