After the course the student is able to describe in general terms the field of peace and conflict studies and research and knows it’s different traditions and orientations. The student is familiar with the research performed in peace and conflict studies and can describe its main new trends, themes and domains. In addition, the student knows the basic issues to be analysed within the specialization modules of the PEACE programme.

Course is divided into 8 sections. Each of them consists of 4 hours of lectures and of selected literature:

1) Old and new trends in peace and conflict research
- general introduction on peace and conflict research, on its different traditions and different generations from Cold War to multipolar globalized world
- different peace sciences outside to Eurocentric world and which have existed in various epochs.
- understanding peace and conflict in multicultural world

2) Peace and conflict research as a critical movement
- idea of peace and conflict research as a movement of the mind and critical of mere convention and established institutions of knowledge
- traditions emerging from British, Continental European, North American and Nordic historical contexts
- continuity and change in the idea of critical research is evaluated by examining how the variety of research today relates to these historical traditions, on the one hand, and the more recent debates in social and cultural research, on the other hand.

3) Ethics, Modernity and Peace: Dilemmas and the Way Forward
- understanding of the role of religious ethics in modern social and political ethics
- contextualization of the evolution of ethical thought in intellectual history
- complexities of the dialectic between ethics and critical thought in modernity
- conceptual and critical vocabulary that will assist the student in all her/his studies of peace and conflict from the point of view of philosophy, society and culture

4) International peace building
- how understanding of “war” and “peace” has changed and what is understood as new wars
- how human rights have been adapted into international politics and how international community has interfered with large scale peace building operations

5) Gender in crisis management
- reasons why gender aspect is relevant in peace support operations and the various forms of gender sensitive action in international military and civilian crisis management
- brief overview of the UN Security Council Resolutions

6) Security studies and peace and conflict research
- development of the study of security after the end of the Cold War
- replacement of an (almost entirely) military approach to security by a more diversified understanding including, but not limited to, military, political, and societal (identity-related) dimensions of security

7) Environmental security
- introduction to environmental security in the context of global environmental change
- role of environment and natural resources in conflicts and peace building
- connections between climate change and security

8) Hot Peace
- historical views on elements of the fragile European peace 1945-1990
- Western attempts to create sustainable peace structures in times of high political tensions

All degree students of the PEACE programme are automatically enrolled to this course.

Some places available for exchange students. Requirements: Master level students who have very good academic English and good background knowledge in the field of study. To sign up, please contact the teacher responsible.

Participation in the lectures and exam.

Reading list will be announced at the beginning of the course.