Translating Scholarship into Policy

There is an ever widening gap between conflict resolution policy makers and scholars—a tragedy given practitioners’ dire need for new ideas to help resolve deadly conflicts and the growing knowledge researchers have to share. Research tends to swing like a pendulum between analytic and rigorous methods and accessible and relevant approaches. We reject this tradeoff. We believe that research can be simultaneously rigorous and relevant, and analytic and accessible. Given the devastating loss of life associated with armed conflict, the need for translating research results into policy prescriptions is especially strong in peacemaking. The goal of this issue of the Penn State Journal of Law and International Affairs is to narrow the gap between peacemaking scholars and practitioners by offering nine essays that translate current analytical research into clear policy implications. The result is an accessible and comprehensive source of lessons learned from current peacemaking research