Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "PL 321"
COURSE NAME: "War, Peace, and Conflict Resolution"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2016

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Michael Driessen
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: MW 11:30 AM 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: PL 209; Recommended PL 223
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is an introduction to the study of War, Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies. The course will draw on classical and contemporary global political theory and introduce students to the methods, cases, data, and major theoretical debates that structure the study of war and peace in global politics.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

The course is divided into five major sections designed to accompany students to the major phases of armed conflicts. During each section, the student will be introduced to the major scholars, practitioners, ideas and theoretical works which have attempted to respond to them. The first sections begins with an introduction to the various approaches to war and peace in the political science tradition and defines various ways of both understanding and measuring political conflict and peace. The second section considers why wars begin and whether global politics offers any suggestions to preventing armed conflicts. The third section explores why wars last, and what factors, including religious, ethnic, institutional and economic vulnerabilities, impact the length and intensity of wars. The fourth section asks what practitioners and political scientists can teach us about ending wars, including through the use of force, negotiation, education, consciousness-raising, international institutions, non-governmental and religious groups, exhaustion and peace-enforcing. The final section explores strategies to recreate peace, including truth and reconciliation processes, war tribunals and post-conflict reconstruction.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

My pedagogical hope is that students will finish this course able to understand the major causes and consequences of war and how states, international institutions, communities and students themselves might do more or do things more effectively to prevent and resolve conflicts in the future. The course also aims to introduce students to the rich methodological and statistical opus produced by peace scholars over the last fifty years and their various strategies to objectively measure and analyze the roots of global conflicts.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
Managing Conflict in a World Adrift	crocker, hampson, aall	USIP	978-1601272225		Please send to the Almost Corner Bookstore

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments
contemporary conflict resolution	Ramsbotham, woodhouse and miall	polity	9780745649740

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Midterm		25%
Final Exam	Take Home Exam (10 pages)	25%
Assignments(4)	2-page Reading Reflections are required following sections I, II, IV and V	25%
Participation	Attendance and Presence of Mind are mandatory for this class. The goal here is to advance towards the art of asking good questions. Quality, not quantity of participation is what counts, although some quantity is better than no quality. Students will be allowed 2 unexcused absences. Each unexcused absence thereafter will result in the lowering of the attendance grade by 1/3rd a letter grade. More than 12 unexcused absences will result in a failure to pass the course.	10%

Conflict Mapping Case Study	Each Student will be assigned to write a 7 pg Conflict Mapping Report following Ramsbotham et al. pg. 89-90 and present it to the class	15%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY!

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Course Outline:

Part I: What is War? What is Peace?

1) International Relations Theories

2) Positive Peace & Negative Peace

3) Numbers

Part II: Why Do Wars Begin?

1) Failed States: SOMALIA

2) Creed, Need and Greed: CHECHNYA and ABKHAZIA

3) Conflict Prevention: TIMOR LESTE and PHILLIPINES

Part III: Why do Wars Last?

1) Interstate Wars: CYPRUS

2) Ethnic Wars: NIGERIA and IRAQ

3) Religious Wars: MEXICO and COLOMBIA

4) Peacekeeping in Wartime: BOSNIA

Part IV: How do Wars End?

1) Humanitarian Military Interventions: KOSOVO and RWANDA

2) UN PeaceEnforcing: CONGO

3) Sanctions: IRAN

4) Negotiations: MOZAMBIQUE and EL SALVADOR

5) Soft Power: OSLO ACCORDS

6) Non-Violence: MYANMAR

7) Exhaustion: DARFUR

Part V: How do you recreate Peace?

1) Post Conflict Reconstruction: NORTHERN IRELAND

2) Democracy Building: CHILE

3) War Tribunals: SIERRA LEONE

4) Reconciliation and Truth Commissions: SOUTH AFRICA

5) Comprehensive Peacebuilding: AFGHANISTAN

6) Can we end all wars? CAMBODIA

7) Conclusions and getting back to Gandhi: ARGENTINA

Course Calendar (Please note that this is not the final syllabus. A finalized schedule of readings, assignments and office hours will be distributed to students at the beginning of the semester).
January 18	Class 1	Course Introduction
January 20	Class 2	Origins and Contemporary Issues of Conflict Resolution Read Crocker, Hampson and Aall, “The Center Cannot Hold: Conflict Management in an Era of Diffusion,” Chapter 1 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift
Part I: What is War? What is Peace?
January 25	Class 3	Defining Peace I: War (and its absence) according to Realism, Liberalism and the Constructivists Read John Mearsheimer, (1994) “The False Promise of International Institutions” International Security 19(3) http://mearsheimer.uchicago.edu/pdfs/A0021.pdf Recommended: Gordon and Johnson, “US Power in a G-0 World,” Chapter 3 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift
January 27	Class 4	Defining Peace II: Positive Peace vs. Negative Peace Read Paulo Freire The Pedagogy of the Oppressed chapter 1 : https://libcom.org/files/FreirePedagogyoftheOppressed.pdf & Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/letter-birmingham-jail
February 1	Class 5	Defining Peace III: Numbers & Typologies Read Welch, “The Shifting Landscape of Conflict Management” Chapter 2 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Recommended: Ramsbotham ch. 3: “The Statistics of Deadly Quarrels and the Measurement of Peace”
Part II: Why Do Wars Begin?
February 3	Class 6	On institutions, imbalances and failed states *Reading Reflection 1 due* Read Jack Levy, “International Sources of Interstate and Intrastate Violence” (2007) http://fas-polisci.rutgers.edu/levy/2007%20USIP%20review%20essay.pdf Recommended: Michael Mazarr, “The Rise and Fall of the Failed State Paradigm,” Foreign Affairs (2014) http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140347/michael-j-mazarr/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-failed-state-paradigm Case Study: SOMALIA
February 8	Class 7	Greed v. Need v. Creed (1) Read Brown and Stewart, “Economic and Political Causes of Conflict: An Overview and Some Policy Consequences,” Chapter 12 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift & Collier and Hoeffler, “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,” (2004) Oxford University Papers http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3488799.pdf?acceptTC=true Case Study: CHECHNYA and ABKHAZIA
February 10	Class 8	Greed v. Need v. Creed (2) Cederman, Weidman and Gleditsch, “Horizontal Inequalities and Ethnonationalist Civil War,” The American Political Science Review (2011): http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41480853.pdf Recommended: James Fearon and David Laitin, “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War” American Political Science Review (97) 1. 2003: http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/21459/fearlait.pdf & R. Scott Appleby (2012) "Religious Violence,” http://practicalmattersjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Appleby-Religious-Violence.pdf Ramsbotham, ch. 5, “Preventing Violent Conflict” Case Study: TIMOR LESTE and PHILLIPINES
Part III: Why do Wars Last?
February 15	Class 9	Just War Theory & Conflict Prevention *Reading Reflection 2 due* Read Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, (1977) excerpts from ch.s 4, 5 & 6: http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rarneson/Courses/Walzerchapter4.pdf & Stares, “The Future of Conflict Prevention,” Chapter 27 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: CYPRUS
February 17	Class 10	Ethnic & Religious Wars Read Fearon (2004) “Why do some Civil Wars last so much longer than others?” Journal of Peace Research http://www.uky.edu/~clthyn2/PS439G/readings/fearon_2004.pdf & Monica Toft and Yuri Zhukov, “Islamists and Nationalist: Rebel Motivation and Counterinsurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus,” (2015) American Political Science Review: http://search.proquest.com.jcu.idm.oclc.org/docview/1675033414/fulltext/C6968C44F70F443CPQ/1?accountid=130118 Recommended: Wimmer, Cederman and Min (2009), “Ethnic Politics and Armed Conflict,” American Sociological Review http://www.jstor.org/stable/27736063?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents William Easterly, “Can Institutions Solve Ethnic Conflicts” (2001) Economic Development and Cultural Change http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/10.1086/452521.pdf?acceptTC=true Case Study: NIGERIA and IRAQ
February 22	Class 11	Environmental and Criminal Conflicts Read Gleditsch “Climate Change, Environmental Stress, and Conflict,” & “Crime-War Battlefields,” Chapters 9 and 13 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: MEXICO and COLOMBIA
February 26 (Make up for February 24 Cancellation	Class 12	On the dilemmas of International Peacekeeping Read Hultman, Kathman and Shannon, “Beyond Keeping Peace: United Nations Effectiveness in the Midst of Fighting,” American Political Science Review (2014) http://search.proquest.com/docview/1626126101?pq-origsite=gscholar Barnett and Fang, “The U.N. Reviewed its Peacekeeping. It Ignored the 3 Things that Most Needed Change,” The Monkey Cage,( 2015) https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/10/14/the-u-n-reviewed-its-peacekeeping-practices-its-report-ignored-these-3-things-that-most-need-to-change/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_cage Recommended: J. Page Fortna, “Does Peacekeeping Keep Peace?” International Intervention and the Duration of Peace after Civil War,” International Studies Quarterly (2004) http://www.jstor.org/stable/3693574?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Case Study: BOSNIA
February 29	Class 13	Midterm Exam
Part IV: How do Wars End? Are There Strategies to Manage Conflict?
March 2	Class 14	Victory, Force, and Humanitarian Military Interventions Read O’Hanlon and Singer, “The Humanitarian Transformation: Expanding Global Intervention Capacity,” http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2004/3/spring%20humanrights%20ohanlon/20040304.pdf Recommended: Luttwark, “Give War a Chance,”(1999) Foreign Affairs http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049362?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Roy Licklider, “The Consequences of Negotiated Settlements in Civil Wars,” American Political Science Review (1995) http://www.jstor.org/stable/2082982?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Alan Kuperman, “Rwanda in Retrospect,” (2000) Foreign Affairs http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/55636/alan-j-kuperman/rwanda-in-retrospect Joshua Goldstein, “Humanitarian Intervention Comes of Age,” Foreign Affairs http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136502/jon-western-and-joshua-s-goldstein/humanitarian-intervention-comes-of-age Case Study: KOSOVO and RWANDA
March 4^th Friday Make-up for April 25th	Class 15	International Institutions and PeaceEnforcing Read Jones, “The UN Security Council and Crisis Management: Still Central after all these years,” Chapter 18 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift James Quinlivan, “Force Requirements in Stability Operations,” Parameters (1995) http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/1995/quinliv.htm Recommended: Ramsbotham ch. 7 “Ending Violent Conflict”& Michael Ignatieff, “With Syria Diplomacy Needs Force,” New York Times, Feb. 25^th, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/opinion/with-syria-diplomacy-needs-force.html Case Study: CONGO
March 7	Class 16	Deterrence and Sanctions Read Betts, “Deterrence Gone Astray: Choices in Coercion for Conflict Management,” & O’Hanlon, “Dealing with Proliferation: The Nuclear Abolition Vision versus Pratical Tools for Today’s Extremist States,” Chapters 25 & 26 in in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: IRAN
March 9	Class 17	Diplomacy, Negotiation and other forms of Mediation Read Hampson and Zartman, “The Tools of Negotiation,” & Crocker, “The Diplomacy of Engagement in Transitional Polities,” Chapter 22 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Recommended Crocker, “The Diplomacy of Engagement in Transitional Polities,” Chapter 23 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Richard Jackson, “Internal War, International Mediation, and Non-Official Diplomacy,” Journal of Conflict Studies (2005) http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/194/338 William Zartman, “The Timing of Peace Initiatives: Hurting Stalemates and Ripe Moments,” The Global Review of Ethnopolitics (2001) http://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/TimingofPeaceInitiatives_Zartman2001.pdf Case Study: MOZAMBIQUE and EL SALVADOR
March 14	Class 18	Soft Power Read Joseph Nye, “Public Diplomacy and Soft Power” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2008 http://www.jstor.org/stable/25097996?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Recommended: Aall, “Building Interests, Relationships, and Capacity: Three Roads to Conflict Management,” Chapter 24 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: OSLO ACCORDS (ISRAEL-PALESTINE)
March 16	Class 19	Traditions of non-Violence and Just Peace Read Stephan and Chenoweth, “Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict,” International Security (2008) http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/IS3301_pp007-044_Stephan_Chenoweth.pdf Recommended, Pruitt, (2010) “Creating a Musical Dialogue for Peace,” The International Journal of Peace Studies http://www.gmu.edu/programs/icar/ijps/vol16_1/4%20Pruitt%20IJPS%20Spring%202011%20cfs%2020111007-1.pdf Ramsbotham ch. 16 “Conflict Resolution in Art and Popular Culture” Case Study: MYANMAR
March 21	Class 20	Exhaustion and low-level violence Read: Fisher, “Political Science says Syrian War will probably last at least another decade,” Monkey Cage https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/10/23/political-science-says-syrias-civil-war-will-probably-last-at-least-another-decade/ Patrick Cockburn, “Will Exhaustion end the Syrian Civil War,” (2014) Counterpunch http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/09/will-exhaustion-end-the-syrian-civil-war/ Recommended: Amnesty International “Lebanon/Israel: Out of all proportion, Civilians bear the brunt of Civil War” ch.s 1 & 4-6 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/21_11_06_amnesty.pdf Case Study: DARFUR
Part V: How do you (re)Create Peace?
March 23	Class 21	Post-conflict Reconstruction *Reading Reflection 3 due* Read Tschirgi, “Rebuilding War-Torn Societies: A Critical Review of International Approaches,” Chapter 28 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Recommended: Arutosh Varshney, “Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society: India and Beyond,” World Politics (2001) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/v053/53.3varshney.html Case Study: NORTHERN IRELAND
April 4	Class 22	Democracy and the Rule of Law Read Doyle, “Postbellum Peacebuilding: Law, Justice and Democratic Peacebuilding,” Chapters 31 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Recommended: Suhrke, “The Long Decade of Statebuilding,” Chapters 32 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: CHILE
April 6	Class 23	War Tribunals Read Jeremy Sarkin (2001), “The Tension between Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Politics, Human Rights, Due Process and the Role of the Gacaca Courts in Dealing with the Genocide” Journal of African Law http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3558953.pdf & Recommended: Stromseth, “Peacebuilding and Transitional Justice: The Road Ahead” Chapter 33 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: SIERRA LEONE
April 11	Class 24	Reconciliation and Truth Commissions Read James Gibson, (2006) “The Contributions of Truth to Reconciliation: Lessons from South Africa,” Journal of Conflict Resolution http://www.arts.yorku.ca/politics/ncanefe/courses/pols4255/pdf/Week%209%20Gibson.pdf "Can an Evil Man Change? The Repentence of Eugene de Kock" Antjie Krog, New York Times March 15th, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/opinion/sunday/the-repentance-of-eugene-de-kock-apartheid-assassin.html?ref=world Recommended: Portraits of Reconciliation New York Times Magazine Case Study: SOUTH AFRICA
April 13	Class 25	Post Conflict Norms and the Problem of Sovereignty Read Williams, “The Changing Normative Environment for Conflict Management,” & Lake, “Practical Sovereignty and Postconflict Governance,”Chapters 5 & 17 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: AFGHANISTAN
April 18	Class 26	Other Perspectives from Anthropology and Feminism Read Douglas P. Fry “Life with War” http://peaceispatriotic.org/articles/PeaceRelatedStructures.18May2012.pdf & Jonge Oudraat and Kuehnast,“Peace and Security in the Twenty-First Century: Understanding the Gendered Nature of Power,” Chapter 21 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift Case Study: CAMBODIA
April 20	Class 27	What would Gandhi have to say about that? Read M.K. Gandhi, “The Gospel of Non-violence” http://www.mkgandhi.org/nonviolence/phil1.htm & “Ahimsa,” http://www.mkgandhi.org/amabrothers/chap04.htm Case Study: ARGENTINA
April 27	Class 28	Conclusions: On the future of global peace and what you can do about it Sagarin, “Learning from the Octopus: What Nature Can Tell Us about Adapting to a Changing World,” Chapter 34 in Managing Conflict in a World Adrift & Gleditsch et al., “The Decline of War,” International Studies Review (2013) Read here Recommended: The Economist, “How to stop fighting, Sometimes,” http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21589431-bringing-end-conflicts-within-states-vexatious-history-provides-guide *Reading Reflection 4 due* *FINAL EXAM*