SIA Faculty to Present on Conflict Resolution at Swedish Embassy

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State School of International Affairs director Scott Gartner and professor Dennis Jett will both present new scholarship on international peacekeeping and dispute resolution at a workshop on conflicted prevention hosted by the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) of Sweden at the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. on October 28 and 29.

The FBA—a Swedish government agency that aims to advance peace, security, and international development—hosts the annual workshop to further research into conflict prevention and resolution. Gartner, a scholar of conflict mediation, and Jett, a former U.S. Ambassador, were both invited to present new papers and participate as panelists due to their extensive scholarship and expertise in the areas of foreign policy and international relations.

The paper Gartner will present, “An Experimental Study of the Role of Gender in Selecting Third-Party Mediators in Dispute Resolution,” was co-authored with SIA students John Bangerter, Zackary Goncz, Michelle Sarver, and Natalie Schreffler. In it, they examine the role of women in meditation, the presence and impact of sexism in conflict resolution, and why, despite a U.N. resolution to increase women’s representation in mediation, it took more than ten years for a woman to lead a U.N. meditation team.

Jett will present his new paper “What Can Peacekeepers Do If There Is No Peace to Keep?,” which was shaped by his research conducted in Israel during the Spring 2016 semester as part of a Fulbright Senior Scholarship Fellowship. His research examines the history, evolution, challenges, cost, and effectiveness of peacekeeping in the Middle East.

Gartner and Jett will also participate in several panel discussions on conflict prevention, and will present alongside colleagues from universities across the country, as well as representatives from Uppsala University in Sweden, the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, the FBA, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington D.C.