IGL Co-Sponsors Two New Courses this Spring

NEXUS | The IGL Newsletter | Spring 2009

PJTT Course Exposes Students to Challenges of Leadership in Conflict Resolution

By Ina Breuer, and Adam Levy

During the spring of 2009, the Project on Justice in Times of Transition (PJTT) hosted and co-sponsored a class at Tufts University in partnership with the Institute for Global Leadership, the Tufts University Ex-College and the Peace and Justice Studies Department titled The Role of Leadership and Change in Conflict Transformation: Durable Peace, Fragile Peace, Intractable Conflict. Co-taught by Tim Phillips (Co-Chair of PJTT), Ina Breuer (Director of PJTT) and Bruce Hitchner (Director of the Dayton Project), the course sought to immerse students in the dynamics of decision-making and change in war-torn societies. It also presented both theoretical and practical insights to conflict transformation. In addition, it provided students with an opportunity to learn directly from leaders who have first-hand experience in transforming conflicts and contributed to negotiations (many of which are members of the PJTT Network) about what moves a process forward or backward in intractable, fragile and durable transitional settings. The guest speakers included:

• Paul Arthur, Professor, University of Ulster
• Nick Burns, former US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
• Naomi Chazan, former Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset
• Arturo Cruz, Nicaraguan Ambassador to the US
• Donna Hicks, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
• Ram Manikkalingam, former advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on the Peace Process and currently the Director of the Dialogue Advisory Group
• Peter Neumann, Director, Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence, Kings College
• Sead Numanovic, Editor in Chief, Dnevi Avaz
• Jose Ramos Horta, President of East Timor and 1996 Nobel Peace Winner
• Veton Surroi, Head of KOHA Publishing House and former member of the Kosovar Unity Team
• Jan Urban, Professor, NYU in Prague and former Czech dissident.
• Howard Wolpe, Director, Africa Program and Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

The speakers addressed issues including the types of challenges leaders face first, in generating a peace process and later, in implementing peace agreements; radicalization triggers and effective de-radicalization policies; the strategic considerations that go into talking with the enemy; how to create a positive vision for the future; violent versus non violent paths to peace; and balancing outside actors and the right role for the international community.

Maya Karwande, a senior in the class said, “Leadership in Conflict Transformation was an incredible opportunity to learn about conflict transformation from the people who are actually involved in nitty-gritty negotiations. Listening to speakers ranging from Nick Burns to Jose Ramos-Horta, the President of Timor-Leste, we heard a variety of perspectives about the different stages of conflict. One theme that was discussed with every speaker was the importance of the human experience. Dignity and respect were issues that came up frequently. These topics are both usually absent from typical political science or international relations courses. Because the speakers had been so intimately involved, they were able to share details about the actual process, decisions, and actions that led to the outcomes we learn about in other courses. Rarely were theories the focus of presentation, instead we learned from the reality of what happened. The class was an amazing experience that forced me to challenge theories or conceptions I have learned in other courses by exposing me to actual actors in the peace processes.”

While recognizing the complexity and uniqueness of each situation, the students and speakers worked together to identify the universal tendencies that shape the dynamics of conflict and reached a number of significant conclusions that need more weight in crafting conflict resolution policy and practice. These included:

• The pivotal role leaders play in all stages of a conflict (because of the lack of stable institutions) in moving their societies toward peace.
• The need for international policy makers to better understand the human dimension underlying the relations and actions between actors in transitional settings.
• The important role of the international community – despite all the problems it sometimes brings – in creatively moving societies from an intractable conflict to a durable peace.

Laura Kaplan, a junior said, As an International Relations and Peace and Justice major, naturally I was interested in taking a course on leadership and conflict transformation. In addition to its subject matter, what attracted me to this course was the structure in which it was taught. Every week, prominent statesmen or politically involved people would talk to our class about their first hand experiences in dealing with conflict management. Aside from the speakers’ unmatched caliber and the insider knowledge that they brought with them, it was interesting to apply academic theories that I have learned in my other classes to make sense of what I had heard. In the past, my courses have been heavily based on theory and have lacked a vehicle to translate theory into practice. This course, in addition to EPIIC, has acted as a bridge for me to be able to place theory in a practical setting. Perhaps more importantly, however, the course gave me the insight that often the most valuable ways of learning about dealing with conflict, no matter how well one may learn academic theories, is to be in the situation dealing with them first hand. Being able to hear speakers who have played mediating roles in the most prominent conflicts of our times, therefore, was one of the more enlightening and unique learning experiences for me.

The Project on Justice in Times of Transition has been asked to teach this course again at Tufts in the future. Most of the presentations in the class can be heard on the PJTT website. (www.pjtt.org/whatwedo_class_spring09.htm) Please also visit the site for more information about the Project on Justice in Times of Transition’s thematic and in country work.

In light of the current economic meltdown, the IGL sponsored a course this semester entitled “The Global Financial Crisis: A Seminar in Investigative Economics,” taught by INSPIRE and Murrow Fellow, James Henry. The course, composed of roughly 15 students from Tufts and The Fletcher School, explored the many facets of the crisis in addition to approaching it through an investigative lens.

Henry is the author of The Blood
Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy as well as numerous articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The New Republic, The Washington Post, Harpers, The Washington Monthly, Fortune, Business Week, Newsweek, and Time. He is the former Chief Economist at McKinsey & Company; Co‐Chair, The Tax Justice Network (US); and founder of both the Sag Harbor Group (www.sagharbor.com) and Submerging Markets (www.submergingmarkets.com).

The course began with extensive readings on the history of economic crises and a foundation on the events of the current situation. After examining the boom of the 1920’s and the crash that ensued, Jim drew parallels between the events before, during, and after the Great Depression to the events of the current downturn. Moving forward to the real estate and mortgage lending bubble, we began with the implosion of the technology bubble and the 2001 recession, and how that quickly transitioned into the next bubble. We explored the role of the Federal Reserve, the government, the ratings agencies, loan officers, lending institutions, banking institutions, and hedge funds and their various contributions to the state of the global economy. We discussed securitization and financial products, changes the regulation and the industry, and financial models. After thoroughly inspecting the causes of the crisis, we transitioned to looking at short-term and long term solutions, including TARP, the stimulus package, the toxic asset plan, interest rates, nationalization, reregulation, and executive compensation. Jim addressed the role of tax havens, his area of expertise, coinciding with the G20’s plans to attack havens more aggressively.
In addition to Jim’s expertise in the field, we enjoyed half a dozen guest lectures from other prominent voices, including Marshall Carter, former CEO of State Street and incumbent president of the New York Stock Exchange; David Puth, executive vice president and head of investment research, securities finance, and trading activities at State Street; and Michael Karsch, manager of Karsch Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund.

In addition to learning about the crisis through readings and lectures, the class was involved in investigative work of its own. One group of students did a presentation on the political influence of banking, exploring the role of lobbyists, lawyers, and trade associations that banks hire in order to pursue their interests. The group looked at this topic through Goldman Sachs, also studying the revolving door phenomenon and the company culture. The presentation looked at other relevant ideas within this theme, including case studies on SIFMA and the CFMA, and changes in regulation in the last decade. The second group looked at Morgan Stanley’s role in the property market in China. It researched Morgan Stanley’s spread in the Chinese real-estate market, as well as the resignation of Garth Peterson, the managing director of Morgan Stanley Real Estate, heading its China operations.

While twelve weeks cannot possibly cover the many dimensions of the worst economic crisis the world as seen in decades, the seminar built a comprehensive foundation for understanding the economic crisis and how to move forward in these trying times.