Consortium on Peace Research, Education, and Development [COPRED] Records

COPRED began in May 1970 when 35 people were invited to Boulder, Colorado, by Elise and Kenneth Boulding and Gilbert White. In the words of Elise Boulding, COPRED's purpose was: "to foster research, education and training in the areas of peace and world security and the channeling of relevant research information to governmental and non-governmental practitioners; that the coordination function would be a primary one; and that the founding Consortium members in the United States and Canada would seek contacts with Latin American institutions on the one hand and with the International Peace Research Association [IPRA] and other international bodies on the other."

Under its 1972 constitution, COPRED designated two classes of members: institutional and individual. Representatives from participating institutions formed the Consortium Council with the powers of a Board of Directors. COPRED held annual meetings and sponsored sessions with other organizations. The deliberate rotation of headquarters and executive director was intended to strengthen the communication network among members. COPRED strove to synchronize the precepts of peace research with teaching and action on a regional, national, and transnational level. Working committees during the early years of COPRED were the Committee on Youth, Education and Training, the Research Inventory Committee, and the Development Committee. Sociologist Elise Boulding, and Paul Wehr, Chairman of the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Resolution at Haverford College, provided much of COPRED's developmental leadership.

The major achievement of COPRED during its first six years was the establishment of peace studies programs at colleges and universities, and in primary and secondary schools. In addition to developing and circulating peace studies curricula, COPRED worked with campus ministries and created peace skills repertoires for educators. In addition, the organization fostered a research inventory network to gather and transmit peace and conflict data from the researcher to policy-makers and other researchers.

Between 1970 and 1976, COPRED cooperated with a number of other organizations and professional societies. COPRED considered itself the North American branch of the International Peace Research Association [IPRA]. It worked closely with UNITAR (the United Nations Universiity), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the international branch of the Peace Research Society, the Conference on Peace Research in History, and the American Sociological Association.

COPRED's journal "Peace and Change" is co-sponsored by CPHR.

COPRED merged with the Peace Studies Association in 2002, to form the Peace and Justice Studies Association.