PCON 250 - Critical Peace Studies

Examines human conflict and attempts to understand the worldwide decline in warfare since the end of the Cold War. This examination is framed in terms of the original debate within peace studies: the minimalist or negative peace school versus the maximalist or positive peace approach. Whereas the negative peace school focused on techniques to interrupt or preempt specific instances of mass violence (e.g., through mediation, conflict resolution, intervention, and peace-building/peace-enforcement), the positive peace school advanced a more ambitious scientific and political agenda to prevent wars from ever happening again by understanding and addressing violence in all its forms (physical, mental, structural, symbolic, etc.). Students interrogate both approaches vis-à-vis the historical and empirical record of armed conflict.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: No Senior
Area of Inquiry: None
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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