Teaching Objectives, Teaching Requirements, Teaching Content
Nature of the Course:
Peace and Conflict Studies demands a transdisciplinary approach, combining elements of subjects such as History, Economics, Political Thought, World Religions, Social Psychology and Anthropology. The course is ‘value-based’ insofar as it encourages peace rather than violence, but the intention is not to ‘pacify’ students or to persuade them to ignore or avoid conflict. Indeed, Peace and Conflict Studies values conflict as a means of achieving positive change. The course will inevitably concern itself with the analysis of aggression and violence, since only by understanding those phenomena can students learn how they might be reduced or eliminated.
Aims of the Course:
The aims of the Peace and Conflict Studies are to enable students to:
1. explore the concepts of peace and conflict within and between individuals and societies.
2. develop an understanding of the origins and causes of conflict between and within individuals, groups and states.
3. develop an understanding of different processes and strategies of conflict transformation and the conditions and circumstances necessary for lasting peace at various levels.
4. recognize the preconceptions and assumptions of their own social and cultural environment.
5. promote the need for social justice, equality and respect for others; appreciate diversity; combat bias, prejudice and discrimination.
6. develop an awareness of the existence of different interpretations relating to the topics studied in the course.
Objectives of the Course:
Having followed the Peace and Conflict Studies course, students will be expected to:
1. define for working use certain key concepts such as peace, conflict and violence, and grasp their importance and implications for the study of individuals and societies.
2. interpret, explain, and distinguish between different theoretical and practical approaches to key concepts.
3. compare, criticize and evaluate different sources and approaches to and interpretations of the topics studied in the course.
4. apply and evaluate approaches to conflict transformation and concepts in relation to specific conflicts at the personal, social and global level.
5. communicate their awareness and understanding of conflict and conflict transformation on a personal, social and global level.
6. demonstrate the ability to collect, select, analyze and evaluate evidence; organize evidence into clear, logical, coherent and relevant arguments, both orally and in writing.
Course Requirements:
In order to address these learning objectives, the course requires students to engage attentively and intentionally with the learning materials. Through a series of written reflections, experiential learning opportunities, and research, students will develop their critical and analytical skills, while examining their own place in the complex and interdependent world of peacebuilding.
Course Contents:
Section 1: Overcome the fear of CONFLICT
Section 2: Increase the sensibility of CONFLICT
Section 3: Enhance the skill of PEACEbuilding
Textbook(s) and Reference Materials
1. Richard Lance Keeble, John Tulloch, & Florian Zollmann (eds), Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. 2010.
2. Bruce W. Dayton & Louis Kriesberg, Constructive Conflicts: From Emergence to Transformation, 6th Edition, Rowman & Littlefield 2022.
3. Kevin Avruch, Context and Pretext in Conflict Resolution: Culture, Identity, Power, and Practice, Routledge 2016.Barash, D & Webel, C., Peace and Conflict Studies, Sage 2002.
4. Barash, D. (ed.), Approaches to Peace: A Reader in Peace Studies, Oxford UP 2000.
5. Brown, S., The Causes and Prevention of War, St. Martin Press 1994.
6. Christie, D., Wagner, R. & Winter D. (eds.), Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century, Prentice Hall 2001.
7. Galtung, J., Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, Sage/PRIO 2003.
Miall, H., Ramsbotham, & Woodhouse, T., Contemporary Conflict Resolution: The Prevention, Management and Transformation of Deadly Conflict, Polity Press 2000.
Credits : 2
