Conflict Resolution and International Negotiation

Civil wars are the most common form of conflict across the world, causing death, destruction, and humanitarian crises. Their impact on politics, economics, and international stability can extend far after the war ends. How can the international community address this pernicious problem? What determines whether interventions to stop the fighting are successful?

In this course, students will learn about the tools the global community uses to solve disputes and debate potential solutions to ongoing conflicts. We’ll start by looking at the intersection of foreign policy, strategy, and negotiation—what do countries want and how do they get it? Then we’ll dive into theories of conflict resolution and how the United Nations plays a role as a peacemaker across the world. The course culminates with an exciting, hands-on UN Security Council simulation, where students will tackle issues related to real-world conflicts, develop informed solutions, and put their negotiation skills to the test.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing this course, students will:

1. Understand important concepts related to negotiation and how they are applied both in instances of civil war and within international organizations like the UN
2. Learn about the causes of civil war onset and termination, and the effectiveness of conflict resolution strategies
3. Apply their knowledge of conflict resolution identify potential solutions to three conflicts covered in our simulation
4. Apply their knowledge of negotiation to identify ideal scenarios, trade-offs, coalition-building opportunities in our simulation
5. Have facility with finding and evaluating a variety of sources for research in international affairs
6. Develop written communication skill from drafting resolutions and oral communication skills by presenting and debating during our simulation.

Tangible Outcomes

Tangible outputs are group-based and most have an (non-material) experiential component. Students put together briefings in teams on an ongoing civil war and write draft resolutions in their UN Security Council simulation.

Hands-on Activities

In the first week, each afternoon is a structured research session in which the instructor demonstrated useful research skills/tools alongside our subject librarian. This provided an opportunity for students to dig into meaningful research, both individually and in groups, while also having access to support from the instructor and Dartmouth's History and Social Sciences librarian.

Guest Speakers

• Wendel Cox, History Librarian.
• Victoria Holt, Director of Dickey Center, former State Department official in Office of International Organizations and Peacekeeping.
• Elizabeth Shackleford, Dickey Policy Director, former State Department official with experience in Somalia and South Sudan.
• Peter Jenkins, Dickey Center Internship Coordinator.

Field Trips

Students will spend time in the library and visit the Dickey Center for International Understanding. 

Information is subject to change as instructors finalize course content and syllabi.