Jan Kozak

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UN University for Peace

http://www.upeace.org

Established as a Treaty Organization with its own Charter in an International Agreement adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 35/55 of 5 December 1980, the University for Peace has the mission:

"to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace and with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations".

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Master of Philosophy Degree Program in International Peace Studies [PDF]

Coursework

TERM I

Introduction to Peace Studies

(3 credits)

The Introduction to Peace Studies course is the common element of all courses of study in the UPEACE academic programme. It establishes the core issues, insights, and debates within peace studies as an integrated field of research offering a challenging and useful perspective on issues of peace and conflict. The course allows students to explore the various perceptions of the changing nature of contemporary conflicts and their resolution, as well as the underlying issues that influence them. It includes a review of the history and theories of non-violent struggle, issues of governance, development, global institutions, human rights, gender issues, culture, and security. Students will develop an integrated understanding of the potential for and challenges to peace – a theme that they will explore further through the other courses in the MA programme. Predominant contemporary and future threats to peace will also be analyzed. Through this process, students will develop an understanding of the various theoretical and methodological options available in peace research and conflict resolution and will be encouraged to understand the systemic nature of the issues.

Prevention of Deadly Conflict

(3 credits)

From 1994 to 1999 the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict (CCPDC) examined the primary causes of inter-group violence and the functional requirements of a system that could prevent large-scale, deadly conflict. The scope of the research was broad, analyzing conflict worldwide and in the long term, and the production of reviewed, international materials provides a major resource for teaching and research. Using documentation that emerged from the CCPDC, and drawing on the expertise of some participants in the process, the course will explore the crucial area of conflict prevention and clarify the rationale for the growing international consensus around the necessity and modalities for preventive action. The general principles of this developing area of conflict research will provide the foundation for further discussions of institutions, preventive diplomacy, and other structural and operational efforts to stave off violence by the transformation and resolution of potentially deadly conflicts.

Human Rights, Governance and Democratization

(3 credits)

The first part of the course will provide an introduction to the conceptual and legal underpinnings of human rights and humanitarian law. Special attention will be paid to the application of human rights norms and humanitarian law in situations of internal violent conflict. The second part of the course will examine the achievements and problems of democracy and governance since the end of the Cold War, reviewing differing forms of representative democracy and participatory development, relations between democratic politics and democratic institutions, and the increasing role of non-state actors. Reference will also be made to the impacts of globalization in relation to the spread and consolidation of democratic principles.

The Framework of International Law and Organizations

(3 credits)

The course provides a basic introduction to the field of international law, and is oriented towards the experience of international law practitioners in the application of international law to the resolution of international disputes. It also provides an introduction to the structure and functioning of international organizations and their role in the contemporary world order, particularly of the United Nations system.

Research Methods

(2 credits)

This course will prepare students to undertake their own research activities. It will address the nature of primary as opposed to secondary sources, provenance of materials, multiple data sources, and access to on-line libraries. Qualitative methods of research will be considered, including data collection through interviews and questionnaires, participant observation, and methods of identifying reliable sources and evaluating gathered information. Bibliographic usage and styles will be covered. Students requiring instruction in quantitative methods can obtain tutorial assistance, if needed for their project and thesis work.

TERM II

Regional Studies

(3 credits)

The regional level of analysis in international affairs is of growing importance as the dynamics of both war and peace are often played out most dramatically at the regional and sub-regional levels. The focus will be issues of security in each of the three regions that will be examined. Analysis of each region will include an examination of the general context of security, taking into account past, present, and possible future conflicts, as well as issues of resource scarcity, small arms, refugees, extra-regional actors, and any other factors that bear upon the security dynamics of the region in question. An introduction to the concept of regional integration will be provided at the outset of the course.

Disarmament, Nonproliferation and Small Arms

(3 credits)

The proliferation of small arms, light weapons, land mines, new and more deadly forms of conventional weaponry, and weapons of mass destruction pose a continuing threat to security and peace. The potential and actual spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons is a crucial and high profile component of the topic of disarmament, but at the same time, the control of more sophisticated conventional weapons is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, while small arms and light weapons are widely available and cheap, fuelling wars and violent conflict with tragic, daily human consequences. The course will review the most consequential multilateral processes, techniques, and instruments for disarmament, arms control agreements and non-proliferation endeavors. It will highlight urgent issues, examine ways of mitigating the most serious threats, and will assess the most recent developments in this important field.

The Nature of International Terrorism

(2 credits)

Students will develop an understanding of the genesis of modern terrorism, its main ideological streams, and the factors at the local, regional, and global levels that allow and support its continuation. The composition of terror networks and the underlying conditions and motives which give rise to terrorism will be analyzed and the debates over the ‘war on terrorism’ will be reviewed. Measures and tactics to disrupt terrorist activities will be analyzed as well as the strategies and policies which can reduce both active and passive support for terrorist organizations.

Specialization: Economic Development and Peace

(6 credits)

The course will focus on the critical linkages between economic development, stability, peace and security, a field of growing international significance. From different cultural perspectives, the course will cover: the evolution of development thinking and practices; the relationships between economic development, poverty and inequity and peace and security; and the implications of development strategies within a broad perspective of international affairs. Other areas to be covered include: the role of the main international institutions, the impacts of globalization, and strategies to achieve social and economic progress coupled with justice and democracy in the 21st Century.

Elective: Religious and Ethnic Dimensions of Conflict

(3 credits)

This course addresses the role of religious and ethnic factors in both the generation and the mediation of violent conflicts. Offering a broad review of the fundamental injunctions of major religious traditions and faiths, the course will consider how religion historically has been a source of imperatives for the restructuring of disputes and an impetus to resolving conflict, for the correction of injustice, and for the transformation of conflict by use of non-violent means. The course will also explore how the modalities of ethnicity have been incorporated and manipulated in conflicts, and how ethnic identities manifest themselves in social conflict. Approaches to defusing ethnic tension in post-conflict settings will also be addressed.

TERM III

The Practices of Conflict Prevention and Resolution

(3 credits)

Taught by practitioners from a variety of UN agencies, NGO’s, government agencies and research institutions, this course will cover the techniques and practices of third-party interventions, including humanitarian interventions. Basic knowledge in the mechanisms of conciliation, mediation, negotiation and other third-party interventions will be provided. Lecturers from UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations will survey trends and developments in peace keeping. Wherever possible, examples and case studies will be introduced, drawing in particular on the experience of Special Representatives of the Secretary General and other international and national actors.

Human Security and Urban Violence

(2 credits)

The concept of “human security” will be discussed and defined. The implications of this concept for thinking about various themes including human rights, conflict, development, and security more broadly defined will be discussed. A human security perspective will then be used to analyze and develop a better understanding of urban violence, a critical problem in many parts of the North and South that becomes increasingly urgent as the phenomenon of urbanization continues to spread and intensify.

Capstone Synthesis

(1 credit)

A final integrative seminar, the course will allow students the opportunity to “step back” and place what they have learned during the MA course into the broader context of conflict and peace. The course will encourage students to assess the emerging threats to peace in a future perspective, using the critical thinking and analytical skills honed through coursework as well as the knowledge they will have gained. Students will be encouraged to reflect on how the issues of peace and conflict, analyzed in their complexity throughout the MA programme, bear upon them as individuals and on their future activities.

Thesis

(8 credits)

Students will be assigned a tutor for discussions about thesis topics mid-way through the second term. The thesis must be comprised of original work, independently performed, or it may be a comprehensive survey in depth of a topic agreed to by the relevant tutor. It should be no longer than 20,000 words. A student may, in certain circumstances, decide to change his/her initial plans to obtain an M.A and may register to undertake the deeper study required to obtain an M.Phil. This must, however, be agreed by the third week of the second term. The student will then be required to submit a thesis of up to 50,000 words by a deadline to be agreed.

UN University for Peace

P.O. Box 138-6100

San José, Costa Rica, Central America

E-mail: jkozak@student.upeace.org

Tel: +506 205 9000 - Fax: +506 249 1929

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