Funding Peace Studies: A Perspective from the Foundation World

Abstract

This article outlines some major goals of the MacArthur Foundation's Program on Peace and International Cooperation and reports on aspects of the Foundation's effort in funding peace studies. The Foundation's distinctive contribution has been investing in human resources over the long term, particularly in the training of young scholars and professionals in peace and international-security studies. Suggestions for future research and training emphasize attention to little-understood elements of human cooperation, such as trust, altruism, and sacrifice, as well as study of how violent collective action is rationalized and routinized as nation-states conduct war. Other suggestions include redoubling efforts to internationalize work in the social sciences, the continuing need for multidisciplinary approaches to problems in international conflict and cooperation, and an emphasis on problem-oriented research.

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References

1. John Coatsworth , “$1 Million MacArthur Grant Establishes Program on Peace,” University of Chicago Campus Chronicle, 7(17):3 (1988).

2. James G. March , Decisions and Organizations (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1988), pp. 1-21, 266-293.

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6. An exception may be Graham Allison's work, Essence of Decision (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972), which was more about avoiding war, however, than about embarking upon it.

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9. Richard Ned Lebow , “Interdisciplinary Research and the Future of Peace and Security Studies,” Political Psychology, 9(3):522-524 (Spring 1988).