INST 301
INST 301 functions as the capstone course for our International Studies Minor. It is offered only in Spring semester. Topics for the course vary from year to year.
This page is intended strictly to provide an expanded course description of this course. For the official schedule, please consult the My.UIC portal.
For a list of all INST courses and general course descriptions, please see the UIC Academic Catalog.
Spring 2024 Heading link
Transitions from War to Peace
On campus. W 3:00-5:30
Instructor: Sebastian Tobon Palma
Why do wars start and how do they end? How is peace achieved? What about justice, human rights, and retribution during and after war?
In this course we will cover general topics related to the phenomena of war and peace such as state repression, civilian victimization, ethnic conflict, genocide, and transitions from authoritarianism to democracy, among others. We will approach these topics through an interdisciplinary lens, reading and working with materials from the social sciences (sociology, political science, and anthropology) and the humanities (history, literature, film, and philosophy). We will read classics like Thucydides and Sun Tzu, and modern and contemporary social science classics like Von Clausewitz and Max Weber. We will discuss war and peace in their historical and international dimensions, and we will cover particular cases like World War I and II, the Cold War, and some of the many civil wars that broke out after 1945. No prior knowledge is required for this course. Students in any of the related fields welcome. If you want to cover or learn more about any particular topic or conflict, please get in touch with the course instructor!