17 42 MIT Political Science Department Spring 2011 Version 1 1 T R 3 00 4 30 Building 4 163 Instructor Stephen Van Evera TAs Daniel Altman Nathan Black and Kaiy Quek Writing Advisors Diane Hendrix and Bob Irwin 17 42 web site web mit edu 17 423 www 17 42 stellar site stellar mit edu S course 17 sp11 17 42 THE CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF WAR REVISED SYLLABUS 2 2 11 Course topic the causes and prevention of interstate war Course goal discovering and assessing means to prevent or control war Hence we focus on manipulable or controllable causes Covered topics include the dilemmas misperceptions crimes and blunders that caused wars of the past the origins of these and other war causes the possible causes of wars of the future and possible means to prevent such wars including short term policy steps and more utopian schemes Covered historical cases include the Peloponnesian and Seven Years wars World War I World War II Korea the Arab Israel conflict and the U S Iraq and U S al Qaeda wars This is an undergraduate course but is open to graduate students Format and Requirements Class format two 1 5 hour general meetings and one 1 hour discussion section meeting per week Class starts promptly at 3 05 ends at 4 30 Grades are based on section participation 15 percent two 8 page papers 40 percent a final exam 30 percent and two quizzes 15 percent Discussion sections Students are required to attend section meetings Unexcused absence from section will be penalized We need you to come to section to help make the class work Help us out Two student led debates on responsibility for World War I and World War II will be organized in section when those wars are covered in April Papers Students are required to write two short ungraded response papers that reacts to course readings and lectures and two longer papers on questions arising from the course material The two response papers each will be two pages long double spaced not 1 5 spaced please The longer papers will total 16 pages Your 2 page response papers should advance an argument relevant to the course Specifically your argument can dispute an argument or arguments advanced in the reading or lectures can concur with argument s advanced in the reading or lectures can assess or explain policies or historical events described in the reading and lectures or can address current events that are relevant to course materials or issues In other words your choice of topic is quite open Evaluation of policies or ideas covered in the reading or lecture is encouraged Somewhere in your papers preferably at the beginning please offer a 1 2 sentence summary of your argument These papers will not be graded but are mandatory and must be completed to receive full credit for class participation The response papers will be due on Thursday February 24 and Thursday March 3 The longer papers will be due on Friday March 18 and Thursday May 5 We require that you submit a finished draft of at least one of your longer papers a week before its due date in order to get comments for rewrite from your TA and or Diane Hendrix or Bob Irwin the 17 42 Writing Advisors You are wise to submit all longer papers to your TA early for comments you ll learn from it So please leave yourself time to get comments on drafts of your longer papers from your TAs before you submit final drafts Before writing your papers please familiarize yourself with the rules of citing sources and make sure you follow them Failure to cite sources properly is plagiarism Quizzes Two short 15 minute quizzes will be given They will occur on Tuesday March 1 and Tuesday April 26 Three short define andidentify questions will be asked on each quiz Final exam A 2 5 hour final will be given in May I will circulate a list of study questions before the final The final exam questions will be 2 drawn from this list Students are encouraged to study together to prepare their answers The final will also include short answer questions that will not be distributed in advance Readings Assigned readings total about 1650 pages for a 14 week average of 118 pages per week but they vary markedly in amount so try to budget your time to be able to cover heavy weeks e g the two World Wars which together cover 770 pages in 4 weeks i e nearly 200 pages per week Students are expected to do the readings before section meeting This is important You may be called on in section from time to time Students should buy these books at the MIT COOP Sebastian Haffner The Meaning of Hitler Harvard University Press 2004 Sabur Ienaga The Pacific War 1931 1945 Pantheon 1979 Fred Ikl Every War Must End rev ed Columbia U Press 2005 Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War trans Rex Warner Penguin 1972 S teven E Miller et al eds Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War rev ed Princeton University Press 1991 S ean M Lynn Jones ed The Cold War and After Prospects for Peace expanded ed MIT Press 1993 Martin Rees Our Final Hour A Scientist s Warning How Terror Error and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind s Future in this Century On Earth and Beyond NY Basic Books 2004 Most other assigned readings will be will be available online through Stellar They are denoted with an S A few assigned readings will be handed out in class These are denoted with an H Readings in books available in the COOP bookstore are denoted with a BK I also recommend but don t require that students buy a copy of the following book that will improve your papers Kate L Turabian A Manual for Writers of Research Papers Theses and Dissertations 7th ed rev by Wayne C Booth et al Chicago University of Chicago Press 2007 Turabian has the basic rules for formatting footnotes and other style rules You will want to follow these rules so your writing looks spiffy and professional To help you with your writing assignments our Writing Advisors Diane Hendrix and Bob Irwin will meet with you individually when you think it would be most useful to you One of them will come to recitation sections before you draft your first long paper to share advice on framing arguments You can make an appointment with Hendrix before then if you want for 20 minute reviews of your ideas or preliminary drafts To make an appointment contact her at dhendrix mit edu or 617 699 8881 cell Your papers and public speaking may also be improved by seeking help from MIT s Writing and Communications Center 12 132 253 3090 http web mit edu writing They give good writing advice and have useful practice facilities