Director, Center for Applied Conflict Management
Associate Professor, Center for Applied Conflict Management and Political Science Department

Active in the field of peace and conflict studies since the early 1980's, Dr. Coy has been the editor of the annual research volume, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, editing six volumes of the series since 2000. He has also edited two other books (A Revolution of the Heart: Essays on the Catholic Worker, and Social Conflicts and Collective Identities).  He has most recently co-authored Contesting Patriotism: Culture, Power and Strategy in the Peace Movement, published in 2008.

Recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences "Distinguished Teaching Award" in 2000 at Kent State University, Professor Coy was formerly the national chairperson of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a research fellow of the Albert Einstein Institution, and the executive director of the Lentz Peace Research Laboratory.

Current research projects include an examination of Thomas Merton’s philosophy of nonviolence, a comparative analysis of the international nonviolent protective accompaniment practices of, a comparative analysis of the conflict resolution dimensions of the white-tailed deer management policies of parks and municipalities in Northeast Ohio, and an analysis of how the U.S. environmental movement has resisted cooptation from state and vested interests.

Dr. Coy’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Sociological Association, the Hewlett Foundation, the Albert Einstein Institution, and by the University Research Council of Kent State University.

Patrick Coy currently serves on the Council of the Peace, War and Social Conflicts section of the American Sociological Association, the Board of Directors of the International Peace Research Association Foundation, and the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Mediation Center.

Many of Professor Coy’s recent scholarly publications can be accessed below. He is also a frequent contributor to newspapers and periodicals, publishing op-eds, commentaries and articles in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Baltimore Sun, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Progressive, Fellowship, Sojourners, Commonweal, and many other outlets.

Professor Coy provides workshops and trainings in various aspects of conflict resolution, mediation, and nonviolent action to community, educational, and international groups.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Office:   321-F Bowman Hall
Phone:  330-672-2875
E-mail:   pcoy@kent.edu

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Social Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, 1997
M.A., Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, 1994
M.A., Theology, Marquette University, 1982

FIELDS

Conflict Resolution, Social Movements, Transitional Justice, Human Rights, Religion and Conflict

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

Discourses of the U.S. peace movement; nonviolent action; community mediation; identity and conflict; the Catholic Worker movement; human rights promotion and protection; Peace Brigades International.

PUBLICATIONS

Recent Books

Contesting Patriotism: Culture, Power and Strategy in the Peace Movement, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2008 (with Lynne M. Woehrle and Gregory M. Maney)

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (editor), Volume 28,  Emerald Group Publishing, 2008.

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (editor), Volume 27,  Elsevier Science/JAI Press, 2007.

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (editor), Volume 26, Elsevier Science/JAI Press, 2005.

Consensus Decision Making, Northern Ireland, and Indigenous Movements (editor), Volume 24, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Elsevier Science/JAI Press, 2003.

Political Opportunities, Social Movements and Democratization (editor), Volume 23, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Elsevier Science/JAI, 2001.

Social Conflicts and Collective Identities (co-editor, with Lynne Woehrle), Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2000.

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (editor), Volume 22, JAI Press, 2000.

Recent Journal Articles

"Ideological Consistency and Contextual Adaptation: U.S. Peace Movement Emotional Work Before and After 9/11," American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 52, Issue 4, 2009 (with Gregory M. Maney and Lynne M. Woehrle).

“A Typology of Oppositional Knowledge: Democracy and the U.S. Peace Movement,” Sociological Research Online, Vol. 13, Issue 4, July, 2008 (with Lynne M. Woehrle and Gregory M. Maney).

"Discursive Legacies: The U.S. Peace Movement and 'Support the Troops,'" Social Problems, Vol. 55, Issue 2, 2008 (with Lynne M. Woehrle and Gregory M. Maney).

"Harnessing and Challenging Hegemony: The U.S. Peace Movement after 9/11," Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 48, No. 3, 2005 (with Gregory M. Maney and Lynne M. Woehrle).

"A Stage Model of Social Movement Cooptation: Community Mediation in the United States," The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2005 (with Timothy Hedeen).

"Contesting Patriotism by the Post-9/11 Peace Movement in the United States," Peace Review: A Transnational Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2003 (with Gregory M. Maney and Lynne M. Woehrle).

"Shared Risks and Research Dilemmas on a Peace Brigades International Team in Sri Lanka," Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 30, No. 5, October 2001.

"An Experiment in Personalist Politics: The Catholic Worker Movement and Nonviolent Action," Peace and Change: A Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 2001. 

"Community Mediation and the Court System: The Ties that Bind," Mediation Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 4, Summer 2000 (with Timothy Hedeen).

"Disabilities and Mediation Readiness in Court-Referred Cases: Developing Screening Criteria and Service Networks," Mediation Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 2, Winter 1998/1999 (with Timothy Hedeen). 

"Nonviolent Intervention and the Peace Team Idea," Peace and Change, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1997 (review essay).

"Constructing Identity and Oppositional Knowledge: The Framing Practices of Peace Movement Organizations During the Persian Gulf War," Sociological Spectrum, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1996 (with Lynne Woehrle). 

Recent Book Chapters

"Blessing War and Blessing Peace: Religious Discourses in the U.S. During Major Conflict Periods, 1990-2005,” Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 29, 2008 (with Gregory M. Maney and Lynne M. Woehrle).

"Religious (Ill)Literacy and (Un)Civil Liberties in the United States: Past and Present," in Democracy and Religion, David Odell-Scott, ed., Kent State University Press, 2004, p. 105-114.

"Negotiating Identity and Danger Under the Gun: Consensus Decision Making on Peace Brigades International Teams," in Consensus Decision-Making, Northern Ireland, and Indigenous Movements, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 24, Patrick G. Coy, editor, Elsevier Science/JAI Press, 2003, p. 85-122.

"Collective Identity and the Development of Conflict Analysis" (with Lynne Woehrle), in Social Conflicts and Collective Identities, co-editor (with Lynne Woehrle), Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.

"Cooperative Accompaniment and Peace Brigades International in Sri Lanka," in Transnational Social Movements and Global Politics: Solidarity Beyond the State, Jackie Smith, Charles Chatfield, and Ron Pagnucco, eds., Syracuse University Press, 1997.

"Conscription and the Catholic Conscience in World War II," in American Catholic Pacifism, Anne Klejment and Nancy Roberts, eds., Praeger, 1996.

“Protective Accompaniment: How Peace Brigades International Secures Political Space and Human Rights Nonviolently,” in Nonviolence: Social and Psychological Issues, V.K. Kool, ed., University Press of America, 1993.

Selected Unpublished Conference Papers:

“We Use It But We Try Not to Abuse It:’ Nonviolent Accompaniment and the Use of Privilege by Peace Brigades International,” American Sociological Association, Washington, D. C., August 13, 2000.

Non-Peer Reviewed Magazine Article:

“Going Where We Otherwise Would Not Have Gone: Accompaniment and Election Monitoring in Sri Lanka.” Fellowship, Sept./Oct., 1995.

Recent Magazine Editing

Guest editor of a special volume of Fellowship magazine on nonviolent action, Vol. 66, Nos. 7-8, July/August 2000.

Guest editor of a special volume of Fellowship magazine on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement, Vol. 63, Nos. 11-12, Nov./Dec., 1997.

 

Curriculum Vitae (Rich text format; opens with most word processing programs)

Syllabus for POL 69091/79091, Seminar in Qualitative Research Methods, Fall 2008 (Rich text format), co-taught with Landon Hancock

Syllabus for POL 60107/70107, Conflict and Consensus in the Public Sector, Spring 2009 (Rich text format)