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Christopher Mitchell

Christopher Mitchell
Professor Emeritus of Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Ph.D, 1966-71, University College, London
B.Sc(Econ), International Relations, 1963-66, University College, London
Diploma in History, 1959-62, University of London
Westminster Teacher Training College, London, 1955-1957. Royal Liberty School, Romford, Essex, England, 1945-1950.

Biography

Chris Mitchell has degrees in Economics and International Relations from London University but is actually a historian able to recognise fraudulant economic reasoning [e.g. the “free” market] when he sees it. He has held academic jobs at London University, the University of Southampton and City University, London as well as teaching at the University of Southern California, Brigham Young University and the University of Maryland. He was on the full time teaching faculty of S-CAR for 17 years and was the School's Director for four of those. In the 1960’s he was part of the pioneering research team at University College, London which, under the leadership of Dr John Burton, developed the basic ideas of conflict resolution, problem solving workshops and informal “Track Two” interventions into protracted conflicts. Since then, he has been involved in T2 interventions that have tried to address the sources of, and solutions for conflicts between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Israelis and Palestinans, Somalis and Ethiopians, British and Argentinians, Nationalists and Unionists in Northern Ireland, Basques and Spaniards, Moldovans and Trans-Dniestrians, as well as diverse Liberian factions.

His first serious research into conflict sources and dynamics involved work in the Horn of Africa before it was afflicted by the “Cold War”, followed by an examination of peacemaking and peace breaking in the Sudan on the 1970’s and 1980’s. Later work involved efforts to develop solutions for the conflict over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, which involved an examination of the intellectual dead ends provided



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Awards and Honors
Distinguished Scholar Award
Christopher Mitchell received a Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association - Peace Studies Section. The award and reception was sponsored by the School for Conflict...
Travel Award to the USA
Fulbright Fellowship [L1000]. Travel Award to the USA. 1985-86.
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Titlesort icon Semester
These 1- and 2-credit courses are scheduled non-conventionally using weekends, concentrated presentations, and intersession periods to develop...
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Featured Content
Title Published Date
September 01, 2015
The term ‘intractable conflict’ is widely perceived as an impossible dilemma: a situation with which there is no positive outcome, no solution. These are the conflicts alleged to stubbornly elude resolution despite the use of popular conflict...
Category: Journal Article
March, 2015
Armed conflict may appear to be in long term decline, but the intractability and destructiveness of contemporary conflicts make conflict resolution as urgent and necessary as ever. The Contemporary Conflict Resolution Reader is the first comprehensive survey of...
Category: Book
December 01, 2014
The Nature of Intractable Conflict introduces the latest ideas that seek to explain the basis of deep-rooted and violent conflict among human groups, communities and nations. It analyses a range of methods by which people have sought to mitigate, contain or...
Category: Book
2013
This edited volume examines Basic Human Needs theory and interactive problem solving, looking at recent developments in thinking about both and how these might affect peacebuilding in contemporary conflicts of the twenty-first century.The era in the immediate...
Category: Book
May 03, 2012
Local Peacebuilding and National Peace is a collection of essays that examines the effects of local peacebuilding efforts on national peace initiatives.The book looks at violent and protracted struggles in which local people have sought to make their own peace...
Category: Book
May 03, 2012
An introductory chapter setting out the supposed linkages between national peacemaking efforts and local peace-building initiatives.   
Category: Book Chapter
May 03, 2012
Summarizes lessons to be learned from the above experiences regarding the effects of local peace building initiatives on national level processes and the (often ignored) effects of national policies on local efforts. 
Category: Book Chapter
April 03, 2012
Analyses President Alvaro Uribe’s strategy of “Democratic Security” for dealing with armed insurgents, and the effects this national level policy has had on local peace building initiatives in five Colombian peace communities.   
Category: Book Chapter
December 10, 2011
The chapter discusses various kinds of change that precede moves towards cease fires and truces, talks about talks, and formal negotiations leading towards a durable peace. It focuses on changes of mind, changes of personnel and changes in behaviour,...
Category: Book Chapter
June 25, 2009
“Second-track” methods of resolving or mitigating interstate and intergroup conflicts have gained increased credence in recent years, but a continuing problem has been to persuade “first-track” diplomats to heed the results of these less...
Category: Journal Article
September 12, 2008
The remaining two major presidential candidates have endorsed (i) maintaining and strengthening the nuclear nonproliferation regime and (ii) pursuing nuclear arms control measures with Russia and others. Regrettably, the State Department, which will bear the brunt...
Category: Papers & Reports
September 01, 2008
Category: Book Chapter
February 01, 2007
Category: Book Chapter
February 01, 2007
Category: Book Chapter
February 01, 2007
Category: Book Chapter
February 01, 2007
The notion of having sanctuary from violence or threat has probably existed as long as conflict itself. Whether people seek safety in a designated location, such as a church or hospital or over a regional border, or whether their professions or life situations (...
Category: Book
August 01, 2003
Category: Book Chapter
March 01, 2001
The end game of peace negotiations between international actors has received a great deal of scholarly attention over the years. Much of this effort focuses on the processes by which states, leaders, or diplomats achieve durable solutions to differences previously...
Category: Journal Article
July 2000
This Working Paper is a model of using an in-depth, hands-on account of a specific case to explore and expand a body of theories and to test the efficacy of specific practices. Among the questions Mitchell considers are when is the timing appropriate for a problem...
Category: Papers & Reports
June 03, 2000
This book examines the ideas, assumptions, and theories that underpin how leaders of parties in intractable conflicts begin and sustain a process of peacemaking by offering to their adversaries "olive branches"--in more modern terms symbolic gestures,...
Category: Book
June, 1997
In developing the theme of local "zones of peace" for this issue of Peace Review, we began with a rather narrow conception. We knew about at least two types of peace zones. First, there were those that had been created by local, often grass roots,...
Category: Journal Article
June 01, 1997
We hope this collection of essays, and its case studies, analyses and lessons, will contribute to peace zone theory and also have a practical use for people in current and future zones of peace. The broad range of perspectives presented here lends itself more to...
Category: Journal Article
January 06, 1997
In developing the theme of local “zones of peace” for this issue of Peace Review, we began with a rather narrow conception. We knew about at least two types of peace zones. First, there were those that had been created by local, often grass roots,...
Category: Journal Article
September 01, 1996
In questioning traditional assumptions of the inevitability of war and conflict the main contention is that resolution of conflict is to be achieved by a collaborative, analytical problem-solving approach, involving both a set of theoretical assumptions about...
Category: Book
November 01, 1995
The article uses two very different examples of third party mediation to illustrate the argument that intermediary flexibility has two aspects: freedom from constraint and capacity to undertake an influential interventive role by carrying out a variety of...
Category: Journal Article
September 01, 1995
The field of conflict resolution has reached a point in its evolution where hunches and intuitive guesses are being transformed into testable theoretical propositions. Nowhere is this more important than in the debate about when conflicts are "ripe for...
Category: Papers & Reports
February 01, 1991
An outline of potential answers to the problems of analyzing the decision-making component of the process of conflict termination is presented.
Category: Journal Article
October 1990
Moves intended to initiate de-escalation and begin a peace process are often difficult to make and even more difficult to identify unambiguously. Two examples from recent Anglo-Argentine relations provide a basis for investigating whether successful gestures of...
Category: Papers & Reports
October 01, 1989
Christopher R. Mitchell's "Conflict Resolution and Civil War: The Sudanese Settlement of 1972" is the third in a series of Working Papers reflecting the research interests and findings of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason...
Category: Papers & Reports
November 17, 1988
The above discussion has been a somewhat round-about way of explaining both the prevelance and the importance of mediation and the intermediary international conflict management.
Category: Book Chapter
November 17, 1988
Category: Book Chapter
November 17, 1988
A second set of background factors can be grouped under the heading “motives for mediation”.
Category: Book Chapter
November 17, 1988
This collection of twelve essays examines the use of mediation in intranational as well as international disputes so that parallels and similarities between various approaches could be emphasized and the whole approach viewed as a universal means of managing human...
Category: Book
June 01, 1981
Category: Book
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November 01, 1995
By Christopher R. Mitchell
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November 11, 1988
Category: Newspaper Article

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This dissertation examines the role of critical factors in the internal and external environments of a Non-State Armed Group (NSAG) in its decision to end civil war and come to the negotiating table.
April 26, 2007
Language frames us, our world and where we are headed—by changing the frames we use we can contribute to changing our future. Press frames are constructed through the selection of certain pieces of information that can contribute to paradigms, our ways of thinking; and to worldviews,
November 21, 2006
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