Program in PEACE STUDIES

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES


Acting Director: Dale L. Smith (Political Science); Advisory Committee: Billings (Political Science), Bryant (Women's Studies), D. Christie (Law), R. Christie (International Student Center), Cobbe (Economics), Garretson (History), Gottschalk (Social Work), Grindal (Anthropology), Jones (Black Studies), Kelsay (Religion), Kinloch (Sociology), Lemke (Political Science), Mayo (Learning Systems Institute), Phifer (Communications), Plendl (Physics), Smith (Political Science), Warf (Geography)

The peace studies program at The Florida State University had its beginnings in the Fall of 1981, when a group of faculty and campus ministers met to discuss national trends and issues in peace education. The peace studies minor for undergraduates was approved by the University Curriculum Committee in the Spring of 1984. The peace studies program was transferred to the College of Social Sciences in 1987.
Peace studies advocates a wide range of approaches to knowledge, including philosophical, analytical, ethical, as well as scientific modes of analysis. Peace studies proponents also define peace more broadly than merely the absence of war. They typically perceive poverty, injustice, inequality, human rights violations, and racism, for example, as the ultimate causes of war, and feel that a comprehensive, maximally effective approach to the elimination of war must focus also on the elimination of these root causes of international war, civil war, and other forms of political violence. Many also argue that while the need to understand the characteristic processes and structures of the current global political system is great, there is also a pressing need to transform that system in various fundamental ways.
The peace studies program at The Florida State University offers a series of courses, usually involving a number of guest lectures, based on an interdisciplinary analysis of the most serious problems facing the contemporary global community, such as the threat of nuclear war, international wars of all kinds, civil wars, mass starvation and poverty, environmental degradation, and political or economic injustice. These courses, together with a recommended list of electives, are the basis for a minor in peace studies. The purpose of the minor is not to persuade students to accept any particular perspective but to encourage students to think analytically about the most serious problems facing the world today and to introduce students to a wide range of analytical tools and sources of information from disciplines in the social sciences, humanities, and physical sciences, which can facilitate the intelligent analysis of these problems. It is assumed that informed analysis of such problems as international war, civil war, widespread poverty, and starvation is indispensable to effective efforts to alleviate and ultimately to eliminate those problems.


Requirements

Peace studies offers work leading to a minor only. Students must complete course work requirements for a major as outlined by their major department degree program.
The interdisciplinary minor requires the completion of fifteen (15) semester hours in approved courses with an average grade of "C" or better. At least six (6) semester hours must be selected from the core courses in the peace studies program. It is recommended that peace studies minors take PAX 3100 before other peace studies courses. It is required that all peace studies minors include PAX 3100 among the fifteen (15) semester hours for the minor. Students who intend to minor in peace studies should declare this intention with the director of the Program in Peace Studies.


Departmental Courses Approved as Electives for the Peace Studies Minor

Note: this list is frequently updated. A current list can be found in the peace studies office, Bellamy 542. Course descriptions can be found under departmental listings.

Anthropology

ANT 2410 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3)
ANT 3212 Peoples of the World (3)


Black Studies

AFA 3101 Theory and Dynamics of Racism and Oppression (3)


Chemistry

ISC 3121 Science, Technology, and Society (3)


Communications

COM 4465 Communication and Conflict (3)
SPC 4721 Interracial-Intercultural Communication (3)


Economics

ECP 3113 Economics of Population (3)
ECP 3322 Economics of Living Marine Resources (3)
ECS 3003 Comparative Economic Systems (3)
ECS 4013 Economics of Development (3)


Geography

GEO 1331 Environmental Science (3)
GEO 4340 Living in a Hazardous Environment (3)
GEO 4471 Political Geography (3)
GEO 4480 Military Geography (3)


History

AMH 4562 Women in Modern America (3)
AMH 4572 Black America Since 1877 (3)
ASH 4223 Modern Middle East (3)
EUH 4233 Rise of Nationalism (3)
EUH 4242 World War I: Europe 1900-1918 (3)
EUH 4465 Hitler's Third Reich (3)
LAH 4748 Social Revolutionary Movements in Latin America (3)


Philosophy

PHM 3123 Philosophy of Feminism (3)


Political Science

CPO 2002 Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics (3)
CPO 3034 Politics of Developing Areas (3)
INR 2002 Introduction to International Relations (3)
INR 4083 International Conflict (3)
INR 4702 Political Economy of International Relations (3)


Religion

REL 3170 Religious Ethics and Moral Problems (3)
REL 3194 The Holocaust (3)
REL 3363 The Islamic Tradition (3)


Sociology

SYD 3020 Population and Society (3)
SYD 4700 Race and Minority Group Relations (3)


Urban and Regional Planning

URP 4615 Planning for Developing Regions (3)

Note: other courses may be elected with the approval of the director of the Program in Peace Studies.


Definition of Prefix

PAX - Peace Studies


Undergraduate Courses


Core Courses


PAX 3100. Peace, Justice, and Conflict (3). This course is designed as an introduction to the academic field of peace studies. It begins with a discussion of traditional approaches to the problem of international war. It then turns to an analysis of the difference between "negative peace," or the absence of international war, and "positive peace," which refers to not only the absence of war, but also to the presence of social, economic, and political justice. The course concludes with a discussion of contrasting views of alternative world futures.

PAX 3300. Poverty and Inequality in the Global System (3). This course deals with the social, political, and economic issues which have polarized the world into the "have" and "have not" nations. Special attention in this course is given to the problems and perspectives of the third world: poverty, economic resources, cultural and political conditions, population growth, food, social service needs, the impact of technology and new modes of communication, developments in educational reform, problems of social change, and the role of third world countries in world politics.

PAX 3500. Human Conflict: Theory and Resolution (3). This course explores what is known from several disciplines about the roots of human conflict and considers various strategies and techniques for the peaceful resolution of conflict. Theories are applied to concrete case studies in the areas of family life, business, race relations, community affairs, and international politics.

PAX 3930r. Special Topics in Peace Studies (3). Topics vary. May be repeated to a maximum of fifteen (15) semester hours.

PAX 3940. Practicum in Peacemaking (3). (S/U grade only.) Prerequisite: At least one PAX course; Corequisite: 2.5 GPA. Field assignment for work with such agencies as Pax Christi, Florida Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice, Amnesty International, The Tallahassee Peace Coalition, etc.

PAX 4905r. Directed Individual Study (1-3). Prerequisite: At least one PAX course; Corequisite: 2.5 GPA. Supervised reading and research on selected topics in peace studies. May be repeated to a maximum of six (6) semester hours.


Graduate Courses

PAX 5105. Peace, Justice, and Conflict (3).

PAX 5305. Poverty and Inequality in the Global System (3).

PAX 5505. Human Conflict: Theory and Resolution (3).

PAX 5907r. Directed Individual Study (1-3). (S/U grade only.)

PAX 5930r. Topics in Peace Studies (3).