The Peace and Conflict Resolution Program is a multidisciplinary program in the School of International Service designed for students and faculty concerned with the causes of war and organized violence and the conditions for peace. Peace, in this context, includes economic, social and political justice, ecological balance and nonviolent conflict resolution. The Peace and Conflict Resolution Program is founded on the belief that war and organized violence are neither necessary nor inevitable, and while change and conflict are inevitable, the challenges that face the world today can be approached from a collaborative and humanistic perspective which relies on primarily nonviolent conflict resolution alternatives. The role of culture and cross-cultural communication is an integral component of the program.
Students also have the opportunity to develop practical skills in conflict resolution techniques.
The program's multidisciplinary approach combines both micro and macro level analysis that links theory with practice, and research with action to provide training in implementation skills as well as critical analysis. Graduates will have the analytical and practical skills to serve at all levels of public policy making institutions. Students will have the flexibility to specialize in a variety of different concentrations, based on a core program. Contending theories of conflict, the causes of war, organized violence and the conditions for peace, their basic assumptions, and their relationship to present global policies, structures, and events. Contending theories of conflict resolution, and alternative conflict resolution methods.