Postgraduate Module Descriptor

POLM088: State-building after Civil War

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

The module aims to provide you with a conceptual and theoretical background to the most common type of armed conflict in the world today: civil wars. It begins by introducing the academic literature dealing with the types, onset, and duration of civil wars and the various motivations of participants. We will then delve into the different measures taken to restore peace and ensure it persists. We will also closely examine the ways various domestic and international actors have attempted to re-build states through institutional design. Drawing on both historical and recent case studies from around the world, you will be able to acquire a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities to peace-making and state-building after conflict and discuss them in relation to a number of past or current conflicts.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Clearly distinguish between civil wars and other types of armed conflict.
2. Have a solid grasp of the main causes and drivers of civil wars.
3. Critically assess the relative success of different ways to end civil wars.
4. Gain a solid understanding of the theories underpinning different approaches to state-building after civil war.
5. Gain in-depth empirical knowledge of a number of past or ongoing civil wars and state-building efforts.
Discipline-Specific Skills6. Critically engage with the literature on the state, political order, and state-building from Political Science and International Relations.
7. Demonstrate clear theoretical understanding of major approaches to the study of the onset, duration, and termination of civil wars from International Relations and Political Science.
8. Improved understanding of the comparative method in Political Science.
Personal and Key Skills9. Demonstrate improved analytical reasoning.
10. Synthesize large amount of material and present clear arguments and recommendations.
11. Provide constructive feedback to your peers.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic reading:

Autessere, Severine. 2010. The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding. Cambridge University Press.

Cederman, Lars-Erik, Andreas Wimmer, Brian Min. 2010. “Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis, World Politics 62: 87-119.

Collier, Paul and Anke Hoeffler. 2004. “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,” Oxford Economic Papers

56, no. 4: 563-595.

Doyle, Michael and Nicholas Sambanis. 2000. “International Peacebuilding: a Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis”, American Political Science Review 94: 779-801.

Doyle, Michael W., and Nicholas Sambanis. 2006. Making War and Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Fortna, Virginia Page. 2004. “Does Peacekeeping Keep Peace? International Intervention and the Duration of Peace after Civil War”, International Studies Quarterly 48: 269-292.

Gurr, Robert Ted. 1968. “Psychological Factors in Civil Violence,” World Politics  20, no. 2: 245-278.

Hartzel, Caroline. 1999. “Explaining the Stability of Negotiated Settlements to Intrastate Wars” The Journal of Conflict Resolution 43: 3-22.

Kalyvas, Stathis. 2006. The Logic of Violence in Civil War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kuperman, Alan. 2004. “Is Partition Really the Only Hope? Reconciling Contradictory Findings about Ethnic Civil Wars”, Security Studies 13:4: 314-349.

Licklider, Roy. 1995. “How Civil Wars End”, Stopping the Killing: How Civil Wars End, NY: NYU Press.

Lijphart, Arendt. 2004. “Constitutional Design for Divided Societies”, Journal of Democracy 15: 96-109.

Olson, Mancur. 2000. Power and Prosperity. New York: Basic Books, Chapter 1.

Posen, Barry R. 1993. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict,” Survival  35: 27-47

Power, Samantha. 2013. A Problem from Hell. America and the Age of Genocide. Basic Books.

Walter, Barbara. 1999. “Designing Transitions from Civil War: Demobilization, Democratization, and Commitments to Peace”, International Security 24: 127-155.