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help students deepen their understanding of quantitative and qualitative research and
hone research skills. The course will be a collaborative effort, building on the experience,
knowledge, expertise, and interest of all of the participants. Prerequisites: MACS 5200
MACS 6650 – International Negotiation: Principles, Process and Issues
This course describes and analyzes the major principles, processes and issues of
international negotiation in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It seeks to provide
students with the analytical tools skills required to explain and predict the outcome of
specific (bilateral or multilateral) negotiations through the study of various explanation
factors, including: stability and change in the structure of the existing "international
system"; the individual characteristics of the nations-states parties (power/capabilities,
interests, culture/values, negotiating styles, etc.; the strategic and tactical moves of
those considered as "key players"; as well as the role of smaller states and non-state
actors.
MACS 6651 – Theories of Ethnicity & Nationalism
Theories of Ethnicity and Nationalism: This course is foundational for theoretical
understandings of ethnicity and nationalism. Students will analyze general theories from
key debates and critically examine various points of view in relation to defining
boundaries, conflict, context, difference, identity, migration, minority/majority, race and
tribalism in regard to ethnicity, as well as community, fantasy, ideology, neo-Marxism,
modernism, perennialism, political, primordialism, semiotic, sociocultural, socioeconomic,
imagination, invention, and tradition in association with nationalism and nationalists, and
the entwinement and interrelation between all of these prevalent notions and themes.
Upon completion of the course students will better grasp ethnic belonging, ethno-
nationalist conflict, and intra/inter-group disputes from the standpoint of applied theory,
cultural relativity, and humanism.
MACS 6652 – History, Memory and Conflict
By exploring the significance of history, memory, and cognition, this course provides the
most recent theoretical debates on these issues and their significance for understanding
why populations persist in a state of violence. Students will be introduced to the basic
and major theoretical interpretations and the chronology of history of ideas. Questions to
be considered include: how does the past become the present and remain in it, and, how
do we as researchers interpret the relevance of history and memory? Others are: how is
the past invented, mythologized about, and re-invented? Why does memory have such
an important role in the persistence of intractable hostilities and how does the learning of
violence become transmitted from one generation to the next?
MACS 6653 – Conflict in Conservation and Development
This course examines conflict in conservation and development. It covers theoretical
frameworks and introduces participatory tools that will enable students to more
effectively analyze and address situations of conflict in conservation and development
initiatives. The course familiarizes students with concepts and methods from natural
resource management, sustainable livelihood systems and collaborative learning
approaches.
MACS 6654 – Islam, Conflict, and Peacemaking
This course will provide an historical overview of Islam, including an introduction to belief
systems, the different branches of the faith and schools of Islamic law with a special
emphasis on Muslim doctrines related to conflict and peace. It will include the
contemporary era and investigate Muslim engagements with modernity and discuss the
varied responses and perspectives. There will some discussions of international relations,
