A Dark Century: Political Violence and its Legacies

Full course description

War and mass violence have shaped the contours of society immensely. This holds true for modern and contemporary history, and will most likely continue to be the case in the future. While some have argued that, when seen from a long-term perspective, more recent history has witnessed a dramatic decline in human violence of any kind, a vast majority of scholars refute this perception and draw attention to the uninterrupted realities and to the new and multifaceted forms of mass violence. Its huge impact and long-term consequences cannot be denied, neither for the individual lives of millions, nor for societies as a whole. This course will examine the origins and nature of some pivotal examples of collective and political violence throughout recent history (20th-21st centuries), such as modern warfare, revolution, genocide, civil war, ethnic cleansing, terrorism, and state repression. But it will also take a step further by looking at the mechanisms of overcoming the legacies and effects of mass violence. Which measures have been taken to come to terms with the past and prepare societies for a new post-conflict arrangement? Societies have explored various tools and models to master violent pasts: by promoting forms of transitional justice, by civic education and public debate, through museums and monuments, by renegotiating heritage sites and landscapes, and by creating new political, social and legal frameworks. In exploring these questions, the course introduces students to the wider field of peace and conflict studies.