A Collaborative Project for Conflict Resolution Capacity Building

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the citizens of the Georgian Republic have endured enormous hardships—economic devastation, social upheaval, civil war, political revolution, and most recently, a “Rose Revolution.” Fundamental services that are essential to an ordered society are threatened by a flourishing black market, corrupt police, and an illequipped health care system. A lack of local specialists on the sources of ethnic and religious conflicts in this region is well documented. The hatreds of conflicting groups also threaten the stability of neighboring countries (the Russian Federation, Turkey, and Iran). Because of this instability and its geopolitical significance, the United States has invested heavily in this region — over one billion dollars worth since 1989. Such investment includes support for educational development through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State.

Through this support, ICAR established a partnership with Tbilisi State University (TSU) to develop programs of education and research in conflict resolution initiatives that target current conflicts in this region. The major purpose of this program is capacity building: to train specialists in measures for resolving conflicts that currently afflict Georgia and the greater Caucasus region, with particular attention given to hostilities afflicting Abkhazia, North Ossetia, and Ajari. With its proximity to Chechnya, the new Institute at TSU provides a significant and germane training in ethnic-based conflict for students.

The two-year project included a series of activities designed to develop a new master’s degree in conflict analysis and resolution at TSU. Certain methods of positive peace building will emerge from the region’s cultural heritage and will, in turn, be implemented by the specialists who will be trained through the work of the Institute. To meet the program goals, participants from George Mason University collaborated with faculty from TSU in three kinds of exchanges: faculty from TSU visiting GMU each fall semester, faculty from GMU visiting TSU during spring semesters, and both faculties visiting TSU branch campuses in critical regions of Georgia, primarily in the summer. The central focus of such activities was to develop curricula for creating and defining the new master’s program at TSU.

Academic year 2003-04 was the second year of the program. Although the new master’s program was originally designed to begin in academic year 2004-05, a small group was accepted as the first cohort class for fall semester 2003. That same fall, three faculty from TSU — Guguli Magradze, Zurab Davitashvili, and Giorgi Khutsishvili — were schedule to arrive at ICAR but postponed their trip because of their involvement in Georgia’s “Rose Revolution.” Instead, they visited in Spring, 2004. (Guguli and Zurab have been selected as members of the new Georgian Parliament.)In the most recent exchanges, Kevin Avruch and Sandra Cheldelin traveled to Georgia in May, and Linda Johnston and Dan Rothbart traveled during the last week of August. Kevin and Sandra spent a week at the university giving public lectures to faculty and students from the departments of Social Psychology and International Relations and teaching master’s students enrolled in the newly created program. Kevin’s public lecture on “Conflict Resolution in Situations of Genocide and Mass Violence” was slightly less upbeat than Sandra’s lecture on “An Analysis of Organizational Conflict.”

Lectures to students involved developing mini-syllabi for the courses taught at ICAR. Kevin adapted his fullsemester Introduction to Conflict Resolution to cover such topics as definitions of conflict, conflict styles, conflict escalation, Track I and Track II approaches to peacemaking, peacebuilding, reconciliation, and conflict transformation. Sandra adapted her semester-long organizational and gender conflict courses to include such topics as appreciative inquiry and narrative analysis, introduced a framework for organizational conflict analysis including various models of intervention, and presented research on gender and violence.

At the end of their week, the two were escorted on a day-trip into the mountains to visit the town of Gori, the birthplace of one of Russia’s most infamous leaders. Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili on December 21, 1879, this man — later known to the world as Josef Stalin — was born and lived his first five years in Gori. In addition, Guguli Magradze, the co-principal investigator of the project and a professor of social psychology, gave them access to a parliamentary session.

Linda and Dan stayed for three days in Tbilisi and two days in the resort city of Borjomi, near the Caucasus Mountains. The natural beauty of this area offered a wonderful setting for a two-day conference that brought together 50 faculty and students from various regions of Georgia. Speakers included Mr. Richard Miles, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, and Dr. Vakatang Maisaia, representative of Georgia in NATO. The training sessions addressed U.S.-Georgia security relations, peace and peacekeeping factors, religious diversity in the U.S., the U.S. economic system, the U.S. political system, power and conflict, and mediation and negotiation techniques. The discussions generated enthusiastic participation among students and faculty.

Linda represented ICAR at this conference and, in so doing, facilitated two workshops: Peace and Peacekeeping Factors and Power and Conflict. The latter workshop included a dramatic simulation of an autocrat’s attempts to maintain power, and peaceful measures for undermining such power. (The actor, Dan, playing the autocrat thoroughly enjoyed his role, maybe too much so.) The conference included as a keynote speaker Mr. Richard Miles, U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, and his wife, Ms. Sharon Miles. After the conference Ms. Miles invited Linda and Dan for tea at the ambassador’s private residence in Tbilisi to discuss prospects for continued collaboration between ICAR and TSU.

Dan’s responsibilities centered on the evaluation of the Georgian Project, focusing primarily on an assessment of the new master’s program in conflict management at TSU, and the extent to which faculty of that program are prepared to teach courses and supervise students. With assistance from Karen Bhangoo, a Ph.D. candidate, who traveled to Tbilisi the end of August and early September, Dan conducted interviews with faculty and students, observed lively discussions during the Summer Institute, and examined the resources available to students at the new Institute. For further information about this collaborative project, please contact Sandra Cheldelin at ([email protected]).