|
Research & Projects
Program affiliates were involved in a variety of continuing research projects in three main categories:
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of conflict resolution interventions in protracted conflicts and comparative study of different conflict resolution models;
- The role of different theoretical variables such as collective identity, power asymmetry, leadership, religion, resource distribution, the teaching of history, decision-making structures, issue framing, perspective taking, developmental capacities, and forgiveness in the generation, perpetuation, and resolution of conflict; and
- The interface between conflict resolution efforts and human rights activities, as well as the more traditional governmental activities of peacekeeping and peacemaking.
PICAR associates were involved in projects in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Northern
Ireland, Cyprus, and urban settings within the United States.
The Joint Working Group
The most prominent PICAR project was the Joint Working Group on Israeli-Palestinian Relations.
The Working Group, established early in 1994, consisted of politically and intellectually influential
Palestinians and Israelis, who had been meeting periodically for private, unofficial discussions,
and for the drafting and review of joint concept papers.
The
Joint Working Group was an unofficial, third-party effort in conflict
resolution, continuous with work that the Director, Herbert C.
Kelman and his colleagues had been carrying out for more than
25 years. Using an approach called interactive problem solving,
Kelman and his colleagues brought together politically engaged
and, in some cases, highly influential Palestinians and Israelis
for private, confidential discussions, facilitated by a panel
of social scientists who were knowledgeable about international
and intercommunal conflict, group process, and the Middle East
region.
The
intensive workshops in which these discussions took place were
designed to enable the parties to explore each other's perspective
and, through a joint process of creative problem solving, to generate
new ideas for mutually satisfactory solutions to their conflict.
The ultimate goal was to transfer the insights and ideas gained
from these interactions into the public debate and decision-making
processes in the two communities. The group was co-chaired by the
Director, Herbert C. Kelman, along with Picar Associate, Nadim
N. Rouhana.
The Sri Lanka Project
PICAR's Sri Lanka project was supported by a grant from the United States Institute of Peace. In December 1999, Donna Hicks, William Weisberg, and Rhoda Margesson convened a meeting in the Maldives with influential members of the two political parties from the Sinhalese community. The goal was to try to foster consensus between the two parties on how to resolve the 17 year war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Teaching and Training
Program members
conducted a one and one half-day seminar for the WCFIA Fellows Program,
focusing on the theory and practice of interactive problem-solving
as an unofficial approach to conflict analysis and resolution.
PICAR members were involved in teaching, curriculum development,
and training activities, both locally and internationally. For
example, Donna Hicks and her colleague William Weisberg taught
a week long course on conflict resolution for the International
Institute for Political and Economic Studies in Athens, Greece.
|
