Curriculum Structure

Doctor of Philosophy in Human Rights and Peace Studies (International Program)

Curriculum Structure

Students are required to complete two semesters of coursework (taking one year) followed by three to five semesters of research to finish their PhD thesis. The coursework is seminar based, for which students will work closely with noted academics and practitioners of human rights and peace from Asia and other regions.

PLAN 1: Research Only

Required Courses  –  credits
Dissertation 48 credits
Total  48 credits

PLAN 2: Course Work & Dissertation

Required Courses 15 credits
Dissertation 36 credits
Total 51 credits

Study Plan

Plan One: Research Only (Starting in January)

NOTE: * Not count as credit

Plan Two: Course Work & Dissertation (Starting in August)

Course Descriptions

1) Required Courses

Credits (lecture – practice – self-study)

HPHP 604 Human Rights and Peace Theory 3 (3-0-6)

Historical development of human rights concepts and debates. Development of the studies of peace, war and conflict. Philosophical, legal and political questions related to human rights and peace. Concepts and theories of conflict, war and peace. Major disciplines of human rights theories. Tensions and complementarity between human rights and peace concepts and theories

HPHP 605 Critical Perspectives for Human Rights and Peace 2 (2-0-4)

Concepts and theories of justice as related to human rights and peace. Critiques of human rights from cultural relativist, post-modern and feminist perspectives. Gender, conflicts and non-violence. Power dynamics, conflicts and human rights. Links between development, human rights and peace.

HPHP 606 Human Rights and Peace in Practice 2 (2-0-4)

Major approaches to handle conflicts, conflict transformation, conflict resolution and mediation; peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding. Responses to human rights violations in conflict situations and transitional justice from peace and human rights perspectives. Relationship between human rights and peace practices. Morality and ethics of human rights and peace practitioners. Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and issues of state sovereignty especially in Asia-Pacific.

HPHP 607 Seminar in Human Rights and Peace 2 (2-0-4)

Selected human rights and peace/conflict issues. Introduction to local, regional and global human rights and peace challenges ; population mobility, the fight against terrorism, corporate accountability, the relationship between democracy, human rights and peace, just war, new technology, media and human rights and peace. Issues to be selected will be based on interests of students of each batch.

HPHP 608 Research Methods in Human Rights and Peace Studies 3 (3-0-6)

Philosophical concepts, theories and approaches underpinning research methodology in human rights and peace studies. Peace and human rights studies as social science research. Theoretical and conceptual frames for human rights and peace studies. Human rights and peace research design. Research tools, protocols and ethics for peace and human rights research.

HPHP 611 Human Rights Standards and Mechanisms 3 (3-0-6)

Basic concepts of international law. Politics behind development of international human rights standards and mechanisms. Critical examination of international and regional human rights regimes. Some specific categories of rights and some specific human rights, social, economic, cultural, civil and political rights. National implementation of international and regional human rights standards. Review of national human rights institutions. State and non-state actors and obligations

2) Dissertation

HPHP 699 Dissertation 36 (0-108-0)

HPHP 898 Dissertation 48 (0-144-0)

Formation of problem and research proposal; Review literatures related; Data collection; Data processing; Data analysis and interpretation; Research report writing or dissertation; Presentation and publication of the research in the international peer-reviewed journals. Conducting research based on research ethics in all research processes