Nadim Rouhana

Nadim Rouhana is Professor of International Affairs and Conflict Studies and the Issam M. Fares Chair in Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies at The Fletcher School. Before joining the Fletcher School in 2008, Dr. Rouhana held teaching positions at Israeli, Palestinian, and American universities. His research is published in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.

His current research is focused on three major areas:

New paradigms of conflict analysis and resolution: Dr. Rouhana's research explores power asymmetry as an overlooked dynamic within the study and implementation of conflict resolution. His analysis considers how hegemonic Western-centric conflict resolution paradigms often symmetricize conflict analysis and produce corresponding resolution frameworks that overlook inherently violence and imbalanced power dynamics that privilege the high-power party and further disempower the low-power party. He seeks to propose an alternative paradigm that challenges existing conflict resolution assumptions and incorporates questions of power asymmetry, issues of history and historical responsibility, and social justice, each of which is largely absent in standard applied conflict resolution. Dr. Rouhana's current research also specifically interrogates how the field of conflict resolution has framed the resort to violence by low-power parties in asymmetrical conflicts, and in cases of colonialism and domination in particular. By placing greater emphasis on comprehensive conflict analysis, and by giving history and justice their due place, Dr. Rouhana aims to increase the relevance of conflict resolution to parties across the Global North and South.

This research stream builds upon Dr. Rouhana's earlier research on power asymmetry and group identity in conflict resolution, as well as on his groundbreaking work on distinguishing among conflict settlement, conflict resolution, and reconciliation, notably on defining the latter within the field of social psychology and emphasizing the significance of intangible, non-negotiable human needs such as dignity, identity, and collective memory within the negotiation process.

Dr. Rouhana previously pioneered new methods of conflict resolution in partnership with Professor Herbert C. Kelman (with whom he wrote dissertation between 1981-1984), based on Kelman's problem-solving workshop (PSW). Rouhana and Kelman later collaborated to develop the concept of the continuing workshop, in which regular intensive meetings take place between high-ranking non-official individuals over a long period of time in order to advance jointly formulated ideas on how to address major issues of dispute in a given conflict. Dr. Rouhana's publications in this area include The Dynamics of Joint Thinking between Adversaries in International Conflict: Phases of the Continuing Problem-Solving Workshop (Political Psychology, 1995), Promoting Joint Thinking in International Conflicts: An Israeli-Palestinian Continuing Workshop (Journal of Social Issues, 1995), and Interactive Conflict Resolution: Issues in Theory, Methodology, and Evaluation (in International Conflict Resolution after the Cold War, National Academy Press, 2000). Rouhana later argued that the approach has limited use when applied in settler colonial contexts.

In the 1990s, Dr. Rouhana was a founding member of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Harvard's Center for International Affairs. He co-chaired the program's seminar for a decade and was the director of its academic program.

At Fletcher, Dr. Rouhana teaches a course on Theories of Conflict and Conflict Resolution, which introduces students to the main theories that inform the field of international conflict and approaches to its resolution. He also has taught courses on Politics and Processes of Reconciliation; Protracted Social Conflict; Nationalism, Religion, and Conflict: A Comparative Approach; and Principles of International Negotiation.

The Israeli-Palestini …