UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORDSchool of Social and International StudiesDivision of Peace StudiesMA Conflict Resolution
Awarding and teaching institution: / University of BradfordFinal award: / Postgraduate Diploma; MA
[Framework for Higher Education Qualifications level 7]
Programme title: / Conflict Resolution
Duration: / 1 year full-time; 2-5 years part-time
Date produced: / June 2009
Last updated : / June 2012
Introduction
Conflict Resolution is concerned with understanding the causes, dynamics and consequences of conflict, and using that knowledge in practical efforts to mitigate or resolve conflict, and to respond to some of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. Conflict is an inescapable feature of social life. While conflict can sometimes be positive, our main concern is with those forms of conflict that are socially damaging or violent. There have been between 20 and 35 wars happening around the world at any one time over the last two decades, and social conflict and violence are problems in almost every society around the world. The human and environmental costs of conflict are already very significant, and we can see potential for increased conflict in the coming decades as issues like climate change and resource depletion take hold. Finding effective responses to conflict is therefore of fundamental importance, either to prevent escalation towards violence, or to create conditions for reducing conflict and building positive peace.
Although we study conflict at all levels, from the interpersonal to the interstate, our programme has a strong emphasis on the analysis of violent conflict within and between states, including ethnic conflict and other forms of collective mobilisation. Recognising that most contemporary conflicts have multiple dimensions and causes, the course engages with a range of evidence and theories relating to conflict, examining their utility and validity in relation to different case-studies. We also look at the ways in which the drivers and characteristics of conflict are changing, as processes like globalisation, development, population growth and ecological change unfold.
Conflict Resolution is ultimately distinguished by its orientation towards practice. The emphasis in the course is therefore on introducing and learning to evaluate different methodologies and processes for peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. We explore different modes of intervention – from mediation and dialogue work, to international efforts at state-building – and consider questions about the efficacy, ethics, timing and coordination of these responses. The course also involves a significant practical, experiential element, to enable you to gain meaningful opportunities to engage in mediation and dialogue processes, or to make decisions about issues and dilemmas that arise in practice. In our view, experience not only helps to ground theory - to make discussions less abstract; it also promotes competence in a range of skills relevant to careers in conflict resolution or other related social professions.
Conflict Resolution attracts many students who already possess significant field experience, often in some of the most challenging conflict-affected societies in the work. The course is structured to enable experienced practitioners to reflect on and systematise their existing knowledge through engagement with theory and research, and provides an opportunity for students to share and learn from each other.
The approach of Peace Studies is to combine empirical, theoretical and applied research with sustained engagement at international, national and local levels to analyse, prevent and resolve conflicts and develop peaceful societies.
The MA Conflict Resolution is located within the Division of Peace Studies, an internationally recognised centre for excellence in teaching and research on peace and conflict issues. Staff are accomplished scholars, and many also deploy their research skills in a range of practical work in many parts of the world. Our international reputation received formal confirmation in 2002, when Peace Studies was chosen from more than 100 universities worldwide to be one of six Rotary International Peace Centres.
Programme Aims
The programme is intended to:
A1. Develop your knowledge and understanding of a coherent, current and intellectually stimulating body of theory and analysis;
A2. Encourage you to develop an independent, critical and scholarly approach to the field which will enable you to apply your knowledge and develop your understanding;
A3. Encourage you to relate academic study to questions of public concern in the peace and conflict field;
A4. Provide you with a curriculum supported by active scholarship, staff development and a research culture that promotes breadth and depth of intellectual enquiry and debate;
A5. Help you to develop a valuable range of key skills and personal attributes for a wide variety of careers;
A6. Provide you with a friendly and supportive learning environment
Programme Learning Outcomes
When you have completed the programme you will be able to:
Postgraduate Diploma
LO1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the emergence, nature and significance of conflict analysis/conflict resolution as a distinct field of academic study;
LO2. Explain and critically evaluate key theories of conflict, demonstrating advanced understanding of the causes, dynamics and outcomes of conflict in different contexts;
LO3. Relate the study of conflict and conflict resolution to wider debates in the field of peace studies;
LO4. Explain and critically evaluate different mechanisms and processes for the management and resolution of conflict, demonstrating critical understanding of the challenges and dilemmas that can arise in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding practice;
LO5. Demonstrate progress towards competence in a range of skills relevant to conflict resolution practice or related social professions, including conflict mapping and analysis, facilitation, negotiation and mediation, critical reflection, and research.
LO6. Communicate effectively and fluently in speech and writing, use communication and information technology for the retrieval of and presentation of information, work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time management and collaborate with others to achieve common goals.
Masters
LO7. Gather, organise and analyse relevant primary and secondary evidence or data so as to present coherent and clearly reasoned arguments which address specific problems ;
LO8. Apply conceptual frameworks and research methodologies to case-studies.
Curriculum
The MA Conflict Resolution is taught over three semesters, with students taking 60 credits per semester. The first two semesters offer a taught programme of modules. The final semester is taken up with the 60-credit dissertation.
The Postgraduate Diploma course extends over a period of two semesters (full time) or four semesters (part time). You must study units amounting to 120 Credits. If you are a full time student you must take taught units amounting to 60 Credits in each semester.
You may take the MA or Postgraduate Diploma on a part-time basis over two years. If you are a part time student you must take 60 Credits in your first year, and a further 60 taught credits in your second year.
The MA Conflict Resolution degree not only provides training in the discipline of Conflict Resolution, but also allows students to undertake modules in other disciplines and subject areas, including Peace Studies, International Relations and Security Studies, and Development, and area specialisms like Africa Studies. In addition to module options within Peace Studies, you are also able to choose electives from the wider span of University offerings. So while the degree provides a solid in grounding in international conflict analysis and resolution, we also enable some flexibility, allowing some individual and specialised focus while maintaining the overall coherence of the degree.
Postgraduate Diploma
Semester 1 has two 20-credit core modules: Introduction to Peace Studies (IPS), and Conflict Resolution Theory (CRT).
Introduction to Peace Studies is taken by all MA students in the Division of Peace Studies, and serves as an important introduction to key themes, questions and debates in peace research and education – the historical development of peace scholarship, the contested nature of violence and peace, non-violent action for social change, and attempts to build more peaceful cultures. Many of these themes cut across all our degrees, including Conflict Resolution. IPS therefore provides a distinctive framework for study at Bradford
Conflict Resolution Theory (CRT) provides an introduction to the field of conflict resolution, showing how it has evolved in response to key events and developments in the last hundred years. We start by exploring some of the different ways that researchers have tried to generate knowledge and theory about conflict. This survey encompasses the early efforts to collect and analyse quantitative data on violent conflict, which generated important questions about how war and violence could be defined, measured and interpreted. It also explores efforts to create generic theories/models of conflict (a theory that could explain conflict at all levels, from the interpersonal to the inter-state, and in different cultural-historical contexts), looking at examples, uses and critiques of these generic approaches. There is a significant experimental tradition of research on conflict, particularly in social psychology, which provides a useful, if limited, approach to testing hypotheses about conflict behaviour.
The final part of our survey looks at qualitative approaches to conflict theory, including those based based on case-study and ethnographic methods, and at the emerging approach to conflict analysis informed by systems / complexity thinking.
With this set of theoretical tools for analysing conflict in place, we then come to the central question in the degree: what can be done to prevent, manage or resolve conflict? We introduce a range of strategies and processes for responding to conflict at different levels, by different actors, and begin to consider some of the key debates that surround efforts for conflict prevention and interventions to contain, de-escalate or resolve conflict. This provides a framework for the more detailed consideration of conflict resolution practice in the second semester.
Semester 2 also has two core modules: Applied Conflict Resolution Skills (ACRS) and Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (P&P).
Applied Conflict Resolution Skills (ACRS) is about the theory and practice of peacemaking – efforts to manage and resolve conflict primarily through communicative processes. Among the range of peacemaking processes that exist, this module focuses primarily on negotiation, mediation, dialogue and deliberation. We will engage rigorously with attempts to theorise and evaluate different approaches to negotiation, mediation, etc., to understand the conditions under which more ethical and effective peacemaking practice occurs.
You will also have extended opportunities to engage in practical, experiential learning throughout the module, to work on the core skills and qualities that practitioners need. Some of this practical work is built-in to weekly sessions, but we will also run longer role-play and simulation exercises, including a full-day mediation class developed by leading mediation practitioners. This link with practitioners is a key theme in the module, and there will be other opportunities to meet and learn from people who are active in peacemaking work in different contexts.
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (P&P). This module complements ACRS, and similarly builds from the discussion of conflict theory and intervention strategies in CRT. The first part of the module explores responses to conflict at points which seek to establish or maintain a 'negative peace'. Primarily this refers to the use of military or civilian peacekeeping forces, whose may be deployed to monitor ceasefires, support peace agreements, or protect civilians. This first part of the module therefore focuses on understanding the range of peacekeeping roles and functions, and the critical debate that has surrounded the expanded use of peacekeepers in contemporary conflict.
The second part of the module turns to the concept of 'peacebuilding', referring to a broad range of activities that seek to establish conditions for lasting peace, and to address underlying causes of conflict. Discussions of peacebuilding occur across many Peace Studies modules, which is a consequence of the terms breadth and wide usage by international actors.
The focus in this module is on the more relational dimensions of peacebuilding efforts – those processes which seek to re-establish trust and understanding between adversaries, as part of a process to build positive peace. We will consider the characteristics of societies affected by violent conflict, and a range of mechanisms for engaging populations with the legacies of trauma, hate and division. This encompasses a range of work on post-war or transitional justice, including the role of criminal tribunals and truth commissions in establishing common understanding of a violent history. We also look at grass roots initiatives for trust-building, reconciliation and dealing with the psychological harm caused by violence, for example, through peace education, arts-based programmes, and memory-work.
Module Code / Module Title / Type / Credits / Level / Study periodSP-7008D / Introduction to Peace Studies / Core / 20 / M / Sem 1
SP-7010D / Conflict Resolution Theory / Core / 20 / M / Sem 1
SP-7005D / Applied Conflict Resolution Skills / Core / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7026D / Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding / Core / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7011D / International Politics and Security Studies / Option / 20 / M / Sem 1
SP-7012D / Arms Trade and Arms Control / Option / 20 / M / Sem 1
SP-7009D / Fragile Stage and the Security-Development Nexus / Option / 20 / M / Sem 1
SP-7007D / Introduction to African Politics / Option / 20 / M / Sem 1
SP-7003D / Natural Resource Governance / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7006D / African Security Studies / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7015D / Regional and Global Security Politics / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7002D / Gender, Conflict and Development / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7014D / Social Movements / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7001D / Africa Study Visit / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7004D / Cities in Conflict / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
SP-7013D / The Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy / Option / 20 / M / Sem 2
Masters
The 15,000 word dissertation provides an opportunity for in-depth research on a topic of your choice, working closely with your academic supervisor over a period of about four months.
Module Code / Module Title / Type / Credits / Level / Study periodSP-7018Z / Dissertation (CR) / Core / 60 / M / DISS
The curriculum may change, subject to the University's course approval, monitoring and review procedures.
Teaching and Assessment Strategies
The teaching and assessment for this degree are designed to help you engage actively with the themes and objectives of the degree, and to enable you to capture and demonstrate learning in relation to both the conceptual, theoretical part of the course, and the more practical, experiential elements. Teaching sessions last for up to three hours, and will usually include a mix of lectures, small group work (e.g. problem-based learning exercises), and class discussions. Practical sessions – for example, on mediation skills – will be structured around role-play exercises and more demanding, complex simulations. There will often be some preparatory work involved each week, such as a short reading or research exercise, which may be part of the assessed work for the course. This is intended to support and deepen your learning experience.