Managing Religious Conflicts: Darren Kew at TEDx UMass Boston

Darren Kew studies the relationship between conflict resolution methods and democratic development in Africa. He is the Executive Director of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development. Much of his work focuses on the role of civil society groups in democratic development. He monitored the last three Nigerian elections and the 2007 elections in Sierra Leone. Associate Professor Kew has worked with the Council on Foreign Relations' Center for Preventive Action to provide analysis and blueprints for preventing conflicts in numerous areas around the world, including Nigeria, Central Africa, and Kosovo. He has also been a consultant on democracy and peace initiatives to the United Nations, USAID, and the US State Department. Policymakers in Washington and academics here and in Nigeria recognize Professor Kew for his deep, firsthand knowledge of Nigerian politics and society. His work on how conflict resolution methods promote democratization of national political cultures is among the first of its kind linking these important fields. Currently, Prof. Kew is working closely with Nigeria's Interfaith Mediation Centre of Kaduna to expand the impacts of their inter-religious dialogue work and to learn from their unique conflict resolution model.