Conflict Resolution Methods in Practice

This program will introduce participants to conflict resolution theory and, even more importantly, skills. We will examine the impact of culture and context on conflict and the process adopted to handle the conflict.  Students will study conflict resolution and negotiation processes through multinational examples and perspectives and will examine challenges in designing and delivering dispute resolution initiatives in the dynamic context of emerging democracies, as well as mature, but adversarial, legal cultures.  As dangerous conflicts continue to proliferate, the relevance of this program, which addresses the development of collaborative dispute resolution processes, becomes more and more heightened.   

On the first day of the program, we will work with the students in developing a clearer understanding of how conflicts escalate and what can be done to de-escalate the conflict, with an emphasis on negotiation. Starting on the second day of the program, the students will be introduced to mediation, the conflict resolution process often described as a negotiation assisted by a third-party neutral. We will spend two days on the various skills mediators utilize both to promote discussions of people in conflict and to facilitate collaborative decision-making. On the fourth day of the program, we will cover international and cross-cultural impacts on conflicts as well as, the uses of international commercial arbitration. On the final day of the program, students will learn restorative practice skills where the focus is not just on ending a conflict, but also on repairing harm between and among those involved in the conflict.  
 
Participants seeking to be enrolled in this course will be asked to identify a civic issue or problem in their neighborhood, city, region, or country which they wish to present to the class or to write a paper on.  During the course, each student will be assigned a faculty member to help them apply the course material to the issue they raised.