Yale Announces 10th Annual Summer Seminars in Conflict Studies in Olympia, Greece for Graduate Students

Yale Announces 10th Annual Summer Seminars in Conflict Studies in Olympia, Greece for Graduate Students

Since the summer of 2002, Olympia has been hosting, with growing success, an annual international graduate summer program in conflict studies. Thanks to the collaboration of Greek universities with Yale University’s Program on Order, Con!ict and Violence, the hospitality of the city of Ancient Olympia, and the generosity of Greek foundations, the OSS bring together every year a highly diverse and talented group of graduate students, professionals, and professors from more than 30 countries from around the world. The purpose of the seminars is to create a forum for high quality academic work in the unique setting of Olympia, and to provide opportunities for the creation and consolidation of scholarly networks of cooperation. Celebrating the 10th anniversary, the 2011 program will offer three cycles of studies. The application is competitive. Tuition charges cover only part of the total cost of the program since OSS is generously supported by several sponsors. A number of scholarships are offered on the basis of merit and need.

Cycle A "Conflict and Identity" July 7-18, 2011

Course Description

We now know much more about con!ict and political violence than we did just fifteen years ago. Thanks to new approaches and tools, social scientists have pushed our understanding of the causes, dynamics, and consequences of conflict forward. At the same time, of course, there is still a lot that we do not know or understand. The objective of the course is, therefore, to survey this field, record what we know and explore its boundaries. As this is a naturally interdisciplinary field, we will draw from several disciplines and subfields: political science (including international relations and comparative politics), sociology, history, anthropology, and economics. We will examine a variety of issues, including the causes and dynamics of civil war, the varieties of mass violence, the evolving forms of warfare, its relation with nationalism and ethnicity, the logic of rebel group formation, cohesion, and performance; and the relation between con!ict and economic development. Our geographic focus will be just as extensive and eclectic. By the end of the course, students will have acquired a broad overview of this fascinating and evolving "eld of inquiry.

The faculty includes

Laia Balcells Ph.D., Yale Researcher, Institute for Economic Analysis, Spanish Higher Council for Scientic Research,
http://balcells.iae-csic.org

Christopher Cramer Ph.D., Cambridge Professor of thePolitical Economy of Development, SOAS,
http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff30808.php

Stathis Kalyvas Ph.D., Chicago, Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science, Yale University; Director of the Program on Order,
Conflict, and Violence at Yale, http://www.yale.edu/polisci/people/skalyvas.html

Dimitris Keridis Ph.D., Tufts, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Macedonia, http://users.uom.gr/~keridis/

Paul Staniland Ph.D., MIT, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago,
http://home.uchicago.edu/~paul/

Cycle B: "Religion and Politics in the 21st Century" July 7-12, 2011

Course Description

What theoretical models and empirical tools are useful for scholar-practitioners dealing with religion in contemporary international politics? Is it possible to differentiate and balance human rights and religious freedom in the face of security concerns and material priorities? How do religious lobbies act domestically and how do religions operate trans-nationally to change political discourse, processes, and outcomes? How do different religions deal with the state, war, and violence? This seminar will address these questions, with a particular focus on case studies to illustrate the theoretical and conceptual architecture and operational complexities related to the nexus between religion and politics in the 21st century. Topics include: “The State of Play in Theory and Praxis: What’s the Meaning of Secularity and Modernity?”, “Religious Freedom and International Human Rights”, “Religion and US Foreign Policy: A Case Study of Lobbies, Legislation, and Results”, “Violence in the Name of Religion: Are All Fundamentalisms the Same?”

The faculty includes

Elizabeth H. Prodromou Ph.D., MIT, Asst. Prof. in the Boston University Dept. of International Relations and Vice Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, http://www.bu.edu/ir/faculty/alphabetical/prodromou/

Leonard Leo J.D., Cornell Law School, Executive Vice President of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies and Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,
http://www.uscirf.gov/about-uscirf/message-from-the-chair.html

Dimitris Keridis Ph.D., Tufts, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Macedonia, http://users.uom.gr/~keridis/

Cycle C: "Terrorism & Political Violence" July 13-18, 2011

Course Description

Terrorism dominates the headlines. Yet few attempt to think critically about a phenomenon that has arguably become the pre-eminent security preoccupation of western states and societies. To this end, the seminar seeks to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in the study of terrorism, while also debate whether there is a signi"cant continuity or transformation in terrorist behaviour. Topics that will be covered include: the causes of terrorism, “old” versus “new” terrorism, the place of terrorism within the broader context of political violence, the politics of terrorist risk perception, the global war on terror and counterterrorism.

The faculty includes

Richard English Ph.D., Keele Professor of Politics & Head of School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy, Queen’s University, Belfast http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofPoliticsInternationalStudiesandPhilosophy/Staff/English/

Andreas Gofas Ph.D., Warwick Lecturer in International Relations, Panteion University; IIR Research Fellow,
http://des.panteion.gr/en/gofas.html

Stathis Kalyvas Ph.D., Chicago, Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science, Yale University; Director of the Program on Order, Con!ict, and Violence at Yale, http://www.yale.edu/polisci/people/skalyvas.html

Dimitris Keridis Ph.D., Tufts, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Macedonia http://users.uom.gr/~keridis/

Harry Papassotiriou Ph.D., Stanford, Professor of International Politics, Panteion University; IIR Deputy Director,
http://des.panteion.gr/en/papasotiriou.html

Remarks of former participants:

“The Olympia Summer School 2010 has been an intense and wonderful opportunity to make progress in my research."--Sara Pavan, graduate student, University of Amsterdam, researcher and teaching assistant at the Institute of Social Studies

“The professors were all very helpful and approachable and made an effort to point out to individual students how the course discussions related back to their research topics.”--Kai Thaler, researcher, Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town

“It was an exciting experience. All in all, the summer school created an opportunity for learning and making friends with lots of fun!”--Sindu Workneh Kebede, Doctoral Student, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Department of International Economics

How to Apply to Olympia Summer Seminars

Applications

Applicants should be (post-) graduate students working towards Masters or Ph.D degrees, but we usually admit some advanced undergraduates as well. All applicants should be f!uent in English. An application should include a short bio, a letter of recommendation and a copy of university transcripts.

For all inquiries please visit http://www.navarinonetwork.org or http://www.uom.gr/olympia. You can e-mail [Ms. Betty Demetriadou] olympia@uom.gr. Also you can contact Ms Betty Dimitriadou, tel.: [011]+30 2310 891.474, fax: [011]+30 2310 891.450. Please download the application form from the web and submit by e-mail by April 15, 2011.

Early applications are strongly encouraged, especially if a request for financial aid is submitted. Places are limited and will be awarded on merit. Decisions will be mailed out by April 25, 2011. Admitted foreign students will be provided with all necessary documentation in support of a visa application, if this is needed.

Fees

All participants are expected to pay for their own travel to and from Athens. In addition, there is a 150-euro non-refundable registration fee to be paid in advance of the seminar to secure a place, in accordance with the instructions provided in the letter of admission. Tuition and board charges are for Cycle A: 790 euros, for Cycle B: 290 euros, and for Cycle C: 290 euros. This covers shared hotel accommodation in a double occupancy room, breakfast and dinner, all the reading material, transportation from Athens to Olympia and back, as well as cultural and social activities. A single room can be provided at an additional charge of 35 euros per night. A limited number of scholarships or the tuition and board charges are available and will be awarded on a merit and need basis.

Programs sponsorships

Co-organized by the Navarino Network, the Program on Order, Con!ict and Violence at Yale University, the University of Macedonia and the Institute of International Relations (IIR) of Panteion University of Athens with the support of the A. G. Leventis Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, the National Bank of Greece and the Konstantinos G. Karamanlis Foundation.

Contacts:

Betty Dimitriadou
University of Macedonia
T: [011] 30 2310 891 474 F: [011] 30 2310 891 450
E: olympia@uom.gr
http://www.uom.gr/olympia

Navarino Network
3 Apellou Street, Navarino Square
Thessaloniki 546 22 Greece
T [011] +30 2310 260 322 F [011]+30 2310 260 332
info@navarinonetwork.org
http://www.navarinonetwork.org

(Posting date 05 March 2011)

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