This course is intended for those interested in theoretical and practical approaches to the question of peace, the problems of war, conflict and violence, and responses to them particularly in the form of liberal peacebuilding and statebuilding. The course is divided into three unequal but interconnected parts. The first part examines ideas and debates about the concepts, causes, contexts, dynamics and representations of conflict, violence and war. The second explores and problematises the concept of peace and the nature, meanings and goals of peace and peacebuilding. This leads into the third section which is concerned with a critical engagement with the range of international responses to conflict associated with the discourses and practices of liberal peacebuilding and statebuilding. The seminars explore the nexus between theory and practice. Although the course and its readings are mainly theoretical and conceptual rather than empirical, students are encouraged to apply the ideas to actual cases, past and present. 

Banner photo taken May 2018 on the frontline against ISIS in Syria, in the Deir Ezzor governorate © Constantin Gouvy. All Rights Reserved.