Central European University A Program for University Teachers, Advanced Ph.D. Students, Researchers and Professionals in the Social Sciences and Humanities Summer University

Course Director: Johan Galtung (Professor of  Studies, American, Peace Granada, Ritsumeikan, Tromsoe and Witten/HerdeckeUniversities; President, TRANSCEND: A Peace and Development Network)

Resource Persons: 

Dietrich Fischer (Pace University and TRANSCEND)
Magnus Haavelsrud (University of Tromsoe and TRANSCEND)
Rune Ottosen (Norwegian School of Journalism and TRANSCEND)
Zarko Puhovski (University of Zagreb and TRANSCEND)
Olga Skarik (University of Skopje and TRANSCEND)
Olga Vorkunova (IMEMO,  Moscow and TRANSCEND)
 

Course Description
This is an advanced course on conflict transformation by peaceful means for academics teaching or planning to teach conflict resolution and/or peace studies courses at their respective institutions.  Since peaceful conflict transformation draws on insights from many fields, including history, philosophy, sociology, psychology, political science, economics and law, the course is open to faculty members and advanced graduate students from a variety of disciplines.  Conflict resolution practitioners from the NGO or governmental community with a strong academic background are also encouraged to participate.
COURSE OVERVIEW:
This course will provide participants with an introduction to the TRANSCEND method of conflict transformation by peaceful means, based on 40 years of research and practice.  Conflicts can never really be completely “resolved” or made to disappear, but they can be transformed from being fought with violent means to being conducted by peaceful means.  In that sense, conflicts can have a constructive function of helping bring about desirable change.
Regionally relevant case studies by lecturers and groups of participants will be used to illustrate and apply theoretical constructs.  Eastern scholars will be actively included in the course to share their experiences in conflict transformation. Scholars from East and West will be able to share insights, for mutual benefit.  This can assist them in developing or revising related courses and increase their repertoire of knowledge for practising conflict transformation.
The course format will be highly interactive, with a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, facilitated discussions, and guest lectures.  Each course participant will be asked to complete background reading prior to the course and arrive with several relevant case studies appropriate for course discussions.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE:
- Participants will learn to analyse conflicts and design methods of intervention that help reduce violence.
- They will learn how to teach methods of conflict transformation, and how to advance the field through empirical and theoretical research.
- Methods of mapping conflict formations are to be discussed.
- Introduction to diagnosis (sources of a conflict),  prognosis (likely trends without intervention) and  therapy (proposed interventions to reduce violence).
- Teaching principles of dialogue and negotiation as methods
 of conflict transformation.
- Distinction between direct, structural and cultural violence.
- Sensitivity to cultural differences in conflict transformation.
- Create additional linkages between Western and Eastern scholars and among Eastern scholars, including via the Internet.

TRANSCEND is a peace and development network of invited scholars-practitioners doing action/training/research/dissemination within 12 programs, based on 40 years experience. Reports on programs and some manuals can be downloaded from www.transcend.org

OUTLINE OF SYLLABUS
WEEK 1
- Mornings (9-12):  The TRANSCEND Method, based on numerous exercises and work in working  groups,  focusing on methods for mapping conflict transformations, including locating  forgotten parties  and goals; diagnosis, prognosis and therapy analysis; development of  empathy with the parties  involved, and creativity to discover mutually acceptable  outcomes; the emergence of overarching goals and formulations; the process of  disembedding and re-embedding conflicts; perspectives as anchors; verification of issue- clearance; transition from dialogue to negotiation processes; criteria of transformation.  Conflict work as a profession, a code of ethics.
- Afternoons (15-18):  Special topics, such as - the dialectic between direct, structural and cultural  violence and the ideology of “early warning” - the psychology of the dialogue process -  visible and invisible consequences of violence and the ideology of the “mature conflict,”  “ripe time” - approaches to reconciliation after violence - conflict transformation in five  different cultures
               Resource person: Johan Galtung
 WEEK 2
- Mornings: Three TRANSCEND programs (daily 9-10, 10-11 and 11-12):
   Peace Education: teaching how to teach conflict and peace studies, including discussing    MA courses and syllabi.
              Resource person: Magnus Haavelsrud
   Peace Jurnalism:  How to report conflicts so as to facilitate their transformation by    peaceful means.
             Resource person: Rune Ottosen
  Alternative Security: an overview of threats to human security and welfare; causes    of insecurity and ways to overcome them; non-military forms of defence.
                Resource person: Dietrich Fischer
- Afternoons: Three TRANSCEND Resource persons (15-16, 16-17, 17-18):
         Olga Vorkunova on Russian experiences and conflicts
         Olga Skarik on Southern Balkan experiences and conflicts
         Zarko Puhovski on Northern Balkan experiences and conflicts