POL380H1S L5101

Topics in International Politics

Causes of War and Conditions for Peace

Themes

The modern study of International Relations (IR) began in 1919 at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in order to study the causes of war and conditions for peace. Little has changed since then. Or has it? Our course will delve into this question, exploring both the causes of war and the various strategies and tactics pertaining to how war has been – and is presently – conducted. Is there an indelible nature of conflict or have the conditions for war changed over time? We will conclude the course by exploring conflict mitigation and peacemaking strategies.

The course takes a pluralistic view of IR theory. We rely on classical works (c.f. Thucydides), rationalist approaches (c.f. Fearon), structuralist accounts (c.f. Waltz), normative writings (c.f., Waltzer), and constructivist explanations for war and peace (c.f., Waever and Adler and Barnett). Furthermore, this course explores how asymmetric warfare, which often involves non-state actors, offers an additional challenge for existing, state-centric, theories of IR.

Texts

mainly recent journal articles (all readings will be available electronically).

Format and Requirements

Paper Proposal (10%), midterm I (20%), research paper (30%), midterm II (25%) and participation and critical review (15%).

Prerequisites

POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3