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Studying Diplomatic Negotiations: Integrating The Personal And Institutional Aspects, Egle Murauskaite

Peace and Conflict Studies

Following the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in 1991, the Arms Control and Regional Security (ACRS) working group was launched as the first and so far only official regional arms control negotiations. While there have been multiple attempts to distil the lessons of the ACRS process, the aspect of events most conducive to forging trust between the negotiators and their inter-personal dynamics has never been explored. This paper takes an inter-disciplinary approach to studying negotiations: it zooms in on the ACRS process, integrating Middle East studies, decision making processes and nonproliferation literature with negotiations theory and oral history techniques, …

Volume 21, Number 1 (Spring 2014), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Fictional Reality Or Real Fictionality? The Relationship Between Fictional Texts And Psychological Perceptions Of Societies In Conflict, Yuval Benziman

Peace and Conflict Studies

The study of groups’ behaviors in conflicts has shown that societies favor the in-group, delegitimize the out-group, and provide explanations for members of society as to why the conflict erupted and how to cope with it. It has been claimed that societies share a psychological in-group repertoire, an ethos of conflict, and that they develop a culture of conflict. As part of societies’ mechanisms, culture and fictional products – films, books and plays – have an important role in shaping the way people perceive, think and act in conflicts. Yet fictional texts, by their mere characteristics, provide a discourse which …

The Role Of Youth In Post Accord Transformation In Northern Ireland, Christine Smith Ellison

Peace and Conflict Studies

Despite increased international interest in the contribution of education to peacebuilding, there has been a neglect of the role that non-formal youth programming can play in this process. This article examines three such youth programmes in post-accord Northern Ireland through the theoretical lens of their contribution to social, economic and political transformations. Given the sustained context of segregation and limitations of the formal education sector as a mechanism for transformation, the paper argues that the non-formal sector has played an important role in ensuring inclusion of multiple youth perspectives in a divided society. It also raises a number of critical …

Improving Professional Skills Through Adversity: A Phenomenological Study Of Mergers And Acquisitions, Randy Anita Rutledge

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Company mergers and acquisitions often create tremendous conflict for employees because they force them into a spiral of organizational change. In this environment, employees are challenged with redefining themselves within a new organization. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover and explain the particular conflict experiences of professional employees who experienced the merger and acquisition of their company. A phenomenological research study was conducted to discover and describe the shared conflict experiences of professional employees during the merger and acquisition of their consulting firm. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 self-identified professional employees. It was found through …

Identifying The Factors That Influence Changes In Aggregate Sentiment Among The Masses: An Analysis Of The Measure Of Consumer Sentiment Through A Conflict Analysis And Resolution Lens, Michael Carl Letamendi

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The University of Michigan's Survey Research Center developed a tool to quantify how people feel towards the state of the economy. Dr. George Katona, a psychologist and professor at the University of Michigan developed the Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) in the 1940s. As decades of data were collected on aggregate consumer sentiment through the 50s and 60s, a discovery was made. The ICS seemed to indirectly predict the direction of the economy by accurately anticipating aggregate purchasing versus saving decisions. The index is even used today by the U.S. Government to measure consumer confidence and has been noted to …

Illuminating Capacity-Building Strategies For Landscape-Scale Collaborative Forest Management Through Constructivist Grounded Theory, Marcelle Elise Dupraw

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses the constructivist grounded theory methods of Charmaz (2011) to explore: 1) the unique characteristics of landscape-scale collaboration; 2) implications for collaborative capacity-building strategies; and 3) the relationship between conflict, landscape-scale collaboration, and conflict resolution. The study was conducted through the US Forest Service's Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). In the 1980s and 1990s, national forest management conflicts brought the forest industry to a standstill, with many jobs lost. In addition, historic fire suppression practices have made our national forests highly vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire. Many have strong opinions about what should be done and how. The …

Identifying The Factors That Influence Conflict Management Behavior Of Human Resource Professionals In The Workplace: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Personality And Conflict Management Behavior, Gail Joyce Shapiro

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Effective conflict management in the workplace can reduce the negative consequences of conflict. These negative outcomes can include low productivity, health-related stress, increased employee turnover, or litigation. A Human Resource (HR) professional can help mitigate these negative outcomes in the workplace when using effective conflict management behavior with employees. However, there is a void in research pertaining to HR professionals’ use of conflict management behavior.

This quantitative, correlational research study examined whether personality has an impact on assertive or cooperative conflict management behavior of HR professionals in the workplace. Statistical testing found a significant relationship between the harmonious, people-person (a …

The Relationship Between Emotional & Social Intelligence And Conflict Management Behavior In Leadership, Suzzette A. Harriott

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the relationship between emotional and social intelligence (ESI) and the conflict management behavior (CMB) of lower level members of management or managers in training in a public sector organization in a country in the British Caribbean. The instruments that were utilized were SPSS, the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal-Me Version, and the Conflict Dynamic Profile-Individual (CDP-I). In all cases, due to non-normality, Spearman's rho was used in order to test the five hypotheses incorporated within this study. The Spearman rho, which is also known as the Pearson correlation coefficient between ranked variables, is a …

Conflict Between Saudi Arabia And Iran: An Examination Of Critical Factors Inhibiting Their Positive Roles In The Middle East, Ghadah Alghunaim

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Since 1979, Saudi-Iranian relations have been tense due to their position as superior powers in the Middle East. Both countries have different values and perspectives in regards to diplomatic relations with the West. As a consequence of the new developments in Iran's foreign policy and the newfound openness to the West adopted by President Rouhani, the topic has proven to be of research interest. The primary concern of this research was to explore the effect of the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East, and whether or not there is a possibility to overcome this conflict using …