Transcend Peace University

Transcription

1 Transcend Peace University Summer Sessions - 6 week all-online courses - Addressed to mainly post-graduates, government- and non-government pracitioners, also advanced students Courses Introduction to 'galtungism' course instructor: Prof. Johan Galtung The Arab Spring and the use of Nonviolence course instructor: Dr. Jørgen Johansen The Challenges of Democracy and Constructing Just Peace course instructor: Prof. Paul Scott Framework Fees: Term Enrollment Contact 6-week all-online course designed for fully-employed participants, combining autonomous work; exchange with participants from all over the world and constant feedback from highly experienced course instructors Assignments: constant participation & essays (individual/collective) 300 for participants from OECD-countries 150 for participants from non-oecd countries July 18 th August 26 th 2011 (6 weeks) Online-enrollment on our website Executive Secretary: Karoline Weber weber@transcend.org The Transcend Peace University TPU is an all-online university, currently headed by Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung. Our inter-disciplinary courses are designed to cover issues pertaining to peace and development studies. As specialists in this domain, we emphasize solution-oriented approaches. Our faculty members are leading peace scholars and internationally recognized mediators. The purpose of TPU, the educational institute of TRANSCEND, is to impart to our participants the knowledge and skills required for professional peace and development work. TPU equips its participants with analytical and practical competence in conflict-transformation and -resolution. Our methodology draws from more than fifty years of knowledge provided by distinguished researchers and practitioners from all over the world. Please visit for further information.

2 Course: Introduction to 'galtungism' Course Director: Johan Galtung The rationale for giving a six weeks' course with that title is that the word "galtungism" is increasingly heard, and it might be interesting to have a course--and a dialogue!--about its meaning. It is actually done in 50 Years: 25 Intellectual Landscapes Explored, TRANSCEND University Press, 2008, the text-book for the course, with 25 chapters. However, only thee first 12 will be explored in this short course focussed on four basic themes: July: HOLISM AND DIALECTICS - Introduction to epistemology. This daoist-orient approach enriches the aristotelian-cartesian views in the Occident and Western universities considerably. Participants will be asked to write a one-page essay on a problem of their choice July - 6 August: DEEP NATURE-STRUCTURE-CULTURE - Three Pillars. "Something basic underneath"--maybe insights by Darwin, Marx, Freud can be enriched holistically and dialectically? The participants will be divided into chat rooms and produce collective essays. 3, 8-20 August: SEEKING VS TRANSCENDING INVARIANCES - Time symmetry. Are we slaves of the past or are we basically able to "go beyond", to transcend, and create new realities? Can we identify some conditions for transcendence at various levels of the human condition? Again, there will be collective essays focused on specific problems August: A VIEW OF MACRO-HISTORY - Sufficiency vs necessity. Realism vs idealism, optimism vs pessimism; are there other angles such as degree of logical, space and time coupling, and where do they bring us? To Ibn Khaldun? Participants will be asked to write individual essays related to the problem chosen in the first week. Essays are one page. The course language is English, but the essays can also be in Spanish, French, Italian, German and Norwegian.

3 Course: The Arab Spring and the use of Nonviolence Course Director: Dr. Jørgen Johansen Week one: presentation of participants, relevant background, and expectations. Each write at least one page and circulate to the full group. Week two: A short history of opposition movements in Tunis and Egypt. Texts will be circulated and the students asked to write a minimum two pages on the situation prior to the first large demonstrations in January Week three: The means used my the opposition in Tunis and Egypt. Texts and links to be circulated and each student to write a minimum of three pages of their understanding and views on the protests, demonstrations, strikes etc. Week four: What was different in Libya? Based on texts to be circulated the student shall analyse the factors that turned Libya into a civil war and why external states were intervening with military means. The UNSC resolution 1973 shall be commented. A minimum of three pages to be written. Week five: The opposition in other states in the region. Each student shall give an overview of the present situation in the region and pick one state for more detail description. Links and articles will be circulated and the students are encouraged to search for more information on the web and from other sources. Week six: The role of nonviolence as a way to change the political leadership in states and the importance of Egypt and Tunis as sources of inspiration for other oppositional movements in the region. A minimum of two pages from each student. And a short evaluation of the course added to the paper.

4 Course: The Challenges of Democracy and Constructing Just Peace Course Director: Professor Paul D Scott Why democracy? What is democracy? Who does development benefit? What is the nature, scope, and impact of development? What is the causal link between development and democratization? These questions challenge us at a variety of levels. All writers on political theory are confronted by the contradictions and gaps that exist in almost all states that call themselves democratic. These contradictions and gaps raise more questions than they answer. Since the events of September 11, the debate over democracy has taken on even more significance. In Pakistan, when General Musharraf took power, he declared that he was instituting not martial law only another path towards democracy. The armed forces have no intention to stay in charge any longer than is absolutely necessary to pave the way for true democracy to flourish in Pakistan. Clearly we can see that by attaching the word democracy to behaviour, even a military coup d etat, is advantageous because it adds the gloss of legitimacy and credibility. General Musharraf also justified his coup by comparing the sham democracy to true democracy. Who sets the standards? We are certainly living within the third wave of democratization. Most notably, we can point to the rise of new democratic states in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. Tragically, these democracies were easily swept aside by more powerful reverse currents of militarism, war, and totalitarian regimes. There are a number of fundamental questions relating to the third wave: 1) How deep and lasting will this process be? 2) Will we soon witness another historic reversal? 3 3) If the new democratic states are weak, then how can we measure and evaluate their performance in order to strengthen institutions and build a civil society? 4) Lastly, since all state systems are dynamic, and all traditions inventions, what steps must the older democracies take in order to enhance and ensure that their political rhetoric matches reality. Interlocked with the myth and metaphor of democracy comes

5 the experience and the practice. A critical examination of the ideas, interests, competing forces and institutions involved in the democratization and development debate is at the core of this course. The stage for this course is of course global but students are encouraged to address and discuss each weekly topic from their own local-nationalregional experience.