PSCI 2250 - Conflict Resolution

Students in this course will examine the root causes, patterns, and outcomes of political conflict, approaches to conflict resolution, the role of international organizations and major powers in conflict resolution, enforcement and prevention methods, as well as negotiation and peace building techniques. The following questions will be addressed: Why can some conflicts be managed in a peaceful way, while others end in violence?

What are origins, stages, and causes of conflict? What role does the cultural context, the state, the military, the economy, the gender order and ethnicity and nationalism play in conflicts? How can we bring adversaries to the negotiating table? What mediation tactics are used in resolving a conflict? And how in the aftermath of a conflict, can peace be made sustainable? 3 credits.