ICAR Loses Cherished Friends: John Burton, Wallace Warfield, Elise Boulding

This summer saw us lose three individuals who, in various important ways, influenced the way we at the Institute think about and work in our chosen field of Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Elise Boulding, a long time friend of, and inspiration to, ICAR, taught us that history was important but particularly history viewed from the perspective of neglected groups – women particularly, but also minorities and the exploited of all descriptions.

John Burton was associate director at the Institute in the late 1980s, teaching initial generations of Masters and Doctoral students about basic human needs and problem solving methods, as well as writing his penultimate 4 volume work on conflict resolution.

Most recently, for the present student generation, Wallace Warfield taught and mentored graduates and undergraduates alike, right up to his retirement in June, when he was looking forward to being able to take up projects he had postponed until he had more time.

All three came from very different backgrounds, Elise from sociology, the Society of Friends and a long and happy marriage with Kenneth, another significant figure in the development of conflict and peace studies. John Burton came from a successful initial career as a diplomat from a “Middle Power” (Australia) which could never aspire to the use of force and bullying as a diplomatic strategy and so relied on analysis and reasoning as a means of influence. Wallace came from gang mediation on the streets of New York and never forgot that offering choices to people could enable them to avoid using violence to get what they felt they needed. All three were unique individuals but they all, in their own ways, shared a passionate commitment to making this often appalling world a better place. In addition, they were all my friends, which makes their collective loss even harder to bear.