Law and Conflict
Jürgen Pirker is Member of the Steering Group of the Austrian Cluster for Conflict, Peace and Democracy (CPDC).
Within the Kelman Network Jürgen Pirker is engaged with research and development of the approach of "Interactive Conflict Resolution", especially in applying it in inter-ethnic conflicts, with regard to memory politics and conflict settlement by law.
A running action-research project in Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Croation tackles these issues under the paradigm of a "Peace Region Alps-Adria".
Activities of the Kelman Network
2017 The Transformation of Intractable Conflicts III (Harvard)
The conference on the "Transformation of Intractable Conflicts III - Perspectives and Challenges for Interactive Problem Solving" will take place from March 16 - 18, 2017 at Harvard University, Boston (USA).
2015 The Transformation of Intractable Conflicts II
Conference on the "Transformation of Intractable Conflicts II - Perspectives and Challenges for Interactive Problem Solving": Bericht.
2014 The Transformation of Intractable Conflicts Report
First Conference on the "Transformation of Intractable Conflicts II - Perspectives and Challenges for Interactive Problem Solving": Report.
CPD Policy Blog
Since 2017 the CPD-Cluster runs the CPD Policy Blog. It creates a bridge between science and politics, thus relating the enlightening potential of science to the field of political practice.
Teaching
2023 Peace and Conflict Research, University of Graz (VU)
The course introduces important basics of peace and conflict research. It deals with the various possibilities of responding to conflicts in their complexity on a theoretical level. In doing so, the aspect of resolving conflicts in a sustainable way is of fundamental relevance, whether it concerns local, national or international contexts. Furthermore, the course will discuss conflict dynamics in their legal, political, social or cultural entanglements. Correspondingly, various legal, political or socio psychological paradigms of conflict management will be presented.
2023 The Law and Politics of Minority Protection, University of Graz (SE)
The Seminar focuses on the interplay of law and politics in the field of minority protection. It intends to provide a deeper understanding of the complexity of ethnic and intercultural identity conflicts. The objects of investigation are regimes of minority protection in existing law, e.g. in Austria or international instruments of minority protection (Council of Europe). The genesis, functions and systems of these instruments will be considered. To analyse the dynamics of inter-/national conflicts, the Seminar will make use of basic theories on nationalism, ethnicity and identity. It will further enlighten the functions of law in conflicts (e.g. as instrument of conflict management).
Study Focus "Peace, Conflict and Democracy"
The seminar "Theory and Practice of Interactive Conflict Resolution" was nominated for an Austrian State Award (Ars docendi) for good teaching by University of Klagenfurt.
Available Articles (Download)
Jürgen Pirker, Memory Wars and Minority Rights: From Ethnic Conflict towards a Peace Region Alps-Adria?, in: treatises and documents 86/2021, 5-32. Pdf-file.
Jan Brousek und Jürgen Pirker: Zukunft durch Vergangenheit? Interaktive Konflikttransformation und Erinnerungspolitik am Beispiel der Alpen-Adria-Region in: Werner Wintersteiner/Lisa Wolf (Hrsg), Friedensforschung in Österreich Bilanz und Perspektiven, 2016. (Interactive Conflict Transformation and Memory Politics in the Alps-Adriatic Region.) Pdf-file.
Jürgen Pirker: Crossing Borders - Facing Diversity: Trans-national Youth Initiatives within and between Carinthia and Slovenia, in: Bettina Gruber/Werner Wintersteiner (Hrsg), Learning Peace - an integrative part of Peace Building Experiences from the Alps-Adriatic Region, 2015. Pdf-file.
Österreichisch-Slowenische Arbeitsgruppe für einen grenzübergreifenden Dialog, Gemeinsame Erklärung 1914-2014: Von den Kriegen zur Friedensregion Alpen-Adria, 2014. (Common Declaration of Austrian-Slovenian Working Group for Crossborder-Dialogue: From War towards a Peace Region Alps-Adria.) Pdf-file.
Resolutions of the Austrian-Slovenian Working Group for Crossborder-Dialogue on dealing with the consequences of World War One and Two in memory politics and dialogue within the Alps-Adriatic Region - in German, Slovenian and Italian, with an Introduction. 2018. Pdf-file.
Jürgen Pirker: The Sense of History/ies. Great and Small Narratives in Carinthia (German): Vom (Eigen-)Sinn der Geschichte(n). Große und kleine Erzählungen in Kärnten, in: Petritsch, Wolfgang/Graf, Wilfried/Kramer, Gudrun (Hrsg.), Kärnten liegt am Meer. Konfliktgeschichte/n über Trauma, Macht und Identität, Verlag Johannes Heyn, Klagenfurt, 2012, S. 448-465. Pdf-file.
