Summary of Modules and Core Reading

MPhil International Peace Studies, All modules: 10ECTS, Modules may alter from year to year.

EM7202 Politics of Peace and Conflict (core module)
Coordinator: Professor Iain Atack

Peace Studies is an inter-disciplinary field of study, with a particular concern for developing an understanding of the origins of armed conflicts and possibilities for their resolution, as well as the conditions for building sustainable peace in war-torn societies. As such, there are theories of peace and war and particular issues of special interest to a programme in International Peace Studies. The purpose of this module is to provide an introduction to these issues and theories that would also be useful as a general background to some of the more specialised modules offered as part of the programme. Each student is required to participate in one of the seminar groups attached to the course.

Module aims:

• To provide a background in relevant peace theories
• To examine critical issues in peacemaking and peacebuilding
• To connect Peace Studies to wider issues in other disciplines

Core Reading 

Iain Atack (2005) The Ethics of Peace and War, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Oliver Ramsbotham, Tom Woodhouse and Hugh Miall (2011) Contemporary Conflict Resolution (3rd Edition), Polity Press.
Peter Walle:nsteen (2011) Understanding Conflict Resolution: War, Peace and the Global System (3rd Edition), Sage, London.

EM7201 Research Methods (core module)
Coordinator: Professor Etain Tannam, Professor Andrew Pierce

The module begins with an introduction about the rationale for dissertations, before examining referencing and citation. The main part of the module provides an overview of each section of the proposal: the hypothesis or aims of the thesis, the justification for the thesis topic, the methodology and structure of the thesis.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module students will:

• be equipped students to write a thesis proposal
• be able to write a thesis in international peace studies
• understand the different approaches methodologically that underpin research and be able to evaluate those approaches.

Core Reading
Jonathon Moses and Torbjorn Knutsen, 2007, Ways of Knowing, Palgrave
Bryman Alan, Social Research Methods, Oxford OUP
Chris Hart, Doing your Masters Dissertation:  Realising Your Potential as a Social Scientist, Los Angeles, etc:  Sage, 2005.
Kjell E Rudestam and Rae R Newton, Surviving Your Dissertation:  A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process, Third Edition, London etc:  Sage, 2007 (especially the chapter on ‘Writing,’ by Jody Veroff).
Pat Thomson and Melanie Walker, Eds., The Routledge Doctoral Student’s Companion:  Getting to Grips with Research in Education and the Social Sciences, London and New York:  Routledge, 2010.

Internship Module
NGOs and International Politics:  Theory and Practice:
Coordinator: Professor Etain Tannam
Module Code to be announced

Our connections with NGOs working in peace-building, human rights and conflict  resolution have allowed us to be at the forefront in in developing an internship module. This module is assessed (10 ECTS) and will run from semester 2, 2013. The overarching theme of this module is to examine the relevance of NGOs to key international politics areas and to evaluate the role of NGOs in the light of academic literature and work placement experience. NGOs currently providing internships to our students are Frontline Defenders, Brussels and Dublin,  AIFRI, Dublin, Debt Coalition of Ireland, Dublin, Healing Through Remembering, Belfast, Geneva Forum, Geneva, UN Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit, Geneva,  Churches Commission on Migration Issues, Brussels).

NB: Internships are un-paid and students must bear all associated costs (for example, travel, accommodation) of internships themselves.
Intake to this module will be limited in accordance with the number of internships offered.

Learning Outcomes                      
By the end of this module, students should be able to:

• Apply academic and theoretical research in peace studies to practical work experience in peace-related NGOs.
•  Review intellectual and practical problems associated with NGO activity in international politics
• Demonstrate analytical skills by producing an in-depth analysis of a real-life NGO operations situation
• Analyse and explain the strategies adopted by NGOs in particular contexts

Assessment
3000 word field report based on internship project and experience. This report will be based on students’ fieldwork and will cover a specific pre-agreed project, as described above

Core Reading
Weiss T. and Thakur, R. Global Governance and the UN, 2010, Indiana, Indiana UP
Jönsson C. and and Tallberg J.2010, Transnational Actors in Global
Governance: Patterns, Explanations and implications, Basingstoke, Palgrave
Erman E.,  and Anders U., 2010, Legitimacy beyond the state? Re-examining the democratic credentials of transnational Actors, Palgrave, Basingstoke
Steffek J., and Hahn K., 2010, Evaluating transnational NGOs:  Legitimacy, Accountability, representation, Basingstoke, Palgrave

EM7435 United Nations
Coordinator: Professor Etain Tannam

The theme of this course is t provide an introduction to the United Nations, by providing an overview of its structure and its peace-keeping interventions, as well as examining UN reform. A key debate about the role of international organizations in maintaining peace is provided at the start of the course

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

• Apply international relations theory to the UN
• Have a strong understanding of the UN's decision-making processes and its operation in peace-keeping and human rights

Core Reading

Mingst K., and Karns M., 2012, The United Nations in the 21st century, Boulder, Westview
Weiss T., Thakur, R., 2010, Global Governance and the UN
An Unfinished Journey, Indiana Press
Weiss T. and Daws S., eds., 2008, The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations, Oxford, OUP
Carlsnaes W., Risse, T., Simmons B., 2002, eds., Handbook of International Relations, London, Sage
Reus-Smit C., and Snidal, D., 2008, Oxford Handbook of International Relations, Oxford, OUP

EM7434 Conflict Resolution and Nonviolence
Coordinator: Professor Iain Atack

This module examines nonviolence as both a philosophy and a form of political action, as well as aspects of conflict resolution and mediation. Although there is an emphasis on theory, illustrated by appropriate case studies, the module is designed to complement the practice-based mediation summer school

Module aims:

• To introduce key theories and concepts of nonviolence
• To examine critical issues in the ethics and politics of nonviolent action
• To explore different approaches to conflict resolution and mediation

Core Reading

Iain Atack (2012) Nonviolence in Political Theory, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Simon Fisher et. al. (2000) Working with Conflict:  Skills and Strategies for Action, Zed Books, London.
Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (2011) Civil Resistance and Power Politics:  The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Gene Sharp (2005) Waging Nonviolent Struggle:  20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential, Porter Sargent Publishers, Boston.

EM7436 Gender, War and Peace
Course Co-ordinator: Professor Gillian Wylie

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of the module students should be able to:

• Understand the foundational and ongoing debates in Gender Studies concerning sex and gender, femininity and masculinity, gender and difference and be able engage in discussion of these.
• Comprehend and enter into arguments made concerning the gendered nature of war, the perpetration of gender based violence, the relationships between masculinity and violence/femininity and peace and the necessity of the inclusion of gender concerns in peacebuilding.
• Demonstrate knowledge of key international political and legal developments in this area such as UNSC Resolution 1325 and the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals.
• Show a familiarity with the literature in this field and engage in informed discussion of it.
• Present persuasive written work with analytic arguments based on evidence, reading and reason.

Core Reading
Adie, K.2005, Corsets and Camouflage: Women and War Coronet, London
Afshar, H. and Eade, D. (eds), 2004, Development, Women and War : Feminist Perspectives, Oxfam, Oxford
Alt, B. 2006, Following the Flag: Marriage and the Modern Military, Praeger

EM7438 Human Rights: Theory and Practice
Coordinator: Professor Carlo Androvandi

This course seeks to provide students with an introduction to human rights from theoretical and practical perspectives. The focus of the course is mainly on international human rights and where possible case studies are applied. The course will examine various themes that can be grouped under two main headings: General Introduction to the International Human Rights System (United Nations and Regional Systems), and Vulnerable Groups & Specific Issues.

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course the students will:

• Be familiar with the major universal and regional human rights systems
• Understand the socio-political and legal implication(s) involved in human rights
• Be able to carry out effective research in the field of international human rights
• Develop the ability for critical analysis and assessment of ongoing debates in human rights

Core Reading
Jack Donnelly, Universal Human Rights, In Theory and Practice, Cornell University Press, 2003
Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History, Belknap, 2010
Akira Iriye, Petra Goedde and William I. Hitchcock (ed.), The Human Rights Revolution: An International History, OUP, 2012
Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann (ed.), Human Rights in the Twentieth Century , CUP, 2011

EM7433 Ethics in International Affairs
Coordinator: Professor Carlo Androvandi

This course examines contemporary ethical issues and conflicts in the context of international affairs involving national and international governmental bodies, NGOs, corporations, citizen-groups, citizens, and those individuals outside the above affiliations. Some ethical issues we will look at include: immigration, ecology and international relations, post-conflict justice, human rights, human trafficking, genocide, and humanitarian intervention. Within these larger, more general issues, we will concentrate on concrete cases, especially looking at individual human beings whose lives have been shattered within these conflicts. Thus, issues of witnessing, voice, and testimony will be of paramount importance as policies, methodologies, and ethical systems are studied for their consequences, intentions, and aims.

Core Reading
Nigel Dover, World Ethics, The New Agenda (sec. edition), Edinburgh University Press, 2007
Didier Fassin, Humanitarian Reason, A Moral History of the Present, University of California Press, 2012
Michael Barnett, Empire of Humanity, A History of Humanitarianism, Cornell University Press, 2011
J. Rosenthal and C. Barry (ed.), Ethics and International Affairs: A Reader, Georgetown University Press, 2009