Abstract
The course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of peace and conflict resolution. The knowledge and skills acquired will enable them to have the necessary set of methods and aptitudes to work individually and with others to mitigate the destructive effects of geopolitical conflicts and to help build realistic processes for reconciliation and peaceful coexistence between conflicts' disputants. The overall aim is therefore to develop the intellectual and practical mechanisms which will enable students to eventually work with communities embroiled in conflict across the world, especially in the Middle East, for the purpose of de-escalating tensions, paving the way for the gradual institution of peaceful, cooperative, and equitable environments.
The "self-help" system of international relations and the attending security dilemma on the one hand, and the need to interact and cooperate in a globalized scene on the other, have dragged states and groups to periodic flare-ups of violence in various intra- and inter-state conflicts. The field of conflict resolution has, over the last fifty years, produced a tool kit of methods of negotiation and mediation that can be used by both the practitioners in the field and the disputants around the world in order to de-escalate, manage, or transform, if not definitely resolve, some of the most pernicious conflicts of the last century.
The course will start by introducing students to the basic concepts and building blocks of international relations and how they impact the ever-shifting dynamics of conflicts. It will then move to the introduction of the most recognized theories and practice of conflict resolution, ending with the application of these theories and approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The course will in addition endeavor to bring to the surface the various feelings, emotions, and value systems of the people involved in conflicts. In particular, it will examine how affected people are often entangled in questions of identity, culture, history, religion, and perceptions of worth and victimization. These concerns will be evidenced by the simulation exercises aiming to resolve the conflict under study. During these simulations, the students will be called upon to utilize the acquired insights of conflict resolution theories to move towards mutually satisfying resolutions in light of the changing realities of the current international scene.