module specification

 This module aims to:

• Examine a range of approaches to the cessation of contemporary conflicts and the conditions that may be necessary for peace
• Focus upon both the domestic and international actors involved in these processes
• Provide students with an understanding of relevant theories and empirical material for comparative analysis
• Explore the differing ways in which particular conflicts tend to be viewed by participants, external commentators and public policy-makers

 Theoretical, analytical, normative and practical aspects of international conflict resolution; debates and controversies about both practice and theory; relationships with other academic disciplines and theories, LO1, LO2, LO3

Practical processes including diplomacy, negotiation and the conclusion of peace treaties; the promotion of human rights and social justice agendas; inter-state and intra-state conflicts and the relationships between them. LO1, LO2, LO3

The roles of a range of actors, including states, international institutions and NGOs. LO4

Students also specialise within the syllabus through the research and development of their own case studies. LO5

• Teaching comprises weekly classes involving both lectures and seminars. Lectures focus on approaches, theories and analysis, while seminar discussions centre both on the subject matter as a whole and students’ work on their own case studies
• Reflective and independent learning is encouraged through the research and writing of an extensive case study report, but also through the interactive lectures and seminar discussions
• The module makes extensive use of blended learning, primarily through its dedicated Weblearn site, including interactive use of the mail and discussion tools, module information, lecture PowerPoint slides and full reading lists
• Although it is primarily concerned with the academic study of conflict resolution, this module provides students with a range of opportunities to enhance their employability, especially the research and writing of the case study component of assessment
• Students will be required to attend all classes, to engage in the set activities, to prepare in advance by attempting assigned readings, to complete coursework by deadlines, and to reflect and act on the feedback they receive

 On successful completion of this module students will be able to demonstrate:

1. A conceptual understanding that enables them to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the field of international conflict resolution
2. An ability to evaluate particular attempts to transform conflicts, to derive possible lessons from them for other conflict situations and to grapple with the problems of designing strategies for resolving conflicts
3. A critical understanding of the inter-disciplinary nature of international conflict resolution and its relationship with other fields of study and practice
4. A systematic understanding of the roles of the different domestic, international and transnational actors involved in the creation of armed conflicts and of the ways in which such actors have interacted to transform such conflicts into peace processes
5. An ability to apply insights from the field in their analysis of a particular case study and to demonstrate self-direction and originality in this work

 Assessment is based on two elements:

1. A book review of a text relevant to conflict resolution, worth 20% of the final grade. It will be 1000 words in length. This must be submitted by week 9.

2. A case study of a chosen conflict, worth 80% of the final grade. It will be 4000 words in length. This must be submitted by week 13.

 CORE READING

Barash, D. and Webel, C. (2017) Peace and Conflict Studies, 4th edn. (London: Sage)
Darby, J. and Mac Ginty, R. (eds) (2008) Contemporary Peacemaking: Conflict, Peace Processes and Post-War Reconstruction, 2nd edn. (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Jeong, H. (2010) Conflict Management and Resolution: An Introduction (London: Routledge)
Miall, H. et al. (eds) (2015) The Contemporary Conflict Resolution Reader (Cambridge: Polity)
Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse, T. and Miall, H. (2016) Contemporary Conflict Resolution, 4th edn. (Cambridge: Polity Press)
Wallensteen, P. (2015) Understanding Conflict Resolution, 4th edn. (London: Sage)

ADDITIONAL READING

Bellamy, A. J. (2011) Global Politics and the Responsibility to Protect: From Words to Deeds (London: Routledge)
Darweish, M. and Rank, C. (eds) (2012) Peacebuilding and Reconciliation: Contemporary Themes and Challenges (London: Pluto Press)
Galtung, J. (2002) Searching for Peace: The Road to Transcend, 2nd edn. (London: Pluto)
Heinze, E. A. (2009) Waging Humanitarian War: The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Humanitarian Intervention (Albany: SUNY Press)
Jacoby, T. (2008) Understanding Conflict and Violence (London: Routledge)
Lederach, J. P. (2005) The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Mac Ginty, R. (2006) No War, No Peace: The Rejuvenation of Stalled Peace Processes and Peace Accords (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Mac Ginty, R. (2011) International Peacebuilding and Local Resistance: Hybrid Forms of Peace (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Miall, H. (2007) Emergent Conflict and Peaceful Change (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Paris, R. (2004) At War’s End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Richmond, O. (2005) The Transformation of Peace (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)
Richmond, O. (2011) A Post-Liberal Peace (London: Routledge)
Richmond, O. and Franks, J. (2009) Liberal Peace Transitions: Between Statebuilding and Peacebuilding (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press)
Sandole, D. (2010) Peacebuilding: Preventing Violent Conflict in a Complex World (Cambridge: Polity)
Wallensteen, P. (2011) Peace Research: Theory and Practice (London: Routledge)
Zartman, I. W. (ed.) (2001) Preventive Negotiation: Avoiding Conflict Escalation (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers)
Zartman, I. W. (2005) Cowardly Lions: Missed Opportunities to Prevent Deadly Conflict and State Collapse (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner)

Useful Websites
• Stockholm International Peace Research (www.sipri.org)
• Peace Research Institute Oslo (www.prio.org)
• Uppsala University, Department of Peace and Conflict Research (www.per.uu.se)
• Virtual Library: Peace, Conflict Resolution and International Security (www2.etown.edu/vl/peace.html)
• International Alert (www.international-alert.org)
• Search for Common Ground (www.sfcg.org)