Study of conflict in a variety of contexts from interpersonal to institutional
Exploration of the importance of both perceptions and objective conditions in generating and resolving conflict
Improvement of skills in analyzing conflict and applying resolution strategies from communication to social and cultural change
Confrontation of the individual and social impacts of conflict and failure of resolution
Cluster Focus
Taking courses in this cluster allows students to study how conflict develops, identify factors which lead to conflict, explore how conflict is experienced, and learn processes and techniques which attempt to regulate and resolve conflict. Some courses provide specific contexts where conflict emerges: e.g., between nations (war), between institutions (government and the media), between groups (ethnic conflict), or between interests (those involved in economic development). Other courses take broad approaches that cut across a variety of forms and contexts of conflict (e.g., violence from suicide to genocide) or general principles involving processes of conflict and conflict resolution. These latter courses serve as synthesizing course and provide information on the regulation and resolution of conflict.
Courses
COMM 421. Communication and Conflict Management Focus on theory and research of communication processes in conflict episodes across social and personal relational contexts. Applications of communication approaches to conflict management emphasized.
Prerequisites: Junior standing and COMM 200S
CRJS 401W. Understanding Violence Examines a variety of forms of violence from suicide, child abuse, rape and family violence to terrorism, torture, death squads, the death penalty, and hate violence. Explores the circumstances, rationalizations, patterns, explanations and effects on survivors.
Prerequisites: CRJS 215S or SOC 201S or permission of the instructor
ECON 454W. Economic Development This course is intended to provide an introduction to the problems of economic development in the Third World, including problems of economic growth, income distribution, poverty, urbanization, uneven development, agricultural policy, economic planning, industrial policy, trade policy, balance of payments, finance, and currency crises. To illustrate these issues, the course will examine the problems of certain individual countries, such as Brazil, Korea, Phillipines, India, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, and Thailand. The course will try to strike a balance between economic theory and institutional economies. Additional reading will be assigned from time to time.
Prerequisites: ECON 201S and 202S
ENGL 472. America in Vietnam: The Government and the Media in Conflict An examination of America's role in Vietnam and how the interaction of the media with political and military leaders shaped the subsequent foreign policy decisions and military conduct.
Prerequisites: Passing score on the Writing Sample Placement Test, ENGL 110C and Junior standing, or permission of the instructor.
GEOG 320. Political Geography A study of the relationship between geographical and political factors; the nation state and its subdivisions; interaction among states; and the political geography of everyday life.
Prerequisite: completion of General Education social science requirement.
HIST 410. War as Human Experience This course takes a comparative and multidisciplinary approach to the study of how individuals have understood and adapted to the exigencies of war and its effects on political and religious institutions, social organizations, language, and self-identity.
