Course Description
The systematic, theoretical study of violent political conflict. We will use a very general approach and cover a broad range of topics, including civil war, protest/rebellion, terrorism, and state terror/repression.
Athena Title
Violent Political Conflict
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in INTL 4455E
Prerequisite
INTL 3200 or INTL 3200E or INTL 3300 or INTL 3300E
Semester Course Offered
Not offered on a regular basis.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This is not a history course. The purpose of this course is not to gain familiarity with any particular event. Rather, the goal is to understand what a social science approach to studying violent conflict entails, how the study of violent conflict has developed and advanced in the late 20th century, and how scholarly work in this field can be usefully applied to many forms of conflict and provide insight into real world events.
Topical Outline
By the end of the course, students will be able to: Know the difference between casual explanation and social science theory Speak knowledgeably about the likely causes of civil war, terrorism, state repression, and genocide/politicide Understand international legal attempts to prevent government violence and the inherent limits of international law in this regard Speak knowledgeably about the state of empirical research on violent conflict Explain contemporary episodes of violence with reference to theories discussed in class Dismiss most of what they hear in popular media about the causes of specific episodes of political violence Understand the basic concepts used in decision- and game- theoretic analysis Understand the basic concepts used in statistical analysis
Syllabus