Universität Wien
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210108 SE M4 a: International Politics and Development (2016S)

M4a: VertiefungsSE (a) 'Political Settlements and the Local Turn in Peacebuilding'

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work

Course registration via the online registration system is obligatory. Attendance is necessary, given the just five dates of this blocked course absences will not be tolerated. The course will be taught in English, good command of the language is therefore necessary.
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 40 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes

The seminar is conducted in three blocks:
FR 18.03.2016 09.45-13.00, Hörsaal 3 (D212), NIG 2nd floor and SA 19.03.2016 08.00-13.00, Hörsaal 2 (A218), NIG 2nd floor;
FR 13.05.2016 08.00-13.00, Hörsaal 3 (D212), NIG 2nd floor
FR 24.06.2016 13.15-18.15, Hörsaal 3 (D212), NIG 2nd floor and SA 25.06.2016 08.00-13.00, Hörsaal 2 (A218), NIG 2nd floor

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The concept of ‘political settlements’ has achieved some salience in academic and policy discussions over the last years. Aid organisations increasingly assert the importance of understanding political settlements if aid interventions are to be effective, particularly in fragile and conflict-ridden contexts.
This increasing popularity of political settlements in donor circles, particularly in the context of state- and peacebuilding, is a consequence of the ‘era of disillusionment’ (Bell 2015) with a ‘liberal peacebuilding’ approach. One of the responses was a turn to political economy analysis that attempted to understand better how national elites understood their own self-interest and responded to economic and governance interventions. Within this analysis a particular focus on political settlements both responded to, and over time affirmed, the ways in which political context determined how external interventions impacted (or not) on development outcomes.
On-going reviews of political settlement literature, whether policy or academic, however struggle with the integrity of political settlements as a concept, and its relationship to closely related concepts such as state-building, peace-building, peace settlements, and constitutionalism. Core definitional issues relating to this concept include to what extent political settlements are analytical tools or normative concepts. Relating to this big epistemological issue, several other questions need to be raised and discussed: are political settlements elite-focused or society-focused? How can they be influenced by internal actors or international interventions, how do they relate to local processes, and to the international level? Is inclusion the answer in making political settlements more resilient, and even democratic?

The course will discuss these questions along various case studies and by using a variety of methods:
- short presentations by students, commented by a discussant
- work on and discussion of primary literature on political settlements
- group exercises
- written seminar paper

The course will be taught in English.

Assessment and permitted materials

Aims of the course:
- how to scientifically approach a new concept in the discipline
- presentation and discussion skills
- work with primary literature
- improve writing skills

Course materials will be disseminated via Moodle.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

- attendance of all three parts of the course
- one short presentation or prepared discussion of this presentation
- active participation in the course
- seminar paper (approx 20.000 characters)

Examination topics

Reading list

Bell, C. 2015. What we talk about when we talk about Political Settlements, PSRP Working Paper No 1, http://www.politicalsettlements.org/research/publications/working-papers/inclusive-political-settlements-workingpaper-01092015/

Brown, S., and Grävingholt, J. 2011. From Power Struggles to Sustainable Peace:
Understanding Political Settlements. Conflict and Fragility. Paris: OECD.

de Waal, A. 2015. The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa: Money, War and the Business of Power. Cambridge: polity press.

Mac Ginty, R. 2014. ‘Everyday peace: Bottom-up and local agency in conflict-affected
societies’, Security Dialogue, 45:6, 548-564.

Parks, T. & Cole, W. 2010. Political Settlements: Implications for Development Policy and
Practice. The Asia Foundation, Occasional Paper No 2, July 2010.

Rocha Menocal, A. 2015. 'Inclusive Political Settlements: Evidence, Gaps, and Challenges of Institutional Transformation', Birmingham: University of Birmingham.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:38