Entry requirements

Fulfilment of the requirements for a Bachelor's degree, from an internationally recognised university. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

After completion of this course the student is expected to be able to:

• identify problems and questions concerned with strategic nonviolent conflicts in scholarship and practice,
• integrate, critically and systematically, different perspectives on strategic nonviolent conflicts in their own analyses of particular cases and problems,
• formulate their own positions on questions regarding strategic nonviolent conflicts,
• analyse, independently, theories and cases connected to strategic nonviolent conflict,
• independently write an assignment within a given time frame,
• communicate in English, in writing and/or orally.

Content

The aim of this course is to deepen students' understanding of the causes, dynamics, strategies, tactics, and outcomes of civil resistance / nonviolent conflicts. The focus is on large-scale campaigns against governments, for goals such as regime change, territorial change, or end of foreign occupation. The course provides an advanced introduction to the key questions and concepts in the study of strategic nonviolent conflict, including an overview the empirically based research on this phenomenon. The students are introduced to the process of nonviolent conflicts from mobilization to different types of outcomes. This includes exploring the tactical choices of movements, repression and resilience, and nonviolent discpline. In the course, students will enhance their academic insights concerning nonviolent conflicts as well as develop skills to analyse these conflicts independently using knowledge and methods that are anchored in contemporary research.

Instruction

The course is taught through lectures, seminars and a campaign simulation. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

The examination consists of a final course paper in which the student will select and analyse one campaign, and apply the concepts and theories utilised in the course, in a critical, independent, informed, and well-written manner.

The written memo will be presented at a final seminar. The students will act as discussants on each other's papers.

The following grades are used: Pass with distinction (VG), Pass (G), Fail (U).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Uppsala University does not accept cheating and plagiarism. Suspected incidents of cheating or plagiarism are reported to the Vice-Chancellor, which may issue a formal warning to the student or suspend the student from studies for a certain period.