Established as a degree program in 1985 and as a centre in 2001, the Trudeau Centre gives a select group of undergraduates, from Canada and around the world, the practical knowledge they need to advance the cause of peace. Students pursue either a major or a specialist degree in a multidisciplinary undergraduate program. The Centre also provides a study-abroad program to augment classroom work, opportunities to conduct original research in the field, and direct engagement with some of the world’s top researchers on the causes and resolution of violence.
Scholars associated with the Centre work within and beyond the traditional purview of international affairs, studying interstate war as well as major conflict inside countries, including revolution, insurgency, ethnic strife, guerrilla war, terrorism, and genocide. They seek to identify the deep causes of this strife—from poverty, resource scarcity, and weapons proliferation to competing claims for justice and failures of foreign-policy decision making.