Course Description and Goals:
In the aftermath of the Cold War civil violence/war emerged as one of the main domestic and international issues. Millions are killed, displaced, and suffer greatly because of the direct and indirect consequences of civil conflict. Indeed, many of the worst violations of human rights and most gruesome pictures of the depths of human misery originate during times of domestic violence. Even though civil conflict/war occurs, by definition, within a country’s borders, it is an international problem with international consequences. International terrorists are bred during incidents of civil conflict. International markets turn bearish based on fights within countries. Refugee flows can destabilize neighboring countries causing whole regions to devolve into chaos. Conflicts can also rapidly become regionalized due to efforts by neighbors or global powers to intervene. Currently this phenomenon is most obvious in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in Ukraine prior to the Russian invasion (making it an international conflict) but is also evident in many more episodes of civil conflicts/war around the world.
Through the work of governments, non-governmental organizations, activists, and scholarly communities around the world we have come to understand many of the causes and consequences of civil conflict. However, each conflict remains deeply complex, and in many cases intractable, despite billions in international aid, peacekeeping missions, and international interventions. In this course we will wrestle with several key questions:
How do we study civil conflict?
What are the causes of civil conflict?
What are the consequences of civil conflict?
What differentiates civil conflict from civil war?
How can the international community help stop civil conflict?
What role do international human rights laws and activism play in conflict?
Why do some countries emerge and remain stable after civil conflict while others do not?