Political Violence and the Human Condition- Period 1

Mass atrocities are frequently perpetrated during wars and they have a devastating effect on the victims and their communities. The perpetrators and the victims of this violence have been studied from numerous disciplines including, but not limited to, criminology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, social psychology and history. Studies across these different disciplines have focused on characteristics and processes that contribute to mass violence on different levels of analysis. In addition, extensive scientific literature exists on the consequences of mass violence for the exposed society, community and the individual, and how individuals, communities and countries may deal with the past. In this course, these perspectives will be integrated to provide an overview of the reasons why, and the processes through which, individuals perpetrate mass atrocities. The hypothesis that these individuals are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances will be discussed by analysing theories as well as case studies. Furthermore, the appropriateness of individual accountability for these collective manifestations of political violence will be discussed, as well as potential alternatives.

A second central focus of the course will be the psychological and psychosocial consequences of political violence and war-related trauma for its victims and affected individuals, communities and societies. In this part of the course we will mainly focus on how to interfere with the development of such adverse consequences, on an individual, community and societal level. We will focus on a variety of groups of victims, including soldiers, civilians, and people in high income as well as low income and humanitarian settings.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.