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European Experience of Peace and War

Director Spring 2002: Nigel Young

Program prerequisites | Course descriptions  | Extra costs
| Deadlines  | Helpful links

(Note: This study group program is being restructured. Check back for further details.)

 

The Northern Europe study group was set up by the interdisciplinary peace studies program in 1987 to give students in general and peace studies concentrators in particular an entry into European responses and resistance to war and their efforts in constructing peace. Northern Europe offers a rich environment for this exploration because European politics and society have been profoundly marked by war, militarism, nationalism and social movement organizing.

The aspirations to create peaceful European structures will be analyzed through lectures from the staff at the International University Peace Studies Centre (EPU) at Burg Schlaining Castle, Austria, and also through study trips which will include visiting peace centers, historic sites, movements and organizations, museums and memorials.  This starts in the U.K. and crosses Continental Europe, studying and visiting current and past sites of conflict and peacemaking such as Northern Ireland, Berlin, and former Yugoslavia.  There will be an emphasis on German culture and language, and a visit to nearby, neighboring, Hungary.

Prerequisites:

All applicants must register for a fall PEAC Colgate course (PEAC 330) “European Experience of Peace and War and pass the course with a grade of B- or better. The study group is intended for those sophomores and juniors in PEAC 330; Seniors cannot be considered because of June ending.

Courses:

There will be a four-course load.  The courses will be taught in modular periods over 12 weeks at the E.P.U. in Austria.  One of these courses will be mainly a Journal course (PEAC 329), which will focus on the mandatory study tour in the U.K. and Continental Europe (starting in February).  Orientation in February in Northern Ireland will be at the Reconciliation Centre (Corrymeela near Belfast).  Immersion in German politics, history and culture, part of the 329 course, will then start in Berlin.  The language training sessions (linked to all the courses) will be evaluated in this course, at EPU.

PEAC 326: Issues in War and Peace – Comparative Conflicts in Europe (Puhovsky and E.P.U. staff)
This course draws on an analysis of the Northern Ireland conflict and relates it to nationalism, identity and reconciliation – and to problems of nationalism.  Focusing also on the comparative case of former Yugoslavia and mediation processes there.  This course will also be supplemented by lectures and seminars with scholars from Slovenia and Croatia and other Balkan regions.

PEAC 327: State and Opposition: Social Movements in Process and Change within the Modern European State System (Young and E.P.U. staff)
This course will review 20th Century Europe peace and social movements to provide a historical context for contemporary European cultural, social and political issues.  We will explore peace and change movements, organizing around issues involving nuclear weapons, fascism, environment, refugees, racism and human rights.  We will also discuss peacemaking in Europe today.  Students will choose a topic related to an area of conflicts, or for example Austrian “denial,” and right wing nationalism.

PEAC 328: After the East/West Conflict: Arms and Disarmament in Post-Cold-War Europe and Prospects for European Security (Eberwein and E.P.U. staff)
This course will analyze and discuss the changing context of European security; nuclear weapons and issues of NATO expansion, security, including reactions to the Balkans crises. The U.S. role in Europe and Yugoslavia’s wars.  It will also discuss neutrality, the European Union, the integration process, including the O.S.C.E.’s role and developments in NATO since 1990, and security aspects of East Europe, the EC and the European Union, after the war in the Balkans. There will be a visit to the O.S.C.E. in Vienna.

PEAC 329: Imagery and Expression: Peace-Culture and War-Culture in Europe since 1900 (Young, E.P.U. staff and language instructor)
The course will center around the trip and travel experiences in Europe. The semester-long course will also include cultural immersion.  Main evaluation will be based on the Journal, structured around sites and texts; it will give students the opportunity to respond to, and analyze the places they visit as well as the cultural texts of the course (some in German). The course will critique European (especially German) film, art and literature on peace and memorializing war and resistance, with further examples from poetry, journalism, posters as well as photography. Museum visits and films focusing on imagery of war and peace in the 20th century will be the central feature.

Special lectures from university staff: 

• Political and Ethnic Tensions in Austria
• Conflict Resolution: Mediation Training
• History of peace culture and peace making in Europe
• Nationalism in the Balkans 
• Politics of European Community/European Integration 
• NATO “modernization” 
• Irish Politics/N. Ireland conflict 
• East/Central European politics since 1980 
• The Peace Movement since 1945 in Continental Europe and the U.K.

Costs: 

Estimate Student Expenses Northern Europe Study Group Spring 2002

Deadline:

Course registration (fall)

Helpful links:

Sponsoring departments

• Department of Sociology & Anthropology
• Peace studies program

Host city/country/university information

• University of Bradford
• University of Leeds
• Yorkshire, England
• Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Irish News Online

Course Related Material

• IANWEB Resources
• PeaceNet