MIDCM Coursework

This course serves as the gateway course for the International Development and Conflict Management minor program. We have two principal goals in the course: 1) to explore themes and challenges related to conflict, peace, poverty, and development, and 2) to develop practical, industry-appropriate tools, skills, and capacities that create advantages for you on the job market. The course is intended as an introduction to critical themes that serve as the foundation for other courses in the IDCM minor. It should inspire new ideas and hard thinking around the best ways for advancing global peace and development. 

The course is divided into two sections. In the first part of the course, students interrogate the concepts of conflict and peace, study conflict through several stages of its lifecycle, and deliberate on conflict resolution strategies and the place for humanitarian intervention. The second part of the course focuses on economic development. Students evaluate and compare the prevailing definitions of “development” and review the debates on what works (and what it means to “work”). We analyze the consequences and opportunities that particular development strategies and activities present. A principal theme of both sections of the course is the impact on people’s lives around the world, in terms of their rights, their interests, their wellbeing, and their value. The expectation is that, by the end of the course, students have a better understanding of patterns in conflict, peace, and development and some tools for analyzing and addressing common challenges in these areas.

Through lectures, large and small group discussions and activities, insights from practitioners, and practical assignments, students have the opportunity to think creatively about how to address some of the greatest challenges facing the human family today. The course requires active and thoughtful participation on the part of all students, as well as a professional-style commitment to the course and its requirements. Assignments take the form of professional, industry-appropriate memos, briefs, proposals, and analyses.

GVPT 355 serves as one of the two capstone courses for the Minor in International
Development and Conflict Management. The goal of this course is to build practical skills that are applicable in a wide variety of settings, but especially in the field of stabilization & reconstruction, dealing with the transformation from war to peace where the political, security, rule of law and economic elements are complex and interdependent.

Each week students will tackle these cross-cutting themes through the lens of the UN- NATO mission in Kosovo from 1999 – 2008. Using examples drawn from their work in KFOR, UNMIK, UN CivPol, local civil society, and area businesses, the instructors and speakers will focus on conceptual frameworks, realistic strategies, and practical skills that can be applied to contemporary conflicts in the news today, such as, Venezuela, Ukraine, South Asia, Libya, the Koreas, the Middle East, and Central Asia, to name just a few. 

The course is taught by three senior practitioners, with instruction augmented by a few outside speakers from the peacekeeping community. The three primary instructors have a wide range of experience working in post conflict situations ranging from the Camp David Peace Accords, Middle East Peace Process, Operation Provide Comfort, and peace operations in settings as diverse as Bosnia, Iraq, Guatemala, East Timor, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Libya and Colombia. They have experience in disaster response and humanitarian assistance operations in sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti, Nepal and Syria. They will discuss how the frameworks developed in
Kosovo were applied in many of these operations, as well as how they apply today.

356 is the International Development capstone course for the IDCM minor. It is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the practical realities of the international development industry and to give them the opportunity to learn and work alongside practitioners on professional projects and challenges. Students will be exposed to, study the challenges of, and in some cases get to practice, a core set of practical skills including stakeholder analysis, project development, proposal writing, and ethical reflection on the ends and means of international development. The course will also offer students the opportunity to study a particular country or region, to build an expertise in one critical development “issue,” and to meet and engage with development practitioners through guest lectures, site visits, and virtual platforms with development organizations or agencies in Washington, DC and around the world.

Students are required to take one three-credit, 200 or higher-level research methods class. The course can be drawn from any discipline. Examples of courses used by students in the past include:  BIOM301; BMGT230; BMGT230B; COMM400; ECON321; EDHD306; EDMS451; GVPT422; PSYC200; SOCY201. 

Note: This list is not exhaustive. If you have taken or plan to take a course that you believe would satisfy the requirement, please send an inquiry to midcminfo@umd.edu. Enrollment in any research methods course used to satisfy the MIDCM requirement is subject to applicable restrictions from the offering department.

Very frequently, students in the IDCM minor use the research methods course requirement for their major to satisfy this requirement, as one of the two courses they are entitled to double-count.
 

IDCM students are required to take one, 3-credit elective course from the umbrella of Global Studies courses – see the table below. The courses included on this list address themes from different global studies perspectives. Please consult Testudo for the latest information on course availability. Spots in all these courses are managed by the associated programs (not by the IDCM staff), and they may be limited in number. If options are not available, please contact the IDCM staff at midcminfo@umd.edu regarding alternative solutions.

Note: We strive to accommodate study abroad courses as the Global Perspectives course requirement if an appropriate match can be found. We also count courses from the Global Fellows program and courses listed as Global Classrooms. Because the IDCM minor is housed in the GVPT department, GVPT courses are not eligible to count as the Global Perspective course for the minor.

BSOS388E is a 1-credit course that is taken either concurrent with or after the practicum experience. First, students should identify a practicum and obtain approval from IDCM. The practicum experience approval form is available here. Once your experience is approved, the block will be lifted for you to register for BSOS388E. The course focuses on professional development; it builds on your practical experience for the purpose of enhancing your professional trajectory. The standard format relies primarily on individualized activities and online engagement.