How do countries rebuild after civil war? This course examines the politics of peacebuilding in comparative perspective. The course catalogs the main challenges that recovery from civil war poses, including trust in institutions, infrastructure destruction, social polarization, and trauma. The discussion will discuss existing policy and scholarly approaches to peacebuilding, with an eye toward understanding why peacebuilding is so difficult to achieve. In addition to examining theories and models of peacebuilding, the course will analyze several case studies of states that recently recovered from civil war. The course will be seminar-style, requiring students to read, participate in discussion, present findings, and write a final research paper.
The Junior Seminars are intense writing seminars which focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. The seminars provide an opportunity for students to have direct intellectual interactions with faculty members while also giving the students an understanding for faculty research.
Junior seminars fulfill upper division requirements for the major.
Subfield: Either Comparative Politics or International Relations
Political Science Majors of Junior and Senior status.