CONF 751

This graduate seminar will investigate key questions related to some of the most vexing challenges of war and peacebuilding in our times. It is a year-long seminar. Among the question we will investigate are: What are the structures and the dynamics that drive contemporary civil wars? How does the nature of civil war shape the prospects for and processes of peacebuilding? And how can external actors work with war-torn communities to build sustainable and just peace? During the Fall semester we will emphasize the challenges to understanding civil wars and how they end. We will build on this knowledge during the Spring semester as we consider processes of postwar peacebuilding. We will approach these issues by discussing some of the most recent research and theories developed by scholars and practitioners from a range of disciplines. We will not emphasize the social-psychological dimensions that are the focus on other classes at SCAR. Rather we will prioritize the interrelationships between political and economic institutions broadly defined and how the consequent organizations, norms, and patterns of relationships shape the nature of civil war and peace.