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Research

The greatest threats to human civilization — war and genocide, weapons of mass destruction, ethnic and religious hostility — demand a serious commitment to interdisciplinary research. Kroc Institute faculty (in history, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and other fields) and fellows bring their training and research methods to bear on some of the most pressing problems of the day.

Profiles in Peacebuilding

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    Patrick Corrigan remembers the day he met with negotiators from the Lord’s Resistance Army, the rebel forces in northern Uganda notorious for their atrocities.

    Kroc Institute research ranges from policy- and practice-relevant studies to the defining of fundamental theoretical concepts. Faculty members have made substantial contributions to the understanding of ethnic and religious conflict; the practices of effective peacebuilding and conflict transformation; and the role of religion in conflict and peacebuilding. They have helped to design “smart sanctions” and other instruments of social and political change and to illuminate international norms and the dynamics of the United Nations and other institutions and networks that seek to restrain violence and advance human rights and justice.

    Major research initiatives also are underway to strengthen peace processes and peace accords; to define and promote the concept of strategic peacebuilding; and to contribute to the development of a theology of just peace.

    Kroc faculty and fellows contribute to Peace Policy, Kroc's online journal, offering research-based insight and commentary on conflict and peace in world affairs.