Introduction To Conflict Resolution: Discourses And Dynamics

The field of conflict resolution has evolved dramatically during the relatively short duration of the discipline’s existence. Each generation of scholars has struggled with the major puzzles of their era, providing theories and solutions that meet the needs of the time, only to be pushed forward by new insights and, at times, totally upended by a changing world.

This introductory course text explores the genealogy of the field of conflict resolution by examining three different epochs of the field, each one tied to the historical context and events of the day. In each of these epochs, scholars and practitioners worked to understand and address the conflicts that the world was facing, at that time.

This book provides a framework that students will carry with them far into their careers, enriching their contributions and strengthening their voices. Rather than a didactic approach to the field, students will develop their critical analytical skills through an inductive inquiry. Students will broaden their vocabulary, grapple with argumentation, and develop critical reading skills.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Some of the dominant discourses of conflict resolution we see referenced in this book have had devastating impacts on the populations we were meant to serve, from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to the Oxfam and Save the Children scandals in 2018. This book tells the story of how conflict resolution has become reconciled with critical thinking over time. It is not just an anthology of peace of conflict studies since WW2, but the first systematic look at the power matrix of conflict resolution in its theories, practices and research methods. As peace and conflict practitioners, knowing our colonial past means that we can never lose sight of the populations we now assist in their peacebuilding efforts. -- Victoria Fontan, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities Division Chair, American University of Afghanistan

By comprehensively tracing developments in conflict resolution theory, this book provides readers with the necessary tools to look at conflict through a variety of lenses. By encouraging readers to critically engage with conflict through various perspectives, Introduction to Conflict Resolution will undoubtedly contribute to the next generation of reflective, responsible and well-rounded conflict resolution students, scholars and practitioners. -- Brian A. Kritz, Associate Director of the M.A. Program in Conflict Resolution, Georgetown University

This book is spectacular – and should be required in conflict resolution across the globe! The editors take us on a fascinating intellectual journey through the evolving field of conflict resolution, highlighting major theoretical contributions and contextualizing each within the broader sociopolitical discourse of its time. We come to see these theories as emergent within the fabric of specific historical eras and, as such, we gain new perspective from which to understand, appreciate, and critique them. In fact, the editors infuse each major theorist’s perspective with their own thoughtful– and at times provocative—insights, turning this book into a living, breathing intellectual conversation that may just be the kind of discourse our world needs right now to embolden a greater peace. -- Daniel L. Shapiro, Founder and Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program

Conflict and its successful resolution is the most important, yet least understood, problem of our time, underlying societies’ inability to deal with its many other unsolved problems: e.g., identity clashes, climate change, and infectious disease. Introduction to Conflict Resolution presents a unique and insightful analysis of the theoretical and practical development of the conflict resolution and peacebuilding fields, giving students a powerful understanding of how conflict might be better handled going forward. -- Heidi and Guy Burgess, Co-Directors, Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado

About the Author

Sara Cobb is Drucie French Cumbie Professor at The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR), George Mason University, where she was also the Director for 8 years. In this context she teaches and conducts research on the relationship between narrative and violent conflict; she is also the Director of the Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution at S-CAR that provides a hub for scholarship on narrative approaches to conflict analysis and resolution.

Sarah Federman is Presidential Scholar at George Mason University USA, the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Her studies in Intellectual History helped prepare her for the genealogical positioning of this book. Her contribution to the learning design of this project is based on over twenty-years work as a freelance writer for Bedford/St. Martin’s writing the instructors manuals to their best-selling writing anthology textbooks for college studies (Language Awareness, Models for Writers, and Subject & Strategies). As the school’s Presidential Scholar, Dr. Federman studied under Dr. Cobb as well as anthropologists, political scientists, sociologists and others. Her practical experience in conflict resolution comes from her decade-long career as a global advertising executive building and maintaining profitable business partnerships with businesses in Spain, UEA, France, South Africa, China as well as the United States and Canada. She also has an avid interest in the role of language in conflict. Her blog www.languageofconflict.com considers the role of language across a variety of personal and international contexts.

Alison Castel is Core Instructor for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was previously Dean's Fellow at the School of Conflict Analysis and Peace at George Mason University. Before that, Alison was a Rotary Peace Fellow in 2009 at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, involved in field studies on the Thai-Burma border and in Cambodia. She most recently was the International Program Coordinator at Haverford College’s Center for Peace and Global Citizenship.