Department of Conflict Management

Founded in 1999, the Department of Conflict Management is one of the youngest departments of the Faculty. Its task is to produce highly qualified specialists in conflict management.

Head of Department is Professor A. I. Strebkov, Doctor of Political Science. The faculty includes senior lecturers D. A. Abgadzhava, Candidate of Sociology and M. M. Aldaganov, Candidate of Philosophy. Also included are senior researcher T. V. Kryukova, Head of the Laboratory of Conflict Study, Candidate of Technical Sciences; assistant A. G. Artyomova, Candidate of Political Science; and engineer S. A. Listikova. The staff conducts a broad range of considerable research in various fields of conflict management. This breadth includes the areas of Social Policy in Modern States; General Theories of Conflict; Ethno-Political Conflict Management; Ethnic Conflicts in the Northern Caucasian Region; Determination of Social Process; Decision Making in Uncertain Situations and Conflicts; Electoral Behavior; Applied Conflict Research; and Aspects of Gender Gaps. Many of the staff publications are widely recognized as significant contributions to scholarship.

The greater part of staff effort, however, concentrates on training students for their future careers. The department curriculum includes lectures, specialized courses, seminars, and practical classes in a broad variety of subjects about conflict management.

All undergraduates must take the same program, regardless of their future specialization in the areas of conflict management. The main objective of the undergraduate curriculum is to acquaint students with the large body of knowledge and experience in the field of conflict management and to promote their understanding of its current problems and issues.

Graduate students are also required to take a number of compulsory courses. They are, however, offered a choice of lectures and seminars for more substantial training in specific branches of conflict management. Graduates are strongly advised to undertake independent research in their fields of specialization at the beginning of their graduate studies.

Students in the Department of Conflict Management participate in an educational program designed to train specialists in conflict prevention and resolution. The program is unlike any other program in Russia or abroad. Graduates receive a Bachelor’s Degree and/or a Master’s Degree in Conflict Management.

The development of modern society has created an increasing demand for specialists in conflict management because of the steady rise of conflicts in different spheres of vital activity. A specialist in the profession of conflict prevention and resolution deals with any or all of the following: estimating exactly a conflict situation; assessing the locale of the conflict and the extent of its domain in different spheres of social action; searching for peaceful strategies to resolve and to prevent conflicts; introducing effective methods of intervention, including mediation and negotiation techniques that remove the cause of conflict in a person, a particular group, or society as a whole. To this end, the department aims at training the candidate for the bachelor’s degree profoundly in the humanities, in the ability to identify and assess the essence of conflict, in the acquisition of practical habits of preventing and resolving conflicts, and in the use of mediation and consultation in the process of negotiations. Students also have the opportunity to participate in international conferences.

The department Magistrates also provide an opportunity to pursue a second course of higher education in “Conflict Management” in order to improve professional skills. This course includes specialized training and participation in summer school sessions taught by specialists in conflict management. Only those who have higher educational training (specialists and those with a bachelor’s degree) will be admitted to the program. Students pursuing a master’s degree must take a two-year course of study. The principal areas of study for the master’s degree include Political Conflict Management; Ethnic Conflict Management; Theoretical Conflict Management; and Applied Conflict Management.

The Department has its own Laboratory of Conflict Study equipped with up-to-date technology that will allow the student the opportunity to interact with local and global computer networks as a component of the educational process. Using modern methods of social modeling, the Laboratory engages in working out different levels of conflict models and of peaceful strategies. Additionally, the laboratory provides consultation, giving expert judgment on the nature of conflict relations and negotiations and the problems related to it.

Another important function of the Department is its maintenance of a balance in the diversity between theory and practice. Students are able to have practical experience in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Centre of Conflict Management of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Science, municipal bodies of the city, and other related institutions and organizations.

As specialists in conflict management, graduates will qualify for employment in a wide array of businesses, industry, and socio-political bodies. As specialists in interdisciplinary subjects, they will be able to provide not only expertise in the nature of conflict, but also economic, legal, and technological support.

The Department also offers a full-time, post-graduate course in research.

Exercises:

I. Comprehension Questions.

1. When was the Department of Conflict Management founded?

2. What can you say of the teaching staff of the Department?

3. Which are the problems the members of the academic staff investigate in their research work?

4. Is the curriculum of the Department compulsory?

5. What degree do the graduates receive?

6. Who can be admitted to the program of a second course of higher education in “Conflict Management”?

7. Does the Department hold a post-graduate course?

II. Word Study.

Match the following terms:

a. ethno-political conflict	1. разрешение конфликтов
b. electoral behavior	2. мирные стратегии
c. applied conflict research	3. современный
d. gender gap	4. экспертная оценка
e. compulsory course	5. причина конфликта
f. conflict prevention	6. электоральное поведение
g. conflict resolution	7. этнополитический конфликт
h. a Bachelor’s Degree	8. аспирантура
i. a Master’s Degree	9. степень бакалавра
j. demand	10. переговоры
k. peaceful strategies	11. предупреждение конфликтов
l. mediation	12. потребность
m. negotiation	13. междисциплинарный
n. the cause of conflict	14. степень магистра
o. the essence of conflict	15. обязательный курс
p. up-to-date	16. медиация
q. expert judgment	17. прикладные исследования конфликтов
r. interdisciplinary	18. гендерная политика (конфликт полов)
s. a post-graduate course	19. сущность конфликта