POL S 403 A
Advanced Seminar in International Relations
Law, Ethics, and War (Autumn 2025)
Course Description
How do law and ethics inform the onset, conduct, and aftermath of armed conflict? For as long as there have been wars, theorists, leaders, soldiers, and civilians alike have grappled with the extent to which legal and ethical considerations affect all stages in the resort to military force. This course will explore the just war theory tradition and the related laws of war, originating in philosophers from antiquity and evolving through to thinkers in the contemporary era. What constitutes a “just cause” permitting or even necessitating the raising of arms and confrontation in large-scale organized violence? How can combatants engage in “just conduct” when seeking to wield such violence where the aim is oftentimes to kill the adversary? Once the fighting stops, how can erstwhile enemies achieve a “just peace”? And across each of these questions, in what ways are what is “legal” and what is “ethical” reinforcing or in tension? These issues remain all the more relevant in the present moment as conflicts between and within states challenge members of the international community large and small over what is right and wrong. Throughout the course, students will engage a variety of thinkers on the law and ethics of armed conflict, and apply core ideas and arguments to historical and more recent armed conflicts.
Course Requirements
- Short Paper #1 (10%)
- Short Paper #2 (10%)
- In-Class Debates (20%)
- Participation (25%)
- Final Group Project (35%)