This course will introduce students to some of the main themes related to environment and development, and natural resources, and how they relate to peace and conflict.
We will discuss the concepts of global environmental change, sustainable development, and environmental security, and natural resource conflicts. Specific focus will be given to Climate Change, and to the different approaches to development inside the sustainable development discourse. We will look at two environment and development discourses, namely Malthusianism and political economy, and how they lead to very different understandings of the supposed root causes, and of the proposed solutions to the environmental crisis we are facing today.
Together, we will examine two case studies that shed light on how world views influence our understanding of complex phenomena. Specifically, we will look at the Rwanda genocide and at the recent Syrian conflict, and how environmental dimensions are used to “explain” these horrible realities of the recent past. These case studies will serve to bring all the concepts of this course together and will hopefully allow us to draw some general conclusions.
The breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has brought the entire world to its knees. The world is in its biggest recession since the Great Depression. Already fragile countries and communities heavily in debt or suffering from armed conflicts are on the verge of unraveling into chaos. Millions of people in various regions of the world have lost their livelihoods. It is clear that the harshest impacts have been on the poorest and most vulnerable; yet the biggest casualty has been international solidarity at a time when it is most needed. This pandemic has exposed the massive fault lines along the already complex and tenuous interface between globalization and human rights. The role of international organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization etc. prior to, during, and in the aftermath of the pandemic in times of economic recovery is of crucial importance. Yet, several of these institutional drivers of globalization, including others such as businesses, have even before the pandemic been accused of having adverse impacts on human rights or keeping human rights issues out of their domain. The pandemic has also exposed inequitable impacts of other drivers of globalization such as migration, cultural pluralism, and technology.
This course will introduce students to these major themes and debates concerning the different linkages between globalization and human rights and explore the new streams of critique that have enabled a confluence as well as a questioning of the globalization-human rights interface. The overarching context for the course will be the COVID-19 and post COVID-19 world order.
This course introduces the theory and practice of conflict analysis, the methodical assessment of conflict – its history, causes, structure, actors, and dynamics.
Conflict analysis is the fundamental tool of peace operations, especially peace-building, development work in areas of conflict, and medium to long-term humanitarian assistance. It provides the necessary understanding of the context in which these interventions take place, and point towards possible entry points where conflict dynamics may be affected by them. As such, conflict analysis should – ideally – be the basis of planning, implementation, and monitoring. Furthermore, it complements other types of analysis, such as needs analysis, or functions as precursor to others, like Do No Harm analysis. This course will concentrate on conflict analysis in the context of peace-building but the general principles, skills, and methods are applicable across the wider set of activities conducted in conflict-affected areas indicated earlier.
We live in a world surrounded by individuals and communities with diverse ways of being. In order to understand the nature of these varieties of lived experiences around us, it is crucial to critically examine the ways in which they are rooted in systems of power. This course focuses on gender and sexuality as categories that are shaped by this power and inform the positions people occupy in a range of social contexts. It aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to perform an intersectional analysis of inequalities that those marginalized on the basis of their gender and sexuality face. Students will be facilitated in considering multiple categories like religion, race, ethnicity, class, and ability, in order to contextualize the meanings and manifestations of gender and sexuality. Case studies will be shared to apply the theoretical perspectives discussed throughout the course to analyze practical issues and to understand solutions to some of the complex challenges that gender and sexual marginalization poses.
This course introduces participants to the international law dimensions of peace and conflicts. It explores the international legal standards, both in treaty law and in customary international law, that underpin the prevention, management and resolution of inter-state and intra-state conflicts. The course adopts a diverse range of approaches to examine the rules, procedures, successes and failures of key international organizations, including the United Nations, as well as regional organizations, in responding to peace and conflict situations. Several case studies of actual policy responses, or lack thereof, will be explored in the course. Participants will also learn about the limits that international law places on States and non-state actors in peace and conflict situations, before moving into a critical discussion on the debates surrounding lack of enforcement of those standards in international law. Finally, the course will explore how international law intersects with other areas of inquiry related to peace and conflict studies, in order to promote multi-pronged responses to peace and conflict situations.
This course provides historical context and a theoretical foundation for the study of contemporary world politics in Peace and Conflict Studies. The course reviews concepts of globalization, interdependence, sovereignty, and international relations, and engages with key theoretical debates related to development, order, security, diversity, and peace. Offering a focused and critical consideration of the concept of global governance, the course explores international and transnational structures, including regional bodies, the United Nations, and other formal institutions, as well as less formal associations, movements, and other examples of global connectivity. Our final sessions look directly at the international political challenges of war, instability, and environmental crisis. The course assignments provide participants with opportunities to review the theoretical tools they have developed and to apply them to analyses of contemporary topics in world politics.
Diplomats, government officials, international civil servants, consultants, and other actors must be able to understand and often work with the United Nations, and UN agencies, in order to achieve their objectives and advance their interests. As an increasingly globalized world continues to underline the importance of multilateral dialogue and cooperation in confronting this century’s challenges, the UN will remain a central forum for progressing ideas and a platform for action.
The course on Introduction to the United Nations System aims to provide an overview of the United Nations system by analyzing the historical origins of international organizations, and then focusing on the United Nations Organizations, its principal organs; their structure, functions, financing; and on the UN development system. The course is divided into nine sessions. The first session will be dedicated to present the history and origins of the United Nations, focusing on its predecessor: The League of Nations. In turn, session two to session six will be devoted to study of the principal organs of the United Nations including the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat of the United Nations. Session seven will be focused on the financing mechanism of the United Nations. Session eight will the UN Development system. The last session will be dedicated to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Among the diverse conflicts that have led to divisions and violence in historical times and in the contemporary world, some clearly involve peoples who belong to different religions or faiths. Such conflicts have popularly created the assumption and conclusion that religion or faith has been or is a primary "cause” of violence and even wars. However, on careful analysis of the dynamics and complexities of the conflicts, this perspective is now being increasingly challenged. Drawing on exemplars from diverse regions and societies, this course seeks to clarify how religious and faith identities, beliefs and practices can motivate followers to engage in violent conflicts, albeit often in intersections with diverse economic, political and social factors. The potential for exclusivist interpretations of religious or faith "truths” to fuel extremism, intolerances, discrimination and even violence, including "terrorism”, will also be critically analyzed . On the other hand, there is a widening recognition that religion, faith and diverse spirituality traditions can play a positive role in building a culture of peace at local, national and global levels of life. The course hence will highlight the creative nonviolent contributions of faiths and religions in resolving and transforming conflicts and violence . Insights and lessons from strategies such as the expanding movements of interfaith and intra-faith dialogue as well as faith-based initiatives in peacebuilding will also be explored. The course will be especially relevant to peacebuilders working in contexts of cultural and faith or religious complexities and diversities.
In this course we will become familiar with contemporary issues regarding climate change adaptation and critically analyze key debates in the field. Students will learn about relevant theory and how to apply this in practice. We will engage in a shared critical analysis of climate change adaptation, we will examine international successes, and identify challenges in the field. Throughout our course students will examine contemporary issues through a critical review of the published literature and through real world case studies.
The course constitutes an advanced course dealing with central structural arrangements conducive towards war, militarism, hegemonic masculinities, Femininities, nationalism, conflict creation and resolution, greed, and competitiveness and its consequent violence, including violence against women. The impediments specifically created by lack of gender equity will be analyzed, an analysis that is seen as pivotal for peacekeeping in times of rapid globalization.
Some of the material assigned for the course offers specific strategies for empowerment and achieving gender equity, while representing the necessity for these strategies to be connected to a structural changes and a drastic shift away from the discourses concerning women with the terms “vulnerabilities” and victimization and about males as innately aggressive. It examines the complex relationships between gender, biology, race, class, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, sexual orientation, militarization, both in the domestic and the public spheres. The former is analyzed as a pillar for the latter. Global gender indicators will complement the above material.
The definitions of what constitutes human security have been shifting, specifically when analyzed from a clear gender perspective, assuming that: a) there is no clear boundary between war and peace for women worldwide; and b) security considerations go beyond that of relationships between States and focus on the human. The course will thus focus on peace building and peace education, as well as Gender analysis to Security and peace building.
Environmental degradation, humanitarian crisis, immigration, financial meltdowns or military interventions do not recognize any geographic boundaries and challenge the political borders on which the international politico-legal system is founded. Nevertheless, while the importance of territory and inter-state boundaries is perceived as diminishing in the globalized world of the 21st century, many of the contemporary conflicts are inseparable from their territorial roots. Hence, establishing and managing limits between sovereign states and neighboring countries constitute today an unlimited source of tension around the world. Against the violent background of political borders, this class brings a critical perspective with respect to the role of modern international law in matters of peace and stability.
International law is founded on territorialized concepts such as state, sovereignty, effective control and territorial jurisdiction. Nonetheless, this legal system seems to be inherently paradoxical as it incorporates rules and principles which break through the territorial configuration of the very same system - self-determination, human rights, contingent sovereignty, responsibility to protect and claims of universality are a few examples. The course will raise the following questions: What is the structure of the international legal argument regarding borders? Is the pluralistic legal system chaotic and contradictory, or is there an overarching legal pattern bringing coherence to the legal system related to political borders? What does this system say and what kind of impact does it leave on the globe. Also, the most theoretical questions are combining with the answer that international law presented to some of the issues raised along the course: delimitation, demarcation, territorial control, among many other concepts.
The courses focus the analysis on case studies, from a historical and actual agenda in the international community.
Migration has always been a way for humankind to react and adapt to changes in the natural environment. There is a growing consensus today that ‘climate change’, environmental degradation, and disasters are already driving human mobility and that this trend is likely to intensify in future. Without significant investments in climate change mitigation, and disaster prevention/risk reduction, and in boosting the resilience and adaptation to climate shocks of families and communities, millions are likely to migrate or be displaced from their homes in the coming decades. Human mobility in this context is understood to encompass ‘migration’, ‘displacement’ and the ‘planned relocation’ of communities out of harm’s way, as envisaged in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This six-session course will broadly introduce students to current thinking about the interaction between climate change and human mobility. It will look at what climate change is and its projected impacts, as well as the typologies of human mobility it produces, in combination with a range of other factors. Students will become familiar with the international law and principles applicable to populations on the move owing to climate change, environmental degradation and disasters, and recent developments in this area. They will for example, learn how human mobility is treated in the 2015 Paris Climate Change Accord, relevant work streams of the UNFCCC process and other international instruments such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees, the 2018 Global Compact on Safe, Regular and Orderly Migration, as well as decisions of the UN Human Rights Committee.
The contemporary global order is founded upon the principle of sovereignty of States and non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs. At the same time, there is an ever-increasing push for 'global governance' as the key to resolving issues of common concern to humanity, especially those which are transboundary in nature. But how should global governance work in the absence of a global government? Is global governance a good thing or a bad thing for humanity and the planet anyway? Recent world events have demonstrated that while elements of global governance on issues such as climate change and forced displacement might be necessary, grassroots organizations and civil society have simultaneously pushed back against ‘too much’ global governance in other areas such as trade and finance. Should we then move towards more global governance by identifying the gaps and plugging them? Or should we rather move towards restricting global governance because it is invasive and shrinks ‘governance space’ of States?
This course introduces students to the various dimensions of global governance, debates on its lack of effectiveness in some areas, as well as debates on its over-regulation in some others. The course adopts a multi-disciplinary approach to unpacking this important and emerging area of global policy making. It also adopts a dynamic pedagogy included readings, multi-media content, lectures, and discussion forums.
Revolutionary armed conflict was once considered the only way for oppressed peoples to change severe injustice and oppression. Bloodshed was deemed necessary, often justified by the cliché that what was taken by violence can only be retrieved by violence. In the last decades of the 20th century, however, it became clear that armed insurrection is not the only choice for aggrieved groups and societies, and that nonviolent civil resistance, relying on a variety of forms of nonviolent action, could bring some impressive results. Some failures also occurred. Although this phenomenon has been coherently utilized to achieve political and social change for well over a century by groups, peoples, and societies in differing cultures and political systems, only recently has it gained respect as a potentially formidable strategic force by policy makers, political analysts, scholars, peacemakers, and international specialists of many fields.
Contemporary dictatorships and tyrants have collapsed from the pressure exerted by popular mass movements of nonviolent action, in countries such as the former Czechoslovakia, Chile, East Germany, Georgia on the Black Sea, the Philippines, Poland, Serbia, South Africa, or Ukraine, to name a few. In 2010–11, national nonviolent movements in Tunisia and Egypt changed the face of North Africa and the Middle East. Evidence shows that countries that experience bottom-up, grass-roots nonviolent struggle are more likely to sustain human rights and democracy once established than when armed insurrection is used, and that nonviolent movements succeed more often than violent insurrections. Given this record, it is important for would-be peacemakers to explore systematically the theories, methods, dynamics, and strategies of such movements
On 25 September, 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a new and ambitious collective global plan of action for transforming our world by 2030 through the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, which are part and parcel of the 2030 Agenda, replace and build upon the previous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which ran their course in 2015. The advancement of the SDGs over the MDGs is not only in its scope – there are now 17 Goals as against the previous 8 – but also in some of the known structural shortcomings in the design of targets and indicators of the MDGs.
The global agenda for development, including development aid, financing, and international cooperation, for the next 15 years will likely gravitate around the SDGs. Indeed, the 2030 Agenda calls for a convergence around the SDGs of responses to several contemporary issues of global concern, whether related to climate change, human rights, peace and security, gender equality, migration, safe cities, rule of law, good governance, education, health, multilateral trade, investment, amongst others. However, a successful implementation of the SDGs can only result from learning the lessons from the MDG story where despite admirable progress in some goals, some others unfortunately remained off-track.
In this course, we will examine the process of designing and carrying out research. We will explore the basic structure of research, learn how to critically analyze the literature to identify research topics and questions, and we will dialogue about the ethics of research. Research designs will be reviewed as well as multiple methods for data gathering both in qualitative and quantitative research (e.g. interviews, photovoice, surveys). Lastly, we will learn how to analyze data so you can present and disseminate your research. Emphasis will be placed on examining existing research to ensure that teachings are applicable to on the ground work. This class is relevant to students and professionals that want to deepen their understanding of how to design, carry out, and disseminate research.
What is now generally defined as “development” has not come without a cost. The industrial model standing at the roots of our current standards of living has been based on a linear system of production, where natural resources are extracted from the Earth; processed in manufacturing plants, used by consumers around the world; and finally get either incinerated or discarded as waste in landfills or in Nature. The current system, which relies on large quantities of cheap, easily accessible materials and energy, is coming up against constraints on the availability of resources, and our capacity to manage its huge amounts of waste. Raising awareness of the environmental hazards, resource constraints, and the increasing volumes of waste and pollution compounded by the rising demand from the world’s growing and increasingly affluent population, are likely to impose mounting threats to welfare and wellbeing. All the key indicators confirm that the problems of a linear economy are grounded in a global economy we need to reconsider.
This course is a broad examination of sustainable development: its theory, practice, policies and principles. It will offer an opportunity for students to get familiar with the international processes that were initiated with the Brundtland Commission report Our Common Future in 1987. It is also an introduction to the Circular Economy concept. It provides an array of case examples, a solid framework, and guiding principles for implementing it. The transition towards a circular economy offers an opportunity to reduce our ecological footprint by lowering raw material consumption and minimizing waste generation. This, no doubt, is a major prerequisite to stay within the Planetary Boundaries.
All social interactions, from personal relationships to international arena, experience opposing preferences. Hence an introductory course on the theory and practice of negotiation and mediation is essential for understanding topics as diverse as marital disputes, organizational relations, community conflicts, group decision-making and international relations. It will enhance one's ability to critically review situations in order to find and adopt a mutually accepted solution to a given situation. This course is therefore designed to serve as a broad introduction to the nature, scope, theories and practices of negotiation and mediation. The course will examine the complex and yet essential roles of negotiation and mediation as part of the main procedures of dealing with opposing preferences and as models of constructive conflict transformation. The course will set the context with a discussion on the nature, assumptions, emotions and decision-making approaches involved in negotiations, the dynamics revolving around it and the gender perspective to it. It will also examine the various objectives, considerations, essences and processes of mediation. The course utilizes participatory and interactive pedagogies.
In this course, students will critically examine contemporary issues in food security as well as the historical processes that have shaped our current food system. We start by presenting the Food and Agriculture Organization’s framework for food security and use this as a lens for our critical thinking throughout the course. We analyze how sustainable agriculture is central to food security. We unpack how international trade and markets influence individual and national food security. We present food sovereignty as a movement that has emerged in response to trade liberalization and inequality in our food system. To build on principles of equality, we include gender as a lens to better understand the nuances of how food insecurity affects people differently. To close, we examine food waste and its innovative solutions. This class is relevant to students and professionals working in education, research, programming and policy that want to deepen their understanding of food security and to acquire tools and frameworks applicable in this field.