INTERFEROMETRY

Centre for Peace Studies
Master’s in Peace & Conflict Transformation

SVF-3024 Conflict Resolution &
Conflict Transformation

Spring 2012

Course Organisation

Coordinator Percy Oware, CPS

Lecturers Tor Ivar Hanstad – Department of Philosophy, UiT
Jemima García-Godos – Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, UiO
Jo Jakobsen - Department of Political Science, NTNU
Kristin S. Scharffscher – Department of Engineering and Safety, UiT
Ida Hydle – NOVA
Birgit Brock-Utne – Institute for Educational Research, UiO
Stina Torjesen - SIGLA, Oslo,




Objectives
The course seeks to provide contemporary insights into the inter-linked economic, political and
social dimensions of violent conflicts and peace-building. Its argument is that students should not
only develop practical knowledge of the strategies for conflict management, resolution and
transformation, but also the relevant analytical skills needed for critiquing these strategies. This
suggests the ability to draw on relevant theories to examine efforts at building sustainable peace
and human development in war torn societies. It thus draws upon many important case studies
from diverse conflict settings to demonstrate where strategies have been pursued and the specific
conditions that have influenced their outcomes.
1 Content

Peace-Building: Themes and Concepts

Just War Theory – Premises and Challenges
(01) The Space for Moral Reasoning about War
(02) War and justice: „Jus ad bellum‟& „Jus in bello‟
(03) Contemporary Applications and Challenges – Responsibility to Protect,
Cosmopolitan Strategies and Asymmetric War

Transitional justice after conflict and authoritarianism
(04) Introduction to Transitional Justice
(05) Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and reparation
(06) Land Restitution in Transitional Justice

The Economics of War, intra- and Interstate Conflict

(07) Introduction to the Economics of War
(08) The Economics of Interstate Conflict
(09) The Eccs of Intrastate Conflict


WORKSHOP: Gender, Armed Conflict and Peace-building
(10) Workshop - I
(11) Workshop - II

Restorative Justice
(12) Restorative Justice – An Introduction
(13) Street Mediation
(14) Role Play: Norwegian Restorative Justice Approaches

Peace Education
(15) Peace Education – An Introduction
(16) A Gender Perspective on Peace and Peace Education
(17) The Use of Language – Peace Journalism

Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR)
(18) Peace Processes and their Contexts: Understanding the Agendas, Agencies and
Instruments of Peace-building
(19) Peace Process: Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) – the creation
of a Peace-building Blueprint
(20) Peace Process: Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) of fighters in
Afghanistan
2 Required Readings
Course texts

Refer to the various lecture themes for the specific required readings.


Readings are available through the following sources: (i) course packages/compendia (C), which
are available at the University Bookshop - Akademisk Kvarter; (ii) by direct download from the
web (E); and (iii) as an offprint provided to students in class (O).

Compendium – all readings marked *C*
Internet articles – all readings marked *E1, 2, 3, etc.*
Individual off prints – all readings marked *O*
3


Recommended Readings
Berdal, Mats (2009) Building Peace after War. London: The International Institute for
Strategic Studies
Berdal, Mats and David M. Malone (ed.)(2000) Greed & grievance: economic agendas in civil
wars. Boulder: Lynn Rienner Publishers
Binford, Leigh (1996) The El Mozote Massacre: Anthropology and Human Rights. Tucson:
University of Arizona Press
Conteh-Morgan, Earl (2004) Collective political violence: an introduction to the theories and
cases of violent conflicts. London: Routledge
Deutsch, Morton and Peter Coleman (ed.)(2006) The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory
and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Del Castillo, Graciana (2008) Rebuilding War-torn States: The Challenge of Post Conflict
Economic Reconstruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eron, Leonard, Jacqelyn Gentry and Peggy Schlegel (2002) Reasons to hope. A psychological
perspective on youth violence. Washington DC: American Psychological Association
Juergensmeyer, Mark (2005) Gandhi‟s Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution. Berkeley:
University of California Press
Keen, David (2008) Complex emergencies. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Keen, David (2005) The Economic Functions of Violence in Civil Wars. London: Routledge.
Koonings, Kees and Dirk Kruijt (ed.)(2004) Armed Actors: Organised violence and State Failure
in Latin America. London: Zed Books
Martín-Baró, Ignacio (1994) Writings for a Liberation Psychology. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press
Miall, Hugh (2007) Emergent Conflict and Peaceful Social Change. London: Palgrave
Pugh, Michael (2008) Whose Peace? Critical Perspectives on the Political Economy of
Peace-building. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Skaar, Elin, Siri Gloppen and Astri Suhrke (ed.)(2005) Roads to Reconciliation. Oxford:
Lexington Books
Staub, Erving (1992) The Roots of Evil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Walzer, Michael (2004) Arguing About War. New Haven & London: Yale University Press
Wessells, Michael (2007) Child soldiers: from violence to protection. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press


NB: All books available at the University Library or bookshop - Akademisk Kvarter


I. Violent Conflict and Negotiation
This section focuses on the changing political role and practices for handling conflict at different
levels and in different contexts. Much of the literature chronicles the different ways in which
violence and/or oppression are institutionalised and, in so doing, draws attention to some key
impediments to the institutionalisation of peace. It also points to concrete strategies of handling
conflicts through communication and negotiation.
4

Just War Theory – Premises and Challenges

Tor Ivar Hanstad

(01) The space for moral reasoning about war

The first lecture focuses on the fundamental premise for just war theory, including the acceptance
of the thesis of double effect, the premise of state sovereignty and the inescapable influence from
both pacifism and political realism. The lecture will also address the question of how to
understand war in relation to politics and power.

Required Readings
Walzer, Michael (2000) „Against Realism‟ and „Law and Order in International Society‟ in Just
and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustration. New York: Basic
Books. pp. 3-20, , pp. 51-73 (41 pp.)
*C* Clausewitz, Carl von (1993) „What Is War?‟ in On War. London: Everyman‟s Library.
pp. 83-101 (18 pp.)
1*E * Reid, Julian (2003) „Foucault on Clausewitz: Conceptualizing the Relationship between
War and Power‟ in Alternatives 28. 1-28 (28 pp.).

Recommended Readings
Walzer, Michael (2000) „The Crime of War‟, „Anticipations‟ and „Afterword: Nonviolence and
the Theory of War‟ in Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical
Illustration. New York: Basic Books. pp. 21-33, pp. 51-85 and pp. 329-335 (55 pp.)

Walzer, Michael (2004) „The Triumph of Just War Theory (And the Dangers of success)‟ in
Arguing About War. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. pp. 3-22 (20 pp.)



(02) War and justice: „Jus ad bellum‟& „Jus in bello‟
The second lecture will focus on the traditional criteria for jus ad bellum and jus in bello. This
will include discussions of what jus ad bellum and jus in bello in traditional state versus state
wars, as well as reflections on whether the same criteria are adaptable to late-modern asymmetric
conflicts (including „war‟ on terrorists).

Required Readings
Walzer, Michael (2000) „War‟s Means and the Importance of Fighting Well‟„Non-combatant
Immunity and Military Necessity‟„Guerrilla War‟ and „Terrorism‟ in Just and Unjust
Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. New York: Basic Books. pp. 127-
159 and 176-206 (64 pp.)

1 http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?vid=2&hid=11&sid=709d876a-caf5-46cf-abe3-
074b93afb0d3%40sessionmgr11&bquery=(JN+%22Alternatives%3a+Global%2c+Local%2c+Political%22+and+D
T+20030101)&bdata=JmRiPWFmaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl
5
*C* Johnson, James Turner (1999) Morality and Contemporary Warfare. London: Yale
University Press. pp. 8-40, (33 pp.)

Recommended Readings
Rodin, David (2006) „The Ethics of Asymmetric War‟ in Sorabji, Richard and David Rodin (ed.)
The Ethics of War. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 153-168 (16 pp.)


(03) Contemporary applications and challenges – responsibility