Peacebuilding

The Carter School Dean Alpaslan Özerdem was named to the Alliance for Peacebuilding’s Board of Directors, further cementing the Carter School’s commitment to long-term partnering for peace with impactful organizations.  The Carter School’s history with the Alliance for Peacebuilding goes back to its beginning, when Henry Hart Rice Professor Susan Allen was a founding member of the Alliance for Peacebuilding and previously served as Chair of the Board.

The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School at George Mason University, the top-ranked national public institution for peace and conflict resolution, has partnered with Rotary International, one of the largest global membership service organizations, to provide education and develop modalities to assist Rotary clubs in promoting local, regional, and global peace.

Carter School Dean Alpaslan Özerdem recently returned from a peacebuilding initiative in South Sudan, where he was a guest of the Minister of Peacebuilding Stephen Par Kuol and NewGen Peacebuilders’ Executive Director Patricia Shafer.

The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict & Stabilization Operations (CSO) have signed an agreement, along with a select number of other universities, to become an Academic Center of Conflict Anticipation & Prevention (ACCAP) partner.  As part of this public-private partnership, the Carter School will provide research on “current, real-world conflict-related issues” as identified by CSO offices in the interest of supporting conflict resolution and stabilization efforts.

Yet, even in these dark times, rays of hope pierce through. Around the world, institutions, organizations, and dedicated individuals are diligently striving to care the fragile seeds of dialogue, cooperation, coexistence, and peace. Often, their fearless efforts go unnoticed, and their struggles are underfunded. Their peace infrastructure is under constant attack while every day, they witness the power of the military-industrial complex, proxy wars of geopolitics, and suffering of communities torn apart by physical, structural, and cultural violence. But make no mistake; their role in our shared global narrative is pivotal. They are the bastion against chaos, the remedy of wounds that run generations deep, and the bridge-builders in a fractured world.

Karina Korostelina, a professor of conflict analysis and resolution in Mason’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, conducts remarkable research with global implications that not only applies to countries and groups in conflict but societies as well. Ukraine’s war with Russia, at its end, she says, will present enormous problems with the reconciliation of people and territories.

Dr. Borislava Manojlovic, assistant professor of conflict analysis and resolution at Mason Korea, has been awarded a Fulbright award to conduct research in Serbia.

On February 24, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution hosted “One Year After: Ukraine War Analysis and Prospects,” an all-day virtual event to discuss the effects of the war and potential post-war contexts.

The event featured Romantsova Oleksandra, executive director of the Center for Civil Liberties, the first Ukrainian organization to win a Noble Peace Prize. The recognition, which the human rights organization received in 2022, was due in part to their work documenting war crimes against civilians in occupied areas of Ukraine.

It’s been a year since George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution touched base in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their goal? Accompany locals in creating their own sustainable peace—something the country has not experienced in more than 30 years.

Carter School Dean Alpaslan Özerdem, and Charles Davidson, PhD ’19, Carter School research faculty and alumnus, visited the Congo in October 2022 to check in on the “Peacemaking + Initiative,” funded by Milt Lauenstein, and assess the direction for its next phase.

Dr. Ernest Ogbozor is a professorial lecturer and faculty lead, Africa Research Cluster (ARC) at the School of International Service (SIS), American University.