Degree | Type | Year |
---|---|---|
Political Science and Public Management | OT | 3 |
Political Science and Public Management | OT | 4 |
International Relations | OB | 3 |
You can view this information at the end of this document.
There are no academic prerequisites.
You must be able to read English regularly and attend classes on a regular basis.
You must have the ability and habit of reading, watching, studying and consulting various general media, as well as following in particular news related to the international agenda and conflict and peace processes.
The main objective of this optional subject is to familiarise students with the evolution, concepts, theoretical tools and practical application of various subfields of International Relations, in a broad sense, as well as with their main biases or specific approaches for analysing and intervening in conflicts with the aim of managing, resolving or transforming them.
Specifically, the objectives are:
1. To situate the study of international conflicts and how to intervene in the general framework of the social sciences, as well as in a historical and evolutionary perspective.
2. To study the notion of conflict, its types and its logic and dynamics in international politics.
3. To provide conceptual and analytical frameworks for framing social and international conflicts, as well as their nature, recurrence and location, in particular with regional and sub-regional logics. In concrete terms, to apprehend a pattern of analysis applicable to different international conflicts, in particular to armed conflicts, or conflicts that could easily develop into such conflicts.
4. Apply the pattern to several conflicts over the last fifty years.
5. To become succinctly acquainted with the various instruments for conflict prevention, management, resolution and transformation.
Block I. The systemic and conceptual framework
1. Essential concepts for understanding political violence
2. War and power in the 20th and 21st centuries: the evolution of armed conflicts, war, security and peace
3. Social sciences and armed conflicts: why do we fight?
4. Feminism and conflict analysis
Block II. Tools for conflict analysis
5. How to approach the study of conflicts
6. Typologies of conflicts
7. Typologies of combatants
8. Tools for gender analysis
Block III - International society action: containing violent conflicts and establishing peace
9. Studies and practice of conflict analysis, resolution and transformation
10. International instruments: United Nations and international security
11. Containment of violent conflicts, peacekeeping and peace establishment
Block IV - Conflict resolution and transformation: peacebuilding
12. Preparation for peace: peace processes and agreements
13. Post-war reconstruction
14. Peacebuilding
15. Reconciliation and resolution of root causes
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Debates and Conferences | 7 | 0.28 | |
Exercise | 4 | 0.16 | |
Lectures | 40 | 1.6 | |
Seminaries | 6 | 0.24 | |
Type: Supervised | |||
Assignments and Readings | 25 | 1 | |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Individual work | 60 | 2.4 |
Teaching methodology and training activities
The student's dedication to the subject is divided into different types of activities, which, in coherence, are materialised in different requirements and differentiated methodologies. This is a 6 ECTS course, therefore 150 hours.
These 150 hours are divided into activities articulated as follows:
a) Face-to-face or directed (50 hours, 33,3 %).
Lectures with the use of ICT and debates: 20 sessions (40 hours).
Classroom seminars: 2 sessions (6 hrs)
Assessable classroom practicals: 2 sessions (4 hrs)
b) Supervised activities: reading controls, group work, tutorials for assignments, etc: 25 hrs (16.7%).
c) Evaluation: Block exam, final evaluation work, and remedial evaluation: 7,5 hrs (5%)
d) Autonomous work of the student (study and work at home and/or library): 67,5 hrs (45%)
2. Practical instructions for the virtual campus material and classroom activity
Each theoretical lesson will have:
a) a specific outline to guide the face-to-face/directed sessions and other related activities;
b) one or two compulsory readings; and
c) some additional references.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Exam 1 | 35% | 2 | 0.08 | 4, 5, 9, 12, 22, 18, 16, 26, 29, 31, 7 |
Exam 2 | 50% | 2 | 0.08 | 3, 5, 27, 9, 8, 20, 19, 22, 18, 14, 13, 15, 16, 25, 23, 24, 26, 30, 29, 31, 21, 28, 6 |
Group Research | 20% | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 2, 17, 5, 32, 9, 10, 18, 13, 15, 16, 25, 23, 26, 29, 21, 6, 7, 11 |
The evaluation of this subject consists of the following parts:
Requirements to pass the subject:
To pass the subject, a final average grade (once all elements are weighted) of 5/10 must be obtained. To pass the subject, a MINIMUM GRADE of 5/10 is required in each of the two exams. Exams in which the minimum grade of 5/10 is not obtained can be retaken at the end of the course on the compensatory evaluation date indicated by the Faculty. Detailed information about this date will be provided during the course. It will be possible to pass the course with one of the two exams failed, provided that the grade of this exam is equal to or higher than 4/10 and that the average of the four exams is 5/10. The practical assignment will be done in groups and will include more than one activity or evidence. In the evaluation, both individual and group work will be assessed. Important:the practical assignment is not recoverable. In case the evaluation includes an individual question or exercise, to be entitled to the grade for this activity it will be essential to have done the group work. That is, the person who has not previously participated in the group work cannot present themselves for the individual activity.
The dates of the two Exams and the exercises linked to the practical assignment and any other activity will be specified within the framework of the subject programming (consult the Virtual Campus).
Single evaluation:
Students who have requested it in due time and form may opt for a single evaluation that will consist of an exercise composed of an exam (70% of the grade) and a practical activity (30%). The practical activity (30%) is mandatory to be evaluated. As in the case of continuous assessment, practical exercises cannot be recovered. This exercise will take place on the last day of class at the end of the semester. In case of not passing this test with a score of 5 points out of 10, the exercise can be retaken on the date set by the Faculty for ordinary evaluation (NOT compensatory) and will be made public with sufficient advance notice.
Compulsory bibliography will be specified at the beginning of the course.
Berdal, Mats, and David Malone, eds. 2000. Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Brown, Seyom. 1994. The Causes and Prevention of War. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Calvo Rufanges, Jordi, and Alejandro Pozo Marín, eds. 2015. Diccionario de La Guerra, La Paz y El Desarme. Antrazyt 431. Barcelona: Icaria.
Calvo Rufanges, Jordi, ed. 2016. Mentes Militarizadas. Más Madera. Barcelona: Icaria.
Carter Hallward, M., J. E. Kim, C. Mouly, T. Seidel, and Z. Wai. The Sage Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies. 1st ed. London: SAGE Publications, Limited, 2025.
Cohn, Carol, ed. 2013. Women and Wars. Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Duffield, Mark. 2004. Las nuevas guerras en el mundo global: La convergencia entre desarrollo y seguridad. Madrid: La Catarata. Originally published 2001.
Fisas, Vicenç. 2004. Procesos de paz y negociación en conflictos armados. Barcelona: Paidós.
Galtung, Johan. 1996. Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization. London: Sage.
Gentry, Caron E., and Laura Sjoberg. 2015. Beyond Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Thinking about Women’s Violence in Global Politics. London: Zed Books.
Hampson, Fen Osler, Alpaslan Özerdem, and Jonathan Kent, eds. Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security, and Development. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2020.
Jeong, Ho-Won. 2010. Conflict Management and Resolution: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
Job, Brian, ed. 1992. The Insecurity Dilemma: National Security of Third World States. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Kagan, Donald. 2003. Sobre las causas de la guerra y la preservación de la paz. Madrid: Turner; Mexico City: FCE. Originally published 1995.
Kaldor, Mary. 2001. Las nuevas guerras. Barcelona: Tusquets.
Kriesberg, Louis; William; Dayton, Bruce W., Constructive conflicts: from escalation to resolution, [Malmö], Produced by Swedish Agency for Accessible Media, 2022.
Loewenstein, Antony. 2023. The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation around the World. London New York: Verso.
Miall, Hugh, Oliver Ramsbotham, and Tom Woodhouse. 2005. Contemporary Conflict Resolution: The Prevention, Management and Transformation of Deadly Conflicts. 2nd ed. London: Polity Press. Spanish edition: ICIP/Bellatera, October 2011.
Mishra, Pankaj. 2025. The World after Gaza. London: Fern Press.
Pruitt, Dean G., and Sung Hee Kim. 2004. Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate and Settlement. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Romeva i Rueda, Raül. 2003. Guerra, posguerra y paz: Pautas para el análisis y la intervención en contextos posbélicos o postacuerdo. Barcelona: Icaria.
Te Maihāroa, Kayla, Mele Ligaliga, and Heather Devere. Decolonising Peace and Conflict Studies through Indigenous Research. 1st ed. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6779-4.
Wallensteen, Peter. Understanding Conflict Resolution. 4th ed. London: SAGE, 2023.
Wanis-St. John, Anthony, and Roger Mac Ginty, eds. Contemporary Peacemaking: Peace Processes, Peacebuilding and Conflict. 3rd ed. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82962-9.
Instituts i centres de recerca especialitzats / Institutes and Research Centres / Institutos y centros de investigación
Prohibited use: In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not permitted in any of its phases. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered a breach of academic honesty and may result in partial or total penalty in the activity grade, or major sanctions in cases of severity. This is due to the effects on cognitive aspects of learning, and for environmental and ethical reasons.
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
---|---|---|---|---|
(PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
(TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |