POL487H1S L0101

Graduate Course Code: POL2206H1S L0101

Topics in International Politics II

Civil War and Counterinsurgency

Themes

This course provides an overview on the origins, dynamics, and outcomes of civil war and counterinsurgency. It provides a theoretical and empirical foundation for understanding these forms of conflict, the logic of their violence, and the determinants of their duration and outcomes. An additional objective of the course is to consider questions of definition, empirical strategy, and methodology. The course is organized in three parts. The first reviews the general concept of civil war and provides an overview of various theoretical approaches to understanding it. We will consider arguments concerning identity and ethnic conflict, the political economy of violence, and rationalist explanations for war. The second part of the course examines the dynamics of violence, including recruitment and rebel alliances, combatant strategies, and third-party intervention. The final section considers the outcomes and aftermaths of civil war, including the determinants of conflict duration and the challenges of post-conflict peacekeeping and statebuilding

Texts

TBA

Format and Requirements

One two-hour seminar per week; requirements TBA

Prerequisites

POL208H1 or POL208Y1 or POL209H5 or POLB80H3