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| Semester | fall semester 2019 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers |
Sibel Yasemin Gürler (sibelyasemin.guerler@unibas.ch)
Martina Santschi (martina.santschi@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Violent conflict and civil wars in Africa have frequently been seen as either the cause or the consequence of state fragility. According to this way of thinking, many post-colonial states in Africa have ‘failed’ to hold on to their monopoly over the use of violence and thereby ‘proven’ the limits of their capacity to exercise power over society, as the upsurge in civil wars across the continent in the immediate post-Cold War era would indicate. In this seminar, we engage critically with such perspectives and ask instead how states in Africa, as elsewhere throughout the world, are (also) the product of (internal and inter-state) warfare. Civil wars, it will be argued, while being the cause of immense suffering on the part of civilian populations, do not simply destroy political orders, but also contribute to shaping and producing them. |
| Learning objectives | Students understand and reflect on the role of violent conflict and war in the history of state formation in Africa. They have knowledge of the most important theories of (civil) war, and are able to critically analyse and weigh the importance of factors such as colonialism, economic inequalities, ethnicity, Cold War dynamics, natural resources (scarcity and abundance) as causes of violent conflict. |
| Bibliography | A comprehensive syllabus including literature will be provided to course participants in the context of the inception meeting on 20 September 2017. However, subsequent some key literature suggestions for this course: • Anderson, B. R. (1983). Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. • Cramer, C. (2006). Civil War is not a Stupid Thing: Accounting for Violence in Developing Countries. London: Hurst & Co. • Englebert, P. & Dunn, K.C. (2013). Inside African Politics, London: Routledge (Chapter 7: The Shifting Landscape of Conflict and Security, pp. 267-312). • Herbst, J. I. (2000): States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. • Tilly, C. (1985). War Making and State Making as Organized Crime. In P. B. Evans, D. Rueschemeyer, & T. Skocpol (Eds.), Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 169-187. |
| Comments | The number of participants is limited to 40 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to students of Political Science. |
| Weblink | www.swisspeace.org |
| Admission requirements | The number of participants is limited to 40 people. The places are assigned according to date of enrollment and subject of study. Priority will be given to students of Political Science. |
| Course application | durch Belegen in MOnA |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Regionaler Fokus B.A. (Bachelor's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Sachthemen der Ethnologie (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Continuous. (1) Active participation in class (25%). (2) Engaging with the literature (25%). (3) Presentation (50%). |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Politikwissenschaft |