PSCE Conference 
Event: Seminar Summary
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Summary of the 1 st Policy Seminar for Conflicts in Central Asia (PSCE)
The purpose of the first set of discussions was to increase the depth of knowledge and understanding of existing and potential ethnic and religious conflicts in the greater Central Asia region. 10 PSCE fellows presented and spoke for fifteen minutes each on topics related to the following five themes: Trends in Population: Migration and Gender issues, Islam and Soviet Successor states, Security and Terrorism, Succession Dynamics and Revolution in Central Asia, and Education and Conflict in Central Asia. The conference was attended by 20-30 guests from the Department of State, private think tanks, and academics.
After the day-long open seminar, the PSCE fellows met for a series of closed roundtable discussions in which they were introduced to the field and theories of conflict analysis and resolution. Dr. Mitchell consented to give a few words to connect a regional perspective with conflict resolution and how to establish CR programs in the region based on ICAR’s previous experience in Central Asia. Dr. Korostelina presented on the theory of Identity and Conflict, and Dr. Sandole presented his framework on Conflict Mapping. Dr. Sandole and Dr. Korostelina led the discussion in order to provide feedback on each paper for the future development of conflict resolution studies in Central Asia.
It was discussed that the next session in April would be inconvenient for some of the Fellows who would be traveling and conducting research, so the next meeting would be rescheduled to May 5-7th. The Fellows would arrive Thursday night, have a roundtable on Friday, and on Saturday meet as group internally. The focus of the discussions for early May will involve how to develop the field of CR in Central Asia. The consensus was to have three roundtable discussions so that all PSCE Fellows could contribute to their colleagues research topics as opposed to breaking out into more thematic sessions.
The PSCE scholars were tasked with taking their particular area of expertise and identifying the conflicts, causes/conditions, and types of existing or possible interventions (both prescriptive and descriptive). Three main themes were identified: Security, Policy and Identity. Utilization of a common framework would allow for some triangulation. Through having the Fellows use the same framework- common themes or inter-connections may be revealed.
It was noted that there are missing pieces of expertise from the group- in particular issues such as decommissioning of weapons and related public health issues- i.e drug resistant strains of tuberculosis and the collapse of public health infrastructure. Two scholars namely Nancy Lubin- JNA and Anthony Falchi- AIDS were identified to be peripherally involved (time permitting). Drug trafficking was also discussed. The Chairs from the February discussions could also be invited for the May discussions as their input was useful during the open workshop sessions.
The May meetings would center primarily around discussions with the expectation of 20-30 page papers ready for the October conference. Much debate was centered on the publication of these papers either as a book or through topic-specific journals such as the
Journal of Peace Research, Peace & Conflict, or The Journal of Negotiation at Harvard. It seemed more likely to get in a regional journal. Talk also centered around the possibility of an online journal. PONARS- (Program on new approaches to Russian security) is a successful model in allowing for easily accessible downloadable material.
Quick Links
ICAR Main Site
Title VIII Program of the State Department
Seminar 1
Seminar 2