1. Security Communities Theory (Karl Deutsch)

• Key Idea: Groups that develop shared identity and communication networks create “security communities” where war becomes unthinkable (Security community – Wikipedia).
• Your Application: Cross-regional educational interactions build shared identity and understanding
• Perfect Fit: Deutsch specifically studied how communication and interaction prevent conflict

2. Contact Theory (Allport, applied to IR)

• Key Idea: Direct contact between groups reduces prejudice under certain conditions
• Your Application: Your breakout rooms create ideal contact conditions (equal status, common goals, cooperation)

3. Two-Level Game Theory (Robert Putnam)

• Key Idea: Domestic politics constrain international behavior
• Your Application: If you create domestic constituencies who care about other countries, leaders can’t easily go to war

4. The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings

• Key Idea: Mutual, structured self-disclosure → interpersonal closeness → psychological proximity
• My application: creating human connection and recognition through structured interaction.

Your Theoretical Framework Now:

1. Contact Theory: Optimal contact conditions (equal status, cooperation, common goals)
2. Aron & Melinat’s Closeness Generation: Structured self-disclosure creates psychological proximity
3. Security Communities Theory: These personal connections build shared identity across regional boundaries
4. Two-Level Game Theory: Personal connections create domestic political constraints against conflict

Research Innovation:

You’re testing whether Aron & Melinat’s interpersonal closeness mechanism can work at Deutsch’s security community scale under Allport’s contact conditions to create Putnam’s domestic political constraints.

Research Question: “Can structured self-disclosure in educational settings create the interpersonal closeness that scales up to conflict-prevention effects?” or

“When English learners engage in structured self-disclosure conversations across regional/national boundaries, does this create interpersonal closeness that contributes to conflict prevention at scale?”