Syllabus
1) Peace, conflict and violence: a conceptual introduction
2) Between war and positive peace: theoretical reflection of conflict and peaceful coexistence
3) From systemic conflict to micro-dynamics of violence
4) Whose wars? Gender construction of violence
5) Material underpinnings: natural resources and armed conflicts
6) Environment and conflict beyond people
7) The typology of armed conflicts
8) Origins of conflict and methods of conflict prevention
9) Before resorting to weapons: non-violence as a method of waging conflict
10) Conflict management: pacific procedures, sanctions and military instruments
11) Traditional and innovative methods of conflict resolution
12) Wars without end and the dilemmas of post-conflict reconstruction
Annotation
The course aims at introducing main concepts, themes and processes related to violence and armed conflicts. The composition of the course is divided into to main parts.
The first half introduces general conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of thinking about peace, conflict and violence. In this respect, specific attention will be paid to issues like the micro-dynamics of violence, the role of gender in conflicts, the impact of natural resources and the reflection of the environment in contemplations about conflicts and war.
The rest of the course tackles issues connected to armed conflicts. First the typology of political and armed conflicts is introduced, followed by the reflection on the origins of conflict and conflict prevention.
Other topics include the role of non-violence in a political conflict, methods of conflict management and resolution, intractable conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction.