Peace Studies and Peace Science

Field Description

The minor graduate field of peace studies and peace science provides interdisciplinary opportunities for graduate students pursuing research degrees to deepen their knowledge of international security, the structure and function of multinational systems, and the general areas of conflict analysis, conflict management, and conflict resolution. The peace science concentration emphasizes mathematical modeling and game-theoretic models, while the peace studies concentration emphasizes historical, institutional, and policy-oriented approaches. The minor concentrations are intended to complement basic study in such fields as government, history, anthropology, public affairs, industrial and labor relations, agricultural economics, city and regional planning, civil and environmental engineering, economics, operations research, psychology, sociology, and science and technology studies.

Requirements: 

Students are required to complete at least two semesters of the Proseminar in Peace Studies (GOVT/HIST/STS 7937), a two-credit course typically offered each semester of the regular academic year. As described in the Courses of Study catalog, the Proseminar in Peace Studies offers a multidisciplinary review of issues related to peace and conflict at the graduate level. The course is led by the director of the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies and is based on the Institute's weekly seminar series, featuring outside visitors and Cornell faculty. Additionally, students should identify a minor advisor; the advisor’s role differs slightly for students in research and professional degrees, as follows.

  • Students pursuing research degrees are required to include a member of the minor field on their special committee. Students should specify the concentration represented by that member of the minor field (either peace studies or peace science) when forming their special committee with the Graduate School. The special committee member representing the peace studies or peace science concentration is then responsible for certifying completion of the minor to the Graduate School. Note that each member of a student’s committee can represent only one concentration for that particular committee. Hence, an advisor cannot represent the peace studies or peace science concentration on a student’s committee while simultaneously representing a different concentration on the committee (for example, the international relations concentration within the government major), even though the advisor may be a member of both fields and concentrations. In such cases, students may add additional committee members to specifically represent the peace studies or peace science concentration.
  • Students pursuing professional degrees are required to choose an advisor from the minor field. For professional students, the minor advisor agrees to provide guidance as needed for students completing capstone or other requirements that relate to peace studies. The instructor for the Proseminar in Peace Studies (who is typically also the Director of the Reppy Institute) will serve as the minor advisor if another member of the field is not available. When professional students are ready to graduate, the minor advisor and minor coordinator will certify completion of the minor to the registrar for that student’s degree-granting program. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the minor coordinator (Program Manager of the Reppy Institute) of their intention to pursue the minor no later than two months prior to graduation.

Contact Information

Website: http://pacs.einaudi.cornell.edu/academics
Email: pacs@einaudi.cornell.edu
Phone: 607 255-6484

130 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Subject and Degrees

Concentrations by Subject

Peace Science

  • peace science (minor)

Peace Studies

  • peace studies (minor)

Faculty

Mabel M. Berezin

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: culture; political sociology; comparative historical methods; political communication; comparative politics of Europe

John Carruthers

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Science: peace science
  • Research Interests: Economic Geography, Urban and Regional Economics, Environmental Quality of Life, Geospatial and Econometric Analysis, Sustainable Urban Development, Regional Science, City and Regional Planning, Real Estate

Debra Ann Castillo

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: contemporary narrative from the Spanish-speaking world (including the United States); gender studies; cultural theory

Cristina Florea

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: Central and Eastern Europe; Habsburg Empire and successor states Soviet Union Empires and Nationalisms Global, Comparative, and Transnational Cultural and Intellectual history

Sanjiv (Ravi) Kanbur

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: economic development; global economy; conflict management

Sabrina M Karim

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: Comparative politics and international relations with research specializing in: political violence, peace building, peacekeeping, gender, security sector reform, policing, government.

Karim-Aly S. Kassam

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: biocultural diversity; climate change; human ecology; indigenous knowledge; socio-ecologyical change in Arctic and Central Asia pluralism

Peter Joachim Katzenstein

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: international relations and comparative politics

Sarah Kreps

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: international relations, security and law; nuclear proliferation; peacekeeping operations

Christine Leuenberger

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: Classical and contemporary sociological theory, Sociology of knowledge, Sociology of science, Transformation studies of Eastern Europe, History and sociology of the human and behavioral sciences, Border Studies, Middle East Studies

Muna Baron Ndulo

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: governance; constitutional design; human rights; elections; peacekeeping and international law; foreign direct investment

Jens D. Ohlin

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: public international law; international criminal law; law of war

Rebecca Slayton

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies

Christopher Robert Way

  • Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
  • Concentrations: Peace Studies: peace studies
  • Research Interests: international relations and political economy