Contemporary World Conflict

Catalog description

The world in the late 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century has witnessed several major conflicts locally, nationally and globally. Militarism, poverty, and socio-economic inequality, women's subordination and oppression, racial and ethnic discrimination, human rights violation, nationalism, religious fundamentalism, terrorism, globalization and environmental degradation constitute some of the more important factors generating the conflicts in question. This course attempts to do three things: (a) clarify the meaning of the term "conflict" and discuss the various means by which conflict management and resolution are achieved; (b) examine the nature and development of multi-factor conflicts in such selected situations as Northern Ireland, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (especially Bosnia), Afghanistan, and Israel and Palestine; and (c) outline and analyze such phenomena as the struggle for human rights and women's rights, the peace movement, the confrontation between Islamic fundamentalism and the West, the recent war against terrorism, the anti-globalization movement, and the politics of humanitarian intervention.