THEORIES OF CONFLICT, VIOLENCE AND WAR

Why do warfare and mass killings of human beings occur?  Which theories best explain why interstate wars happen?  Why civil wars take place?  Why genocide or wartime rape occur?  Resolving conflict and building peace require an understanding of why violence and war happen. This course sets forth the main theoretical frameworks, with empirical examples, for understanding the causes and conditions of violent conflict.  It examines violence at four levels: the global system; the state or regime; social/ethnic groups; and the individual.  By the end of the course you should know the main approaches to understanding what violence is, why warfare and violence occur, and how to apply those approaches to concrete cases.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN LATIN AMERICA

This course explores these and other questions through theory and case studies.  It examines what rights are, which ones are observed and focused upon by states and by international actors, and whose are privileged in practice.  The course examines some of the issues confronting human rights in Latin America today: how to remember, redress and repair human rights abuses under past authoritarian regimes; how to document and address rights abuses linked to the globalized movements of labor and people, as well as of indigenous peoples; what the role of the United States has been and should be; what the role of international and national NGOs is and ought to be; how to address non-political violence through.

PEACEBUILDING AND THE STATE

This course addresses issues of building peace in war-torn societies. Although the course addresses a range of political, military, economic and social challenges, it focuses more on the intersection of these challenges with institutions of the state.