Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

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.

As hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary, many people are discussing how the art form has influenced culture, but few know about its role in conflict resolution and diplomacy.

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.

For one of the more than 35 events of Peace Week Fall 2022, the Carter School partnered with Mason Men’s and Women’s Basketball programs on a joint initiative with PeacePlayers International, an organization that works with youth from divided communities around the globe, using basketball as a vehicle to unite, educate, inspire, change perceptions, create opportunities for peacebuilding, and develop leaders.

George Mason University Carter School professor Richard Rubenstein attended a workshop conference at the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences at the Vatican on June 6-7 to discuss peacemaking in Ukraine and other global conflict sites. The conference was organized by the U.N. Development Solutions Network headed by Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs.

Bill Potapchuk is President and founder of the Community Building Institute (CBI), an organization created to strengthen the capacity of communities and organizations work collaboratively, inclusively, and equitably healthy, sustainable futures.

Peace and Conflict Resolution scholars and foreign affairs practitioners convened at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School’s Point of View research and retreat facility in Mason Neck, Virginia issued the following appeal to the conflicting parties in Ukraine.

Helsing has taught a broad range of subjects, including conflict resolution, analysis of war and peace, negotiations, human rights and conflict, and international relations theory. Prior to joining the Carter School, he spent 23 years at the United States Institute of Peace, including as head of USIP’s Education and Training Department.

As a junior and senior at Annandale High School in Virginia, Emily Sample spent her summers as a docent at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. She was a teenager who had just lost a friend to police violence, she said, and joining the museum’s Young Ambassadors Program resonated with her.

“I was fascinated and continue to be fascinated by this highly illogical idea of genocide,” said Sample, a PhD candidate at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.