Conflict Analysis and Resolution Courses (CONF)

Unless otherwise noted, all nondepartmental majors require permission of instructor to register for CONF classes.

Related Catalog Entry: Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Related Mason Website: Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ICAR/)

501 Introduction to Conflict Analysis and Resolution (3:3:0). Prerequisite or corequisite for all M.S. CONF majors. Introduction to the field of conflict analysis and resolution. Examines definitions of conflict and diverse views of its "resolution." Explores thinking about human behavior and social systems as they relate to the origins of conflict and the role of conflict in violent and peaceful social change. Considers appropriate responses to conflict at interpersonal, intergroup, industrial, communal, and international levels.

601 Theories of Conflict and Conflict Resolution (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Examines major social scientific theories of conflict. Emphasis is on the need for theories to inform our ability to resolve conflict. Weaves together ideas from conventional disciplines with new approaches especially to causes of deep-rooted conflict. Focus is on analysis as a tool.

610 Philosophy and Methods of Conflict Research (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Introduction to research design, including use of theory to define the problem; exploring research approaches; gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data. Latter includes field observation; field experiments; lab experiments (simulations); surveys and sampling techniques; and archival, documentary, and literature resources. Quantitative techniques include theories of measurement (numerical and ordinal scales); distributions; and analysis techniques (chi-square, correlating, factor analysis). Briefly introduces philosophies of science, and its limits.

611 M.S. Research #2 (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 and 610. Builds on the foundation of CONF 610. It guides students through the design, execution, interpretation, analysis, presentation and evaluation of field research into conflict and conflict resolution.

642 Integration of Theory and Practice (3:3:0). Taken in the last semester of master's students course work. Assists students in developing their own "generic" theory of conflict by reviewing and integrating their prior course work. Students are expected to demonstrate a holistic comprehension of the field by writing a major essay of publishable quality about the causes, events, and resolution of a particular conflict of their own choosing.

690 Practicum in Conflict Analysis and Resolution (6:1:5).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801; 713 (714 or 715 recommended but not required). Two semesters. Involves students in an in-depth field study of ongoing conflict situations and in the design and delivery of intervention processes to manage or resolve the conflicts.

694 Internship (1-6:0:1-6).Prerequisite: 21 hours of prior course work, including CONF and 714. CONF 715 recommended. Under direction of the clinical coordinator, students spend at least 160 hours working on a project involving the study and/or resolution of conflict. Students are expected to mesh theory and practice through observation and experience. The course includes a comprehensive report analyzing the individual's experience.

697 Directed Reading (1-3:0:3). Independent reading at the master's level on a specific topic related to conflict analysis and resolution as agreed to by a student and a faculty member.

701 Theories of Social Harmony (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801; CONF 601 recommended but not required. Part of a series of theory courses and the companion to CONF 601. This course explores theories that define and explain social harmony and cooperation. Examining social institutions that manage and mediate conflict at all levels (interpersonal to international), the course provides a foundation for subsequent courses in peace building, peace making, multilateral organizations, social change, and development.

703 Conceptions of Practice (3:3:0).Prerequisites: CONF 501, 601, 713. Provides a framework for integrating theory and practice in conflict resolution. Reviews types of practice and theories of intervention and change, discusses the analytic process of assessment and diagnosis before intervention. Considers how research can be incorporated into practice and how thoughtful practice generates research questions. Includes methods of program evaluation and action research. Students are encouraged to identify and/or develop their own theories of practice.

709 War, Violence, and Conflict Resolution (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Considers various theories of violence, its causes, and conditions, and applies them to a variety of instances: family abuse, religious and ethnic violence; terrorism, revolution, and warfare. Insights gained from study of initiation, escalation, management, resolution, and prevention of violence are applied to theories about the resolution of deep-rooted conflicts.

713 Laboratory and Simulation I: Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict (3:0:3). Prerequisite or corequisite for all CONF majors: CONF 501 or 801. An introductory skill- building course that integrates conflict theory and practice using a reflective practitioner model. Students learn necessary skills for third-party facilitation and mediation including active listening, empathy, paraphrasing, reframing, and negotiation, and analytical skills of problem solving and creation of transformational processes. Although these skills are essential for all levels of conflict intervention, cases for practice mainly focus on interpersonal and intergroup conflict.

714 Laboratory and Simulation II: Organizational and Community Conflict (3:0:3). Prerequisites: CONF 501 or 801 and 713. Moves from conflicts that are simply described to those with multilevel components, such as community and organizational conflicts. This course expands the skills acquired in 613 by adding the following: recording chronology; identifying roles played by various participants; observing turning points in the resolution process; precisely stating the agreed-upon solution.

715 Laboratory and Simulation III: International and Intercommunal Conflict (3:0:3).Prerequisites: CONF 501, 713, and 714, or permission of instructor. A continuation of the study of resolution processes as applied to highly complex systems, especially where one party denies the legitimacy of existing political authority. Considers third-party options for intervention in revolutionary and international conflicts, and means for building communication and trust among parties, and implementing agreements.

720 Ethnic and Cultural Factors in Conflict Resolution (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Examines the role culture plays in the genesis, structuring, and resolution of processes of conflict within and between groups. Special attention is given to ethnicity and other subcultural markers of identity in complex social systems as both the generators and outcomes of conflict. The relevance of these variables to the success or failure of conflict resolution is explored.

721 Conflict and Race (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Cross-listed as SOCI 523. Addresses historic analyses of racial and ethnic identity conflicts and their resolution.

722 Conflict and Religion (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Explores the role of organized religions in conflict, war, peace making, and conflict resolution.

723 Conflict and Gender (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Examines constructs of gender and conflict as they relate to a critical analysis of theory and practice. Feminist theories are reviewed for their contributions to social and conflict theories. Narratives are used to explore how gender and power dynamics interact in conflict.

724 Conflict and "-isms" (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. "Them" and "Us." Deals with the identification, analysis interrelationships and similarities among the various ways human beings bifurcate themselves into "us" and "them" based on national, ethnic, religious, gender, and other criteria. Further, the course explores the role these divisions play in the development and intractability of identity-based conflicts and the implications for conflict analysis and resolution. Examples include nationalism, racism, sexism, ageism, classism.

725 Conflict and Spirituality (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Explores the role of spirituality in the naming, framing, and unwinding of conflict. The roles of apology, reconciliation, and forgiveness are considered as these relate to the deconstruction of enemy images in protracted communal and interpersonal conflicts. Relational empathy and ways of cultivating connection across perceived deep differences is examined.

726 Moral and Philosophical Foundations of Conflict (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Provides an overview of moral, philosophical, and ethical underpinnings of conceptions of conflict and conflict resolution. The course enhances a student's ability to engage in discourse approaching conflict from a moral or philosophical disciplinary background.

727 Cross-Cultural Analysis of Conflict (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Introduces techniques of participant observation and anthropological research. Provides insights into cross-cultural fieldwork experience, an important skill for facilitation working with groups outside their own "worldview." This course is highly recommended for students interested not only in understanding diverse groups, but in gaining first-hand insights into the wide variation in world views and values understandings held by different people.

730 Structural Sources of Conflict (3:3:0).Prerequisites: CONF 501 or 801 and 601 for M.S. or 802 for Ph.D. Examines how structures and institutions affect behavior and give rise to conflictual relationships at all social levels, from the interpersonal to the international. Explores the role of conflict resolution as a political process proving opportunities for nonviolent system change.

731 Conflict in Organizations (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Explores the intersection and the dynamics of organizational behavior and the dimensions of conflict. Theoretical perspectives and cases are used to examine the issues involved in conflict analysis and resolution. Strategies for prevention and intervention are practiced. Students conduct field research in the greater metropolitan district to help integrate course content.

732 Conflict in Development (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Economic and social development cause trauma as new ideas conflict with old ones. Particularly when development is generated or directed by forces outside of a culture, the conflict takes on deep-rooted character. This course explores how conflict analysis and resolution approaches can be applied to conflicts of development and change.

733 Law and Jurisprudence in Conflict Resolution (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Contrasts legal processes and institutions with alternative approaches to dispute resolution. Defines and distinguishes among law, "alternative dispute resolution," and problem-solving analysis as methods for resolving rather than controlling conflict. Asks to what extent legal procedures are truly applicable to resolving deep-rooted conflict.

734 Crime and Conflict Resolution (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801 or permission of instructor. Explores the usefulness of conflict analysis and resolution perspectives in analyzing the causes, nature, and consequences of criminal behavior, and alternative approaches to the crime problem.

735 Global Context of Conflict (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Advances students' skills and expands their knowledge base in critical analysis and creative problem solving. The root causes of conflict in a global context are examined in terms of gender inequality, cultural differences, unequal North/South relations, militarism, economic oppression, genocide, maldevelopment, religious and ethnic struggle, and environmental scarcity. Students are expected to develop their own conceptual tool boxes needed to analyze conflicts in different parts of the world.

740 Third-Party Roles, Resources, and Ethics (3:3:0).Prerequisites: CONF 501 or 801, 713. Analysis and critique of the nature and roles of third parties in conflicts. Theoretical perspectives and case histories are used to understand the settings in which third parties may operate. Covers roles as mediator, conciliator, arbitrator, and facilitator, and types of intellectual and other resources third parties may bring to conflicts. Includes ethical assessment of third-party interventions in a variety of conflict settings.

741 Negotiations (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801 or permission of the instructor. Student's negotiating experiences are used to construct a framework for thinking about and analyzing negotiation processes. The framework is then used to organize a review of the research literature on the "rhythms" and "patterns" of negotiation as well as to analyze a variety of actual cases. Exercises and class projects are interwoven with state-of- the-art concepts and findings as described in Professor Druckman's article in the October 1996 issue of The Negotiation Journal ("Bridging the Gap between Negotiating Experience and Analysis").

742 Mediating Policy Conflict (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801 or permission of the instructor. Analysis of disputes involving the formation, implementation, and reform of social policy. Development and assessment of the roles of mediation and other intervention approaches in policy conflicts in the public, private, and citizens sectors.

743 Conflict Termination: Dynamics of the Peace Process (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801 or permission of the instructor. Analytical study of the nature of the "peace process" in terminating international, transnational, and civil conflicts. Includes analysis of parties' decision-making procedures during processes of de-escalation, pre-bargaining, and negotiation. Examines impact of various third-party roles (mediator, conciliator, facilitator) on the overall process, including implementation and monitoring of agreements. Takes as exemplary case studies efforts to terminate such conflicts of the Iran-Iraq war, the Cyprus dispute, and the Eritrean conflict.

744 Peace Keeping (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. To what degree do international 'peace-keeping' forces embrace conflict resolution and peace-building as part of their mission? To what degree could conflict resolution be integrated? What are the roles conflict resolvers can play in peace-keeping environments?

745 Leadership Roles in Conflict and Conflict Resolution (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801 or permission of the instructor. Working premise for the course is that leadership responses to conflict are affected by several variables, among them race, ethnicity, and gender. Explores roles of leadership decision-making styles as agents of conflict across a range of conflict scenarios at the interpersonal, community, organizational, and international levels.

746 Peace Building (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Building on initiatives of the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, this course explores the dynamics of post-conflict peace building. Further, it prepares students of conflict resolution to play innovative roles in the reconstruction of civil societies.

747 Reconciliation (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. Explores processes of acknowledgment, reconciliation, forgiveness, and restitution. Literature, case studies, and other research are reviewed to assess the applicability and impact of these efforts.

795 Professional Development Seminars (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 501 or 801. These one- and two-credit courses will be scheduled nonconventionally using weekends, concentrated presentations, and intersession periods to give students advanced professional skills. Possible topics include Marketing Conflict Resolution Services; Academic Course Design; Training Design; Mediation; Facilitation; Family Practice; Fundraising; Writing for Publication; Advanced Field Research Techniques; Grassroots Applications of Conflict Resolution.

799 Master's Thesis Option (6:0:6).Prerequisites: CONF 501, 713, 610. Two semesters. Original research or analysis under the direction of a thesis committee.

801 Introduction to Conflict Analysis and Resolution (3:3:0). Prerequisite or corequisite for all Ph.D. CONF students. Introduction to the field of conflict analysis and resolution for doctoral students. Examines definitions of conflict and diverse views of its "resolution." Explores thinking about human behavior and social systems as they relate to the origins of conflict and the role of conflict in violent and peaceful social change. Considers appropriate responses to conflict at interpersonal, intergroup, industrial, communal, and international levels.

802 Micro Theories (3:3:0).Prerequisites: CONF 801, and acceptance in the doctoral program, or permission of instructor. An understanding human conflict requires knowledge of human behavior, motivation and perception. This course reviews and critically analyzes several psychological theories for their application to conflict analysis and resolution. The work of major personality theorists is surveyed as well as material on cognition, creativity, and change.

803 Macro Theories (3:3:0).Prerequisites: CONF 801, 802 and acceptance in the doctoral program, or permission of instructor. Understanding social conflict and the potential for conflict resolution requires that both conflict and cooperation be perceived in relationship to patterns of social change. This course reviews and critiques significant theories of social change to establish a basis for creative conflict analysis and resolution.

810 Philosophy of the Social Sciences (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 801 or permission of instructor. A philosophical inquiry into the history and structure of ideas and the building of scientific hypotheses. This course assumes that the ways we think, as human beings, and the ways we build and test our theories about the world are closely linked. Explores and critiques the thinking of major 20th century thinkers from the social sciences on this topic, thus forming an introduction to research methodology.

811 Advanced Research Methods I (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 801, 810, or permission of instructor. (Note: A prior course such as STAT 510 in intermediate statistics is presumed). Building on the logic of inquiry, this course introduces students to the steps in the research process needed to prepare a dissertation and implement published research. The course covers a wide array of quantitative and qualitative research approaches used in the social sciences with an emphasis on conflict analysis.

812 Advanced Research Methods II (3:3:0).Prerequisite: CONF 811 or permission of instructor. A continuation of steps in the research process needed to prepare a dissertation and implement published research. It builds on CONF 811 by extending the coverage of quantitative and qualitative research approaches used in the social sciences with an emphasis on conflict analysis.

890 Practicum in Conflict Analysis and Resolution (6:1:5).Prerequisite: CONF 801 and 713 (714 or 715 recommended but not required). Two semesters. Involves students in an in-depth field study of ongoing conflict situations and in the design and delivery of intervention processes to manage or resolve the conflicts.

897 Directed Reading (3:3:0). Independent reading at the doctoral level on a specific topic related to conflict and conflict resolution as agreed to by a student and faculty member.

900 Integrating Theory, Practice, and Method in Conflict Analysis (3:3:0). Prerequisites: CONF 801, 802, and at least nine further credits in the doctoral core program. Analysis of the theoretical basis undergirding the methods of research in conflict resolution. Exploration of how theory is built through the reciprocal influence of research and practice.

901 Theory Development (3:3:0).Prerequisites: CONF 801 and 802 or permission of instructor. Examines recent developments in theory and research in conflict analysis, with particular emphasis on project and dissertation work recently undertaken and completed. Its purpose will be to link ongoing research in this and parallel fields to students' own plans for dissertation work, and examine methodological approaches currently being used as well as the direction and focus of current substantive research.

998 Doctoral Dissertation Proposal (3:3:0).Prerequisite: successful completion of all course work and doctoral qualifying examinations. Work on a research proposal that forms the basis for a doctoral dissertation. May be repeated for up to six total credits toward degree.

999 Doctoral Dissertation Research (3:3:0). (Credits vary. At least six credits must be taken toward the degree.) Research on an approved dissertation topic under the direction of a committee. (NOTE: At least 12 credits of 998 and 999 must be accumulated toward the degree).