ISA Honors Christopher Mitchell

At this year's International Studies Association’s (ISA) annual convention, the Peace Studies Section proudly honored Dr. Christopher Mitchell with a Distinguished Scholar Award. Dr. Mitchell, who was honored alongside Dr. Vivienne Jabri of King’s College London and Dr. I. William Zartman of Johns Hopkins University, is well-known for the depth of his theoretical work as well as his use of the problem-solving workshop to engage in track II diplomacy. As we at S-CAR know, Chris is regarded as one of the most significant scholars in the field of conflict resolution and one of the general pioneers of the idea of a scholar-practitioner. Since writing his now classic Structure of International Conflict in 1981 (A new edition of this book, The Nature of Intractable Conflict, was published in fall 2014), his research has focused on peace making.
 
Chris has held academic positions at London University, the University of Southampton, and City University, London, and has taught at the University of Southern California, Brigham Young University, and the University of Maryland. He was a full time teaching faculty of S-CAR for 17 years and was the School's Director for four. In the 1960s, he was a member of the pioneering research team at University College, London, which, under the leadership of Dr. John Burton, developed the basic ideas of conflict resolution, problem solving workshops, and informal “Track II” interventions into protracted conflicts. He has been involved in Track II interventions that have tried to address the sources of and solutions for conflicts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Israelis and Palestinians, Somalis and Ethiopians, British and Argentinians, Nationalists and Unionists in Northern Ireland, Basques and Spaniards, Moldovans and Trans-Dniestrians, and among diverse Liberian factions.

His first serious research into conflict sources and dynamics involved work in the Horn of Africa before it was afflicted by the Cold War, followed by an examination of peacemaking and peace breaking in Sudan on the 1970s and 1980s. His later work involved efforts to develop solutions for the conflict over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, which involved an examination of the intellectual dead ends provided by concepts such as "territorial sovereignty," "self-determination” and uni-dimensional "national identity." With over two decades of teaching experience, Professor Mitchell has supervised numerous doctoral dissertations and mentored many young scholars.

S-CAR Dean, Kevin Avruch, has described Chris' work in the conflict resolution field, as using his practice to inform his research and theory-building. "Indeed, he has often said that his work as a practitioner is the basis on which his research and theorizing have grown and matured over the years. He shares this commitment with his mentor John Burton. One result of closely linking practice to theory is the way he has of connecting micro-level aspects of conflict resolution (for example, the various roles of different sorts of third parties) with meso- and macro-level concerns (for example the broader context of asymmetric power relations among the parties and other structural features of the conflict)."

We at S-CAR would like to congratulate Chris on his award and his continued commitment to S-CAR and the field. As Landon Hancock said, "It was the distinct pleasure of the awards committee to include Chris as one of this year’s honorees and to have S-CAR as a partner in sponsoring this event. We look forward to continued partnership with S-CAR as we try to build the Peace Studies Section into a vibrant community to bring together scholars and students of peace and conflict resolution. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to recognize the many accomplishments of S-CAR’s faculty, students, and alumni as we all work together to strengthen the field."

### Photo: From left to right: Landon E. Hancock and Christopher Mitchell. Photo: Roger Mac Ginty.