Finding a way to deal with a violent past in the aftermath of civil war, the end of an authoritarian regime or occupation, is argued by some to be the basis for lasting peace, democracy and the rule of law. This includes the identification of past human rights violations, the prosecution of perpetrators on a national or international level, the rehabilitation of victims, the establishment of truth commissions, reparation programs, guarantees of non-recurrence and commemoration. Course participants will critically reflect on such processes and assess their effects on society as a whole and on victims and perpetrators in particular.

This course examines the relationship between gender, violent conflict, and peacebuilding. Participants will consider how war and militarism are highly gendered phenomena that impact men and women differently, and relatedly, how peacebuilding processes account for gendered dynamics. Throughout the course, participants will consider questions such as: how do gender stereotypes influence the way that we think about war and peace? What is the relationship between masculinity, militarism, and violence? How has feminist peace activism contributed to peacebuilding and why should peacebuilding processes remain attuned to local women’s peace movements? What are the strengths and limitations of the design and implementation of the UN Security Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security? How does conflict open up potentially transformative spaces for gender relations, and how can peacebuilding processes foster rather than hinder the development of gender equality in post-conflict spaces? Ultimately, participants will gain an understanding of the gendered dimensions of violent conflict and peacebuilding as well as evaluate the respective policy frameworks that address these complexities.

The IPT Specialisation Course on Election Observation is designed to support the development and consolidation of pluralistic, democratic societies through preparing participants for observation and assistance tasks in electoral missions. Topics to be dealt with include different electoral systems, different institutional approaches to election observation, voting and new technologies, elections and election observation in different societies, tasks of Short-Term Observers (STOs), Long-Term Observers (LTOs) and Election Supervisors.