REU Site: Civil Conflict Management and Peace Science

University Of North Texas, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

Given the growing frequency of civil conflicts in the world, and the security concerns these conflicts engender for the United States in the 21st century, the development of human capital that is equipped to deal with these challenges is critical for the national security of the country. The Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas (UNT) seeks to initiate a unique program to provide 10 undergraduate students (recruited from across the country) the opportunity to engage in graduate-level research in conflict management and peace studies, in a senior faculty-mentored, in-residence, eight-week, Summer Research Experience (SRE) that integrates training in civil conflict management with training in propositional calculus and computer simulation skills. Participants will use propositional calculus and simulations to develop theoretical propositions that will be tested empirically. Participants will collect and analyze empirical data and report their findings in a national professional political science conference. Activities will include workshops on computer simulations, research methodology, and the graduate school application process. There will also be activities designed to build a sense of research community among students, faculty and graduate student mentors. Our previous experience with a one-year pilot program that was authorized by the NSF (serving eight participants in the summer of 2010) has demonstrated the effectiveness of our planned program. The political science department at UNT is ideally positioned to offer such a program. With 31 full time faculty members, home to the Vivian Castleberry Peace Institute, and the only degree granting program in peace science in the Southwestern United States, and with some of the most noteworthy scholars in the field of international and civil conflict (as well as having faculty with substantial experience in managing undergraduate research programs) the UNT Department of Political Science is very well equipped to offer an REU on conflict management and peace science. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual focus of the program is on civil conflict management and the enhancement of peace. Indeed since 1945 civil war ? revolution, secessionist war, and ethnic and sectarian violence ? has replaced interstate war as the most frequent and deadly form of armed conflict in the world. Our proposed program seeks to focus on understanding the causes of civil conflict occurrence (or reoccurrence) and investigating possible institutional configurations and other types of actions that may assist in ameliorating civil conflict (such as peacekeeping missions). In particular, we seek to train students in formal and logical reasoning, which will promote innovative thinking and problem solving skills. Developing empirical skills to test the theoretical propositions derived from the use of computer simulations will also hone the scientific skills of the student participants. Broader Impacts: Training in conflict management that includes populations historically underrepresented in higher education (but which are growing as a proportion of the undergraduate student population in the United States) is a national imperative. This program seeks to address the need to develop further expertise in conflict management and peace science by providing opportunities to engage in advanced empirical research to students from such populations, students who would not otherwise have such opportunities. UNT is well positioned, both institutionally and geographically, to provide such access. To that end, they have secured formal commitments from Hispanic and Native American Serving Institutions and from Historically Black Colleges/ Universities (HBCU) in Texas and Oklahoma, and the Ronald E. McNair Program at UNT to assist in broadening the pool of applicants to the program. However, the PIs solicit applications from across the country as well.