Regional Seminar for Excellence in Teaching (ReSET)


CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS AS AN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY THREAT
TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED TEACHING AND RESEARCH PROGRAM

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Background
Intellectual Rationale
Main Activities
Thematic Focus and Sequence
Participants
Important Dates

Background

The systematic study of conflict and conflict management (including prevention and settlement) is an almost completely neglected topic in the academic curricula in the target region despite the prevalence of conflict there. Similarly, very little research is carried out in this area, which further diminishes the prospects of high-quality modules and courses. This means that not only the basics of an established sub-field in international relations remain uncovered in current curricula but even more so that new issues, such as state failure or the links (alleged) between ethnic conflict, organised crime and international terrorism, are not studied at all either. Addressing this significant shortcoming can only be achieved through a broad regional and international academic collaboration, i.e., not just simple transfer of knowledge between senior and junior academics and between those from the region and outside, but rather a collaborative effort in which faculty and participants are partner in an intellectual endeavour to develop, apply, and disseminate a new research agenda, appropriate teaching formats, and relevant teaching and research skills based on an interdisciplinary and theoretically and methodologically open and integrative approach.

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Intellectual Rationale
Existing scholarship on conflict and conflict management covers a great breadth of different theo-retical persuasions, methodological approaches, and empirical material. While there is no consensus per se on the causes of conflict and the most promising strategies of its management, thorough engagement with different schools of thought in itself is essential for a better understanding of relevant issues and their establishment in undergraduate curricula. Yet, the deficits of many existing theories of conflict are that they offer singular explanations (e.g., greed vs. grievance) while neglecting that the great number of people participating in conflicts are often motivated in very different ways. Similarly, theories of conflict resolution either build on singular explanations of the causes of conflict (e.g., poverty) and offer singular solutions (e.g., development) or are ideologically/normatively driven (e.g., advocating an US model of federalism/presidentialism) - in both cases, they neglect the complexity of factors (at local, state, regional, and global levels) that determine whether any particular conflict settlement can succeed. Integrating different theories into a broader framework of analysis, enriching it with participants’ own experiences, and contributing to the development of a sustainable research agenda informing high-quality teaching is thus the underlying intellectual rationale of this project.

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Main Activities
The strategy is to provide an enabling framework for individual and co-operative learning with particular attention to developing critical and creating thinking skills, turning objectives into out-comes and incorporating implementation of results into pedagogical practices. The seminar will run for three years and roughly consists of three phases. Each phase consists of one summer session, two short contact meetings, a number of competitions among the project’s participants and intensive on-line interaction, including publishing of academic journal, supporting of web-site of the project, consultations and discussions. Using the advantages of the activities’ location, the program will include study-tours to security institutions, field-research and excursions to museums of battlefields, e.g. in Sevastopol.

Contact summer sessions
• Two-week summer session takes place in Sevastopol, Ukraine. The purpose of summer session is to enhance the academic quality of participants’ teaching and research, applying of interactive methods, effective instructional techniques and modern communication technologies. To maximise the impact of the co-operative learning experience, this course will involve a variety of activities. During summer session the participants will be required to design individual professional development plans in the field of teaching stating their individual goals and methods of achieving them and to analyse the syllabi for courses they teach using interactive teaching and learning approaches; re-draft as necessary, their syllabi and lesson plans stating clear instructional objectives, learning outcomes and methods of assessment.

Inter-session activities
There will be two types of inter-session activities (1) contact inter-session meetings and (2) continuous web-based learning on the principles of cognitive engagement. In the course of each summer session having analysed individual plans of participants, the academic directors will assign participants between the resource persons in accordance with selected topic for teaching course. During the first interim period (August-November) each participant under the supervision of the resource fellows will work over the academic portfolio and research proposal. Web-forum and e-mail communications will be used for consultations and discussions. At the first inter-session meeting (November) the participants will present the results of conducted work, such as research paper/essay/article and draft of academic portfolio. Selected participants’ papers will be published in one of the partner journals. During the second interim period (November-May) the participants under consultation of the resource fellows will work on the selected topic and implement the results in the developed course. The resulting curriculum will be sent to the resource person and selected participants for peer-review. Then junior faculty will teach courses at their home universities or project’s host in-stitution. At the second inter-session meeting (May) the participants will present complete academic portfolios of their courses. During the third interim period (May-August) the participants will be asked to prepare individ-ual professional development plans for the next year of the project.

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Thematic focus and sequence
Year 1: Theories of Conflict and Conflict Resolution (focus on the main theories of conflict and of conflict resolution ).
Year 2: An Analytical Framework for Conflict and Conflict Resolution: Structures, Actors, and Issues at the Local, State, Regional and Global Level (focus on integrating existing theoretical approaches and their application to specific empirical cases of conflict).
Year 3: Conflict and Conflict Management in the Former Soviet Union (focus on the application of knowledge and understanding gained to the region and integrating this with participants’ own experience).

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Participants

The project will involve up to 25 junior academics from the region currently teaching undergra-duate courses at a university-level institution. Participants are junior faculty (PhD holders or PhD students at the advanced stage of their research) with a strong background in Political Sciences and International Relations, including Security Studies as well as History, International Economics and Law.
The ideal project participant will have extraordinary motivation, at least few years of teaching expe-rience in a relevant field, and a keen interest in learning and sharing knowledge and experiences in his or her home-university.
The project team has established clear entry requirements for applicants in terms of their academic qualification.
Applicants must meet the following requirements:
• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, International Relations, including Security Studies as well as History, International Economics and Law;
• Full-time teaching position at the programs of undergraduate specialization closely related to the subject of the project;
• Some record in the subject (at least few years of teaching and research experience, and publica-tions);
• Participants must speak and write English fluently
Following documents will be asked as a part of participant application process:
• Curriculum Vitae (outlining academic and professional history for the period of at least the last 5 years and including list of publications relevant to the theme of the project);
• Statement of Purpose (a brief description of the applicants’ current professional interests and goals, how the theme of the project corresponds to their academic background and current professional activities, how they see the participation in the RESET Seminar Project would enhance their academic and professional development, how they can effectively contribute to the program);
• One page syllabus of an academic course developed or taught by the applicant in the subject of the project;
• One page research proposal related to the theme of the project;
• TOEFL, IELTS certificate (if applicable)

The selection of participants will be conducted through an open competition. A review committee will select the project participants. Each application is reviewed and rated by two project directors, who should score them and add comments. The project directors may interview anyone on the list, if all persons referred to the project are qualified.


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Important dates

Start of application process: 30 March 2009
Deadline for submissions: 10 May 2009
Notification of acceptance:
1 June 2009

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Copyright (c) Stefan Wolff 2008-2010.