Peace, War, and Defense Minor
Overview
While peace may be among our oldest dreams, human conflict is an enduring challenge faced by societies around the world. The Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense (PWAD) offers students the tools to understand and analyze the complexities of conflict, security, and cooperation on a global scale. Whether you’re passionate about diplomacy, strategy, or justice, the study of PWAD offers the foundation to explore the world’s most pressing issues.
The PWAD Curriculum puts a premium on experiential learning, combining academic expertise and practitioner experience to offer students classes rooted in real-world security dilemmas. By providing students with this unique mix of theory and practice, the PWAD program at UNC is unlike any other undergraduate program in the country.
A minor in PWAD begins with three foundational courses that provide students with a shared intellectual framework. From there, students select elective courses that aligns with their interests—ranging from international security and intelligence to the cultural dimensions of war and peace. Alongside coursework, PWAD students benefit from hands-on experiences like field trips, guest lectures, internships, and study abroad opportunities.
The study of peace, war, and defense opens doors to a wide range of impactful careers and advanced study. Many alumni pursue graduate studies in areas such as international relations, law, public policy, and history. Others step directly into meaningful work across work in federal agencies, NGOs and international organizations, state and local government, finance, media, academia, consulting, and private sector industries.
PWAD graduates are uniquely equipped with interdisciplinary insight, strong analytical skills, and global awareness—traits that are in high demand across sectors. Whatever path they choose, they carry forward a deep understanding of global conflict and cooperation and the ability to lead with perspective and purpose.
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must:
- take at least nine hours of their minor "core" requirements at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in the minor core requirements. Some programs may require higher standards for minor or specific courses.
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| PWAD 250 |  Introduction to Peace and Security Studies | 3 |
| PWAD/HIST 266 | Global History of Warfare | 3 |
| PWAD/PHIL/POLI 272 | The Ethics of Peace, War, and Defense | 3 |
| Two courses from the list of minor electives (see below) | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 15 | |
PWAD Minor Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AAAD 286 | The African Diaspora in the Colonial Americas, 1450-1800 | 3 |
| AAAD 312 | Terrorism in Africa | 3 |
| AAAD 315 | Political Protest and Conflict in Africa | 3 |
| AAAD 332 | Remembering Race and Slavery | 3 |
| ANTH/PWAD 280 | Anthropology of War and Peace | 3 |
| ANTH/FOLK 370 | Southern Legacies: The Descendants Project | 4 |
| ANTH/ASIA 375 | Memory, Massacres, and Monuments in Southeast Asia | 3 |
| ANTH/ASIA/FOLK 429 | Culture and Power in Southeast Asia | 3 |
| ANTH 461 | Colonialism and Postcolonialism: History and Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 464 | Life and Violence | 3 |
| ASIA 69/PWAD 89 | First-Year Seminar: Wars and Veterans: Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan | 3 |
| ASIA/PWAD 331/HIST 335 | Cracking India: Partition and Its Legacy in South Asia H | 3 |
| ASIA/JWST/PWAD 425 | Beyond Hostilities: Israeli-Palestinian Exchanges and Partnerships in Film, Literature, and Music | 3 |
| ASIA/PWAD 427/CMPL 527 | Cold War Culture in East Asia: Transnational and Intermedial Connections | 3 |
| ASIA/PWAD 435/CMPL 535 | The Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa | 3 |
| ASIA/JWST/PWAD 462 | The Arab-Jews: Culture, Community, and Coexistence | 3 |
| CLAR/PWAD 115 | Life in the Roman Army | 3 |
| CMPL/PWAD 489 | Empire and Diplomacy H | 3 |
| COMM/PWAD 355 | Terrorism and Political Violence | 3 |
| COMM/PWAD 574 | War and Culture | 3 |
| COMM/PWAD 575 | Presidential Rhetoric | 3 |
| ECON/PWAD 460 | International Economics | 3 |
| ENGL/PWAD 161 | Literature of War from World War I to the 21st Century | 3 |
| GEOG 240 | Introduction to Environmental Justice | 3 |
| GEOG 435 | Global Environmental Justice | 3 |
| GEOG/PWAD 453 | Political Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 480 | Liberation Geographies | 3 |
| GERM 281 | The German Idea of War: Philosophical Dialogues with the Literary and Visual Arts in WWI | 3 |
| GERM/PWAD 283 | Freedom, Terror, and Identity: Modern Philosophy from Kant to Arendt | 3 |
| GLBL 383 | Global Whiteness | 3 |
| GLBL 415 | Dealing with Difference: Criminal Justice, Race, and Social Movements in Globalization H | 3 |
| GLBL 450 | Social Change in Times of Crisis: Knowledge, Action, and Ontology H | 3 |
| GLBL 481 | NGO Politics H | 3 |
| GSLL 84 | First-Year Seminar: Terror for the People: Terrorism in Russian Literature and History | 3 |
| HIST/ASIA 134 | Modern East Asia | 3 |
| HIST/ASIA 136 | History of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh: South Asia since 1750 | 3 |
| HIST 142 | Latin America under Colonial Rule | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 206 | War, Diplomacy, and Statecraft, 1815-1945 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD/SCLL 207 | The Global Cold War | 3 |
| HIST 208 | Genocide in Global Perspective | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 212 | History of Sea Power | 3 |
| HIST/AERO/PWAD 213 | Air Power and Modern Warfare | 3 |
| HIST/AMST 235 | Native America in the 20th Century | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 238 | The American Revolution, 1763-1815 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 248 | Guerrillas and Counterinsurgencies in Latin America | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 251 | The Thirty Years War (1618-1648): Europe in an Age of Crisis | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 254 | War and Society in Early Modern Europe | 3 |
| HIST/JWST/PWAD 262 | History of the Holocaust: The Destruction of the European Jews | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 273 | Water, Conflict, and Connection in the Middle East | 3 |
| HIST/ASIA 276 | The Modern Middle East | 3 |
| HIST/ASIA/PWAD 277 | The Conflict over Israel/Palestine | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 281 | The Pacific War, 1937-1945: Its Causes and Legacy | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 312 | History of France and Algeria | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 368 | U.S. War and Society to 1920 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 369 | U.S. War and Society Since 1920 | 3 |
| HIST 385/WGST 382 | African American Women's History | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 421 | Alexander | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 422 | Ancient Greek Warfare H | 3 |
| HIST 432 | The Crusades | 3 |
| HIST 443 | Settler Colonialism in Global Perspective | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 565 | Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848-1900 | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 570 | The Vietnam War | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 577 | United States Foreign Relations in the 20th Century | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 578 | Transatlantic Relations and Contemporary Geo-Politics from the Cold War to the Present | 3 |
| MUSC/PWAD 289 | Sounds of War and Revolution | 3 |
| PLCY/PWAD 101 | Making Public Policy H | 3 |
| PLCY/PWAD 110 | Global Policy Issues H | 3 |
| PLCY 210 | Policy Innovation and Analysis H | 3 |
| PLCY/PWAD 220 | The Politics of Public Policy H | 3 |
| PLCY 349 | Immigration Policy in the 21st Century | 3 |
| PLCY/PWAD 430 | Analysis of National Security Policy | 3 |
| PLCY/PWAD 450 | Internal and Interpersonal Conflict Management | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 150 | International Relations and Global Politics H, F | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 252 | International Organizations and Global Issues H | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 253 | Problems in World Order | 3 |
| POLI 255 | International Migration and Citizenship Today H | 3 |
| POLI 258 | Political Economy of Migration and Mobility H | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD/SOCI 260 | Crisis and Change in Russia and Eastern Europe | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 287 | Strategy and International Relations | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 416 | Constitutional Policies and the Judicial Process | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 444 | Terrorism and International Peace | 3 |
| POLI 451 | Race, Ethnicity, and Political Change in Comparative Perspective | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 452 | Africa and International Conflict | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 457 | International Conflict Processes | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 458 | International Conflict Management and Resolution H | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 459 | Trans-Atlantic Security H | 3 |
| POLI/PWAD 469 | Conflict and Intervention in the Former Yugoslavia H | 3 |
| POLI 474 | Global Justice | 3 |
| POLI 487 | Networks in International Relations | 3 |
| PWAD 50 | First-Year Seminar: The Origins and Consequences of 9/11 | 3 |
| PWAD 89 | First-Year Seminar: Special Topics | 3 |
| PWAD 290 | Special Topics in Peace, War, and Defense | 3 |
| PWAD 352 | The History of Intelligence Operations | 3 |
| PWAD 359 | Comparative History of National Intelligence Regimes H | 3 |
| PWAD 360 | The History of Warning Intelligence | 3 |
| PWAD 361 | The History of Deception | 3 |
| PWAD 363 | Ethical Issues in Intelligence and National Security | 3 |
| PWAD 364 | Post-Conflict and Peacebuilding | 3 |
| PWAD 400 | Briefing for National Security | 3 |
| PWAD 470 | September 11, 2001: Origins, Consequences and Assessment | 3 |
| PWAD 474 | U.S. in Asia from 1783 to Now | 3 |
| PWAD 479 | Conflict in Iraq's Modern History | 3 |
| PWAD 482 | US Use of Force since World War II | 3 |
| PWAD 483 | Conflict, Development, and U.S. Foreign Policy | 3 |
| PWAD 488 | Nuclear Security in the 21st Century | 3 |
| PWAD 490 | Special Topics in Peace, War, and Defense | 3 |
| PWAD 675 | War, Crimes against Humanity, and Justice | 3 |
| PWAD 680 | Research Seminar in Peace, War, and Defense | 3 |
| PWAD 690 | Seminars in Peace, War, and Defense | 3 |
| RELI 233 | Religion and Violence | 3 |
| RELI/PWAD 481 | Religion, Fundamentalism, and Nationalism | 3 |
| RELI/ASIA 583 | Religion and Culture in Iran, 1500-Present | 3 |
| SOCI 122 | Race and Ethnicity | 3 |
| SOCI 124 | Sex and Gender in Society | 3 |
| SOCI 125 | Sociology of Sexualities | 3 |
| SOCI 274 | Advocacy Strategies: Communication Across Movements | 3 |
| SOCI/PWAD 411 | People, Power, and Politics | 3 |
| SOCI 420 | Political Sociology | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
| F | FY-Launch class sections may be available. A FY-Launch section fulfills the same requirements as a standard section of that course, but also fulfills the FY-SEMINAR/FY-LAUNCH First-Year Foundations requirement. Students can search for FY-Launch sections in ConnectCarolina using the FY-LAUNCH attribute. |
See the program page here for special opportunities.
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