Religion, Violence & Strategy - How to Stop Killing in the Name of God?

  Summer Session 2015: May 18 - June 5, 2015 (including peer-to-peer consultations, May 25-29) Class meets daily from 10 am - 3 pm with an hour break for lunch. The course will teach next-generation leaders and students how to design and evaluate strategies to mobilize social-impact networks to break cycles of violence and enable peace.  Sectarian violence is rising worldwide, and religious communities increasingly perceive themselves under existential threat.  What can be done to break cycles of violence in the Middle East and elsewhere?  A concerted international effort will require integrated strategies that engage civil society, religious actors and youth.  How can next-generation leaders and students create impact?  This course will dive quickly and deeply into the strategy and leadership of social impact campaigns.  The "genesis" of strategy itself is an act of creation-the art of creating power to deliver systemic change during uncertain or dangerous times.  Transl ating vision into operational strategy requires a coherent narrative and a logical framework for results.  The course will teach students how to approach Vision, Choice, Alignment, Balance, Resilience and Integrity to enable Peace.  The course draws lessons from historic initiatives such as the Nobel-Prize winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines, while evaluating and proposing ways to shape the "Global Covenant of Religions"-an emergent campaign to stop killing in the name of God.  Students will do more than just study conflict-they will engage with U.S. policymakers and develop strategies to inhibit mass violence.