About the Conflict Fundamentals Seminar

Introduction

We started the Conflict Fundamentals Seminar Series in 2016, and actively added to it until about 2020.  This seminar presents the core knowledge from the conflict resolution and peacebuilding fields, that is, to a large extent, considered a "starting point" for our more advanced Conflict Frontiers Seminar Series, which was also started in 2016.  The Fundamentals Seminar is made up of videos and Beyond Intractability essays that cover the largely "settled knowledge" in the field--for example, a description of negotiation strategies, approaches to dialogue, the importance of  human needs in conflict, etc.  Most of the BI essays that are used in the Fundamentals Seminar have a new "Current Implications" section at the top that applies the ideas from the essay to current-day conflicts and reflects on changes that have occurred since the essays were written (although, in 2025, we must note that some of these updates are no longer so current).  A few of the essays and videos (for instance the first few) are sufficiently important to be included in both the Conflict Frontiers and Conflict Fundamentals seminars, but most of the material is different.

This seminar, we expect, will be of interest to people unfamiliar with the conflict resolution field, or those just starting to study it. Like all our other materials though, this seminar is open to everyone.