CONF 702: PEACE STUDIES
Professor Ho-Won Jeong
George Mason University
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
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Autumn 2003
Wednesday 7:20-10:00
ICAR 105
Instructor: Ho-Won Jeong (email, hwjeong@gmu.edu)
Office Hours: Wednesday 2:30-3:30 or by appointment
This course takes a comprehensive overview of various issues in peace and conflict research and examines the efforts to resolve conflict at various levels of society which we face in the 21st century. It offers an integrative framework to link peace keeping, making, and building as well as introducing major approaches to peace. The course also examines the ideas behind the development of peace research which has emerged as one of the major social science disciplines recognized by UNESCO.
This course starts with the conceptualization of peace, conflict and violence. After that, it reviews different issues relevant to understanding peace and conflict. These include the nature of violent conflict, feminist critique of world order, poverty and economic disparities, and ecological degradation. Based on the understanding of threats to human security, we will examine and evaluate various strategies which contribute to peace building and conflict resolution. Some of the strategies to be discussed include (but are not limited) to sustainable development, community building, human rights, ethnic conflict and self-determination, reconciliation and reconstruction, nonviolence, transformation of a hierarchical social order and ecological balance. At the end of the semester we will discuss how the above strategies can be integrated to build a peaceful world. Overall, this class offers students an opportunity to learn a variety of policy tools needed for conflict transformation and peace building both at the macro and micro levels.
The instructor will introduce basic concepts and theoretical approaches to the issues each week. Students will be encouraged to develop their own thinking and ideas based on what they have learned from this class. Class lectures and discussions are based on the assumption that required assignments have been read before each class.
Books assigned for this class are at the George Mason University bookstore. If any assignment is not included in the required books, the ICAR resource room has a folder (prepared for this class) which includes other assignments.
There are two papers (one short reflection essay and the other based on research) as well as a class project. The research paper may focus on specific areas of student interest, and the range of the topics to be considered for the paper can be broadly defined. The essay reflecting on the course themes needs to be based on the reading assignments (no extra research is necessary). The course grade will be determined on the following basis: 45 percent (the term paper); 30 percent (a reflection essay); 15 percent (a class project); 10 percent (a summary of report of reading assignments).
Jeong, Ho-Won, 2000, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Jeong, Ho-Won, ed., 1999, The New Agenda for Peace Research, Ashgate, Aldershot.
Recommended
Christie, Daniel, et al., Peace, Conflict and Violence, London: Prentice Hall.
Byrne, Sean, et al., Reconcilable Differences, West Hartford: Kumanrian Press
Week 1 Opinion Survey on Peace and Violence
Week 2 Meanings and Concepts
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 7-50.
Recommended
S. Opotow, 'Social Injustice', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 102-9
M. Pilisuk, 'Globalism and Structural Violence, in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 149-57.
Week 3, Theories and Paradigms
P. Smoker and L. Groff, 'Creating Global-Local Cultures of Peace', Peace and
Conflict Studies, June 1996.
(Articles from Peace and Conflict Studies are available at http:\\www.gmu.edu\academic\pcs\)
C. Alger, 'The Expanding Tool Chest for Peace Builders', in Jeong (ed), The New Agenda for Peace Research, pp. 13-42.
Recommended
J. Galtung, 'Peace and Conflict Research' Peace and Conflict Studies, June 1995.
I. Hakvoort, et al., 'Giving Voice to Children's Perspectives on Peace,' in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 324-39.
The Dalai Lama, 'The Global Community and the Need for Universal Responsibility', pp. International Journal of Peace Studies, Spring 2002, pp. 1-14.
Week 4 Understanding War and Inter-Group Violence
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 53-64.
I. Neumann, 'Identity and the Outbreak of War', The New Agenda, pp. 45-60
M. Shaw, 'War and Globality', The New Agenda, pp. 61-80
Recommended
M. Britton, 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 87-97.
L. Gonway, et al., 'Integrative Complexity and Political Decisions', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 66-75.
U. Niens, et al., 'Intrastate Violence', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 39-48.
E. Staub, 'Genocide and Mass Killing', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 76-86.
Week 5 Women and Peace
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 75-86
Recommended
D. Winter, et al., 'Understanding Militarism', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 139-148.
A. Michel, 'Military-Industrial Complexes and Violence' in C. Alger, Peaceful Transformation, 1988
J. Caputi, 'Unthinkable Fathering' in Warren (ed.), Bringing Peace Home, Indiana University Press, 1996
M. True, 'Greenhan Commons Women', To Construct Peace, Twenty-Third Publications, 1992, pp. 43-9
M. Schwebel, et al., 'Children and Structural Violence', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 120-9.
D. Mazurana, et al., 'Women, Girls and Structural Violence', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 130-8.
Week 6 Class Presentations
Week 7 The Role of the Military
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 53-64.
D. Druckman, 'Conflict Resolution Roles in Peacekeeping Operations', in Jeong (ed), The New Agenda for Peace Research, pp. 105-34
Recommended
H. Langholtz, et al., 'U.N. Peacekeeping', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 173-82.
Donna Winslow, 'Strange Bedfellows: NGOs and the Military in Humanitarian Crises', International Journal of Peace Studies, Fall 2002
B. Moeller, 'From Arms to Disarmament Races', in Jeong (ed), The New Agenda for Peace Research, pp. 83-104
Week 8 Conflict Intervention, Prevention and Transformation
R. Vayrynen, 'From Conflict Resolution to Conflict Transformation', in the New Agenda, pp. 135-61
Recommended
L. Reychler, 'Field Diplomacy' Peace and Conflict Studies, July 1998
D. Smith, 'Preventing Conflict Escalation', in the New Agenda, pp. 161-78
N. Carter and S. Byrne, 'The Dynamics of Social Cubism', in S. Byrne, ed., Reconcilable Differences, pp. 41-62.
K. Cavanaugh, 'Understanding Understanding Protracted Social Conflicts', in S. Byrne, pp. 65-78.
Week 9 International Conflict Resolution
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 167-204.
Recommended
A. Sanson, et al., 'Conflict Resolution', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 193-209.
P. Pedersen, 'The Cultural Context of Peacemaking', in Christie, pp. 183-192.
Sean Byrne, 'Linking Theory to Practice: How Cognitive Psychology Informs the Problem Solving Process for Third Parties', International Journal of Peace Studies, Spring 2003
Daniel Lieberfeld, 'Nelson Mandela as Peacemaker', A paper presented at the International Studies Association Convention, March 2002
Amr G. E. Sabet, 'Peace Negotiations and the Dynamics of the Arab?Israeli Conflict' Peace and Conflict Studies, May 2000
Montgomery Sapone, 'Ceasefire: The Impact of Republican Political Culture on the Ceasefire Process in Northern Ireland' Peace and Conflict Studies, May 2000
Week 10 Post-Conflict Peace Building: Reconstruction and Reconciliation
H. Jeong, 'Peacebuilding Design', in H. Jeong (ed.), Approaches to Peacebuilding, Houndmills: Palgrave, 2002, pp. 147-170.
Recommended
C. Montiel, 'Toward a Psychology of Structural Peacebuilding', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 282-94.
C. de la Rey, 'Reconciliation in Divided Societies', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 251-61.
Week 11 Human Rights and Self-Determination
H. Jeong, 'Human Rights' in Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, 2000
H. Jeong, 'Self-Determination' in Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, 2000
Recommended
M. Lykes, 'Human Rights Violations as Structural Violence', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 158-67.
D. Ronen, 'Human Needs and the State', in The New Agenda, pp. 261-88
Week 12 Non-Violent Strategies for Social Change
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 319-364.
Recommended
M. Nagler, 'What is Peace Culture?' in the New Agenda, pp. 233-58
D. Mayton II, 'Gandhi as Peacebuilder', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 307-13.
A. L'Abte, 'Nonviolent Interposition in Armed Conflict', Peace and Conflict Studies, July 1997
Week 13 The Environment, Security and Peace
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 95-108
H. Jeong, Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 267-292.
Recommended
H. Jeong and J. Kakonen, in Jeong (ed), The New Agenda for Peace Research, pp. 211-222
B. Porkinghorn, 'The Social Origins of Environmental Resource Conflict', in Byrne (ed.), pp. 79-95.
Week 14 Integration
Peace and Conflict Studies: An Introduction, pp. 367-78.
Recommended
M. Wessells, et al., 'Psychologists Making a Difference in the Public Arena', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 350-362.
D. Winter, et al., 'Conclusion: Peace Psychology', in Christie, et al., eds., Peace, Conflict and Violence, pp. 363-71.
Week 15 Future Directions
Class discussion