Conflict Studies Major & Minor

This list of courses that satisfy PACS requirements for credit toward the major is not exhaustive. Other courses may be awarded PACS credit in the context of a given theme. Additional required courses will be determined in consultation with the student's Peace and Conflict Studies advisor.

Writing is critically important to Peace and Conflict Studies. Whether the enterprise is mapping a conflict or post-conflict environment, planning an intervention, or assessing the merits of a program of conflict transformation, the author must be able to think through highly complex problems and present often difficult to understand conflict dynamics to audiences of varying levels of expertise. Indeed the target audience for conflict analysis is often a non-specialist one. For these reasons it is becoming increasingly standard to expect those writing in the (inter)discipline to write in a clear, jargon-free manner that is accessible to academics as well to as peace activists and conflict resolution practitioners.

PACS students develop field-appropriate writing in two major ways: through a 'framing project', which begins in PACS 295 and culminates in the Senior Seminar, and through an iterative writing assignment in PACS 295.

PACS 295 challenges students to build on the basic theoretical and practical knowledge gained in earlier course work and to engage both elements at a deeper and more critical level of analysis and understanding. The major, in-depth case study research assignment incorporates three separate papers, each of which build on the other, ending in a major paper composed of all three components.

In the framing project majors articulate their place in relation to the field of Peace and Conflict Studies. All Peace and Conflict Studies majors face a challenge: how to explain to parents, friends, potential employers, and graduate schools exactly what they studied and what they now know because they chose this area of study. Although most people are now familiar with the terms nonviolence, mediation, and arbitration, many are not familiar with the theories and analytic tools of the field, nor the skills and capacities associated with it. The framing paper therefore focuses on two questions: What is Peace and Conflict Studies? What analytical skills and practical abilities have been gained from this study?

Writing and re-writing those answers will both help students know what they know and articulate it to various audiences. Early PACS 295 class students will be asked to write a short paper reflecting on these concepts. Late in the Senior Seminar they will be asked to do so again, reflecting on how their understanding has developed over time.