For more information, please contact:
The Center for International Conflict Resolution
School of International and Public Affairs
Columbia University
420 West 118th Street, Mail Code 3369
New York, New York 10027 USA
Tel : (212) 854-5623
Fax: (212) 854-6171
Email: cicr@columbia.edu; http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/cicr
Mandate
The Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) contributes to the resolution of international deadly conflict through research, education and practice. CICR strives to increase understanding of international conflicts through innovative, collaborative research and is committed to offering courses that disseminate knowledge about conflicts and their causes. CICR responds directly to the expressed needs of parties involved in ongoing conflicts, empowering individuals and organizations to address conflicts constructively. CICR’s research, education, training and practice inform one another, creating a unique synergy that enriches each element of the center's work. CICR also coordinates efforts of academics and practitioners from governmental, nongovernmental and international organizations in joint research and action.
Located within the Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, CICR routinely participates in partnerships inside and outside the university. Founded by Dr. Andrea Bartoli as the International Conflict Resolution Program in 1997, the center took its present name in January 2002. Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell joined the center as a Senior Fellow in July 2002.
Research
CICR engages in systematic analysis of conflict scenarios and peacemaking strategies through its research projects. In addition, all of CICR’s activities—including those focused principally on education, training or the practice of conflict resolution—involve research components. CICR’s current research projects include the following:
Genocide prevention: CICR is launching an ambitious program of action research aimed at better understanding states’ attitudes, capacities and actions regarding genocide and its prevention. The effort will focus on three principal research questions: (1) What are states’ current attitudes, capacities and policies with respect to genocide and its prevention? (2) What would be the characteristics of an effective international network for preventing genocide, and how could states be persuaded to create/join such a network? and, (3) What leadership qualities and skills should be fostered within states for most effective genocide prevention?
Autonomy: As part of an international network of scholars and researchers, CICR has established an International Research Project on Regional Autonomy of Ethnic Minorities to explore systems of political autonomy for ethnic minorities. The project supports sustained dialogue on three themes: assessment of the current state of autonomy systems; identification of issues of interest and concern; and shared lessons through comparative analysis.
Conflict Analysis and Assessment: In recognition of the growing use of conflict assessments as a tool for conflict prevention, mitigation and response, CICR is undertaking a review of the most widely used methodologies in assessment including those of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, the United Nations Development Programme, the United States Agency for International Development, the European Union, the Fund for Peace, and the World Bank. The review intends to explore and compare various approaches to conflict assessments. The recommendations of the review will be used to refine and instruct CICR’s approach to conflict analysis and assessment.
Religion and Conflict Resolution: CICR and the Interfaith Center of New York have created a Religion and Peacemaking Database containing hundreds of entries representing every continent and dozens of countries. The Religion and Peacemaking Database has three major goals: (1) to improve understanding of the phenomenon of religious peacemaking; (2) to recognize and publicize religious peacemaking work as invaluable and worthy of attention; and (3) to create a resource that will offer the academic community and other communities that are directly involved in peacemaking a chance to learn about and communicate, interact and cooperate with religious peacemakers.
Parliamentary Peacemaking: CICR’s project on parliamentary peacemaking emerges from the conviction that the role of democratically elected parliaments in international peace operations remains both under-recognized and understudied. The goal of the project is to analyze this integral role and articulate methods for ensuring that parliamentarians, national governments and international institutions understand their responsibilities with the intention of increasing the efficacy of peace operations and conflict prevention.
From Armed Struggle to Politics: Since 2003, CICR is studying the ELN guerrilla group in Colombia and its peace dialogue attempts with the Colombian government. In particular, CICR is looking (1) at the role of civil society in sustaining and encouraging the dialogue of parties in conflict; (2) the impact that the decision to look for a political solution to the four-decade long conflict in Colombia had on the nature and the function of the ELN’s armed struggle; (3) the negotiation strategy of this particular insurgency group.
DDR Program for Paramilitary groups in Colombia: Since 2003 CICR is monitoring the DDR program designed and implemented by the Peace and Reconciliation Program of the City of Medellín, Colombia. The research looks into (1) the different meaning given to a DDR program by paramilitary groups which have been dominating in the city and the state; and (2) methodologies used by the local municipality to integrate former combatants in their community.
Education and Training
CICR offers courses that seek not only to transfer knowledge, but also to encourage dialogue about conflicts and possible responses to them. These courses represent CICR’s contribution to a rich and varied curriculum of nearly 90 courses in conflict resolution that are offered by nine different schools at Columbia University. In addition, CICR continues to develop curricula in international conflict resolution by linking with other fields in international affairs, including international finance, media studies, economic and political development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and regional studies. CICR courses fall under three interconnected categories:
Foundation
Prevention and Institutions
Thematic Specializations
CICR also offers trainings in conflict resolution theory and practice that often occur outside Columbia University’s typical classroom environment. These trainings provide a wide range of powerful opportunities for learning about conflict and responses to conflict. CICR’s training philosophy is grounded in a strong commitment to interactive, dialogue-based experiences that provide new pathways for transforming conflict. CICR has designed training curricula and workshops for groups ranging from ethnic minorities in Burma to police and community leaders in Northern Ireland. Currently, CICR is developing a new program, the New York Advanced Training in Genocide Prevention: an intensive, weeklong program for a distinguished group of young leaders from selected governments around the world aimed at equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary to become effective agents for the prevention of genocide.
Practice
CICR is committed to addressing conflicts of diverse origin and to developing innovative methods of conflict resolution. CICR has been active in many countries, drawing on the extensive networks of its partners and associates, and is committed to producing tangible and incremental opportunities for dialogue among warring factions without relying on a single intervention strategy. This flexible approach has enabled CICR to attract the human and material resources necessary for many successful interventions. CICR’s experience demonstrates that, even if dialogue ultimately is insufficient to resolve the conflict as a whole at that moment, it still will provide invaluable opportunities for the actors involved to benefit from constructive engagement. Examples of CICR’s conflict resolution efforts in practice include the following:
Interethnic Conflict Resolution Program for Burma’s Ethnic Nationalities: CICR is working in partnership with the National Democratic Front, an organization consisting of eight ethnic nationalities from Burma, to facilitate their search for avenues of peaceful coexistence within and among groups. The goal of the project is to help the ethnic groups participate as a unified actor in the future governance of their country.
Development and Conflict Prevention in Timor-Leste: Since 1998, CICR has been working to contribute to stability and development in Timor-Leste. CICR’s Timor-Leste Program works toward Civil Society Capacity Building through efforts aimed at Strengthening the NGO/CBO Sector. The Center¹s work further includes research, writing and initiatives in areas related to conflict prevention and development.
Peacebuilding in Iraq: CICR seeks to contribute to the growth of sustainable peace in Iraq by working closely with partners to develop human, intellectual and institutional resources needed by Iraqis as they attempt to build a culture characterized by positive relationships and constructive approaches to conflict. CICR supports Iraqis in their efforts to develop a vibrant and open civil society, a responsible and responsive government and a higher education system with the capacity to develop future leaders who will be prepared to address conflict creatively and peacefully both inside and outside Iraq. CICR works relationally in all three sectors—government, civil society and higher education—intervening at the request of partners who wish to develop greater capacity to manage, resolve or transform conflicts in their communities.
U.S.-Syria Citizen Exchange: An exchange project between current and potential leaders of civil society, academia and business in the United States and their counterparts from Syria was organized to expose participants to the political, civic, academic and business structures and concerns of their counterpart countries. By providing specially tailored educational programs that present differing points of view on a variety of issues in politics and society, and by offering first-hand experience for Americans and Syrians in each other’s countries, the project combated prejudice and stereotyping, while promoting pluralism, acceptance and understanding.
Developing Participative Strategies for Conflict Resolution in Colombia: CICR’s Environment Program is collaborating with the Department of Political Science at Javeriana University in Bogota to develop a project that will deliver agent-based computer modeling technologies to stakeholders living in environmentally stressed areas of the Colombian countryside. The modeling workshops will help stakeholders to better understand their local socio-ecological systems and the potential impacts of development policy options.
Peace Process with the ELN guerrilla in Colombia: CICR has been involved in Colombia in research and mediation efforts since 2001. Areas of research and intervention comprised: internally displaced people, demobilization and reintegration of paramilitary members, a humanitarian agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas, and the peace process with the ELN guerrilla. Since 2003, CICR has been facilitating talks between the Colombian government and the ELN guerrilla. In November of 2006, in partnership with the Project on Justice in Times of Transition, CICR has organized in Medellin workshops in which experts and witness to peace processes in Northern Ireland and the Philippines shared with the ELN negotiation's team the lessons learned.
CICR Leadership
Professor Aldo Civico, Director, is responsible for all programs, research and teaching at CICR. He joined the Center in 2000 as a research associate and was appointed as CICR director in June 2007. An anthropologist, he has published on issues related to the Sicilian Mafia and the conflict in Colombia. He is the author of La Scelta (Piemme 1994), the intellectual biography of Ennio Pintacuda, an anti-mafia pioneer in Italy; of the chapter Portrait of a Paramilitary in the edited volume Engaged Observers (Rutgers University Press 2006); and of the forthcoming Historia de un Paramilitar (Intermedio). Prof. Civico has been involved in mediation efforts in Colombia and has facilitated conflict resolution workshops in Colombia and Haiti. In the 1990s, he served as senior political adviser to the anti-mafia mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando. He worked as free-lance journalist for Italian, Swiss and German media covering issues related to social conflict in Southern Italy. He is a senior adviser to the Project on Justice in Times of Transition and has consulted with the United Nations Development Program. Prof. Civico completed his laurea (BA-MA equivalent) in Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy, and is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Columbia University/Teachers College.
Dr. Andrea Bartoli, Founder, has taught at SIPA since 1994 and founded the International Conflict Resolution Program at SIPA in 1997. Dr. Bartoli has been involved in many conflict resolution activities as a member of the Community of St. Egidio and has published books and articles on violence, migrations and, most recently, conflict resolution. He was co-editor of Somalia, Rwanda and Beyond: The Role of International Media in Wars and International Crisis. Dr. Bartoli served as Associate Director, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University from 1992–99. He was a lecturer at the University of Rome-Tor Vergata, 1987–92, and director of the Center for the Study of Social Programs, 1986–92. He was president of Unita Sanitaria Locale 7, 1983–87, and a consultant to Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro, 1980–84. An anthropologist from Rome, Dr. Bartoli completed his Italian dottorato di ricerca (Ph.D. equivalent) at the University of Milan and his laurea (BA-MA equivalent) at the University of Rome.
Senator George Mitchell, Senior Fellow, was appointed to the United States Senate in 1980 to complete the unexpired term of Senator Edmund S. Muskie, who resigned to become Secretary of State. He was elected to a full term in the Senate in 1982. While in the Senate, Senator Mitchell served on the Finance, Veterans Affairs, and Environment and Public Works Committees. More recently, Senator Mitchell served as Chairman of the Peace Negotiations in Northern Ireland. Under his leadership a historic accord, ending decades of conflict, was agreed to by the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the political parties of Northern Ireland. In May 1998, the agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed by the voters of Ireland, North and South, in a referendum. At the request of President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Senator Mitchell served as Chairman of an International Fact-Finding Committee on violence in the Middle East. The committee’s recommendation, widely known as the Mitchell Report, was endorsed by the Bush Administration, the European Union and by many other governments. Senator Mitchell received his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in 1954, and then served in Berlin, Germany as an officer in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps until 1956. He received an LL.B. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1960. Senator Mitchell was appointed Senior Fellow of CICR July 1, 2002.
CICR relies upon the efforts of full-time professionals based at Columbia University and in Timor-Leste, visiting scholars, fellows, adjunct faculty members, and several students pursuing advanced degrees at Columbia University. CICR also calls upon the professional expertise of many pro bono consultants in the field of development, human rights and humanitarian affairs, organizational management, public relations, financial management and legal affairs.
Support
CICR is grateful for the generous support of ACDI/VOCA, Alliance for International Conflict Prevention and Resolution, American Airlines, American University of Bulgaria, Bridgeway, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Compton Foundation, Continental Airlines, Columbia University, Columbia University- Picker Center, Covenant House, Cross Cultural Journeys, Earth Rights International, East Asia Institute of SIPA, European Center for Conflict Prevention, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company, Foundation for Jewish Community, Government of Norway, Government of Portugal, Guy Wyser-Pratt, Humanity United, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Humanity United, Institute for Defence Analysis, International Foundation for Election Systems, International Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Japan Foundation, Leitner Fund, Makepeace Foundation, McDonald Foundation, Morgan Stanley, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Open Society Institute, Parliamentarians for Global Action, Phillips-Green Foundation, Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rational Games, Research Triangle Institute, Richard C. Welden Foundation, Sargent Shriver Peace Institute, Samuel Rubin Foundation, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), SEAC, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, TOSAV, UNDP, United Nations – DPA, United States Agency for International Development, United States Department of State, United States Institute of Peace, Uppsala University – Department of Peace and Conflict Research, USIP, USAID, US Army Chief of Staff, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, William and Mary Greve Foundation, Winston Foundation, World Bank.