NATIONALISM AND ETHNIC CONFLICT

3-4 credits.

Nationalist conflict and ethnic contestation remain major components of global politics. Drawing on cases from around the world, this course explores why this is the case. In the process, we will address a number of crucial questions: What are nations and ethnic groups? Where do they come from? Why do they pick particular territories? How do they define who can be part of the group? Why are they so successful in mobilizing people to kill and be killed? In the course of answering these questions, the course investigates the interactions between nations and states, religion and nationalism, globalization, citizenship and minority rights, and the causes and solutions for national and ethnic conflict.