Drawing from the work of Zachary Shore and others, we define strategic empathy as “the sincere effort to identify and assess the genuine patterns of an adversary’s acquisition, threat of use, and use of strategic weapons and the underlying drivers and constraints that shape them.” This concept encapsulates a mindset, a lens, and an approach that help us to understand an adversary’s strategic thinking.
As the first in a series of interfaith discussions, an Oct. 25 panel on compassion, justice and nonviolence sought to bring a diverse array of religious perspectives to the campus conversation about the conflict in the region.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury College’s ongoing work with the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation, or KWDCCT, continues to create opportunities for members of the college community to explore different types of conflict and how they approach that friction.
There is no shortage of conflict in our modern world—ranging from a fight with a loved one to the threat of nuclear war. Can these conflicts be shifted from destructive to constructive? How?
Those questions are at the heart of a seven-year Middlebury initiative, which began in 2022.
The new award of up to $50,000 goes to human rights and education activist Joseph Kaifala, a war survivor from Sierra Leone who has worked to bring about peace and stability following years of conflict.
The second round of faculty grants from the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation range from $10,000 to $50,000 and will support a broad array of research projects.
