Point of View

'Peace is a process': Emerging Myanmar leaders inspire hope for their country’s future

Sarah Holland — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 17:39:13 +0000

'Peace is a process': Emerging Myanmar leaders inspire hope for their country’s future Sarah Holland Fri, 07/07/2023 - 13:39

The graphic recording of the Lincoln Scholars' takeaways from their retreat. Photo provided.

“Peace is a process, not a goal. And we’ve got to stay with it.”

It was a sunny afternoon in mid-June. Graduate students in the 2022 cohort of the Lincoln Scholarship Program sat in the grass outside ��AV’s Point of View International Retreat and Research Center in Lorton, Virginia, and watched as a graphic recorder sketched their takeaways onto a larger sheet of paper.

“Inclusivity is a built-in feature, not an add on to the systems we create,” suggested another. It, too, was added to the board.

For the past three years, Lincoln Scholars have concluded their first year of the program with a week-long retreat on leadership and conflict analysis and resolution, hosted by the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. Wrapped in the lush natural landscape along the shores of Belmont Bay, the scholars embark on a journey of intensive skill-building and planning for how to usher Myanmar toward a democratic future.

The Lincoln Scholarship Program started in 2019 through funding to the Institute of International Education (IIE) by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Burma. Over the course of seven years, 135 emerging Myanmar leaders will be awarded scholarships to study graduate degrees in the United States and receive training in conflict resolution. The intention is for students to return to Myanmar upon graduation to support the growth of their country through socio-economic development, respect for ethnic and religious diversity, and democratic governance.

Two years after the inception of this program, the 2021 military coup overthrew the elected Myanmar government. Now, more than ever, young leaders are Myanmar’s hope for a democratic future.

Associate Dean of Carter School, Juliette Rouge, leads a workshop at the retreat. Photo provided.

Mason’s Carter School, one of the program’s implementation partners, provides critical learning opportunities for these students as they search for solutions to Myanmar’s tumultuous state. Carter School partners with leadership development instructor Kristine Wood to provide on-arrival orientation to conflict resolution and leadership, re-entry workshops, a two-year online course in Foundations of Conflict Resolution, and the summer seminar at Point of View.

“These students have all demonstrated a passion for leadership and change-making in Myanmar. They need concrete skills and confidence to navigate the complex social conflicts,” said Carter School Associate Dean Juliette Rouge.

Rouge, an associate professor of conflict analysis and resolution, leads Carter School’s efforts with the Lincoln Scholarship Program, including the week-long seminar and ongoing two-year course. “The Mason component provides them with the tools and skills to peace-build in their technical subject areas, such as policy, agriculture, or forestry, as well as using their contextual knowledge of Myanmar to theorize effective, long-lasting change,” she said.

The seminar serves to both expand their understanding of conflict analysis and resolution, and to give these emerging leaders a chance to collaborate on action plans for the betterment of Myanmar. Due to the fraught circumstances of the country, this is, for many of them, their first time getting to work with like-minded individuals with hopes for a return to a democratic Myanmar.

The week is part-training, part-practice. Facilitators guide participants through simulations, roleplay, and working groups, such as the “Perspective Pie,” where students stand in slices with assigned “perspectives” to reflect on a central problem from different angles.

Each cohort creates an action plan to solve Myanmar’s wicked problems. One of the resulting plans from this year’s seminar considered access to education. Since the military assumed control, pro-democracy students no longer have access to higher education in Myanmar, and opposition to military-controlled schools has led to a dramatic decline in attendance in primary schools. The Lincoln Scholars, then, started on a plan for forging alternative pathways to education that would circumvent military control.

Mason is one of the few universities that can do this kind of work because of Carter School’s unique approach to peace building and conflict resolution. “The Carter School method is teaching students how to sit down and understand conflict and resolution from all sides, instead of going in and telling people what to do,” said Jeff Zitomer, director of communications and marketing for Carter School. “We teach our students how to empower people to improve their situation on their own. And there’s not many schools that do that.”

“It's inspiring to watch [the scholars] think through how to make social change in a very repressive society without space for democratic engagement,” said Rouge. “And it’s an opportunity for Carter School to have a direct impact in finding sustainable solutions by working with the people who are impacted by the circumstances, understand the contexts, and are prepared to do the work.”

Topics

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Campus News

international students

Lincoln Scholarship Program

Point of View

Envisioning a sustainability-oriented future for corporate governance

Jennifer Anzaldi — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 14:19:59 +0000

Envisioning a sustainability-oriented future for corporate governance Jennifer Anzaldi Thu, 12/01/2022 - 09:19

The “G” in “ESG”, which stands for governance, comes last, but not least. In fact, corporate governance may become the most important member of the trio, as mounting ESG awareness continues to enlarge the current conception of risk management. Soon, directors of publicly traded companies may be held increasingly responsible for heading off business risks related to the “E” and the “S”, such as the societal ramifications of carbon emissions and human capital flight due to less-than-living wages.

Cases in point: Boards of directors of Facebook and other high-profile companies have been sued by shareholders for breach of DEI pledges. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has broadened its regulatory agenda to include climate change, cyber risk governance, board diversity and human capital.

Given this context of change, it was an appropriate moment for the Business for a Better World Center (B4BW) to convene an in-person Stakeholder Roundtable on the subject of Corporate Governance. The half-day event took place at Point of View International Retreat & Research Center at Mason Neck in Lorton, VA on October 21.

Previous Stakeholder Roundtable events were held virtually with the stated mission of “engag[ing] tri-sector leadership, our faculty and students to ensure forward progress is made on business meeting the values and expectations of society as well as its various stakeholders and to drive stakeholder capitalism further into the mainstream.”

After encouraging opening remarks from Dean Ajay Vinzé, a keynote speech was given by Michael Sion, a partner at Bain & Company who also sits on B4BW’s Advisory Board. In his talk, Sion laid out four main stumbling blocks preventing corporate boards from pivoting from the doctrine of shareholder primacy to a more stakeholder-oriented view. Lack of information means that directors are often ill-equipped to understand trade-offs between stakeholder and business outcomes. Lack of representation results in board composition that is misaligned with the demographics – and thus the concerns – of the broader society. Lack of incentives lessens the motivation for directors to rethink how they make decisions, unless they are pressured to do so for core business reasons. Lack of transparency hinders corporate accountability for decisions incurring environmental and/or social risks.

B4BW Executive-in-Residence Rashed Hasan then described a solution that would address the aforementioned challenges. Currently in development, the Stakeholder Value Index uses a wealth of corporate data to quantify the value firms bring to their employees, communities, customer and suppliers as well as the planet, shareholders and the company itself.

Narrowing the focus to one key stakeholder – employees – Tannia Talento, regional director from the office of U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), spoke of the Senator’s efforts to advance legislation that would incentivize corporations to invest in worker training by offering a business-related tax credit. Warner also co-authored a letter to the SEC urging the agency to require labour-related corporate disclosures, including the percentage of workers classified as “independent contractors” and thus exempted from many protections.

The following speaker was Cambria Allen-Ratzlaff, managing director and head of investor strategies for JUST Capital, an independent non-profit whose rankings and indices are designed to “drive capital toward good corporate citizens.” Allen-Ratzlaff explained that JUST Capital derives its priorities by polling the American public on their priorities. Consistently, paying a fair and living wage and job creation in the U.S. come in first and second in the polls. In addition, she presented a data-driven case that fair and equitable human capital management was completely in line with business objectives. Better corporate citizens, she argued, are also better managers and can deliver higher shareholder returns on average.

Usman Ahmed, head of global public affairs and strategic research for PayPal, described how the digital-payments giant launched the Worker Financial Wellness Initiative. The purpose of the initiative was to increase workers’ Net Disposable Income (i.e. the amount left over after taxes and necessary expenses) from as low as four percent in some regions to 20 percent across the board. To achieve this, PayPal extended equity eligibility to all employees, reduced healthcare costs, reviewed and raised wages, and provided financial consulting services. Consequently, the minimum global NDI for PayPal employees reached an estimated 16 percent in 2021.

However, corporations must balance the feel-good factor and social mission of stakeholder capitalism against potential legal limitations, especially in our age of rising shareholder activism. Donald Kochan, a professor at ��AV’s Scalia School of Law and deputy executive director of the Law & Economics Center, cautioned the group that shareholder value maximization has been enshrined in the U.S. legal framework for corporate oversight. He zeroed in on the distinction between a “corporation”, which is owned by shareholders and holds a unique legal status, and a “business”, an entity with no prescribed ownership structure that has wider decision-making latitude. For corporations, shareholder value is the sole legally acknowledged criterion for measuring managerial performance. Adding other decision-making criteria – beneficial as they may be for society – would give shareholders actionable cause for complaint. Therefore, Kochan argued, boards of directors need to develop ways of driving business growth (and, by extension, shareholder returns) that also, as a secondary effect, benefit other stakeholders.

Other than the above-named speakers, attendees at the Roundtable included B4BW staff, Mason School of Business faculty, MBA students and law students. Rounding out the proceedings, participants engaged in breakout sessions on corporate information transparency and how boards can advocate on behalf of employees.

Rashed Hasan, who leads the Stakeholder Roundtable Series, observed at the end of the day, “This is very exciting to see everyone is opening up to meet in person and now we are able to convene a small group of tri-sector leaders, our faculty and our students to engage in open and frank discussion on some of the challenging issues facing business and society.” The next Roundtable is being planned for the later part of spring 2023.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Costello College of Business Faculty Research

Management Faculty Research

Costello College of Business

Community Partners

Business for a Better World Center

Point of View

Campus News

Business for a Better World Center News

Finding opportunities for peace in today's American political context

Colleen Rich — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 18:09:22 +0000

Finding opportunities for peace in today's American political context Colleen Rich Mon, 11/28/2022 - 13:09

In This Story

Alpaslan Özerdem

The Political Leadership Academy (PLA) at the Carter School hosted recently re-elected Congressman Don Beyer on November 19 for a brunch with about 50 members of the local community including several alumni of the PLA and locally elected political leadership. The event highlighted the achievements of local, state and national impact of the academy and the Carter School more broadly and was highlighted by a conversation between Dean Alp Özerdem and the Congressman as they discussed opportunities for peace and conflict resolution in today's American political context, with a special emphasis on local and federal contexts and how members of the community can get involved in the political conversation and make an impact on the Northern Virginia area. Learn more about the Carter School.

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Picture This

Campus News

Carter School Political Leadership Academy

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Point of View

Point of View Statement on Conflict in Ukraine: Negotiate Peace Now

Paul Snodgrass — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 19:38:10 +0000

Point of View Statement on Conflict in Ukraine: Negotiate Peace Now Paul Snodgrass Wed, 03/30/2022 - 15:38

In This Story

The opinions and views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Carter School or ��AV, its affiliates, or employees.

Add Your Signature

Peace and Conflict Resolution scholars and foreign affairs practitioners convened at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School’s Point of View research and retreat facility in Mason Neck, Virginia issued the following appeal to the conflicting parties in Ukraine:

All parties to this conflict are now hurting. The costs in human life and suffering are mounting and the damaging effects of the conflict are rippling around the world. It is high time for the parties to agree to an immediate and complete cessation of hostilities. Continuing the struggle inevitably multiplies the damage and poses increasing risks that nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction may be used.

Along with the U.N. Secretary General, we believe that conditions now exist for negotiating an agreement acceptable to all parties. The parties should therefore set about negotiating a comprehensive peace agreement with no preconditions.

We call on the international community to support peace as it emerges, offering humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding support for the long-term process of recovery.

In addition, it is imperative that all OSCE Participating States commit to a throughgoing review of the existing security architecture. This review should begin immediately with a view to updating the Helsinki Final Act and other security agreements at the OSCE’s forthcoming 50th Anniversary in Helsinki in 2025.

Signatories are listed below. Others are invited to join the statement and to distribute it widely. To be added as a signatory, please provide your information here.

John M. Evans
Former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia

Jeffrey Sachs
University Professor at Columbia University

Jack F. Matlock, Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, 1987-91

Richard Falk
Professor of International Studies, Emeritus, Princeton University

Ambassador Jacques Paul Klein
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (Ret.)

Alpasian Ozerdem
Dean, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Christopher R. Mitchell
Professor Emeritus, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Susan H. Allen
Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice, ��AV

Richard E. Rubenstein
University Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Karina Korostelina
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Sergey Utkin, Leading Researcher, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences

Daniel Rothbart
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Prabha Sankaranarayan
President and CEO, Mediators Beyond Borders International

Hugh DeSantis
Former career office, U.S. State Department, Author

Sara Cobb
Professor, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Dr. Margarita Tadevosyan
Research Assistant Professor
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, ��AV

Ivan Kislenko
Fulbright Scholar

Alex van Oss
(Former) Coordinator, Caucasus Area Studies
Foreign Service Institute

Michael Shank
Adjunct Professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs and ��AV's Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Dr. Lara Olson
Consultant, Peacebuilding and Conflict Sensitive Development
Research Fellow, Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies (CMSS), University of Calgary, Canada

David Carment
Professor of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Fellow, Institute for Peace and Diplomacy,

Cynthia Lazaroff
Founder and Director, Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy

Omar Grech
Director, Centre for the Study and Practice of Conflict Resolution, University of Malta

Rene Wadlow
President, Association of World Citizens

Kevin Avruch
Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution Emeritus
Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, ��AV

Peggy Mason
Former Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament to the United Nations
Current President of the Rideau Institute

Antonio Carlos da Silva Rosa
Editor, Transcend Media Service

Jake Lynch
Associate Professor, Peace and Conflict Studies
The University of Sydney

Diane Perlman
U.S. Convenor, TRANSCEND

John Scales Avery, PhD

Michael Loadenthal
Executive Director, The Peace and Justice Association

Jeremy Wildeman
Adjunct Professor, Adjunct Professor at the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, Carleton University; and in International Development Studies, Trent University

J.M. Flagg
Chicago, Illinois

Jan Oberg, dr hc, director
The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF
Lund, Sweden

Dr. Mary Wade
Founder, Building Respect in Community (BRIC), Philadelphia, PA

Professor Marianna Muravyeva
Russian Law and Administration
For Legal and Peaceful Conflict Resolution
Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki

Tatsushi Arai
Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University

Dr. Paula Garb
University of California, Irvine Center for Citizen Peacebuilding

Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah
Advisory Board Member and Part-Time Faculty, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Sean Howard
Adjunct Prof. of Political Science, Cape Breton University

Douglas Irvin-Eriksen
Assistant Professor, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Dr. Peter Langille
Director, Sustainable Common Security

Marie Myers Lloyd
Member, Ceasefire.ca

Nicholas Ourusoff
Educator in Computer Science, Chomskian Activist

Dr. Gordon Yanchyshyn
Psychiatrist

Connie Duchene
Council of Canadians

Emmanuel K. Akyempong
Graduating Senior, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Irene McPhee
Mother, Grandmother, Human

Dr. Paul Owen
Retiring Politician, Counselor

David Parnas

Phyllis Creighton
Honorary Life Member, Science for Peace

Sara Petite

Eleanor Coffey

Larry Kazdan
Global Citizen

Crl Boychuk

Sk. Tawfique M. Haque, PhD.
Professor and Director South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS) Chair, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Katherine Li
Assistant Professor, Department of English & Modern Languages Adviser, Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Ambassador Shahidul Haque
Professorial Fellow South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), North South University

Dr. Abdul Wohab
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology Coordinator, Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Dr. Ishrat Zakia Sultana
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. M Jashim Uddin
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Bulbul Siddiqui
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Helal Mohd. Mohiuddin
Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Harisur Rahman
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Md Rizwanul Islam
Professor & Chair, Department of Law, North South University

Dr. Norman K. Swazo
Professor, Department of History and Philosophy, North South University

Ahmed Hossain
Professor, Department of Public health, North South University

Dr. Nova Ahmed
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North South University

Dr. Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Mohammed Nuruzzaman
Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Ms. Parisa Shakur
Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, North South University

Tata Zafar
Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Tasmia Nower
Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Dr. Hasanuzzaman
Assistant Director, Office of External Affairs, North South University

Dr. Md. Jakariya
Professor, Department if Environmental Science and Sociology, North South University

Mizanur Rahman
Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Sociology, North South University

Fahd Bin Zahed
Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, North South University

Dr. Tasnuva Enam
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of History and Philosophy, North South University

Farin Shabnam Ritu
Research Associate, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Md. Parvez Hasan Yousuf
Research Associate, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Rudmila Khan
Research Associate, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

Miad Islam
Research Assistant, South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) and Center for Peace Studies (CPS), North South University

This image by Zach Rudisin is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license via Wikimedia Commons.

Topics

Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

$2 million gift will enhance programming, facilities and practice at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Melanie Balog — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 10:13:55 +0000

$2 million gift will enhance programming, facilities and practice at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution Melanie Balog Wed, 01/10/2018 - 05:13

National Peace Academy partners with Mason at Point of View

Melanie Balog — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 14:43:53 +0000

National Peace Academy partners with Mason at Point of View Melanie Balog Mon, 04/18/2016 - 10:43

Point of View Opens—A Place For Conflict, Conversation, Transformation

Melanie Balog — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 14:25:12 +0000

Point of View Opens—A Place For Conflict, Conversation, Transformation Melanie Balog Tue, 04/05/2016 - 10:25