by Alex Hong, United States of America We've been in Bologna less than one week for the IPSI Symposium but it feels like we've been here two or three. We had the honor of hearing Roshan [...]
by Diogo Galvão, Brazil This first week of 2012 Bologna Symposium has exceeded my expectations. After quite a few busy days, full of discussions, insights, simulations and practical training, Roshan Paul, Senior Change Maker at Ashoka, [...]
by Shashi Regmi, Nepal The fourth day of the Symposium continued with the facilitation workshop organized by Michael Shipler and Rajendra Mulmi, from SFCG. A question from a participant about how to build trust between [...]
by Kiran Peter, Pakistan The IPSI symposium started yesterday with Michael Shipler, the Asia Director at Search for Common Ground and Rajendra Mulmi, the Director of Programs at Search for Common Ground Nepal, facilitating various [...]
by Hamdi Aden, Somalia Day three of the Summit focused on facilitation training run by representatives from Search for Common Ground Nepal. From the initial outset the facilitators asked us to identify our experience with [...]
by Clare Barclay, Australia Professor Terrence Hopmann’s joyful and passionate countenance again graced our podium, bringing our thoughts to the theoretical considerations we need to face when both judging and acting upon potential conflict scenarios. [...]
by Brigid Furlong, Australia Writing now, during the warm evening at the end of the first day of class, it feels like the Bologna Symposium for 2012 has commenced in an exciting blur. Much of [...]
Hello from the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Center in Bologna, Italy! The 2012 Bologna Symposium will offer an unprecedented line-up of the world's top academics, practitioners, and advocates, and we want to make sure those not present at the program [...]
by Vic Crawford, New Zealand It is an honour and a privilege to share my graduation address as the final entry for the 2011 IPSI Bologna blog. Friend Do you remember that wild stretch of [...]
by Amy Thomson, New Zealand Three days of trying to end the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict (in our universes this equated to about 20days) and I’m shattered. Acting on behalf of a small nation without international recognition [...]
by Shalva Dzidziguri, Republic of Georgia. While talking about the simulation “Unsettled Channels” over the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia during the introduction of the IPSI program on the first day of the symposium, Cameron [...]
by Charly Jaffe, United States of America Last night when I called home, my mother asked what I had done today. “Just started a three day attempt at solving the Abkhazian-Georgian conflict,” I replied, “No [...]
by Catarina Stewart, Portugal On Friday morning we had Dr. Rod Rastan, a legal adviser for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) come and speak to us. After a brief [...]
By: Lina Imran, Ethiopia What an amazing Thursday! With a very interesting lectures from William Stuebner and Dr. Valerie Rosoux who have so much experience in the field of Peace and Security, DDR, and Reconciliation. [...]
by Chané Ramadahya, South Africa In response to a lecture by Valérie Rosoux In our continued search for the global resolution of conflict, we have fortunately progressed from seeking solutions that are universally applicable to [...]
by Jose Belo, East Timor I came to this year’s symposium with the conviction that the event will hopefully enrich my insights and knowledge as well as validate my hands-on experience gained in my work [...]
by Sascha Nanlohy, Australia The Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu is based on a simple premise. A person is a person through other people. The IPSI symposium I believe is based on a similar premise [...]
by Ahmadullah Archiwal, Afghanistan In response yesterday’s lecture by A. Heather Coyne The police, besides the judiciary offices, is considered to be one of the most corrupt institutions in Afghanistan. When people in Afghanistan talk [...]
by Lilia Aguilar, Mexico I remember when I first arrived to the symposium I told my friend, and current employer, I have no idea what “peacemaking” is, but what I do know is violence and [...]
by Colleen McQuade, U.S.A. Since the beginning of my academic and professional career in the field of peace and conflict resolution I have felt a tension between ideology and business. Being a former hippie myself [...]
by Maria Masullo, Italy Over the weekend we had the opportunity to visit Florence for a different experience: a field trip. Once in Florence, this caravan of young peace builders headed towards Palazzo della Signoria, [...]
By Yuliya Chorna, Ukraine Before arriving to Bologna I read through the participants’ bios and wondered how the Bologna Symposium would meet the expectations of such a diverse group of people. As we are diverse [...]
by Charlotte Nicol, UK/Australia At the end of an intense week of the skills training and speaker presentations which made up our second week here in Bologna, I know I am not the only one [...]
by Nirmanusan Balasundaram, Sri Lanka Since the beginning of the IPSI program, I began to feel the emergence of a special energy within myself. I entered into Johns Hopkins, SAIS auditorium last Friday filled in [...]
by Luna Kalas, Bosnia Although it is amazing to have an opportunity to listen and work with people like Betty Bigombe, Álvaro de Soto and Anthony Wanis-St. John, it is even a greater opportunity to [...]
by Charly Jaffe, U.S.A. Before recalling the events of the day, I must make a confession: I am a bit of a rookie at this conference. And I like it. Instead of sitting in class [...]
by Sascha Nanlohy, Australia Rather than discussing, as I am sure many will, the amazing training given by Dr. Wanis-St. John and the incisive analysis of Joyce Neu I would like to speak about the [...]
by Maddy Bowditch, Australia I arrived at the SAIS Bologna Centre Yesterday at 7:59, albeit bleary eyed, eager to begin our first day of Negotiation Skills Training with Dr. Anthony Wanis-St John. My excitement was [...]
by Ryan Bennett, U.S.A. When hearing about international crises, large or small, I have always had a tendency to imagine the negotiations and meditations surrounding them as complex, yet elegant processes that pull together all [...]
by Matt Mason, U.S.A. Yesterday we heard from Susan Collin Marks, the senior vice president of Search for Common Ground (SFCG), an organization that works to transform the way the world defines conflict. Marks defined [...]
by Dana Higgins Called to attention by Tibetan bells, we began the last day of training with Search for Common Ground. It was a very introspective day, focused on the qualities of leadership and how [...]
by Amy Thomson “We give away our power when we tie our well-being to outcomes that are outside our control,” Susan Collin Marks. This is just one of the many ideas I have gained out [...]
by Ulf Jakobsson On Tuesday, Susan Collin Marks and Serena Rix Tripathee of Search for Common Ground, together with the participants, completed the two-day session on Leadership Development. The trainers engagingly shared with us some [...]
by Annie van Hees We have been hearing about the inspirational John Marks and Susan Collin Marks since we arrived at IPSI a little over one week ago today. The brains, heart, and soul of [...]
by Matt Adamczyk Michael Shipler and Rajendra Mulmi from Search for a Common Ground picked up right where they left off this morning, and like all day Thursday, did not disappoint. Drawing on their years [...]
by Sonia Bianchi As we start the second week of the IPSI Bologna Symposium a week in retrospect feels more like a month already! With a packed schedule, days and now weeks seemingly fly by [...]
by Amy Thomson This first week has packed my brain full of new ideas and challenged the ideas that had filled it before. From traditional lectures on concepts such as the responsibility to protect and [...]
by Vic Crockford Our time with Michael and Rejendra from Search For Common Ground inspired me write again. In particular, I want to discuss social structures after having what we were talking about as an [...]
by Catrin Morris Today was a refreshing change after almost three days of intense lectures. The trainers from Search for Common Ground effectively used the space of the whole lecture theatre and engaged IPSI students right [...]
by Vic Crockford Yesterday was the second day of the IPSI Bologna Symposium. Wow. Personally, I feel like I have been here so much longer - the ideas that have been sparked in my brain, [...]
by Sonia Bianchi What an excellent first day of the Bologna Symposium! We have begun our first week focusing on Conflict Prevention, with lectures from Dr. I. William Zartman and Dr. Francis Deng. Two excellent [...]
by Lina Imran John Hopkins professor William Zartman and the Under-Secretary General, Special Adviser for the prevention of Genocide Dr. Francis M. Deng conducted a lecture on issues of Diagnosing Conflict/Primary Drivers: A Theoretical [...]
by Mia Anderson Hinn Today… listening to Dr. William Zartman and Dr (& Ambassador) Francis Deng and the questions of my colleagues, I could only think about the importance of stories, of myths (personal, [...]
Hello from the Johns Hopkins University SAIS Center in Bologna, Italy! The 2011 Bologna Symposium will offer an unprecedented line-up of the world's top academics, practitioners, and advocates, and we want to make sure those not present at the program [...]
Today we started a two and a half day long simulation of the Georgia/Abkhazia conflict which is sure to prove challenging, yet rewarding at the same time. I have been appointed as the Abkhazian representative [...]
One of the overarching discussions that has permeated almost every session in this course so far is the question of how a balance between peace and justice can or should be struck in a peace [...]
Hearing Valerie Rosoux's lecture regarding memory and international relations was rather thought provoking for me, in how something so intangible (as thoughts, memories, and emotions) can have a significant impact on the relations between (as [...]
I’ll briefly address participant feedback from my recent presentation and this afternoon’s discussion on the International Criminal Court (ICC). Yesterday afternoon I shared my experiences and views from my 2008-2009 deployment to Iraq as an [...]
The morning lecture of July 7th started with an AFI award-winning film by a young Bosnian refugee, Harun Mehmedinovic, entitled “In the name of the son”. The movie tells the story of Tarik, a Bosnian [...]
When I received an email about IPSI a few months ago, I looked at the list of speakers and was super excited by the chance to meet some of these people – and I definitely [...]
The thing that has impressed me about the Bologna Symposium has been, as expected, the wealth of learning that takes place outside of the classroom. Other students have already written about the real-world applications of [...]
‘IF YOU GIVE A BOY A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL’. Said John Prendergast at the beginning of his lecture on the conflicts in the DR Congo and The Sudan (Darfur to be exact). [...]
The week of post conflict and reconciliation started with the lecture of ambassador Alvaro De Soto. With extensive experience at the United Nations, particularly taking part in the negotiations that led to peace agreements in [...]
In his seminal work, Agenda for Peace, former UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali states that, “the concept of peace is easy to grasp” while that of security “is more complex”. Boutros-Ghali suggests that everyone already knows [...]
Many students took advantage of our second weekend in Italy, and trips spread out across the peninsula from Florence to Milan. Another group bound for Venice truly defined the global reach of the IPSI program: [...]
Friday was sort of a low day as none of the scheduled speakers was able to make it due to reasons beyond their control. The speakers scheduled for the day were Jeffrey Mapendere and Betty [...]
Day 11, and everyone was pretty keen for today’s speaker. To kick off proceedings Gareth Evans spoke to us on: nuclear proliferation, R2P and peace v justice. GREAT! Its exactly what we needed, after a [...]
Life can’t be just work, and brain needs some time out too. Here in Bologna, it feels a bit like “we work hard, so we party hard,” and on Wednesday afternoon, a bunch of us [...]
Today, our schedule started with the last set of negotiation training sessions with our hono(u)rary guests, Mark Young (from the Harvard Program on Negotiation Trainer) and Bjorn Hofmann (from the UN Office for the Coordination [...]
We wrapped up the negotiation training with Mark Yong and Björn Hoffman today. They've provided us with some good tools and things to keep in mind in negotiations. When some of us were wandering around [...]
In any given society, there are several key factors that bring about conflict. Some of these factors include, Poor Leadership and Misuse of Power, Weak Justice Systems, Identity based divisions and lack of shares national [...]
Today was the second day in our three day training on Negotiating Successfully in an International Context. In the morning we built upon the underlying principles and concepts of negotiation learned the previous day, and [...]
The last two days have been filled with exercises and discussions aimed at developing and refining our skills in negotiation, both within our ‘home’ teams (negotiation teams) as we strategized for the negotiation simulations and [...]
Some refer to it as the act of getting to mutually beneficial agreements, of promoting peaceful settlements or of even preventing the escalation of conflict, damage and lose-lose results. On Monday, June 27, we the [...]
This week we have been introduced to the practical application of negotiation within applied contexts. As for myself, I was very much excited to not only learn about such practices, but also intrigued about the [...]
Today commemorates the final academic day of the first week here at the Bologna Peace and Security Symposium. It is a day of celebration and personal reflection about the experiences we’ve had so far, and [...]
On 25 June Klaas Glenewinkel CEO of the Media in Cooperation and Transition has spoken on the media developments in Iraq and Sudan but because I am more familiar with Iraq I will write on this part of his presentation. In [...]
Friday was an intense day. We started the day with Dr Francis from the University of Bradford on the topic "The Fire Next Door": Peace and Security Architecture in Africa. He took us through the [...]
This is a tip on Conflict Prevention/ summary, Looking at some root causes. Let us now extricate ourselves from the history of conflict and embark upon a discussion of the religious and cultural dimension of [...]
A few months ago, I wrote an essay about reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which I presented a critique of the limitations of the Dayton Peace Accord (“the Accord”). Today, I participated in a [...]
Hello From Bologna! Today, the Simulation was completely different than conventional learning approach. Yes, we all interacted constructively to explore the way to stop violence and facilitate peace in a fragile political situation that engulfed [...]
Thursday was another beautiful sunny day in Bologna! We had an early start in preparation for our morning activity: a simulation of a peace conference that could have taken place at the Organisation for Security [...]
Today we discussed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with reference to the current conflict erupting in South Kyrgyzstan. The lecture by Dr. Hopmann was enlightening and the following discussion were very [...]
On Tuesday morning I was still feeling a little tired from last nights’ dinner with I. William Zartman and Joyce Neu (who by the way were pretty awesome), so I was really grateful for the [...]
SCENE: Breakfast. The Aemalia Hotel, Bolgona, Italy. Background soundtrack: rain. ATMOSPHERE: Un-dampened enthusiasm, despite the weather. (Greatly aided by the amazing spread laid out at the buffet every morning, from every pastry imaginable-- including chocolate [...]
Hello from Bologna, Italy! The 2011 Bologna Symposium will offer an unprecedented line-up of the world's top academics, practitioners, and advocates, and we want to make sure those not present at the program can experience the month along with [...]
