A University Peace Studies Curriculum for the 1990s

Abstract

This article discusses three decades of university peace studies education in the United States. The first section draws from the plethora of pedagogical literature and survey data available at the close of the 1970s to discuss the visions and realities of peace education of that era. The second section outlines chal lenges to peace education unfolding in both the university environment and in the global arena in the 1980s. In the former area, a decline in financial resources and the number of entering students has jeopardized the standing of peace studies. In the latter area, new dimensions of war, arms and security, and human rights issues provide opportunities for reforming the standard peace studies program. The analysis of these trends leads us to wonder if the rich and varied experiences and concerns of university peace education of the preceding decade might not fall far short of the task assigned it: to produce citizens capable of dealing with threats to peace, justice and human dignity between now and the end of their lifetime. The concluding section then sets an agenda of topical areas and some structural suggestions for using the remaining years of the eighties to construct a dynamic and relevant university peace curriculum for the 1990s. Such a curriculum would include a much greater emphasis on the study of conflict resolution techniques; cross-cultural aspects of conflict; futures invention approaches; alternative security systems; non-violence; and violence of states against their citizens.