SCHOOL of INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

American University · Washington, D.C.

INTERNATIONAL PEACE & CONFLICT RESOLUTION

IPCR Degree Programs

IPCR Program Web Site

Fields of Study

Information on this page:
Overview | Curriculum | Themes | Special Opportunities | Student Organizations | Internships/Career Opportunities | Faculty

IPCR Program Web Site
International Peace & Conflict Resolution created its own Web Site in 2005. This interactive Web site is dedicated to connecting students, alumni, faculty, staff, and practitioners in an effort to maintain an vibrant online community. The site also includes information on IPCR departmental events, the Society for Peace & Conflict Resolution student organization, Creative Peace Initiatives student organization, and the Students for Ethics, Peace & Global Affairs student organization. Additionally, there are current job and internship postings on the site to give a sense of the types of sectors students might expect upon graduation. You can create your personal profile as a "Prospective Student" today. To apply to the IPCR program, go to the Graduate Admissions page.

Overview

The International Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) program has a history that began with the students themselves. Students in the School of International Service called for peace and conflict resolution studies and in the 1980s faculty began to offer courses in peace and conflict resolution studies. It was not long before there was greater demand by students and faculty to have more course offerings in the field and by 1995 a full Master of Arts degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution was inaugurated. With the beginning of the MA degree and later additional dual and joint degree programs, IPCR has grown steadily over the past years.

Now with seven tenure-track faculty identified as IPCR faculty as well as temporary and adjunct faculty who bring a wealth of diverse knowledge and experience of the field, IPCR is a dynamic and growing part of American University. The faculty, staff and students pride themselves on the international, inter-disciplinary, inter-linking aspects of the courses and degree programs now being offered.

With a strong emphasis on the blending of theory and practice, peace studies with conflict resolution students, and always with a search for alternatives to violence, IPCR stands apart as a reputable and unique academic and professional training program. In addition to the graduate degree programs, the undergraduate concentrations, the certificate program and the practical hands-on institutes, there are many related opportunities on and off campus including the Journal for Peacebuilding and Development and the American University Center for Global Peace.

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Curriculum

Our master's degrees and other offerings in IPCR prepare our students to participate creatively in contributing to peacebuilding in conflict and post conflict societies. The analysis of systemic and overt violence and causes of war, of human rights and peacebuilding, and of conflict resolution alternatives leads students to a deeper understanding of the complexities of conflict situations, the social impact of nonviolent movements, conflict resolution practice and peace studies. Our students also learn what it takes to develop cooperative relationships.

Our students are challenged to probe philosophical thought and the cultural basis of belief systems and existing theories, be they psychological, social, political, religious, economic, or communication theories. The rigorous academic curriculum helps our students to develop critical thinking and analytical skills as well as alternative methodologies for research. The cutting-edge research and professional engagement of faculty members encourages our students to think about and develop new models for an unfolding society and link theory with practice. The curriculum also trains our students to shape policy and social structures.

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Themes

Contending theories of conflict, the causes of war, organized violence and the condition of peace, their basic assumptions, and their relationship to present global policies, structures and events.

Alternative approaches to peacemaking, their basic assumptions and methodologies, and their application to current conflict situations.

The role of culture and cross cultural communication in conflict situations, conflict resolution, international negotiations, realization of human rights, and the role of identity labels such as gender, race, ethnicity and their role in conflict dynamics and conflict resolution. Development of skills in critical analysis and conflict resolution alternatives.

Values and ethics embedded in different religious traditions as well as ways of fostering reconciliation and coexistence.

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Special Opportunities

  • Conflict Resolution Skills Institutes
    Conflict resolution skills institutes focus on the intervention, training, and consultation methods used by conflict resolution practitioners. These intensive training courses prepare you to work with international, community, and public polity conflicts. Over a single weekend, you develop skills in a hands-on format that includes role playing, simulations, and case studies. Topics vary from year to year, but have included basic skills in conflict resolution, mediation, facilitation, gender and conflict, peacebuilding through the arts, and trauma, healing, and recovery. 202-885-1622.
  • Peacebuilding and Development Institute
    The Peacebuilding and Development Institute (PDI) aims to provide cutting-edge training, research, and capacity-building opportunities for practitioners and scholars in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance, diplomacy, and conflict resolution. In addition, the Institute provides practical opportunities for students to complement their academic work while connecting peacebuilding and development actors via research, symposia, and forums. PDI has several components which integrate policy, practice, and theory to create new approaches to conflict-sensitive and transformative peace practice. These components are the Summer Institute, our specialized Training & Symposia, the Children and Youth Division, the Peacebuilding Forum, and our International Programs. 202-885-2014.
  • Journal for Peacebuilding and Development
    The Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (JPD) is a triennial journal that provides a forum for sharing critical thinking and constructive action on issues at the intersections of conflict, development, and peace. Facilitating interaction between practitioners, activists, and policy makers, JPD highlights transformative approaches that are taking place at different levels while seeking convergence on paradoxical issues. The publication captures and examines critical peacebuilding and development topics and questions that challenge our era. 202-885-1379.
  • Washington Semester in Peace and Conflict Resolution
    The Washington Semester in Peace and Conflict Resolution explores social and political conflict around the world, with an emphasis on conflict resolution models and peacemaking initiative between people, communities, and nations. Undergraduate students from various national and international universities study for 12 weeks in Washington, D.C., and then travel to either Northern Ireland or the Balkans. 202-895-4900.
  • American University Mediation Services
    American University's Mediation Services (AUMS) provides a forum in which all students, staff, and faculty can creatively process and resolve conflict rather than allowing hostilities to build toward violence or adjudication. Each semester, AUMS conducts a weekend-long (20 hours) basic mediation skills training. The training explores theories in mediation, the AUMS mediation process and model, and practical experience in mediating disputes. AUMS often conducts workshops with classes, groups, and organization within the campus community on various methods of conflict resolution. 202-885-3314.
  • American University Center for Global Peace
    The Center for Global Peace offers programs and initiatives both on and off campus that advance the study and understanding of world peace grounded in a search for a sustainable world order. The center provides a forum for deliberating about contemporary issues and is dedicated to innovation in scholarship, teaching and policy analysis, and community service. Working in close association with the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, the Center focuses its work on two levels: 1) dialogue with educators, policy-makers, and the media; and 2) long-terms transformation of key educational institutions in the United States and overseas to provide a balanced inquiry that recognized the valuable contributions of both Western and Arab-Islamic histories, philosophies, and approaches, while shaping the thought processes of future leaders. The two approaches are complementary and necessary to cultivate a shift in the societal consciousness away from war and toward peace and justice. The Center's projects reflect the dual focus, addressing both public policy and long-term educational transformation. 202-885-1379.
  • The Northern Ireland Task Force
    The Northern Ireland Task Force was founded in Fall 2005 in response to an increasing violence in parallel to unprecedented positive developments towards peace in Northern Ireland. It was founded by Carolyn Gallaher from Comparative and Regional Studies and Christos Kyrou, together with other faculty and graduate students at American University and the broader DC area. The Task Force provides a sustained network between resources in our area including American University, the Northern Ireland Bureau, and the broader Washington, D.C. academic, governmental and NGO community with universities and organizations in Northern Ireland as well as in the Irish Republic and Britain. This network facilitates activities including a summer course, a speaker series, research projects, internships, workshops, a visiting-fellows program, and conferences that may increase awareness and improve our understanding of the current situation in the region. It aspires to generate interest, resources, and knowledge, which will serve as a sustainable vehicle for those who which to contribute to a better future for Northern Ireland. 202-885-1622.

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Student Organizations

IPCR also collaborates closely with a group of student organizations, through which students can represent themselves officially to the Washington DC and broader community. Students are afforded the opportunity to develop leadership skills in addition to gaining first-hand experience in organizing panel discussions, conferences, trainings, and other academic and practical events and initiatives. Their Web sites and contact information are provided below and students are encouraged to get involved as soon as they are accepted to the program.

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Internship/Career Opportunities

IPCR students have interned at organizations such as:

Students have also interned at foreign embassies and many others offices and organizations in Washington. Our students are encouraged to take advantage of the rich offerings of the city, as well as to explore opportunities for international travel to complement their studies on campus.

The American University Career Center as well as IPCR staff is available to students and alumni who seek assistance in finding jobs in the field. Electronic notices, speakers and panels bring information to students at any point in their academic and professional careers in order to help keep them connected. IPCR attracts a diverse array of student's whit diverse career interests from advocacy to governance, training to research, grassroots to governmental, etc.

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Faculty

IPCR Degree Programs

IPCR Program Web Site

Fields of Study

The study of peace and conflict resolution draws on a variety of academic disciplines. Our faulty are trained in political science, cross-cultural communication, sociology, international relations, social psychology, anthropology, international law, and counseling. They are deeply engaged in some of the most pressing issues of our times, promoting dialogue in the Middle East and Africa, improving the participation of women in peacebuilding in the Balkans and Northern Ireland, and transforming post-conflict societies in Latin America.

In their research and teaching of conflict and violence, they examine alternative paradigms and analyses of how domestic and international policies and systems work in relation to peace and conflict. Thus, IPCR can integrate the study of cultural and psych9logical factors contributing to violent conflicts; social, economic, and political factors; and systemic forces that drive social systems toward violence. A constructive approach is also offered in studying the processes that can lead to nonviolent conflict resolution and transformation.

Adjunct Faculty

  • Osman Ahmed, World Bank
  • Mubarak Awad, International Youth Advocate Foundation
  • Ambassador Dane Smith
  • Arthur "Gene" Dewey, Former State Department Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees & Migration
  • Dr. Edmund Ghareeb, Center for Global Peace
  • Dr. Hrach Gregorian
  • Dr. Joseph Groves, Nonviolent Activist, Skills Institute Instructor
  • Colman McCarthy, Peace Activist
  • Dr. Carole O'Leary, Center for Global Peace
  • Dr. Fera Simone
  • Martha Starr
  • Patricia Mische

Faculty Emeritus

Information on this page:
Overview | Curriculum | Themes | Special Opportunities | Internships/Career Opportunities | Faculty

Information elsewhere:
IPCR Home Page | SIS Graduate Admissions

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