Peace Studies
Contents
Introduction
Studying Peace and working with local communities in constructive and participatory ways to build peace has had a profound effect on many individuals. The collection of individual experience shapes and moulds our future human existence. Just as a society on a war footing knows well the path to violence, so a community prepared for Peace knows how to deal with conflict in a healthy and constructive manner. Peace Studies at UNE offer the learner an opportunity to examine these issues in a multi-disciplinary setting, drawing upon the perspectives of a diverse range of fields and the knowledge and experience of many different modes of human experience.
Why Study Peace Studies at UNE?
Conflict, violence, inequality and instability abound in both our region and around the globe. While many may argue that this is a natural state of international relations, much human endeavour is now devoted, through peacekeeping, peacebuilding and community development and reconstruction, to preventing these conflicts and rebuilding in societies where they have taken place.
The old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is especially true for these efforts, and it is crucial that the peacekeepers, peacemakers and peacebuilders in the field are well trained and equipped with the skills and experience required to achieve a successful outcome.
Similarly, if we in Australia are going to build a more peaceful world; by educating for peace, by engaging in indigenous reconciliation, and by trying to eliminate racial, ethnic and gendered violence, economic inequality, and environmental degradation, then we must be equipped to deal with these problems. Peace Studies at UNE offers rigorous and disciplined education as a key element of obtaining these ends.
The methods used to try and resolve conflicts are themselves often violent, costly and not very effective. One need only consider the human damage done during the war with Iraq, the allied bombing of Yugoslavia, or the destruction caused by the violence in East Timor, to recognise that years and years of concerted human effort will be required to repair and restore the damage done by the eruption of violence. Learning how to manage conflict and prevent the outbreak of violence is therefore an extremely cost effective way to prevent suffering and death.
A large part of Peace Studies involves examining alternative non-violent ways of resolving conflict, assisting communities to respond to change and rebuild. By learning and becoming aware of these alternative methods, skills, tactics and strategies, we can train ourselves to proactively respond to conflicts before they escalate unstoppably towards violence, thereby saving uncountable damage to individuals and whole societies.
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Courses
Undergraduate courses in which a student may specialise in Peace Studies:
Advanced Diploma in Arts
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of International Studies
Bachelor of Professional Studies
Postgraduate courses in which a student may specialise in Peace Studies:
Graduate Certificate in Arts
Graduate Diploma in Humanities
MA by Coursework
MA (Honours)
Master of Professional Studies by Coursework
Master of Professional Studies (Honours)
PhD (on Peace related research topics)
Units
PEAC100 Introduction to Peace Studies
PEAC106 Indigenous Social and Emotional Well-being
PEAC303 The Philosophy and Practice of Non-violence
PEAC304 Environmental Security
PEAC328 Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution
PEAC352 Building Peace in Post-Conflict Situations
PEAC354 Post-conflict Justice and Reconciliation Processes
PEAC373 States of Disarray: Social Effects of Globalisation
PEAC388 Constructing Aliens: Refugees in Contemporary Australia
PEAC503 The Philosophy and Practice of Non-violence
PEAC504 Environmental Security
PEAC528 Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution
PEAC552 Building Peace in Post-Conflict Situations
PEAC554 Post-conflict Justice and Reconciliation Processes
PEAC573 States of Disarray: Social Effects of Globalisation
Summer Short Course
2009 Registration Form
2009 Brochure
Careers
Employers who support or sponsor their employees through one of the courses in which they can specialise in Peace Studies will gain immediate and long-term benefits by equipping their employees with a strong combination of theoretical and practical skills. Both the employee and employer will gain:
- A solid contemporary education, as well as training in the skills relevant to today's complex and changing world. Courses are constantly updated and renewed to ensure they offer students timely and relevant content,
- A more comprehensive view of community-based development, conflict resolution and peace making/building,
- A better appreciation of the requirements of working in inter-cultural and international environments
- Higher levels of job satisfaction and community/organizational loyalties, and
- An advanced level of knowledge pertaining to best practice in community development and peace making activities.
Courses in Peace Studies through UNE offer the opportunity for both employers and employees to become agents for positive social change. By providing employees with a robust and progressive set of skills for building Peace and developing communities in sustainable ways, employers are making a valuable contribution to the strength and diversity of our communities. Studies in Peace at UNE, offer organizations a means of constructing better relationships in the communities in which they operate.
Recent years have seen expanding Australian and international involvement in conflict areas around the globe. There are tens of thousands of people deployed around the globe as either United Nation Peacekeepers or national Peace Monitors, as non government workers supplying humanitarian aid and relief, or engaging in longer term reconstruction projects with indigenous and international NGOs, or as observers or government delegates. This is reflected in our student base, and we have seen a rise in the numbers of students who apply to study peace and development because they are already working in the field or are about to be sent into the field to work in one of these roles. The Peace Studies courses offered through UNE assist therefore in informing practice via a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge. They offer students the opportunity to closely match their educational needs with the professional requirements of their target profession as professional peace-workers.
These are growing areas of practice and research in the international arena of post conflict recovery and conflict resolution. Our current students range from - educators, military personnel, lawyers, social workers, community development workers, members of the clergy and allied health professionals seeking an insight into structural violence within a society – and there are those working or wishing to work more formally in the fields of peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding.
Partnerships, Networks and Industry Links
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research Programme of Correspondence Instruction in Peacekeeping Operation http://www.unitarpoci.org/
Timor friendship website: http://www.comraded.org/timor
PEACEWORKERS - learn more about ‘people helping people’ in conflict situations:
http://www.peaceworkers.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=276&Itemid=1
EVOLVERIS - A sustainability learning alliance that collaborates in building Peace: http://www.evolveris.org
Additional Information
Recognising the need for an integrated Peace Studies programme, we seek to practice what we preach. The Centre for Peace Studies at UNE is an adaptive ‘learning organization’ where we engage through active participation with local communities in relation to peacebuilding and humanitarian recovery processes. In our work through the Centre, we have shifted away from an approach where external actors make all the decisions through the engineering of projects, to a process whereby internal actors are encouraged and facilitated in designing and implementing projects best suited to the needs of local people and the particular post conflict situation in which they are working and living. Understanding the significance of building local skills and capacities and empowering local actors to play key roles in improving their own communities has convinced us to meet these challenges in our courses and research.
Selected Articles:
Rebecca Spence and Iris Wielders, The Process of Peace: A critical case study from the Solomons, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Accepted and Forthcoming.
Rebecca Spence and Fiona Ninnes, 2007, Building Relationships across the Timor Sea: An Evaluation of the Australian/Timorese Friendship Agreements, International Journal of Public Administration and Development, 27, 1- 8,2007.
Rebecca Spence (2006) Imagine Living a Life in Peace, in Helen Ware (ed) The No Nonsense Guide to Conflict and Peace, New Internationalist, London.
Rebecca Spence (2006) Building Peace through creating Friendships, Australian Volunteers Magazine, June
Rebecca Spence and Iris Wielders (2006) Conflict Prevention in the Pacific, Research Report for AusAID and ANU.
Helen Ware (Ed.) (2006) The No-nonsense Guide to Conflict and Peace, New Internationalist Publications Ltd, Oxford, UK.
Helen Ware (2005) Demography, Migration and Conflict in the Pacific, Journal of Peace Research, 42, 4, 435-454.
http://jpr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/4/435 Helen Ware (2003) The World Bank, PRPSs and African Poverty, Proceedings of the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific – conference: African on a Global Stage, Oct 1-3, 2003 Flinders University Adelaide South Australia http://www.afsaap.org.au/Conferences/2003/Papers.htm
Lynch, T. and Jenkins, B. (2007) Global Warming, Contemporary Politics and the Principle of least disruption, Australian Quarterly, Vol 79, Issue 4, July-August
Jenkins, B.A. (2008) Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management on Bougainville, pp. 33-43 in:Science Education in Context: An International Examination of the Influence of Context on Science Curricula Development and Implementation, eds Richard K. Coll and Neil Taylor, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam/Taipei.
Helen Hakena, Peter Ninnes and Bert Jenkins (Eds.) (2006) NGOS and Post-Conflict Recovery: The Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency, Bougainville,
Asia Pacific Press, ANU Canberra
Bert Jenkins (2005) ‘Environmental Security’, Chapter 42 of Section Nine, pp.321-329 In: Securing a Peaceful Pacific, Eds. John Henderson & Greg Watson, Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, NZ
Kathy Jenkins and Bert Jenkins (2005) Education for Sustainable Development and the Question of Balance: Lessons from the Pacific. Current Issues in Comparative Education [Online], Vol. 7 (2). Available at: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/cice/articles/kjbj172.htm
Bert Jenkins (2003) NGOs in Bangladesh: Are they in a strong position to assist vulnerable people living on low-lying lands to cope with floods? Journal of South Asian Studies Vol. XXVI, no.3: 455-466.
Lynch, T; Jenkins, B; and Kilarr, A (2001) ‘Professional Farming Systems – Facilitating Sustainable Environmental Change on a Landscape Scale.’
Australian Journal of Social Issues 36 (2): 123-138.
Contacts
For further information about Peace Studies contact Bert Jenkins or Helen Ware
Dr Bert Jenkins Phone: 02 6773 5120, Email: bjenkins@une.edu.au
Professor Helen Ware Phone: 02 6773 2442, Email: hware@une.edu.au
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