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Richard Rubenstein

Richard Rubenstein
University Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs
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J.D., Harvard Law School, 1963
Litt.D. (honoris causa), University of Malta, 2016
M.A., Oxford University, 1961
Honours School of Jurisprudence (Rhodes Scholar)
B.A., Harvard College, 1959
Magna Cum Laude in History and Literature

Biography

Richard E. Rubenstein is University Professor of Conflict Resolution and Public Affairs at George Mason University, holding degrees from Harvard College, Oxford University (as a Rhodes Scholar), Harvard Law School, and the University of Malta. A former lawyer, political scientist, and director of S-CAR, he is the author of nine books about various types of violent social conflict and the possibilities of resolving them nonviolently. His most recent book is Resolving Structural Conflicts: Violent Systems and How They Can Be Transformed (Routledge, 2017). Rubenstein teaches grad and undergrad courses on conflict theory and speaks publicly on issues of peace and social justice. He blogs at www.rich-rubenstein.com.



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Awards and Honors
Faculty Member of the Year for 2017
Dr. Rubenstein has been named Faculty Member of the Year for 2017 by the George Mason University Alumni Association.
Honorary Degree- Doctor of Literature
On December 2, the University of Malta awarded Dr. Rubenstein the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature at a ceremony attended by the Rector of the University at a ceremony held at the Church of...
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Titlesort icon Semester
The purpose of the course is to develop our understanding of violent structural conflicts and the possible methods of...
Explores how people translate underlying grievances into collective action. Examines how groups organize, frame, and...
Explores role of religious ideas, practices, and organizations in conflict, war, peace making, and conflict...
Topics vary; they are announced each academic year.
Taken in last semester of master’s student course work. Assists in developing students’ own theories of conflict and conflict...
Examines major theories of conflict causation and motivation. Emphasizes need for theories to inform processes of conflict resolution. Weaves...
This foundation course is 6 credits and has two classes a week.Introduces field of conflict analysis and resolution. Examines definitions...
Capstone course in which students reflect on what they have learned, integrating knowledge from course work and...
Examines causes, sources, and origins of  group violence with particular attention to group violence of...
Terrorism is a significant factor in conflict worldwide, yet the underlying causes and conditions that give rise to terrorist activity are often...
Covers conflict at macro level, introducing theories of international and global violence and conflict, drawing from...
Covers conflict at mezzo level, introducing theories of social harmony and conflict, drawing on sociology, social...
Covers deeply rooted, intractable, or protracted social conflicts around core issues of identity, including race,...
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Title Published Date
January 27, 2017
This book analyses how certain types of social systems generate violent conflict and discusses how these systems can be transformed in order to create the conditions for positive peace.Resolving Structural Conflicts addresses a key issue in the field of conflict...
Category: Book
April 15, 2016
The notion of an Arab pursuit of Kantian freedom and linkage between Kant’s practical reason and Averroes’s tanwiri reason in the rationalization of politics, public sphere, morality, and religion can be better informed by deconstructing the Western...
Category: Book Chapter
May 08, 2012
Richard Rubenstein explores both the rhetoric that sells war to the public and the underlying cultural and social factors that make that sales pitch so effective. Through analysis of discourses that have led to wars, the author offers a new way to think about the...
Category: Book Chapter
March 26, 2012
In Chapter 2 “The role of civilians in American war ideology,” Richard Rubenstein examines the reasons why Americans go to war in the past two centuries. He shows how past American military campaigns have been shaped by normative beliefs regarding why...
Category: Book Chapter
September 28, 2010
What makes Americans fight? Why do the professed first citizen of the free world so often accept armed conflict as a political measure, and how do we justify those choices to ourselves? When is war the right decision?From the American Revolution to the end of...
Category: Book
June 25, 2009
Popular justifications for war in the USA have long been based on normative values embodied in America's civil religion, including a sacred right of self-defense. Over time, these justificatory rationales have been adapted and expanded to generate public...
Category: Journal Article
June 25, 2009
This special issue of Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict (DAC) grew out of a conference convened in 2005 at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) of George Mason University to celebrate Professor Christopher Mitchell’s imminent elevation to...
Category: Journal Article
September 09, 2008
Category: Book Chapter
September 01, 2008
Category: Book Chapter
September 01, 2008
Category: Book Chapter
November 13, 2006
In ancient Judea, Jeremiah and Isaiah advised kings and priests and watched the great armies of the ancient Near East sweep across the desert, threatening and overtaking their tiny country with its burgeoning faith. Across centuries a new view emerged based on...
Category: Book
September 20, 2004
Europe was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten, until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. His ideas spread like wildfire across...
Category: Book
August 13, 2003
Category: Book Chapter
August 01, 2003
Category: Book Chapter
July 10, 2000
The story of Jesus is well known, as is the story of Christian persecutions during the Roman Empire. The history of fervent debate, civil strife, and bloody riots within the Christian community as it was coming into being, however, is a side of ancient history...
Category: Book
January 01, 1996
The two public lectures contained in this working paper were presented by Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution faculty member Richard E. Rubenstein at the University of Malta. "Conflict Resolution and Political Power" was presented in Valletta...
Category: Papers & Reports
September 22, 1994
Samuel Huntington's theory on how to craft a new paradigm capable of revealing the principal sources of conflict and collaboration in a rapidly changing international system is criticized. It is argued that destructive conflict between identity groups can be...
Category: Journal Article
June 01, 1994
Readers opening the New York Times on the morning of February 7, 1909, saw the headline: Police and Reds Both Hunt Azeff. "Where is Azeff?" the report began. "Who will get to him first? Who will be his executioner, the Russian police or the...
Category: Book
January 01, 1994
What is "the news" about? International conflicts and communal wars. Religious upheavals and racial disorders. Political debates and family disputes. Arrests, shootouts, strikes, layoffs, feuds, fistfights...and lawsuits (always lawsuits). From page one...
Category: Papers & Reports
April 01, 1993
Immediately following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops in August 1990, many scholars and practitioners in the field of conflict resolution went on record opposing military action by United States or United Nations forces to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi...
Category: Papers & Reports
September 01, 1989
"Group Violence in America: The Fire Next Time?" is the second working paper of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.Both writings will come as a surprise to those who think of conflict resolution as being...
Category: Papers & Reports
September 01, 1988
In a calm, level-headed analysis, Rubenstein offers a powerful rebuttal to many assumptions about terrorism. He maintains that terrorist acts are often the responses of frustrated people to American-sponsored oppression that is intended to protect U.S. imperial...
Category: Book
January 25, 1988
Category: Journal Article
February 01, 1973
Category: Book
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May 12, 2017
It’s right around 1958 and a young Richard Rubenstein is at a crossroads. He’s about to graduate magna cum
Category: Newspaper Article

march 2017
The election of Donald Trump as president was a product of four decades of American system failure. Beginning in the
Category: Newsletter Article

February 25, 2017
Comrades and friends, I am not writing to advise you how to resist the Trump regime. There are as many action proposals
Category: Newspaper Article

January 06, 2017
Suppose you’re Alice. Through the looking glass you go, to arrive at a strange place where things don’t
Category: Newspaper Article

December 17, 2016
The presidential campaign of 2016 presented Hillary Clinton with a seemingly irresistible opportunity, one that also
Category: Newspaper Article

May 02, 2016
Richard Rubenstien, Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University shares
Category: Radio Broadcast

January 15, 2016
Poverty, inequality and global conflict are issues that remain under-prioritised, said President of Malta Marie-Louise
Category: Newspaper Article

November 16, 2015
Friday’s terror attacks on Paris have shaken the world. To understand what happened and why—as well as what
Category: Newspaper Article

November 13, 2015
Public lecture atThe President’s Foundation for Wellbeing of Society, Verdala Palace, Malta, 16 October 2015There
Category: Newspaper Article

August 21, 2015
Despite the deluge of articles, tweets, photos, and jokes about Donald Trump, there has been very little discussion of
Category: Newspaper Article

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Title Event Datesort icon
Social Thought in the Age of Trump: The Politics of Personality vs. System Transformation Book Talk Tuesday, April 25, 20176:00pm - 8:00pm Busboys and PoetsLangston Room2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC The Politics of Personality and System-Change in the Age of Trump.
April 25, 2017
A New Age of Protest?The Future of Political Protests and Rallies in the Trump EraA Dialogue and Difference Event sponsored by Students of the School for Conflict Analysis and ResolutionThursday, April 20, 2017, 4:30-7:00 p.m.Metropolitan Building, Room 5183  Confirmed Speakers:Brian Becker
April 20, 2017
Remembering the Siege of the CapitalThe 40th Anniversary of Hamaas Khaalis's takeover of the B'Nai B'Rith Building, Islamic Center, and District Building and Lessons for TodayWednesday, March 8, 20173:00PM - 4:30PMMetropolitan Building, Room 5183 Special Guest: Dave TevelinIntroduction
March 08, 2017
Valentine's Day Luncheon Special!Malta's Surprising Role as a European leader in the fight for LGBT rights and gender justiceTuesday, February 14, 201712:00pm - 2:00pmMetropolitan Building, Room 5183Dr. Helena Dalli, Malta's Minister of Social Dialog
February 14, 2017
Dissertation Proposal DefenseLand Acquisition for Mining: A Case Study of TanzaniaMariam M. KurtzCOMMITTEE MEMBERS:Dr. Richard Rubenstein (Chair)Dr. Lesley DwyerDr. Mark JacobsDr. Gwendolyn MikellAbstractLand acquisition for mining in “Kalole” village in Tanzania is an example of land
December 08, 2016
Dear S-CAR communityWednesday September 28th at 3:45pmMetropolitan Building, Room 5000Daniel Bar-Tal, one of the leading scholars of the psychology of conflict, is coming to DC on Wednesday the 28th, to promote his political initiative "Save Israel - Stop the Occupation&
September 28, 2016
MANIFESTATION OF HUMAN SECURITY THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENTIn Kabul & Herat of AfghanistanBy Nilofar SakhiMay 4, 20162:30pm- 4:30pmMetropolitan Building Room 5145COMMITTEEChair: Dr. Karina KorostelinaDr. Richard RubensteinDr. Connie L. McNeelyABSTRACTHuman security is a widely defined term
May 04, 2016
Refugees are a growing international concern yet they are largely ignored as a relevant group who can contribute to conflict resolution. Throughout their experience, refugees are a victim of both direct and indirect violence. This research used the lens of Galtung’s theory of violence to
April 21, 2016
Dissertation  Defense: Johnny MackAfter Confrontation, Then What?: Nonviolence as a Theory of Social Change and Human Development for the Peace and Conflict FieldApril 19th, 20162:00pm - 4:00pmMetropolitan Building Room 5183 
April 19, 2016
Please join The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in recognizing Dr. Jack R. Censer's new book entitled: Debating Modern Revolution: The Evolution of Revolutionary IdeasPlease R
April 12, 2016
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Presentation to SALT advocates and Virginia legislators (RICHMOND ROUNG-UP FORUM) Dr. Richard Rubenstein of George Mason University on 03.22.2014 in Vienna, Virginia 
March 22, 2014
Some of the conflicts most difficult to resolve are those generated by failing or dysfunctional social and political systems. How can the systems that generate structural violence, crime, ethnic struggles, and war be changed to eliminate endemic violence? This brown bag discussion will function
April 09, 2013
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