Curriculum

The IACM is one of four areas of specialization for master’s students in the Department of Politics and Management. The studies undertaken in four semesters correspond to at least 120 ECTS credits (see table 1).

The areas of specialization are integrated into a structure based on four modules: Modules 1 and 2 are designed to serve the acquisition of the necessary basics. In Module 3 and 4 the attendance of a total of seven seminars is obligatory. Two of these seminars within Module 3 must be out of the IACM specialization; one has to be from a different specialization. The remaining four seminars have to be taken in Module 4 and can be chosen freely. However, at least two seminars in Module 4 must be taken from the department of politics and management offer. For the rest it is possible to attend seminars of related content from the fields of law, economics, history, sociology, philosophy and psychology in addition to seminars from the other specializations.

Module 1: Methods

Students learn to answer research questions independently by developing theoretical models, drawing on practical cases for reviewing hypotheses, and applying appropriate empirical methods.

Module 2: Theoretical and empirical foundations

This seminar introduces students to theories of conflict and conflict resolution in the social sciences and to political and organizational strategies for the post-conflict reconstruction -strategies that usually take the form of UN-peace-building operations and the establishment of international interim administrations.

Module 3: Applied methods and theories

In the three topic-specific courses of this module, students deepen their acquired methodological, empirical, and theoretical knowledge by addressing selected research questions. They also broaden their overview of the key issues.

Module 4: Related programs and disciplines

Students explore interdisciplinary connections by studying central theories, methods, and research questions in related disciplines (sociology, law, economics, philosophy, and psychology).

 

Table 1. Representative Curriculum 

 Courses of the MA Politics/Public Administration    Courses of the IACM-Program 
*In the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).

Semester, credits*	Module 1: Methods	Module 2: Theoretical and empirical foundations	Modul 3: Applied methods and theories	Modul 4: Related programs and disciplines
1st semester, 35 cr	Research Design I 9 cr Informations­ Competence 5 cr	Basic Seminar „Introduction to International Administration and Conflict Management“ 7 cr Basic Seminar „International Relations“ 7 cr	Mechanisms of Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation (A1) 7 cr
2nd semester, 30 cr	Research Design II 9 cr		International Administration (B1) 7 cr	European Law (Department of Law) 7 cr Causes of Intrastate Conflict (A2) 7 cr
3rd semester, 25 cr	Colloquium 4 cr		International Administration and Peace Operations (B2) 7 cr	Macroeconomics (Economics) 7 cr Negotiation and Mediation, (A3) 7 cr
4th semester, 30 cr			Master Thesis (4 months) 30 cr

More information on the other MA programs:

MA Program "Comparative Politics and Policy Analysis"

MA Program "International Relations and European Integration"

MA Program "Management and Public Administration"

http://www.polver.uni-konstanz.de/en/study-programmes/master-s-programmes/master-s-in-politics-and-managementpublic-administration/programmes-fields-of-specialisation/comparative-politics-and-policy-analysis/

Learning Goals

After graduating the students of the IACM program will have gained the knowledge and tools necessary to empirically describe, analyze and evaluate on their own the following processes, structures, systems and phenomena:

• structural and procedural causes and dynamics of conflicts in the international and inner-state spheres
• complex organizations and their capacity for conflict resolution and control
• opportunities, techniques and processes of conflict resolution, exemplary cases of conflicts and their violent or political resolution
• the resolution of conflicts in different institutional forms
• reconstruction in the framework of international transitional administrations under UN mandate or other international regimes, and also on
• the UN system and the development of the UN doctrines on conflict resolution and intervention
• the regional systems of collective security, in particular of NATO and the EU, and their more recent developments
• the connection between security policy and institutionalized forms of conflict resolution and reconstruction in conflict areas

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