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Dispute Resolution

Purpose:

This concentration will prepare students to engage with the range of processes and techniques used to resolve international disputes, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration and other deliberate mechanisms intended to resolve disputes beyond conflict in war or court.

Description:

International order and global governance increasingly and necessarily employ a range of formal and informal processes to resolve disputes. States, regional and international organizations, and individual parties rely increasingly on these dispute resolution processes to ensure the implementation of international policies, norms and laws, and to ensure compliance. International dispute resolution often involves working with government and international lawyers and requires an understanding of basic applicable legal doctrines and procedures.

Requirements:

Students wishing to receive attestation certifying the depth of their specialization in this particular area will be required to successfully complete at least four of the courses from the list below.

Please note that this list will be reviewed from time to time depending on the available course offerings at any given time. Students should check the availability of these courses with the SIA academic adviser and the individual course instructors. Students should also determine if there are prerequisites for enrolling in a particular course.

Courses:

  1. Strategy, Conflict, Peace — INTAF 505 (3 credits)
  2. Cross-Cultural Conflict Resolution — INTAF 510 (3 credits)
  3. Global Human Rights Movements and Non-violent Activism — INTAF 597* (3 credits)
  4. Human Rights Culture and Activism — INTAF 597* (3 credits)
  5. War and Peace — INTAF 816 (3 Credits)
  6. Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Design — EXPR 936 (3 credits)**
  7. Mediation of Environmental and Public Conflicts — EXPR 972 (3 credits)**
  8. Conflict of Laws — PROSK 938 (3 credits)**
  9. International Commercial Arbitration — INTR 984 (3 credits)**
  10. International Litigation and Arbitration — INTR 966 (3 credits)**
  11. Social Conflict — SOC 425 (3 credits)
  12. Conflict Negotiation and Resolution — CAS 404 (3 credits)
  13. State Making — PLSC 420 (3 credits)
  14. Conflict Management, Termination, and Bargaining — PLSC 566 (3 credits)
  15. Power, Conflict, and Community Decision Making — CED 417 (3 credits)
  16. Workplace Dispute Resolution — LER 437 (3 credits)

* Frequency and availability of Special Topics 597 courses will vary each semester.

** Penn State Law course; requires law faculty approval