The course will explore contemporary debates regarding conflict and social disorder in the Pacific drawing on the research and policy work of members of the State Society and Governance in Melanesia (SSGM) Program in the College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP). Utilizing theoretical approaches drawn from the disciplines of anthropology, criminology and conflict studies, the course aims to equip students with tools to facilitate the analysis and understanding of social order and disorder. The practical implications of these approaches will be demonstrated via the examination of case studies from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. The course will explore contemporary debates including competing notions of social order; the role of state and non-state mechanisms in social control; internal and external responses to problems of law and order in the Asia Pacific, and the dynamics of peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction throughout the region. In examining these topics, students will be exposed to a variety of perspectives including from academic, international donor, domestic government and civil society discourses.

Students who satisfy the requirements of this course will have the knowledge and skills to:

• Understand the plurality of regulatory systems in the Melanesian countries and the nature of their interaction;
• Explain the principle sources of conflict in Melanesia with reference to detailed case studies of contemporary conflicts;
• Assess the respective roles of state and non-state actors, and those of external and local institutions, in the prevention and resolution of conflict, as well as in longer-term peace-building in the Melanesian countries;
• Locate the Melanesian situation within the international academic and policy literature on conflict and social regulation.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of effective conflict prevention/resolution and peace-building strategies

Delivery Mode:

Spring Session (2 week intensive).