Peace and Conflict Studies Masters Program in Switzerland

World Peace Academy - Swiss Centre for Peace Studies, Basel:
Based in the heart of Basel, Switzerland, on the French-Swiss border, The World Peace Academy, in cooperation with the Advanced Study Center at the University of Basel, offers a 9 month full-time Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Peace and Conflict Transformation every year from March-November. Students can begin the programme either in March, June or September each year. The MAS programme is accredited by the University of Basel, which issues the diploma. It is also possible to obtain an Advanced Certificate in Peace and Conflict Transformation for 12 weeks of courses. All courses on the MAS/Certificate are taught in English by leading specialists in their field from around the world.

9-month Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Peace and Conflict Transformation:

Module 1: Peace and Conflict Research
Goals:
- Become familiar with a range of conflict and peace theories, and know how to reflect on their main assumptions and conclusions.
- Understand prescriptive and elicitive methods for conflict transformation and the role of different actors.

Module 2: Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding
Goals:
- Analyse conflicts in terms of diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.
- Know the basic principles of peaceful conflict transformation.
- Understand the "added value" of civil society projects in peacebuilding efforts, including their limitations, and how do they relate to governmental and international actors.

Module 3: Mediation and Communication
Goals:
- Gain practical experiences of various ways in which third parties can contribute to the peaceful transformation of conflict
- Recognize common interests of conflict parties, which facilitate the resolution of conflicts, and develop creative new possibilities to bridge seemingly incompatible goals.
- Gain first experiences as mediators by means of case studies.

Module 4: International Relations and International Law
Goals:
- Know the main principles of international law, and UN law.
- Learn to work with a conceptual framework for dealing with the past - based on the work of UN experts and special rapporteurs over the past two decades - as an analytical model and mapping tool.
- Identify the steps and stages in a process of reconciliation; Learn strategies to bring about peace and methods of reconciliation and reconstruction after war.
- Gain an overview of the challenges and strengths of the United Nations as a player in the international relations framework.
- Enhance knowledge of major actual and potential global conflict zones.

Module 5: From National to Human Security
Goals: 
- Consider the various prevailing perspectives on (in)securities, and what can be learnt about conflict transformation from the different (in)security situations around the globe.
- Understand the advantages and limitations of nonviolent methods, as well as historical examples: (i) that have brought desirable social changes; (ii) that they have failed.
- Receive practical training in developing strategies for nonviolent campaigns, do role-plays in how to act when confronted with police/military in actions of civil disobedience, and how to react when violence is used against peaceful activists.
- Know how to design, implement and evaluate peace projects.

Module 6: Education and Ethics for Peace
Goals:
- Understand the Education for Peace approach and consider its impact in both conflict-affected and peaceful communities.
- Know the main theoretical foundations and methodological approaches to the diverse fields of peace education, including the practices and challenges of peace education in non-formal and informal contexts.

Module 7: Human Rights, Gender and Democratization
Goals:
- Gain an overview of the main instruments for the protection of human rights under international law.
- Explore human rights within the larger framework of conflict and peace studies, with a view to considering how the proliferation and protection of human rights contribute to build and maintain peace.
- Understand the interdependence between gender and power, and the attribution of gender roles in various cultures.

Module 8: Contribution of Peace to Sustainable Development
Goals:
- Understand concepts of state- and society-building in fragile contexts.
- Consider concepts of development and transformation: changing perceptions and paradigms.
- Gain a basic understanding of MSPs in the context of sustainable development, and begin building a set of skills for designing and facilitating them.

Module 9: Peace Culture, Religions and the Media
Goals:
- Consider how the media can play a meaningful role in the peaceful transformation of conflicts.
- Get an overview of various religious conflict areas and conciliation strategies.
- Be aware of the major causes for slow progress in enhancing peace and the resulting need for changes in the international relations and security architecture, especially reform of the UN.

Module 10: Development of Key Competencies for Peaceworkers
Goals:
- Gain a basic understanding of unintentional human behavior in relationship and group conflicts.
- Consider one's own inner processes and experience with unintentional emotional reactions.
- Be aware of rank signals and the influence of privileges. Recognize dynamics of power in conflict transformation.