F1IS 4310 - Issues in Contemporary Conflict Resolution

***UPDATED for 2021/22***

The unwinding of the Cold War in the late 1980s opened an unprecedented new era of UN-led conflict resolution (CR). The new issues and challenges for CR which arose then and in the years since are the subject of this course. Among them are the difficulty of achieving inclusive CR when parties involved in the fighting are listed as "terrorists" and shunned, like Al Qaeda and Islamic State, with which they have little in common; the tension that can arise at the intersection between CR and the pursuit of justice and accountability; how and whether to deal with the past after internal conflict; despite R2P, the question of how to deal with mass atrocities within states absent Security Council agreement remains unsettled, despite R2P; the complexities of ensuring durability of resolution of internal conflict -predominant in CR today- via post-conflict peacebuilding; stirrings of self-determination -albeit outside the framework of decolonization- could put pressure on multiethnic states. In the discussion of specific ongoing cases we will discuss and assess the effects on CR of the re-emergence of geopolitics, the re-engagement of states, sometimes through proxies, in conflicts in which a Security Council-endorsed peace effort is underway, and the deterioration in P5 collegiality since the end of the Cold War.

Learning Outcomes:

1. An understanding of the new issues that have arisen since the end of the Cold War and the complexity and pitfalls they have added to conflict resolution today.
2. A sharpened ability to analyze the many factors, cultural, historical, geopolitical or economic, that lead to conflict and drive the resort to arms.
3. An Improved capacity to identify whether a given conflict lends itself to negotiated resolution.

Professional Skills:

Though this is not, per se, a 'how-to' course, designed to teach students how to mediate, the professor, a longtime practitioner of conflict resolution, will be discussing a number of thematic ssues and cases, in several of which he has been involved, and his experience in or observations about them. Out of this combination of elements attentive students might find a path, or at least some clues, pointing to:
(i) an understanding of the practise of CR, and the skills required
(ii) what works and what does not
(iii) how a CR practitioner views a given situation

Alvaro DE SOTO,Guillaume BEAUD

Séminaire

English

Professor will be available to students, by appointment, throughout the semester. For feedback see "Assessment" above, point (ii).

It is assumed that students taking this course are cognizant of history and follow current international events as a matter of course. A basic knowledge and understanding of international rules governing international relations and the use of force including the UN Charter is also assumed.

Autumn 2021-2022

(i) A brief paper early in the semester will account for 30% of the grade; a second, analytical paper, to be handed in toward the end of the semester, combined with an individual interview, will account for 60%. Participation in class: 10%.
(ii) grade and feedback regarding the first paper will be provided in writing within a fortnight. Written feedback on analytical paper will be provided at time of interview; combined grade as part of overall grade.