Kursinformation

The huge majority of armed con-frontations and conflicts nowadays happens in asymmetrical, transnational or intrastate settings, making security and conflict management with or against so-called Non-State Armed Groups (NSAG) a huge challenge for democratically governed states. Responses by states range from military counterinsurgencies, criminal prosecution to negotiations and peace agreements up to humanitarian aid and long-term transitional justice measures. The students will in a first step acquire conceptual and theoretical knowledge on different NSAGs and the democratic state (e.g. rebel governance), and in a second step develop small-scale own empirical research projects on current state-led attempts to deal with NSAGs. In 2-3 different groups students can chose a research topic related to the case of Colombia and ongoing nego-tiations within the framework of Paz Total, Israel’s response to the attacks by the Hamas, Germany’s engagement in Afghanistan under Taliban rule or Germany’s counterterrorism measures in Germany itself. If possible, we will also speak directly with former combatants of NSAGs, diplomats or negotiators. The seminar will also make students familiar with ethics of research in highly sensitive contexts of conflicts and armed confrontations and thus provide the students with the skills to develop their own master thesis projects.

Einführende Literatur:
Geis, A., Clément, M., and Pfeifer, H., eds., 2021. Armed non-state actors and the politics of recognition. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kruck, A. and Schneiker, A., eds., 2017. Researching non-state actors in international security. Theory and practice. Abingdon/New York, NY: Routledge.