ASTK18306U Conflict and Peacemaking in Divided Societies

Although violence and group conflict is hardly new, over the past decades that has followed the end of the Cold War, nationalism and ethnic conflict has replaced ideological competition as the main source of strife within and between nation-states. Violence between ethnic groups, religious communities, and clans has shaken countries and regions across the globe. Most of the violent conflicts taking place in the world today are framed in cultural terms, as ethnic, nationalist, or religious. In many cases, these conflicts have spilled over the borders of states, threatening regional security and, some scholars argue, even world order. Even in the supposed "nation-states" of the "First World," where populations were once thought to be unified by a common national identity, cultural conflict has emerged as a major political issue for example the rise of secessionist movements and an array of right-wing anti-immigrant parties. Throughout the world, minority groups have become increasingly assertive, demanding recognition and rights, while the powerful, seeking to protect their positions, have responded with repression and violence.

The increasing frequency and deadliness of nationalist conflict at the international and the intrastate level, from mass expulsions to state-sponsored genocide, has prompted international and humanitarian interventions that have challenged time-honoured norms of state Sovereignty and its integrity. However, despite widespread recognition amongst intellectuals and policymakers of the virulent resurgence of nationalism, there is a widespread lack of consensus on the meaning and origins of, as well as the management strategies for dealing with, nationalist conflict.

At the same time, international relations have increasingly been shaped by what Samuel Huntington famously termed as the “Clash of Civilization”  and the debate surrounding Huntington's work has received a sense of urgency after the September 11 and  with the so-called War on Terror. Yet, other argued it is poorly understood and instead termed the rise of religious movements and religious inspired conflict or violence as the “Clash of Fundamentalism.” Accordingly the great conflicts of our time are not clashes of civilizations, they are clashes and competitions between different modes of modernity. One emphasized individualism and democratic popular participation, while the other emphasized the importance of communal identity and self-determination. 

MODULE AIMS

This course aims to enable students to:

• Have knowledge of the emergence and persistence of nationalism as well as the circumstances under which it may become associated with ethnic, religious polarisation and violence in their broader political context on the one hand; and the process of conflict resolution and peace building in deeply divided societies, on the other.
• Have knowledge of the causes, consequence and responses to civil wars, nationally, regionally and internationally.
• Develop an integrative understanding of global issues, conflict resolution and peacebuilding theories, research, and practice
• Be aware of the social and economic situation of plural societies undergoing ethnic, religious polarisation, violence and civil war.

Lecture Topics (Tentative)

Week 1 Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies

Week 2 Defining Conflict, Peace Violence

Week 3 Understanding Contemporary Conflict

Week 4 Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict

Week 5 The Political Economy of Conflict: the greed and grievance debate

Week 6 The Causes of Internal Conflict: Structural and Political Factors

Week 7 Reflecting on roles of religion in conflict and peace

Week 8 Nationalism as a basis of mass killing and genocidal violence  

Week 9 Non-Violence civil resistance as a basis for conflict transformation

Week 10 Containing conflict: Third party mediation and preventive diplomacy    

Week 11 Containing conflict: Peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention  

Week 12 Separation as a solution? Partition and Secession

Week 13 Institutional design and mechanisms of peacemaking

Week 14 Conflict Transformation, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding