We define “activism” and “social movements” as collective action to exert pressure on centers of power in order to remedy grievances and felt injustices.

While this program is committed to understanding and analyzing all kinds of activism, it has a special interest in movements of populations that are socially, culturally and economically marginalized.

We examine the processes and structures that enable organizations to work across boundaries to address public problems.

Through research and the Collaborative Governance Initiative, PARCC faculty elevate our understanding of the best practices of collaborative governance.

We examine how the solutions developed to address environmental challenges, such as climate change, energy production, water provision, biodiversity conservation, might yield the possibility for both unparalleled conflict and unprecedented collaboration.

We aim to understand the origins and dynamics of international and civil conflicts, and the means by which they can be resolved.

At the crossroads of the fields of security studies and peace studies, our work is interdisciplinary, methodologically pluralist, and cross-regional in focus, with faculty specializing in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.