COURSE DESCRIPTION

It is designed to engage students in an examination of the major contemporary challenges to peace, sources of conflict and violence, and several key nonviolent mechanisms for conflict transformation and prevention. The course provides a common foundation for UPEACE students from all of the different M.A. programs (as its name suggests). During the course, an understanding of the complex and interconnected challenges to peace will be developed, as will an understanding of the need for multi-faceted approaches to meeting these challenges. Students will also engage critically with theories of conflict, and will develop their understanding of the theoretical resources available in the area of conflict studies. During the course of their studies at UPEACE students will engage in increasingly specialized inquiry into various dimensions and issues in their specific MA areas. The foundation course provides an opportunity to explore connections, sympathies, and synergies between the challenges and approaches identified in all of these areas from a “wide-angle” perspective that will encourage students to continue making such interdisciplinary connections and analyses throughout their tenure at UPEACE and after. An important aspect of the course will also be the introduction to skills integral to the field of peace and conflict studies and to the UPEACE pedagogy at large. These include non-violent communication, appreciative enquiry and dialogue.

This hands-on learning experience will expose students to urban problems and setting. The field trips will be organized in such way to allow a systematic observation and reflection on actual urban affairs.

The setting for the field trips will be schools, neiborhood (gated communities and slums), malls, hospitals, jails and city halls.

This course highlights the critical tensions between modernist urbanism, post-modernist/new urbanism, and critical urbanism and how each of these perspectives contributed to conceptualizing, therefore, generating/aggravating the risks in cities or otherwise enhanced/maintained the resilience of these cities. The course introduces the students to the phases of the evolution of urban settlements and the main concepts and theories conceptualizing urban risks and resilience. It will start with viewing urbanization in a broader historical context, which should help identify the driving forces behind the emergence of early towns and moves on to study the contemporary urbanization trends at national, regional and global levels and examines the risks these trends may generate and the challenges they pose to urban peace and security at all the mentioned levels. The course will also examine the correlation between the opportunities the city provide and its internal environmental, physical, social and economic security and peace. The course further studies the issues of urban governance and the increased role for civil society organizations with their quest for democratic and participatory urban management.

This graduate seminar will provide an overview of the diverse perspectives in the field of environmental security and peace, and introduce students to the variety of natural and human-induced environmental changes currently affecting humanity. This course will also prepare students for more intensive explorations of aspects of environmental security in other courses in this programme.
 

The course begins with a thorough review of both the historical dimensions of global environmental change and forecasts for environmental change in the coming decades. We will particularly focus on the way in which humans have altered the world around them and are being affected by their interactions with the natural world. The course will then explore the debates concerning changing conceptions of peace and security, and the debates over integrating environmental considerations into security thinking.
 

Students will also be introduced to alternative interpretations of the concept ‘environmental security’ and the ways in which scholars and policymakers have operationalized environmental security. Students will begin to appreciate and analyse relationships between environmental stress and human and ecological security. Closely related to this, students will explore how the interaction of environmental stress and poverty linkages leaves some groups particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and disease outbreaks. The concepts of complexity, ingenuity and uncertainty will be introduced, laying the groundwork for the search for solutions to the problems of environmental stress, conflict, and insecurity. As well, the course explores issues around environmental conflict prevention and peacemaking, and the societal changes that may be necessary to both adapt to a world that humans have radically altered, and forestall environmental conflicts.
 

The focus on linkages between environmental insecurity and conflict will include: typologies of environmental conflict, including differing approaches to considering conflict over renewable vs. non-renewable resources; conditions under which environmental stress may contribute to the emergence or intensification of conflict; factors that influence the intensity and extent of environmentally related conflicts; and livelihood insecurity as a link between poverty, environmental degradation and conflict. Relationships between exploitation of natural resource abundance and conflict, including greed versus grievance debates, will also be introduced. Finally, the potential for environmental insecurity to catalyse peace-building and environmental cooperation will be highlighted.
 

Throughout the course we will emphasize the practical relevance of the core concepts of environmental security through various case studies of existing and emerging critical environmental security issues, from various geographical regions, and at different scales - from global, (sub-) regional, national, to local. In this way, by the end of this introductory course, students will have been exposed to the scope and diversity of environmental security concerns to be considered in the programme. Thematic issues will include: freshwater scarcity, quality, and variability; climate change; ozone depletion; energy security; land degradation, desertification and deforestation; biodiversity loss; food security; and vulnerability to natural disasters.
 

Cross-cutting concerns include: implications of population growth; health and disease; poverty reduction and livelihood implications; conflict and cooperation; the capabilities, consequences and risks of science and technology; and ethical, legal and institutional factors.

The central goal of this course is to provide the students a basic variety of research tools, methods and approaches used in the social sciences. The final goal of this course is to enable students to formulate research problems, select a research approach, develop and implement a thorough research design, and review and criticize investigations executed by peers and colleagues in the wider research community. This course provides students with a foundational knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methods, when they are used, how they are used, and the benefits and drawbacks of each method. It will develop students’ theoretical knowledge and applied skills in conducting qualitative and participatory research with ample field examples from the social and natural sciences, addressing issues, challenges and emerging trends in a globalized world.

The humanity is increasingly living in urban settings that have advantages and unforeseen problems. The course will examine the evolution of cities as preferred places for most of the people and discuss the standards of the quality of life that are expected in cities.

The paradigmatic concept of Human Security will be discussed as source of public policies for the governance of cities, under the assumption that urban policies following the human security principles and concepts can be driving force for urban progress and in reverse the neglect of Human Security practices in urban governance may jeopardize the urban progress.

The concept of Human Security will be critically examined in its history, advantages and paucities.

This course addresses the social stresses encountering urban areas and seeks to explain the origins of these stresses and how to overcome them. The main themes this course addresses include safety and accessibility to public space; urban design; urban violence and urban crime; ideology, identity politics, and urban insurgency; surveillance systems and urban technologies of control; and health security. All these themes are important for defining the liveability of an urban settlement. The personal security and communal security, as regions in the concept of human security, will receive greater attention in this course. Hence, the individual human scale, neighborhood and community scale and ultimately the city scale will be emphasized to reflect the increased concern with the “security of people” as in contrast to the over-emphasized “security of territory” of nation states. In this respect, the course will examine the challenges posed by rapid urbanization and how they may transform the urban cultural and political environment and how, ultimately, they affect individual and communal safety and peace and stability in urban areas. The course also explores the links between domestic urban violence and health and relatedly it investigates the right to health and the role of different urban actors in defining and reinforcing this right.

This course is about how to enhance the resilience of cities in the face of climatic stresses. Following from the course on Urban Environmental Trends and Environmental Security (Theory), this course moves on to identify the techniques, tools and strategies necessary for enhancing the resilience of cities. In the face of the abnormal climatic stresses, the course exposes students to the most recent and innovative approaches that may help strengthen individual, communal, and institutional capacities. Students will learn about methods that may foster the capacity of individuals and neighborhood communities to participate more effectively in formulating the strategies to adapt climate challenges and transform their impact.

This experiential and highly interactive class will focus on foundational conflict resolution and communication skills focusing on intervention processes set in a variety of contexts.  

In this course, we are all learners and teachers. Based on a participatory and elicitive Adult Education methodology, we are going to share our personal and collective experiences, successes and challenges to mentor each other.   The course will rely on the use of practical exercises, role plays, de-briefings and simulations to build skills and illustrate the numerous factors influencing the approach, design, process and facilitation of mediation, negotiation and restorative justice processes. Additionally, we will incorporate interactive Skype conversations from global practitioners around the world who use these skills and approaches in a variety of conflict settings.

The cities are symbol of the rapid pace of social change in many societies, and represent a critical problem in development discourse and practice. The tensions between economic growth, social equity and political legitimacy are manifest in cities around the world. These tensions must find some resolution if urban development is to be not only sustainable but humane.

Women and men are not just workers or homemakers but have a range of social roles in the household, market and community. The concept of gender helps to uncover the constructed, of these social roles, it also directs attention to the interaction between the organisation of work and other social relationships. The consequence of this interaction for many women is a burden of multiple responsibilities for both social reproduction and economic production, many of which are unremunerated and thus invisible in national accounts and other data used for planning purposes.

The course will address issues of gender mainstreaming, if gender mainstreaming has to become a reality in individual cities, the global initiatives related to urban development have to also face this challenge and gender and women’s participation as a cross cutting issue should be discussed. This course will address as well issues of City policy on gender equality, and whether Public consultation policies include women. Such policies should integrate policies on violence against women and women’s safety, and gender analysis in all city policies, including the analysis of city budgets, and city administrative structures and mechanisms etc.

The course will look on how urban governance need to be gender-sensitive if it is to be equitable, sustainable and effective. Participation and civic engagement are critical determinants of good governance, a concept which addresses issues of social equity and political legitimacy and not merely the efficient management of infrastructure and services. How men and women participate in and benefit from urban governance are significantly shaped by prevailing constructions of gender norms. The course will examine gender norms and gender division of labour and ascribed gender roles.

The course will examine the gender-sensitive approach to urban governance which has two principal objectives; firstly, to increase women's participation in human settlements development and, secondly, to foster gender-awareness and competence among both women and men in the political arena and planning practice.

More over the course deals with the themes of participation and partnership in urban governance, a concept which refers to both government responsibility and civic engagement. It will look broadly at the improvement in women's representation in political structures, and women active participation in organisations outside of government, i. e advocacy.

There is also a genuine and growing appreciation of the value and achievements of women, particularly in local development. The course will look at issues of engendering the practice of urban governance, with direct questions of diversity and civic engagement.

This course seeks to overcome the economic and livelihood stresses, resulting from climatic, physical, and social stresses that are encountering urban areas. The main topics on which this course focuses are the increased urban poverty, urban livelihoods in a globalizing world economy, urban agriculture, and the Urban Millennial Development Goals. The courses exposes students to practical methods of promoting income generating activities and measures that may help overcome the constraints resulting from zoning and allowing for mixed land uses, which can be part of a general strategy for housing the poor and promoting of peri-urban agriculture. The course exposes students to practical ways in which urban community-based organizations (CBOs) can be involved in developing their self-help programmes and in improving livelihoods of slum dwellers and other urban poor. It provides students with success stories of partnership between urban CBOs, NGOs, government and the private sector in negotiating, conceptualizing, and implementing the Millennial Development Goals. The course also gives examples of partnership between urban dwellers and peri-urban producers in the form of community-supported agriculture and other similar partnerships that may be replicated elsewhere.

Assistant Professor
Adam Baird has a PhD, MRes and MA from the Peace Studies Dept. at the University of Bradford. He is a specialist in urban insecurity and has worked substantially with gangs and processes of male youth inclusion. He has over a decade of experience in Latin America and is currently writing a book on urban violence prevention. In 2011-12 he was a Drugs, Security and Democracy postdoctoral fellow with the Social Science Research Council/Open Society Foundation. He is contributing editor to Paz Paso a Paso: Una mirada desde los Estudios de Paz a los Conflictos Colombianos (2013). He is also an ‘Associate Expert to the UNDP in the area of Crisis Prevention and Recovery’ in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Assistant Professor 
Ameena Alrasheed Nayel:  PhD Leeds University the UK. MA Public Policy, from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands. MA Gender and Culture, from Utrecht University, The Netherlands, BSc ‘Honours’ political science, from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. Worked as Teaching Assistant at the Department of Political Science, University of Khartoum, Sudan, TA at the Middle Eastern Studies, Leeds University, UK. Trainer and consultant with UNWOMEN, UNDP, UNICEF, IOM and other international organizations, worked in Kosovo, Iran, Indonesia. Somaliland, Nepal, Iraq/Kurdistan and Rwanda. Researcher on women’s refugees and immigrants in the Netherland, and women and domestic violence in the UK.

Dr. Abdalla is Professor and Vice Rector at the United Nations-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE).  Before arriving at UPEACE, he was a Senior Fellow with the Peace Operations Policy Program, School of Public Policy, at George Mason University, in Virginian, USA.   He was also a Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.
 
Both his academic and professional careers are multi-disciplinary.  He obtained a law degree in Egypt in 1977 where He practiced law as a prosecuting attorney from 1978 to 1987.  He then emigrated to the U.S. where He obtained a Master's degree in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.
 
He has been teaching graduate classes in conflict analysis and resolution, and has conducted training, research and evaluation of conflict resolution and peacebuilding programs in several countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.  He also authored, and co-authored, several research and evaluation teaching manuals including: Doing What You Want With Your Data, A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning and Implementing Evaluation Strategies, and Qualitative Evaluation: The What and Why.

He has been an active figure in promoting effective cross-cultural messages within the Islamic and Arabic-speaking communities in America through workshops, T.V. and radio presentations.  He has also been actively involved in inter-faith dialogues in the United States.  He pioneered the development of the first conflict resolution training manual for the Muslim communities in the United States titled (“…Say Peace”).  He also founded Project LIGHT (Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance), a community peer-based anti-discrimination project funded by the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ).
 

Prof. Ansorena holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, USA. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the National University of Costa Rica. The University of Massachusetts also granted a Master in Economics.

Since August 2011 will be Associate Professor at the University for Peace and have the responsibility of conducting the Master of Arts Programmes in Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development.

Before joining UPeace, Dr. Ansorena has been an economist practitioner with over 20 years of professional experience as project manager and advisor to different organizations such as Government of Costa Rica as General Manager for the Program of “Regulation of Cadastre and Registry and Municipal Strengthening” the Central American Integration Secretariat (2005-2008), the government of Nicaragua, (2003-2004), UNDP, UNICEF, World Bank, CATIE (1999-2002). He has been also an IADB economist and program officer (1991-1998) and advisor to the Ministry of Trade of the government of Costa Rica (1997-1998). He has a broad set of skills in economic and policy analysis, planning and trade.

His long professional experience has been combined with teaching, mainly in the University of Massachusetts and the National University of Costa Rica.

Prof. María de los Ángeles Barahona Israel is currently Associate Professor at School of Architecture and Masters Programmes of Architecture, Professor in Disability Interdisciplinary Masters Programme, Architecture Research guide, and director of multiple theses at Masters and License levels. Prof. María de los Ángeles Barahona Israel has an Architecture Doctoral Degree, 1990, from the University of Michigan, where she studied “research on environmental experiences and behavior and its relationship to the built environment and its design”. She has License in Architecture, 1981, from the University of Costa Rica in studies in Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Fine Arts. Prof. María de los Ángeles Barahona Israel was awarded during 2010 a scholarship HARVARD- LASPAU a programme affiliated with Harvard University. Currently she works as professor and seeks to design and implement academic and professional programs to meet the complex social, political, and economic challenges facing the Americas. During the periods 1993-1998 and 2000-2004, she worked at the Ombudsman Office (Defensoría de los Habitantes de la Republica) as Consultant in Housing, Architecture, Urbanism and Disabled Persons’ Rights.

MSc. Marije van Lidth de Jeude (1972) is master in Cultural Anthropology and Bachelor in Commercial Economy. She has a professional record of more than ten years in rural and urban sector development, in particular with multi- and bilateral donor-agencies, governmental institutions, producer cooperatives, small enterprises and other civil society stakeholders. She has worked for organizations like Oxfam - Novib, UN organisation IFAD – RUTA and the Centre for Rural Development (CDR). Her expertise was established as program officer and during research and consultancy assignments related to all phases of the project-cycle, with a specific focus on formulations and evaluations. Thematic specialisations include gender, natural resources; socio-economic vulnerable groups (esp. migrantes and indigenous people); financial, technical and business development services for small – and medium enterprises, remittances.

Oli has been working on environmental and developmental issues for the better part of 15 years as both a practitioner and a researcher.  His main areas of interest lie in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, environmental management and trade policy.  Most recently he has been supporting the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Afghanistan on a project to understand and (try to) address some of the natural resource management dimensions of peacebuilding in the country. Before that he spent a couple of years managing a UNEP country program in Sierra Leone: working to build the government’s capacity for more effective environmental management.
 
Between 2004 and 2010 Oli was a researcher and programme manager in the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD's) Environment and Security & Trade and Investment, programs. From 2007 he coordinated the Trade Knowledge Network, a group of developing country research organizations working on the ways in which trade and investment policies can promote and enable sustainable development. He also arranged and taught a graduate-level yearly course for North Carolina’s Duke University on global environmental politics. In the 1990s he spent two years in Nepal managing education and environmental projects, and a year and a half as a trade policy researcher for Oxfam GB. He has first degrees in anthropology and modern history and a Masters in international relations.

Rick brings over 20 years of international and Canadian experience with specialized knowledge in conflict resolution, community-based peacebuilding, multi-party negotiation, international human rights law and indigenous peoples rights.  

Urbano Fra Paleo, B.A. Hons. Geography (Santiago de Compostela), Ph.D. Geography (Santiago de Compostela, 1996), also holds a Diploma in Environmental Engineering from the EOI Business School and is a certified Geomatics Specialist (GIS/LIS).

Dr. Victor M. Valle has been at the United Nations mandated University for Peace since 2000, when he became part of the team charged to revitalize the university.  He is currently Professor in disciplines relayed to educational development, democracy building, urban governance, human development and human security. Before arriving UPEACE he had a long career in international cooperation, university education, educational development, security sector reform and political action.

His academic and professional careers have been long and varied and his professional contributions have been provided around the world. He has a Doctor of Education degree, granted by the George Washington University, at USA, in 1983 and a Master of Education degree granted by the University of Pittsburgh, USA, in 1971. He carried undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering in the University of El Salvador from 1959 to 1965.In the 1970s Dr. Valle was involved in management development for public sector in several Latin American countries, as consultant of the Inter-American Development Bank, and in some projects of university planning at the City University of New York (Master Plan Committee of a new Community College in the system) and the University of Costa Rica (Planning of regional university centers).

During the 1980s, Dr. Valle was Senior Educator at the Organization of American States, Washington D.C. where he managed educational development projects in more than 30 countries in fields such as teacher training, curriculum development, higher education and Amazonian development. In his political activity, Dr. Valle was the leader of the Salvadorian political party member of the Socialist International, from 1991 to 1994, and in such capacity traveled around the world meeting top political leaders and heads of state. He was member of the National Commission for the Consolidation of Peace, which was a plural body in charge of overseeing the accomplishment of the UN mediated Peace Accords that settled the political armed conflict in El Salvador in the 1990s. Dr. Valle was founder of the National Academy of Public Security and Inspector-General of the National Civil Police in El Salvador, both organizations conceived as part of the mentioned Peace Accords.

Dr. Valle has published books and articles on educational, social and political issues.

Head of Department and Associate Professor
Victoria Fontan is Head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies. She has a Doctor of Education, Universidad De La Salle, Costa Rica; PhD, MA, Peace and Development Studies, University of Limerick, Eire. BA in Politics, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. Her disciplines include among others, quantum theory, terrorism and insurgency studies, liberal and decolonized peace studies, and critical pedagogy. She has been with the University for Peace since 2004.