POL16: The Politics of Conflict and Peace

This paper explores issues of violent conflict and peace in contemporary international politics, with a particular focus on the Global South and transnational connections in armed conflict, migration and peace interventions. The paper considers competing theories and claims about the causes of conflict and the relationship between conflict, development, migration and other international processes. It analyses the range of responses to conflict and how they are justified, and also focuses on contests over the meanings and practices of peace and peace interventions. The possibilities and limitations of international institutions and international law in regulating conflict and building peace will be highlighted. The paper will draw on extensive empirical case study examples and experiences from around the world.

Selected readings:

• Christine Sylvester, War as Experience. London: Routledge, 2013.
• Marthe Achtnich, Mobility Economies in Europe’s Borderlands: Migrants’ Journeys through Libya and the Mediterranean. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023.
• Marsha Henry, The End of Peacekeeping: Gender, Race and the Martial Politics of Intervention, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024

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