Professor

Keith Krause

 

Description

Political violence manifests itself at all levels of social organization. “War” is today the least important contemporary manifestation of political violence, which implicates non-state armed groups, inter-communal conflicts, state violence, large-scale criminal-political violence, rebellions, localized struggles, and acts of terror. This research seminar will examine the global distribution of armed violence, and develop different inter-disciplinary approaches to explaining contemporary violence in different cases and contexts.

 

Prerequisite

• Contemporary Issues in Conflict and Security or the instructor’s prior permission

 

Syllabus

Introduction

The first part of the course will examine issues such as the definition of “violence,” the “new wars” debate, contemporary warlordism, communal conflicts, non-state armed groups, genocidal violence and state violence. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and in each case, a mix of conceptual and empirical material will be introduced, in order to expose students to a wide range of examples (and possible research paper topics). The last part of the course will be devoted to presentations and discussions of student's research papers, which should explore one of the themes of the course in a focused research case study.

Full participation is expected of all students in the seminar. This includes having read the required readings, and being prepared to discuss them critically. Final grades will in large part be determined by the level and quality of seminar participation, by presentations that will be scheduled according to the number of students in the seminar, and by the critique each student offers of one other student’s draft research paper.

 

 

Note: in order to take this seminar you must have either taken “Contemporary Issues in Conflict and Security” or have received my permission to enrol.

Assignments

The first assignment is a short “literature review” of the readings for the first week. It is due 7 March, at the beginning of the seminar.

The main focus of this seminar is on the individual research paper, which will account for 50 percent of your final grade. A draft of the paper must be presented during the scheduled “political violence conference,” which will be scheduled for a full day (or 1.5 days if necessary) during the week of May 23-28. I will provide comments on the paper, but no grade. If you do not present a draft on the scheduled date, you will receive a zero grade on the research paper. In other words, although the draft itself receives no grade, if you do not present one in class you will fail the course. A final grade will be given to the final, revised draft, which is due on Monday, 3 June.

Each student will also be responsible for presenting and critiquing one other student’s paper; this will form part of their final grade.

 

 

The research paper must be an empirically-grounded, theoretically-informed, exploration of a particular case study or set of cases relevant to the theme of this course. It cannot be a mere review of theoretical literature, or simply a narrative account of a particular case. It must have an argument, a conceptual framework, an empirical “field” (case or cases, or data, etc.), and a coherent research strategy or method. Case studies that examine a particular theme in the context of recent or current violence and armed conflict (Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nigeria, Nepal, Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, Guatemala, Cambodia, Colombia, Mexico, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, the Philippines, Thailand, Venezuela, Nicaragua, etc.) are particularly welcome, but the analysis is not restricted to war or post-conflict states.

 

Grades will be distributed as follows:

• 15% literature review (first week’s readings, 5 pages, due 7 March)               
• 25% seminar participation                                                                          
• 50% research paper (approximately 30 pages)                                             
• 10% paper critique                                                                                               

Students will be free to choose the topic for their research paper, although it must be determined in consultation with me.

 

 

Readings

The course readings are not introductory-level, and presume some familiarity with main approaches to violence and conflict studies. The required readings will be made available in a “kit” or polycopie that must be ordered through the ’imprimerie minute’. Needless to say, you must do the readings every week in order to participate in (or do well in) the course. Other readings may be added as we go along.

There are a number of good journals that treat the themes in this course. Among some you might find useful would be:

Journal of Conflict Resolution

 

International Security

Terrorism and Political Violence

Nationalism and Ethnic Politics

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism

Contemporary Security Policy

Small Wars and Insurgencies

International Journal of Conflict and Violence

Security Studies

Civil Wars

Finally, some sessions of the seminar will have to be rescheduled to accommodate some unavoidable commitments on my part. I will provide as much warning as possible for this.