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Curriculum
CICR offers courses that seek not only to transfer knowledge but also to encourage discussion about conflicts and possible responses to them. As an interdisciplinary center, CICR partners with corresponding programs through the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), as well as with institutions outside the university. Because of its unique location in New York City, CICR provides access to the United Nations and a broad range of international organizations. CICR creates a bridge between the academic community and experienced practitioners. Building and strengthening such relationships is a crucial element of CICR’s endeavor to promote knowledge and implement initiatives in this emerging field.
These courses represent CICR’s contribution to a rich and varied curriculum of nearly 90 courses in conflict resolution that are offered by nine different schools at Columbia University. In addition to this list of courses, the Columbia University Conflict Resolution Network (CU-CRN), a program of CICR, compiles and distributes a cross-disciplinary listing of courses related to conflict resolution offered by schools such as the Law School, the Business School, the School of Public Health and Teachers College. CICR continues to develop curriculum in international conflict resolution by linking with other fields in international affairs, including international finance, media studies, economic and political development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and regional studies. CICR also coordinates an ongoing lecture series, which addresses emerging issues in international conflict resolution.
CICR courses fall under three interconnected categories:
Foundations
- Theoretical Overview of International Conflict Resolution (U6807)
- Negotiation and Conflict Management (U6801)
- Workshop in Applied International Conflict Resolution (U8552)
Prevention and Institutions
- Preventive Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution in the United Nations (U8556)
- New Wars and International Conflict Prevention (U6868)
- Development and Conflict Prevention: Critical Connections (U6561)
- Seminar in Conflict Assessment (U8885)
Thematic Specializations
- Religions Between War and Peace (U6809)
- International Conflict Resolution: African Cases (U6808)
- Restorative Justice and Psychosocial Healing (ORLJ 4862)
- Environment, Conflict & Resolution Strategies (U8909)
- Insight Conflict Resolution: An Experimental Approach (ORLJ 5016)
Students are encouraged to take at least one course from each category in order to develop a general framework as well as specific thematic knowledge and skills. Foundations courses provide theory and skills essentials for the study and practice of conflict resolution at the international level. Prevention and Institutions courses look at the various needs, resources and mechanisms for the prevention of international deadly conflict, with a focus on international, regional and nongovernmental organizations. Thematic Specializations provide a rich diversity of focused study for students interested in exploring a region or theme more fully. CICR’s academic offerings encompass a dynamic, robust integration of fundamentals and specializations, providing students with a wealth of opportunity and maximum flexibility as they design courses of study in international conflict resolution.
Fall Semester
Environment, Conflict & Resolution Strategies (U8909)
Andrea Bartoli
This course will explore the relationships between conflict and the environment in international affairs, and the impact of resolution strategies. We will survey the broad framework of conflict resolution, environmental conflicts and philosophies, and the role of political economy, international treaties and security policy. We will also examine empirical evidence from case studies on water, energy, the global commons, climate change and biodiversity. The course concludes with the role of development and justice in the resolution of environmental conflict, and future directions for environmental conflict resolution in international affairs.
New Wars and International Conflict Prevention (U6868)
Ana Cutter
This course grows out of the work of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict. There are three major course goals: 1) to understand the phenomenon of deadly violence; 2) to develop understandings of ways to prevent such violence; and 3) to examine resources that exist in the international community to undertake preventive action. The course is divided into three sections. The first section addresses the politics, economics and sociology of violent conflict in the post-Cold War world. The second section addresses the mechanisms that the international community could use to help prevent violence. The third section explores the people and institutions that could use these tools.
Negotiation and Conflict Management(U6801)
Seth Freeman
This course is designed to develop students’ abilities to negotiate in a purposeful, principled and effective way and to teach students how to build consensus and broker wiser agreements with others. The focus of this course is on practice and skill building through simulated negotiations in and out of class. The course will also use lecture, case studies, exercises, games, videos, and demonstrations to develop skills. The course will address negotiations involving both interpersonal and multiple actor scenarios, and will touch on community-level and international disputes.
Religions Between War and Peace (U6809)
Bridget Moix
This course examines current trends in theory and practice of religion as a source of conflict and a resource for peace. It introduces students to conflict resolution theories that seek to account for religious dimensions of conflict, explore specific faith traditions and related case studies, and draw attention to the practical and recommended roles of religious actors in addressing conflict. It also examines the issue of fundamentalism across religious traditions. The course is organized into three thematic sections, with an examination of particular case studies woven into the ongoing discussion: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives on Religion in War and Peace; Conflict Resolution in Five Faith Traditions; Roles, Methods, and Recommendations. The course culminates in a workshop simulation and discussion of lessons learned.
Spring Semester
Development and Conflict Prevention: Critical Connections (U6561)
Michele Griffin, Sarah Poole & Andrew Russell
Taught by practitioners from the United Nations system, this course offers students the opportunity to explore the latest thinking on the nexus between development, peace and security. The approach is interdisciplinary, and case studies are used to illustrate and explore the linkages. The course focuses on: 1) development actors, approaches and tools; 2) an analysis of conflict stages and development interventions; 3) case studies; and 4) the exploration of emerging trends in theory and practice. This 1.5 credit course will be taught over three full days.
International Conflict Resolution: African Cases (U6808)
Koureissy Condé
This course examines country situations and conditions of conflict as the basis for better understanding the role of national and local actors, regional diplomacy, multilateral organizations, civil society and humanitarian organizations in a wide variety of African cases, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Western Sahara, Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Great Lakes region, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa and Sudan. The course aims to examine the theory and practice of efforts to resolve Africa’s post-Cold War conflicts. The views of practitioners directly involved in efforts at managing these conflicts are highlighted. Students are encouraged, having acquired a broad knowledge of methods and approaches of conflict resolution, to apply this knowledge to a specific case and to develop policy recommendations based on an intimate knowledge of the selected case. Students are strongly encouraged to reflect both non-African and African sources in their work as well as the perspectives of both practitioners and theorists.
Preventive Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution in the United Nations(U8556)
Ana Cutter
Taught at the United Nations
Prerequisite: Theoretical Overview of Conflict Resolution (U6807) or equivalent coursework or fieldwork.
The objective of this course is to integrate theory of conflict, negotiation, mediation and conflict prevention with the practice of the United Nations and thereby enhance the capacity of international and governmental officials and academics to understand when and how preventive diplomacy and peacemaking can prevent or stop deadly conflict. The intended result is to equip the learners with the necessary analytic tools and practical perspectives to enhance peacemaking in the types of situations the international community is likely to face in the coming decade. The course methodology is that of integrative learning that combines a theoretical approach, taught by Columbia University faculty, with an experiential approach, drawing on persons involved in ongoing prevention and conflict resolution efforts. Course assignments and structure are designed to produce a synergy between these two approaches. This is an experimental application seminar open to Columbia University students, diplomats of the permanent missions to the United Nations and United Nations officers.
Workshop in Applied International Conflict Resolution (U8552)
Zachary Metz
Prerequisite: Theoretical Overview of Conflict Resolution (U6807) or equivalent coursework or fieldwork.
This application course supports students in developing practical skills and experiences by providing them with the opportunity to design, manage and implement an international conflict resolution project. The course is divided into three sections that are offered as a sequence in the spring, summer and fall semesters. In the spring semester, students learn practical skills related to conflict resolution fieldwork, including project design, budgeting, management, and fieldwork methodologies. Throughout the semester, students develop specific project proposals, working with CICR project directors. Students continue their work during the summer, carrying out fieldwork internships under the guidance of their project advisors. In the fall semester, students prepare a report of their activities in the field and present their findings to the SIPA community. This course fulfills the MIA international policy analysis and management requirement.
Conflict Assessment (U8885)
Ana Cutter, Sigrid Gruener, Francesco Mancini
Prerequisite: Theoretical Overview of Conflict Resolution (U6807) or equivalent coursework or fieldwork.
This seminar is the first SIPA course to be offered on the topic of conflict assessment and aims to provide graduate students with highly marketable skills that meet the demand in the job market. Its premise is that understanding the context and dynamics of a conflict before taking any action that may have an impact on the situation is a critical responsibility of policy makers, diplomats, activists, and development actors. The focus of this seminar is to 1) explore the concept of conflict assessment, its history, development and implementation; 2) discuss and evaluate different methodologies used for conflict assessment, including indicators and data sources; 3) analyze elements of conflict: structures, actors, dynamics, trends, etc. 4) identify and evaluate policies currently applied by different actors (international organizations/agencies, governments, NGOs, academia, business, etc.) to address conflict; and 5) practice writing and presenting policy memos on the assessment of a specific conflict case.
Restorative Justice And Psychosocial Healing (Orlj 4862)
Zachary Metz and Riva Kantowitz
The restorative justice model has three foci: victims, offenders and the community. Through inclusion of all of these elements, this model offers a unique systemic perspective on addressing issues of victimization, conflict and healing. It also has the potential to promote healing at multiple levels (individual, community and culture), an important process that is overlooked by traditional retributive justice models. This collaborative pilot course with the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College begins with a historical overview of the development of the theories of trauma treatment and healing as well as the major trends in the justice and reconciliation literatures. It then examines intervention and perspectives from practitioners and advocates. This portion of the class raises awareness of the critiques of the model and its potential limitations, and helps students translate from theory to application. Finally, the course briefly discusses the multiple levels of intervention, from the traditional victim-offender mediation model to community-wide initiatives to international examples linking the restorative paradigm to issues in transitional justice. This is a one-credit course.
Preventing Genocide
Andrea Bartoli and Henry Huttenbach
This course is an attempt to sharpen the understanding of genocide as a phenomenon through the analysis of four cases: Metz Yeghérn, Shoa, Cambodia, and Itsembamboa. While different in many aspects, these phenomena offer an extraordinary opportunity to analyze systematically the cause and interactions that made genocides possible during the last century. Unfortunately, genocidal trends are increasing and the very possibility of genocide is upon us all. In order to identify relevant insights from the four cases the students will be invited to analyze the cases through five main areas of inquiry: Politics; Military Affairs; Diplomacy; Intelligence; Media. The course will have a constant reference to current trends and the necessity to effectively use early warnings systems to generate proper responses.
Insight Conflict Resolution: An Experimental Approach
Andrea Bartoli
Conflicts are resolved through ‘insights’, acts of understanding that are available to all of us and are expression of our own human capacity. Using the framework developed by Bernard Lonergan, and applied to conflict resolution by Ken Melchin and Cheryl Picard, the course offers an introduction to ‘insights conflict resolution’ a new and very promising way to look at conflicts and address them constructively. The course will introduce an appreciation of the structure of the human good as well as of the notion of emergent probability. The course will strengthen the capacity of the students to identify recurrent patterns of cooperation offering them an opportunity to consider alternatives otherwise not available. By enhancing the individual and collective capacity for ‘insights’, the course aims at strengthening responses that are successful and lasting.