SYLLABUS: Version 1/13/081PS 188-12UNDERSTANDING CIVIL WARS:INTERNAL CONFLICTS AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSESSpring 2008 Professor Kelly M. GreenhillTime: 3:00-4:15pm Office: Eaton 302; Phone: 7-5849Class Location: Eaton 206 Email: [email protected] orOffice Hours: M,W 4:20-5:45pm [email protected] Description: For the better part of the twentieth century, international securityscholars and practitioners focused on the causes and consequences of war and peace betweencountries, particularly the prospects for conflict between the great powers. Nevertheless,since 1945 the vast majority of conflicts have been within countries rather than betweenthem. This course surveys competing theories about the causes, conduct, and conclusion ofthe dominant brand of conflict in the world today and examines how the internationalcommunity deals with these (enduring and often seemingly intractable) conflicts. Topicsexamined include conflict prevention, conflict mediation, military intervention, peaceimplementation, peacekeeping and peace enforcement, and refugee crisis management.#The course combines theories from international relations and conflict resolution with casestudies of recent and ongoing conflicts. The class has four goals:1) to introduce students to competing theories of the causes (and catalysts) of internalconflicts, to aid them in… 2) better understanding the tough choices that policy-makers face when theycontemplate or undertake conflict intervention, as well as better evaluate theconsequences of actions taken and alternatives eschewed;3) recognizing underlying ethical issues that are embedded in the decisions and actionsof policy-makers and practitioners in the field of conflict management; and4) identifying strategies and policy options for dealing with current and futureconflicts, by drawing upon lessons from past conflicts and interventions.Course Requirements: There are four requirements for this class.# The first is attendanceand active participation (10% of your grade).# You are expected to do the readings, attendclass, and participate in class discussions; however, you will not be graded on the absolutequantity of your participation, but rather on the quality of it. Also, please be aware thatthere is a significant amount of reading assigned in this course. If you are unwilling toassume this burden, you should NOT take this course. The second requirement is an in-class midterm (35% of your grade).# The third is a final exam (40% of your grade).# Thefinal requirement is a brief group presentation (15% of your grade), in which you and theother members of your team will have an opportunity to creatively apply what you havelearned during the course of the semester to a recent or ongoing conflict.# Details of thisassignment are outlined on the final page of this syllabus.#Prerequisites: PS 61 or equivalentSignificant portions of the following books are required reading:Chester Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall (editors), Leashing the Dogs of War:Conflict Management in a Divided World (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace,2007).Stephen John Stedman, Donald Rothchild, and Elizabeth Cousens, Ending Civil Wars: TheImplementation of Peace Agreements (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2002).SYLLABUS: Version 1/13/082Robert C. DiPrizio, Armed Humanitarians: US Interventions from Northern Iraq to Kosovo, 2ndedition (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005).Additional readings will be available on-line through Tisch Library’s databases and e-resources (hereafter referred to as “ER”), via Blackboard (hereafter “BL”) or via links on theWeb (noted below).Please be aware that some case studies (and the accompanying readings) may besupplemented and/or adjusted, depending on the background and interests of the studentstaking this course. With this in mind, please do not be shy about sharing your own interestsand ideas; I aim to make the course as interesting and fulfilling as possible.Finally, please note that extensions will be granted and make-up exams scheduled ONLY atthe pre-approved discretion of the professor and ONLY in the case of serious, documentablemedical and/or family emergencies (e.g., colds do not count). Under no circumstances willextensions be granted or make-ups permitted due to the general stresses of academic life orthe demands of other courses or extra-curricular activities. In the interest of equity andfairness for all students, no exceptions to these ground rules will be made, so please planaccordingly.COURSE SCHEDULEI. THE CAUSES AND CONDUCT OF INTERNAL CONFLICTWEEK ONEJanuary 16 Introduction and Overview of CourseNo required readingWEEK TWOJanuary 21 Martin Luther King Day celebrated (NO CLASS)January 23 Conflict and its Management in the Post-Cold War WorldLotta Harbom, et al., “Armed Conflict and Peace Agreements,” Journal of Peace Research, vol.43, no. 5 (2006), pp. 617-31 (ER).Chapter 7: State Making, State Breaking, and State Failure (Ayoob); and Chapter 28: TheUnited Nations and Conflict Management: Relevant or Irrelevant? (Mingst and Karns) inLeashing the Dogs of War.WEEK THREE Causes of Internal Conflict IJanuary 28 and 30 Structural and Political FactorsBarry Posen, “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict,” Survival, vol.35, no.1 (1993),pp. 27-47 (ER).Stephen Van Evera, “Hypotheses on Nationalism and War,” International Security, vol. 18,SYLLABUS: Version 1/13/083no. 4 (spring 1994), pp. 5-39 (ER).Chapter 9: Minorities, Nationalists, and Islamists: Managing Communal Conflict in theTwenty-first Century (Gurr); Chapter 8: Power, Social Violence and Civil Wars (King); andskim only Chapter 10: Turbulent Transitions: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War(Mansfield and Snyder) in Leashing the Dogs of War.Recommended:Jeffrey Herbst, “Responding to State Failure in Africa,” International Security, vol. 21, no. 2 (winter1996-97), pp. 120-144 (ER).WEEK FOUR Causes of Internal Conflict IIFebruary 4 and 6 Economic/Social and Cultural/Psychological FactorsChapter 12: Economic Causes of Civil Conflict and Their Implications for Policy (Collier);and Chapter 13: Motivations for Conflict: Groups and Individuals (Stewart and Brown) inLeashing the Dogs of War.Saul Newman. “Does Modernization Breed Ethnic Political Conflict?,” World Politics, vol. 43, no. 3(April 1991), pp. 451-78. Please skim only pp. 451-middle of 455. Read more closely the rest of the piece, payingspecific attention to