Peace & Conflict Studies

PACS 100 : Peace Theory: Approaches and Analyses (3 units)
Prerequisites: PACS 10

This course will explore the historical development of the field through analysis of the operative assumptions, logic, and differing approaches of the seminal schools and thinkers that have shaped the field. Students will become familiar with the body of literature and major debates in peace studies and research.

PACS 119.1 : Special Topics in Peace and Conflict Issues (4 units)
Prerequisites: None

Leadership, Dialog and Actualization. This class, offered in Spring 2012, is for leaders who want to combine inner work with increased sensitivity to the ideas, feelings, and concerns of others to actualize visions for their organizations within changing situations. Several types of dialog will be introduced and practiced. Each leader will go through the Vision Actualization Process that articulates a vision for a healthy community, to better connect one’s inner resources with external circumstances. Interactive exercises will be used to explore methodologies for social action, community partnerships, community need and project management. To obtain the Class Entry Code go to tinyurl.com/PACS119.

PACS 119.2 : Special Topics in Peace and Conflict Issues (4 units)
Prerequisites: None

Terrorism: Origins, Analysis, and Resolution. For Spring 2011, this course will focus on contemporary international terrorism, including the current “global war on terror.” While significant attention will be paid to conventional, “realpolitik” approaches to terrorism—widely understood as political violence committed by sub-national groups against civilian non-combatants—a distinguishing feature of this course will be the emphasis put on nonviolent solutions to conflicts between terrorists and the states and populations they attack.

PACS 125AC : War, Culture, and Society (4 units)
Prerequisites: None

This course examines the experience and meaning of war in the formation of American culture and society. It considers the profound influence war has had in shaping the identities and life chances of succeeding generations of American men and women. It will take special note of the role of race, ethnicity, and class as prisms that filter this process. This course also explores how different interpretations of democracy and nationalism have served as a catalyst for social conflict and change in racial and ethnic identity and relations, especially as reflected in war. This course satisfies the American cultures requirement.

PACS 126 : International Human Rights (4 units)
Prerequisites: None
Offered in Fall

This course provides an overview to the historical, theoretical, political, and legal underpinnings that have shaped and continue to shape the development of human rights. Students are introduced to substantive topics within human rights and provided an opportunity to develop critical thinking, oral presentation, and writing skills. We discuss where the concept of human rights originates, how these ideas have been memorialized in international declarations and treaties, how they develop over time, and how they are enforced and monitored. We examine a variety of issues and encourage students to think differently–to analyze world and community events through a human rights framework utilizing some of the necessary tools to investigate, research, and think critically about human rights and the roles that we may assume within this arena. The course requires two six-page papers, participation in a team debate, and an independent reading assignment.

PACS 127 : Human Rights and Global Politics (4 units)
Prerequisites: None

After World War II, we witnessed a “revolution” in human rights theory, practice, and institution building. The implications of viewing individuals as equal and endowed with certain rights is potentially far reaching as in the declaration that individuals hold many of those rights irrespective of the views of their government. Yet, we also live in a world of sovereign states with sovereign state’s rights. We see everyday a clash between the rights of the individual and lack of duty to fulfill those rights when an individual’s home state is unwilling or unable to do so. After introducing the idea of human rights, its historic development and various international human rights mechanisms, this course will ask what post-World War II conceptions of human rights mean for a number of specific issues including humanitarian intervention, international criminal justice, U.S. foreign policy, immigration, and economic rights. Looking in-depth at these five areas, we will ask how ideas about human rights, laws about human rights, and institutions to protect human rights have on how states and other global actors act, and how individuals have fared. Formerly 127B.

PACS 128AC : Human Rights and American Cultures (4 units)
Prerequisites: None

The course analyzes the theory and practice of human rights for three groupings in the United States and examines questions of race and ethnicity as they are embedded in various international human rights instruments. The course utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of developing systems, laws, and norms for the promotion and protection of human rights while considering each group’s underlying political, literary, and cultural traditions. This course satisfies the American cultures requirement.

PACS 130 : Cross-Listed Topics (1-4 units)
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor

This course is designed to accommodate cross-listed courses offered through other departments, the content of which is applicable to Peace and Conflict Studies majors. Content and unit values vary from course to course. Course may be repeated for credit.

PACS 135 : Special Topics in Regional Conflict (3 units)
Prerequisites: None

The course will offer a critical interdisciplinary study of geo-political regions and the sources of their conflicts. Topics vary from semester to semester. Course may be repeated for credit.

PACS 149 : Global Change and World Order (3 units)
Prerequisites: None

This course will analyze emerging trends, patterns, and problems associated with the phenomenon of globalization. Particular attention will be given to world economic and social integration, ethno-religious nationalism and identity politics, domestic politics, and foreign policy. Special emphasis is placed on the prospects of peace and world order in the post-cold war era.

PACS 150 : Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (3 units)
Prerequisites: None

This course will investigate theories of individual and group conflict as a conceptual framework for practical application. Students will engage in practice as parties to conflicts and as third-party interveners. The course will look at the sources of conflict, including multicultural aspects, and will emphasize the opportunities for growth and development in conflictive incidents.

PACS 150AC : Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (3 units)
Prerequisites: None

This course explores the nature of interpersonal and group conflict, resolution, and their relationship to culture. The course examines the intersection between conflict and race and ethnicity in particular, with an emphasis on the major racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Other dimensions of diversity such as gender, class, and sexual orientation in conflict situations are also explored. The goal is to apply this understanding to resolving intercultural conflicts through mediation. Students will receive no credit for 150AC after taking 150. This course satisfies the American cultures requirement.

PACS 151 : International Conflict: Analysis and Resolution (3 units)
Prerequisites: None

Inspired by the changed meaning of international conflict and the expanding mission of conflict resolution in the post-cold war era, this course will study the contemporary context and issues of conflict by examining the evolution in thinking about conflict, the resolution, and their application in practice.

PACS 154 : Multicultural Conflict Resolution (4 units)
Prerequisites: PACS 150 and 153, or consent of instructor

This course will investigate special issues involved with facilitating resolution of cross-cultural conflicts. Topics will include cultural contrasts (e.g., values, communication, and problem solving styles), mediator/negotiator/facilitator roles, cultural (including gender) contributions to conflict resolution and the impact of cultural starting points as applied to mediation/negotiation models through the development of cultural fluency. This course will build theoretical and practical knowledge as applied to interpersonal, community and international contexts. Students will receive no credit for 154 after taking 154AC.

PACS 154AC : Multicultural Conflict Resolution (4 units)
Prerequisites: PACS 150 or consent of instructor

What is our understanding of culture and its relationship to conflict resolution? Is understanding cultural difference necessary for understanding conflict? Can mediators truly be neutral when they have their own cultural assumptions, values, and biases? What are the implicit assumptions of collaborative conflict resolution models? These questions and others will be explored in this experiential, interactive course. Students will examine how various cultural backgrounds and sociopolitical factors in this country (power, privilege, oppression, etc.) affect conflict resolution at the individual, group, and organizational level. The emphasis will be on the major racial/ethnic groups in the United States, but other dimensions of diversity, including gender, class, sexual orientation, and disability will be discussed. Students will receive no credit for 154AC after taking 154. This course satisfies the American cultures requirement.

PACS 157 : Practicum in Peace and Conflict Studies (2 units)
Prerequisites: PACS 150, 153, 154, 155, and consent of instructor

Must be taken on a passed/not passed basis. This course provides the opportunity to apply, analyze, and evaluate the results of applying collaborative conflict resolution theory and models in supervised internships. Activities and materials will be designed to assist students with developing skill and understanding with a focus on ethics and culture while completing specific substantive requirements for neutrals. Course may be repeated for credit.

PACS 159 : Conflict Resolution Intensive Training (3 units)
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor

This course provides intensive experiential training in conflict resolution and mediation techniques. Participants are provided with the opportunity to apply, analyze, and evaluate in a supervised setting the results of applying conflict resolution mediation theory and models presented in other conflict resolution course work. Participants will develop and refine mediation techniques and skills through participation and observation of exercises and case studies specifically designed to focus on types and structures of interventions, roles and relationships, negotiation, and cultural diversity. Course may be repeated for a maximum of 6 units.

PACS 164A : Introduction to Nonviolence (3 units)
Prerequisites: None

An introduction to the science of nonviolence, mainly as seen through the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi. Historical overview of nonviolence East and the West up to the American Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King, Jr., with emphasis on the ideal of principled nonviolence and the reality of mixed or strategic nonviolence in practice, especially as applied to problems of social justice and defense.

PACS 164B : Nonviolence Today (3 units)
Prerequisites: 164A or consent of instructor

The development of nonviolence since the Civil Rights movement. Nonviolent theory and practice seen in recent insurrectionary movements (freedom struggles), social justice struggles, nonviolent intervention across borders and protection of the environment in the emerging world of global corporatism.

PACS 170 : Conflict Resolution, Social Change, and the Cultures of Peace (4 units)
Prerequisites: None

A comprehensive exploration of the concepts and processes of conflict resolution, using this term in the broadest sense. In particular, the course elaborates upon the relationships among conflict resolution, social change, and cultures of peace with examples drawn from the domestic and global levels.

PACS 190.1 : Senior Seminar (4 units)
Prerequisites: Senior standing; course should be taken in final year of study and is only open to PACS majors

Students prepare a major analytical paper synthesizing what they have learned in the major and give an oral presentation on their area of concentration. Students review literature and issues of peace and conflict studies appropriate to focus of senior paper and participate in regular consultations with instructor scheduled outside of class hours in preparing paper for presentation. All students will be expected to read and critique a common core of literature as well as readings specific to their concentration.

PACS 190.2 : Senior Seminar (4 units)
Prerequisites: Senior standing; course should be taken in final year of study and is only open to PACS majors

Students prepare a major analytical paper synthesizing what they have learned in the major and give an oral presentation on their area of concentration. Students review literature and issues of peace and conflict studies appropriate to focus of senior paper and participate in regular consultations with instructor scheduled outside of class hours in preparing paper for presentation. All students will be expected to read and critique a common core of literature as well as readings specific to their concentration.

PACS 195 : Senior Thesis (3-4 units)
Prerequisites: Senior standing in PACS

Research paper or suitable research project done under the direct supervision of a faculty sponsor. Subject must be approved by faculty sponsor no later than the preceding semester in which the course is to be taken.

PACS H195 : Senior Honors Thesis Seminar (4 units)
Prerequisites: IAS H102; senior standing with a minimum GPA of 3.6 in the major and a 3.5 for all work completed at the University; consent of instructor

Students are required to research and write a thesis based on the prospectus developed in International and Area Studies H102 or a prospectus approved by the instructor before the first class meeting. The thesis work is conducted in regular consultation with the Honors Seminar instructor and a second topic expert reader to be selected based upon the thesis topic. Weekly progress reports and written work are required.

PACS 197 : Field Studies (1-4 units)
Prerequisites: Upper division standing; consent of instructor and PACS chair

Must be taken on a passed/not passed basis. Supervised experience relevant to specific aspects of Peace and Conflict Studies in off campus organizations. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required. Check with the IAS Office for specific requirements. Course may be repeated for credit.

PACS 198 : Directed Group Study for Upper Division Students (1-4 units)
Prerequisites: Upper division standing and consent of instructor

Must be taken on a passed/not passed basis. Group discussion, research, and reporting on selected topics. Student initiation in choice of subjects is solicited and welcome. Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies.

PACS 199 : Supervised Independent Study (1-4 units)
Prerequisites: Upper division standing and consent of instructor

Must be taken on a passed/not passed basis. Supervised independent study or research on topics relevant to Peace and Conflict Studies that are not covered in depth by other courses. Topics to be covered are initiated by students. Course may be repeated for credit.