IPCR Comprehensive Exam
Summer 2006

IPCR PhD Comprehensive Exam List of Questions

The Ph.D. comprehensive exam will include a total of three questions to be answered within a six hour time period. Each question is expected to take two hours to prepare a satisfactory response. One question will be selected from the Field Definition section, one question from the IPCR Theory and Research section, and one question from the IPCR Application section. Below is a list of 14 questions from which the three comprehensive exam questions will be selected.

A. Field Definition

1. What is the disciplinary history of peace and conflict resolution? What cumulative scholarship and vocations are embedded within the academic discipline?

2. Peace and Conflict Resolution have been separated and combined in various academic programs, and researcher and practitioners define the two fields in different ways. Present and discuss the various aspects of relationship (debates, connections, contradictions) between those two areas of studies.

3. The field of peace and conflict resolution continues to face a number of contentious issues, and over time is working to address these. Such issues include the Western cultural bias, the lack of gender balance, the challenge of understanding and dealing with power differences, the constructivist critique, the perceived bias of liberal idealism, and others which could be identified. Choose three of these issues and outline the nature of the issue, the gains the field has made in the last 20 years in dealing with the issue, and the work that remains to be done.

4. What are different ways of thinking about the relationship between peace and justice? Provide at least three conceptualizations of 'peace,' delineating the differences among them, and then analyze the relationship of each conceptualization to justice.

5. Discuss the role of Human Rights in promoting or inhibiting peace and the resolution of conflict. To what extent doe "human rights" belong in the IPCR field? Explain.

B. IPCR Theory and Research

1. You receive asked to write a chapter in an edited volume on social movements, NGOs and international organizations in relation to peacebuilding efforts. What role do non-state actors play in the peace making process? What theoretical sources would you draw upon to evaluate each of these types of actors?

2. The traditional analytical approach of the peace and conflict resolution field has been to accept and develop the so called 'grievance model' of conflict causation and its implications for resolution. Recently this analysis has been challenged by the 'greed model,' which posits other drivers of violent ethnopolitical conflict, and thus implies different strategies of intervention. Outline the main ideas of these contrasting models and describe some research support for each. Then provide a critique of each model and speculate about how they might be combined to provide a richer picture of the phenomenon.

3. Choose 3 theoretical approaches in PCR and discuss how each of these theories relate, explain, and suggest to handle conflicts with religious dimensions. What are the shortcomings and strengths of each theory in addressing such type of conflicts?

4. How do the approaches and dynamics of peacebuilding in a post-settlement society differ from those in a post-intervention setting, where one or more foreign/intergovernmental militaries has strategically defeated a regime?

5. To what extent is the IPCR field "gendered"? What role does (or should) gender play in the analysis of the root causes of conflict, attempts to resolve or transform, and efforts to prevent conflict.

C. IPCR Application

1. How does 'peace studies' conceptualize and operationalize sources of social violence in seeking practical responses to peacebuilding?

2. The profusion of conflict resolution and peacebuilding methods over the past forty years has been categorized as falling into Track I, Track II and Track III. Provide a definition of each of these major approaches and discuss their roles in peacemaking and peacebuilding, i.e., conflict transformation. Provide some commentary on their respective strengths and weaknesses, and then discuss how they can be seen as complementary rather than as competing.

3. What roles do cultural factors play in the applications of various models of peace and conflict resolution? Provide cases and examples in which cultural differences had little impact on the conflict as well as example sin which cultural differences affected the dynamics and intervention efforts.

4. The emphasis on "positive peace" has permeated recent scholarship on peacebuilding, be it under pre-war (conflict prevention), wartime (peacemaking), or post-conflict conditions. The emphasis on a more comprehensive understanding of peace and on addressing more than simply the most visible expression of armed conflict – i.e., direct violence – has achieved widespread acceptance (though not without critics) in academia. Have "real-world" organizations (governmental, intergovernmental, & non-governmental) also modified their policies and operations in ways that reflect this conceptual evolution? Describe and analyze any pertinent developments at the practical and policy levels. What are the advances, the areas of stagnation, and the most salient challenges among organizations engaged in peacebuilding activities to address the issues raised by the growing emphasis on "positive peace"?