State Building, Civil Conflict, Civil War

This course features two fundamental aspects of politics, state-building and civil war. The two concepts are inherently linked. The aim of the course is to understand why civil wars break out, how they are sustained, what it takes to end them, and how to sustain a stable lasting civil peace. Key research questions, relating to the fundamental concerns of onset, continuation, and termination of civil war include:
• What distinguishes civil war from other forms of civil violence such as genocide, terrorism, organized crime, and in particular from interstate war? Can the same theoretical frameworks be applied to international and internal war?
• Why do civil wars tend to become more fierce and filled with hatred than other forms of war? Why do intrastate wars routinely display acts of atrocities against civilians and committed by civilians?
• How do peace settlements after civil wars become sustainable?

Knowledge: The students shall:
• have a good overview of theoretical perspectives within the field of state-building and civil war
• have a good overview of the empirical research within the field of state-building and civil war
• have a good overview of current conflict-patterns and trends
Skills: The students shall demonstrate the ability to:
• write an analytical paper related to the topic and readings

Lectures. Supervision of termpaper. Lectures will be given intensively over a couple of weeks throughout the semester. More information on specific dates at the start of the semester.

Assessment: Term paper and oral examination. Length of term-paper 6000-8000 words. The oral exam covers the term paper as well as readings. The oral exam will be used to adjust the term paper’s grade by a maximum of one grade. If less than 6 students attend the course the first two weeks of teaching, the course will be given as an individual study course with supervision. Please contact the department for further information. The language of instruction is English.