Research Themes

The central focus of our research is the identification and analysis of barriers to international and intergroup conflict resolution, and the development of strategies to overcome these barriers. Our research has explored the psychological, strategic, institutional, and relational barriers to resolving the most intractable conflicts.

Current Research Themes

The central role that intergroup and even interpersonal relationships play in the dynamics of conflict and conflict resolution — hence the importance of developing techniques for fruitful dialogue and the building of political partnerships.
Shifting the focus from the give and take of immediately ongoing negotiations to the problem of developing scenarios for a mutually satisfactory (or at least a mutually bearable) "shared future."
The need to focus concretely not only on the negotiation process between political leaderships and elites, but also on the way proposed agreements and their implementation, or lack of agreement and/or implementation, impacts the lives of the affected individuals, their families, and their communities.
The interplay between intra-group conflict and inter-group conflict, and the special problem of "spoilers" with a range of motivations that lead them to create impediments to conflict resolution.
Barriers to agreement that arise from loss aversion, and the role of framing both the status quo and prospective changes in the status quo in facilitating agreement.
The importance of perceptions of procedural and distributive justice (and injustice) and the problem of creating agreements that necessarily deny justice to at least some of the principle parties.
The extent to which legal norms can contribute to, or impede, conflict resolution.
The importance of "tipping points" that can unfreeze an intractable conflict and create movement toward peacebuilding efforts.
Developing strategies to help parties to a longstanding stalemate, with many allegations of bath faith by the other side, to begin to trust each other to honor their commitments.