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Pope Francis in America: A Biased Perspective Washington, DC, Manhattan, and Philadelphia were paralyzed yet filled with excitement. John Paul II had drawn big enthusiastic crowds on his visits, but there was a distinct quality of multi-faith and even atheistic excitement for Francis. |
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Reevaluating the Discussion of Tolerance in the U.S. The nature of tolerance and its place within American society has of late come to the forefront of national attention, through issues such as the legalization of gay marriage. To say that exchanges surrounding this topic are “heated” is to put it lightly, and we find ourselves amidst increasing social division and lacking in the cohesion so needed in our leadership and society. Our inability to engage in dialogue in a manner that grants dignity to the opposing party is a glaring issue, and while this is not a problem exclusive to the US, it is one that is imperative to address. |
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Reconciliation from the Bottom Up: Experiences from San Carlos and GranadaJaqueline, Sandra, Claudia, and Rubiela, a delegation of local women peacebuilders from Colombia, shared their bottom-up peacebuilding experiences with the S-CAR community on September 10, 2015. Granada and San Carlos, two municipalities in the state of Antioquia, were among the hardest hit by violence and displacement. Between 1995 and 2006, paramilitary groups, the national army, and the guerrillas battling for control of the territory led to the killing of thousands and displaced around 80% of the population. After President Uribe (2003-2005) held dialogues with the paramilitaries, the violence subsided. When... |
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Nailed to the Doorframe: How Past Experiences Inspired ChangeThe gates slammed behind us and we were all locked in San Pedro Prison in La Paz, Bolivia. We were surrounded by what seemed to be a tightly packed neighborhood complete with small grocery stores, seamstress shops, and Coca Cola signs. I looked down at my forearm revealing illegible permanent sharpie writing in Spanish that I had been haphazardly informed would be my way out when it was ready to leave. I thought wryly to myself, “let's not rub this off in the next few hours.” I also noted that there were what seemed to be as many children in the prison as... |
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Strategies in Reducing Religious Sectarianism: Voices from the Field On Friday, October 2, 2015, the United Nations General Assembly hosted an event that looked to offer concrete strategies in reducing religious sectarianism through the lens of Libyan and Kenyan case studies. |
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Spotlight: Umed Partov, S-CAR MS StudentUmed Partov is a current S-CAR Masters student who holds a BA in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Montana. “I decided to come to S-CAR to study the role of non-violent religious identity in countering violent extremism and terrorism." Umed believes that academic research on counter-terrorism is in its infancy stage, and perhaps that is why the international community had failed to address and fully understand this phenomenon. Says Umed, "S-CAR has prominent scholars and the largest network of professionals in conflict resolution field, which is an... |
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Ignacio Boloix Peiro, Undergrad Student In his relatively short time studying at Mason, Ignacio Boloix Peiro describes his course in conflict analysis and resolution as “very rewarding.” Originally from Spain, Ignacio is an exchange student from the University of Zaragoza, and is currently enrolled in a CONF 101 course session with Edi Jurkovic, a PhD student. “I have become very interested in this field because I see its practicality in the real world and the teacher for the class makes the content very interesting.” |