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ICAR Then and Now: The Institute Turns 25 Years OldAs the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year, any personal retrospective, which this inevitably is, cannot hope to cover all, or even the most important changes that have taken place. This is especially so since I only joined the faculty in 1988, the first year of the then-new doctoral degree and five years after the initiation of the first teaching program. The year prior, the Center—no longer the Center for Conflict Analysis but renamed the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CCAR)—began the steady expansion that led to its present incarnation as an institution with over 20 faculty and over 400 students, with an M... |
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Honoring 25 Years of GivingOver the past 25 years, the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) has found success through scholarly leadership, exceptional students and strong donors. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which was among ICAR's first major financial supporters, gave ICAR a grant for more than $1 million in the early 1980s. Hewlett was the most important national funder to recognize the need to build the field of conflict analysis and resolution. ICAR was one of its first "theory centers" and through decade-long support, helped build ICAR into one of the strongest academic conflict resolution programs in the world. During that time, ICAR professors John Burton, Chris Mitchell and Rich Rubenstein met Edwin Lynch, a northern... |
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Andy Shallal: Advisory Board Provides SupportAmong the key entities supporting ICAR is the Advisory Board, which for more than 20 years has provided vital financial and networking support. ICAR is truly grateful to the board, and the leadership provided by K.C. Soares and Alan Gropman, for their commitment to the field of conflict resolution. One the newest members, Andy Shallal, is making a unique gift to ICAR students. Andy is a peace activist and social restaurateur in Washington who has combined his interest in food with his commitment to creating harmony in the world. Through his two Busboys and Poets restaurants and gathering places, Andy has brought the community together in new ways to promote peace and cultural understanding. Now, driven by his belief in the need for... |
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ICAR Engages Governments Multi-Year Genocide Prevention Initiative Begins The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, along with the Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution and the United Nations Studies Program, has begun a multi year advanced training and capacity development program on the prevention of genocide called Engaging Governments in Genocide Prevention (EGGP). These trainings have an explicit goal of adding to the momentum of a growing network of alumni who continue to confront challenges and share lessons based on their national experience. This expanding network will act as a conduit for future engagement at the regional and sub-regional levels with the goal of convening future regional prevention summits, to be hosted by EGGP alumni. The program... |
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ICAR Hosts "State of the Field" Workshop at Point of View On November 30, 2007, the Point of View: Center for Advanced Studies in Conflict Dynamics and Intervention hosted a workshop titled, "Towards Defining the State of the Field: A Research Agenda for Conflict Resolution". The workshop, organized by Professors Nadim Rouhana and Andrea Bartoli at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), brought together an impressive roster of scholars, practitioners, students, and guests. The workshop's main objective was to help further define the boundaries of the field of conflict resolution, sharpen its definition, and set a research agenda for the field. The daylong workshop consisted of three panels, two hours each, and began with welcoming remarks by the Associate Director... |
Upcoming ICAR Community EventsFor more info on events, email [email protected] February 18: February 22: February 26: March 4: |
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Recent ICAR Op-Eds and Letters to the EditorLooking Presidential on Pakistan The 'Surge' Will Not Rebuild Iraq The Limbo Beyond Kosovo Interview: UN President Dr. Srgjan Kerim on Iran Banco del Sur Next Moves in Kosovo What Scares Us Forgiving but not Forgetting |
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ICAR News Network Six years after September 11th, where do we stand in understanding and combating terrorism? While gains have been made, and infrastructure hardened, we are still hampered by a widespread, fundamental misunderstanding of terrorist groups. I believe terrorist organizations are rational actors, by that I mean that organizations have tactical and strategic goals, developed within their own religious, historical and cultural contexts and pursued through actions and propaganda. As we struggle to identify risks to the West, it is imperative that we understand these goals and the frames they come from. Rationality does not mean infallibility. Certainly the outcome of an attack may not have been what planners intended. But it does mean that... |
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Rebecca NewmanFor Rebecca Newman, the undergraduate Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CAR) program could not have been a better fit. With an initial interest in social work, Rebecca has always had a passion for youth issues. She found CAR at George Mason University and was hooked. Rebecca started an internship with CAR and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in January 2007. After attending the FCPS peer mediation conferences for elementary and high school students, she created a program called Peer Mediation Partners, a partnership program between GMU student volunteers and Fairfax County high school peer mediators to help high school students develop conflict analysis and resolution... |
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Hassen Khraibani Before Hassen Khraibani decided to major in the undergraduate Conflict Analysis and Resolution (CAR) program at George Mason University, he was a business major interested in international issues. When he realized that the business program would not provide him with the type of international knowledge he was seeking he decided it was time for a change. He heard about CAR and thought it sounded like a good fit: "I love to travel, I had thought about living abroad, and I wanted to learn more about world conflicts. I wanted to learn more about what was going on in the world." Hassen was impressed with the way the CAR courses were designed, their focus on class discussion and person-to-person interaction, as... |
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ICAR Partners with NGO in Tajikistan From 1992 to 1997, Tajikistan experienced a multi-layered civil war that ended with a power-sharing agreement between the religious and former communist government leaders. ICAR and a local non-governmental organization in Dushanbe, the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, engaged in a two-year project to create collaborative networks with religious and civic leaders, government officials and academics from various universities to address their continuing ethnic, regional, and religious tensions. Each spring a small delegation of faculty from ICAR went to Tajikistan—Drs. Cheldelin, Rothbart, and Paczynska, year I, and Hirsch, Schoeny and Windmueller (external evaluator), year II. Similarly, two large groups of academic... |