MVZ012 Causes of Political Violence

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2015
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Prof. Håvard Hegre (lecturer), Mgr. Zinaida Bechná, Ph.D. (deputy)
Prof. Håvard Mokleiv Nygård (lecturer), Mgr. Zinaida Bechná, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Kříž, Ph.D.
Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Olga Cídlová, DiS.
Supplier department: Department of International Relations and European Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Mon 9. 3. 15:15–16:45 P22, Tue 10. 3. 9:45–11:15 P52, Wed 11. 3. 13:30–15:00 U23, Thu 12. 3. 9:45–13:00 U42, Fri 13. 3. 8:00–9:30 U53
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives (in Czech)
The objective of this course is to make the student familiar with theoretical as well as empirical research on causes of internal political violence. A secondary objective is to provide practical training in systematic search for literature and data and in conducting independent empirical study.
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • 1. Conflict: Types and Trends. This lecture will introduce the students to the central issue and problems connected to how one defines and measures conflict. It will address the question whether the world is getting more peaceful. 2. Ethnicity, Cleavages and Conflict. This section will introduce students to central issues concerning the link between economic inequality and ethnic cleavages and conflict. We will discuss the Greed vs. Grievance debate, and look at under what circumstances ethnic, economic, and /or political grievances can lead to armed conflict. We also discuss the role of ethnicity and societal cleavages in mobilization and recruitment to armed conflict. 3. Institutional Design, Quality and Conflict. This lecture will cover specific institutional design-features, the quality of institutions and their effect on civil conflict. The lecture will focus on particular two aspects: first, we will discuss the relationship between types of regime, democracy, autocracy, semi-democracy, and risk of conflict.Second, we will look more specifically at institutional features, in particular power-sharing and different aspects of governance, and how this relates to confict. 4. Development and Conflict. This section will introduce students to central issues concerning the link between development and conflict, through readings of some of the most important contributions to this argument. We will discuss the Greed vs. Grievance debate, address the importance of state capacity, and also look at the developmental consequences of conflict. 5. Forecasting Conflict. We will discuss the extent to which, based on theories above, we can predict or forecast conflict into the future. This is based on the fundamental tenet of philosophy of science that sound theories should have some predictive power. We will discuss some prominent attempts at forecasting armed conflict, and also discuss forecasting more in general. 6. Non-Violent Conflict. This section will introduce students to recent theoretical and empirical work on non-violent conflict, discuss why some groups choose a violent strategy and others a non-violent strategy, and discuss when and under what circumstances groups utilizing a non-violent strategy are more likely to be successful in achieving their aims.
Teaching methods (in Czech)
Lectures
Assessment methods (in Czech)
This is an intensive course so we expect everybody to meet prepared for every class, and to have done (most of) the readings. 1. Pick a conflict you're interested in and utilize two of the theories from the course to attempt to explain why the con ict occurred. In this we want you to compare the two theories and discuss what they get right and what they got wrong. The core questions is, can this theory explain this conict? 2. Alternatively you can pick one theory and use it to explain a (one) conflict.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
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