All Programs
The Center hosts impactful programs that promote understanding, reconciliation and conflict management in areas of tension and conflict around the globe.
Asia Pacific Security and U.S. – China Relations
The U.S.-China relationship has never been more uncertain than it is today. The Center is at the forefront of measures to improve dialogue and communication on contentious issues between the two nations. Through dialogues and joint research, the Center has fostered constructive conversations among former senior military officers, government officials, and leading scholars in the U.S. and China on both the South China Sea dispute and nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula. This Program has received generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation for its multiple projects including Promoting U.S.-China Communication and Dialogue on the South China Sea Disputes (2016-2019) and U.S.-China Security Dialogues: Advancing Communication at a Bilateral Crisis Point (2019-2022). On May 22, 2020, the Henry Luce Foundation approved an urgent needs grant to support the Center’s Luce Dialogue on U.S.-China Relations During and After the Pandemic project. This project will address critical challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and aims at improving understanding and cooperation between the two nations during the pandemic crisis. Read more.
Statebuilding and Peacebuilding in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
The 2011 Arab Spring has led to prolonged social conflicts, substantial human suffering, and tensions between countries in the region. It has also exposed shortcomings in existing international approaches for supporting peace and for building stronger states. The Center supports efforts to ensure that international aid accelerates peace, that local mediation efforts progress national political processes, and that peacebuilding initiatives are effectively designed. The program’s geographic focus is Yemen, Syria, and Libya, although it also provides support in other conflict contexts in the region. The program presently works in partnership with GIZ (Yemen), Search for Common Ground (Yemen), the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Lebanon) and the United Nations Development Program (Libya). Read more.
Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution Training and Mentoring
The Center serves as a capacity and skill development resource to those working on or in conflict. This encompasses dialogue skills, mediation skills and practical peace programming.
The Center has expanded its mentoring support for diplomats, practitioners, and academics in effective conflict resolution. After its successful pilot mentoring program for diplomats funded by the Swiss FDFA, Training in Effective Peace Programming, CPCS received a follow-up 12-month grant for Toolkit on Effective Peace Programming in May 2020. This new mentoring project, led by Professor of Practice David Wood, envisages support for the Swiss Government’s peace programs in Sri Lanka and Libya. In addition, CPCS has expanded and undertaken academic mentoring both for Seton Hall and other institutions. For example, on June 11, 2020, Professor Zheng Wang conducted an online workshop for the students of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, Beijing. The workshop attendees included over 50 participants from twelve countries. The session focused on the art and science of cross-cultural communication and problem-solving. And from August 18 to August 22, Professor Zheng Wang conducted the Working with Conflict – Skills for Mediation and Conflict Resolution workshop for the current and incoming Seton Hall University students. Read more.
All Conflict is Local Conference
Catholic and Religious Peacemaking Program
The Center offers courses and promotes research on the established and emerging peacemaking work done by Catholic actors and entities.
In December 2019, the Center entered into an academic partnership with the Center for Security Studies (ETZ Zurich) on worldview conflicts. This partnership was kicked off with a joint event at Seton Hall university exploring the difference between ‘worldview’ conflicts, and those based on interest and identities. The next step envisaged by the partnership was an international practitioner conference in May 2020 (together with the University of British Columbia and funded by the Swiss FDFA), Mediating Conflict between Groups with Different Worldviews: Approaches and Methods. This conference has been postponed until November 2020, given the international coronavirus pandemic, and has been supplemented by a series of online exchanges between participants. The exchanges and re-arranged conference will result in a set of papers on best practice in mediating worldview conflicts, with Zheng Wang one of the contributing authors. Read more.
Reconciliation through Dialogue: Territorial Dispute and Reconciliation Challenges in East Asia
This program includes a series of conflict resolution dialogues involving leading scholars from China, Japan, Korea and United States and the publication of two co-edited volumes focused on the Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute and the reconciliation challenges in East Asia. Read more.