The Center for International Conflict Resolution’s 2011 Experts Retreat was held at the Greentree Estate in Manhasset, New York. Representatives of states, multilateral organizations, and international and civil society organizations, together with academics from around the world were present to discuss how the field of conflict resolution can respond to the new and emerging challenges presented by international conflicts.

The overarching aim of the conference was to explore the most pressing and cutting-edge challenges in the field of international conflict resolution today. Experts also discussed how academia can respond to the needs of practitioners and organizations working in the field, and better shape the university curriculum to prepare graduate students entering the field. The retreat also served as a platform for the inaugural meeting of CICR’s Board of Advisors; the Board convened for the first time in order to discuss how the findings of the retreat can be incorporated into CICR’s curriculum and research agenda in the months and years ahead.

Click here to read a document that summarizes the main findings of two days of intense discussion among forty leading academics and practitioners from around the world. Key topics explored in this document include: the evolution of conflict in the 21st century; democratization processes as the cause or cure to the rise of political and quasi-political violence in the world; the international community’s increasingly ambitious peacemaking and peacebuilding agenda; the proliferation and fragmentation of international actors, especially in the field of mediation; and, lastly, a discussion of alternative and more effective models for engagement in, and with, fragile states.