Peace and Conflict Studies is a new interdisciplinary and problem-oriented course which explores the processes through which states/actors attempt to define and build peace in areas affected by war and violence, particularly after the end of the Cold War. This course serves as the introduction to the broad and diverse field of peace and conflict studies. It will critically address the conceptualization of peace and the implementation of peace building projects by global, regional, national and local actors, including the UN, INGOs, and local organisations in conflict-affected environments. It will also focus on different conflict mediation, conflict resolution and peace-making techniques to understand and analyze how to create conditions to attain peace. The course will also focus on the lack of state capacity, economic motivations for war, and ineffective global responses will be a direct area of inquiry.
After studying the course, students will be able to:
(1) Understand and analyze different conflict mediation, conflict resolution and peace-making techniques.
(2) Demonstrate the ability to identify central concepts in peace and conflict studies and apply these to explain the causes, dynamics and resolution of armed conflict.
(3) Hone skills to describe principal features of the nature and development of conflicts within and between states from 1945 onwards.
(4) Ability to account for the central assumptions of key theories of IR, and of the so-called broadened security agenda, and apply these assumptions to explain the security behaviour of actors.
- Course creator: Dr. Surinder Mohan