POL S 407 INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT
Autumn 2026
T/Th 10:00am-11:20am
Johnson Hall (JHN), Room 102
Course Description
This course examines the problem of war, and consequently of peace, from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. The primary purpose of this course is to introduce students to the scientific study of the causes of interstate war, or large-scale armed conflict between countries, but with important lessons and implications for other types of political violence. Most disputes usually end peacefully with would-be adversaries reaching some sort of settlement, but sometimes countries resort to military force to try to resolve their differences. We will seek to discover what conditions make the outbreak of war more or less likely to occur. The course organizes the causes of war around three main levels of analysis: individual, state, and systemic. After considering each level of analysis and how they might be combined, the rest of the course addresses several additional topics, including nuclear weapons, climate change, emerging technologies, conduct during wartime, and peacekeeping.
Throughout the course we will pay special attention to evaluating both the logic and evidence supporting various sources of international conflict. Upon completing the course students will not only be acquainted with the main types of explanations for war, but will also be able to evaluate evidence supporting or impugning these explanations. Students should also be able to apply this knowledge to hypothetical or real-world scenarios in order to assess the prospects for peace and conflict in the current and future world order.
Course Requirements
- Short Reflection Paper #1 (10%)
- Midterm Exam #1 (25%)
- Short Reflection Paper #2 (10%)
- Midterm Exam #2 (25%)
- Final Exam (30%)