Peace-research, practitioners, partisans and prisoners: Developing a critical approach to international peace and conflict resolution studies

Under pretenses to 'neutrality' and 'objectivity,' traditional approaches to International Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) are failing to challenge dominant power structures and, at worst, to acquiesce to the liberal agenda of the corporate state. This thesis critiques contemporary trends that are aligning mainstream approaches to IPCR with dominant interests, thereby exposing the possessive investment in IPCR studies. It then contributes to the field by developing a critical approach to IPCR theory and pedagogy. The case study is an alternative political education project---developed by activists and political ex-prisoners from conflicts in Israel-Palestine and the North of Ireland---that immerses students in those conflict regions through study trips, activist solidarity projects, and internships with grassroots organizations. Normally marginalized conflict actors are empowered to speak and reclaim agency, while students can put a human face on the conflict, relate it to their lives, and take a stand for a just solution.