Rotary Peace Center

This class provides an introduction to the multi-disciplinary field of peace and conflict studies as a foundation for and complement to peacebuilding for sustainable development.

This course: 

• Serves an introduction to the field of peace and conflict studies
• Emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of peace and conflict studies and analyzes the nature and causes of conflicts within societies and internationally from a variety of perspectives, inquiries and scales
• Provides an appropriate analytical frameworks to think critically about questions relating to the origins and dynamics of conflict, as well as the possibility of peace
• Provides a series of tools and techniques for students working in conflict settings

The Cornerstone assists fellows in shaping their 21-month program of study with the goal of achieving the outcomes desired by each individual fellow.

The seminar comprises three elements:

1. Reflection on each fellows’ skills, attributes and achievements that they bring with them to Duke-UNC
2. Examination of leadership and decision-making styles (through the Myers Brigg Type Indicator test)
3. Planning for the future through strategic selection of courses, the required summer internship and topics for fellows’ masters projects/theses.

Conflict arises in many forms, including relatively ordinary interpersonal disagreements in the course of our everyday lives, non-violent and violent crime, social and political dilemmas and injustices, and civil and transboundary conflicts. Students will learn about a variety of mechanisms and strategies for resolving or transforming conflict on interpersonal, community, state, and international levels. The pedagogy of this course will be both theoretical and practical. Students will wrestle with questions about the efficacy, appropriateness, and ethical implications of various methods of conflict resolution by reading theory and case studies; and we will learn techniques of conflict resolution from experienced practitioners, including practices of negotiation, restorative justice, and facilitating dialogue.

This course examines the link between human rights and conflict in an interdisciplinary fashion. Students will draw substantially on historical and policy analyses, learning the legal/political history of the contemporary framework for human rights and connecting it to real world efforts underway by lawyers and other practitioners to reframe and transform conflict and build peace.

Over the last 40 years our understanding of the what, the why and the how of capacity development has continued to evolve. While there remain challenges in gaining agreement on which practices are most effective, what we do know is that those efforts, which are most enduring, include a multi-pronged approach working at the various levels.

During this course, we will look at:

• Various dimensions of capacity development: individual, organizational and environmental
• The role of training, learning and performance in developing capacity at the various levels
• Trends and topics, such as fragile and conflict-affect states, gender, technology and social enterprise
• The role of systems thinking and practice in capacity development

As the peacebuilding field is becoming increasingly professionalized, a strong focus has been placed on the capacity for evidence-based practices and measuring impact through rigorous monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Effective M&E also helps to ensure that peacebuilding interventions are participatory, impactful as possible, do no harm to partners and communities, and use limited resources effectively and efficiently. This introductory course will present the basic concepts of design, monitoring and evaluation, common processes, skills and practical application of concepts and methods in the peacebuilding field. The course approaches M&E from a learning perspective to enable students to think evaluatively, and to understand the importance of good project design, theories of change, conceptual frameworks, baseline, indicators, monitoring, evaluation design, data quality and ethics, reporting and tools for practice.

The Capstone includes three elements:

1. A “cross-fertilization” workshop at which fellows will present the diagnosis and initial conclusions of their master’s project and receive the suggestions of their peers and the faculty
2. A career workshop preparing the fellows towards their future leadership roles in the field of Peace and Conflict Prevention and Resolution
3. The fellows’ public presentations at the annual Rotary Conference in April.