Robert A. Rubinstein

Robert A. Rubinstein is Professor of Anthropology and International Relations at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

"From July 1994-June 2005 he directed the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts at the Maxwell School.

"Rubinstein is an anthropologist with expertise in political and medical anthropology and in social science history and research methods. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1977. He received a master’s degree in public health from the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1983.

"Rubinstein has conducted overseas research in urban and rural Egypt, where he lived from 1988-1992, and in Belize and Mexico. In the United States, he has conducted research in Atlanta, Chicago, and Syracuse.

"In political anthropology, Rubinstein’s work focuses on cross-cultural aspects of conflict and dispute resolution, including negotiation, mediation and consensus building. He is a founder of the field of the anthropology of peacekeeping. Since 1985, he has conducted empirical research and policy studies in this field. He examines the ways that the success of peace operations depend upon cultural considerations, and how organizational and institutional cultures can facilitate or frustrate coordination in peace operations. Rubinstein has collaborated on policy applications of his work with the International Peace Academy, the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and the United States Army Peacekeeping Institute.

"As a medical anthropologist, Rubinstein focuses on conflict and health, disparities in access to health care and the implications of those disparities for the health of populations, and on the integration of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. He has developed community-based health interventions in Egypt and Atlanta. Rubinstein has collaborated on health policy issues with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Carter Center, the Georgia Department of Physical Health, and the Onondaga County Health Department.

"Rubinstein’s work has been supported by grants from over twenty foundations and agencies, including: The Ford Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Ploughshares Fund, The United States Institute of Peace, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the William T. Grant Foundation.

"Rubinstein has published more than fifty-five articles in journals and books and is author or editor of seven books and research monographs. His books include: Science as Cognitive Process: Towards an Empirical Philosophy of Science (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984); Peace and War: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (Transaction Books, 1986), The Social Dynamics of Peace and Conflict (Kendall/Hunt, 1997), and Doing Fieldwork: The Correspondence of Robert Redfield and Sol Tax (Transaction Books, 2001).

"In 1983, Rubinstein was a founding member of the Commission on Peace and Human Rights of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. He is co-chair of the commission, and from 2000--2004 he was editor of the commission’s official journal, Social Justice: Anthropology, Peace and Human Rights.

"Rubinstein received the 2000 Edward Weisband Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service or Contributions to Public Affairs (State University of New York at Binghamton), the 1997 25th Anniversary Class Distinguished Alumni Award (State University of New York at Oswego), and gave the 1995 with the Hardy Lecture in Scholarship and Public Interest (Hartwick College).

"Rubinstein is a member of the board of directors of the Ploughshares Fund. He consults and lectures widely, both domestically and abroad."


 * Editorial Board, Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies
 * Director, Central New York Peace Studies Consortium