INTERNAL WAR AND THE STATE

Transcription

1 INTERNAL WAR AND THE STATE Political Science 490, Fall 2004 Thursdays, 9 am to 11:50 am in Scott 212 William Reno 240 Scott Hall ( ) & 620 Library Place ( ) reno@northwestern.edu, Overview: This course focuses on the vast majority of wars since the end of the Second World War that occurred within countries rather than between them. It took the end of US-Soviet competition brought this trend clearly into view. More recent events have highlighted the problems of failed states, civil wars, and ethnic strife throughout parts of what used to be called the developing world. This course will provide students with the analytical tools for understanding and evaluating different explanations of the causes of these conflicts. Are ethnic tensions, recent changes in great power strategies, religious extremism, colonialism, class warfare, resource competition, ideology or state failure to blame for these conflicts? Why and how do such wars end? What is the impact of international efforts to mediate these conflicts? The course will consider the impact of the nature of states and the international system in shaping these conflicts. We also will review current controversies regarding policies for preventing and resolving these conflicts. This course will be especially useful for those who are interested in the politics of ethnic conflict, war and the international system, and correlates of war, among others. This course is divided into three sections. The first provides a brief overview and covers two recent cases of internal war in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. These cases are important because they have weighed heavily in shaping scholarly discussions of the causes and nature of internal wars after the end of the cold war. This analytical and empirical background lays the groundwork for the second and third sections. The second section surveys contemporary debates about causes of internal wars. The last section provides an overview of controversies surrounding policies for preventing and resolving these conflicts. In this section our interest will focus on how interventions and other policies shape the international context in which these conflicts occur, and how outsiders policies become (or fail to become) components of the strategies of combatants. Course requirements: There are two primary requirements for this class. The first is a paper due at the end of the term and the second consists of several opportunities to provide critical commentary on course material and fellow students analyses. This component of the course will contribute 60 percent to the calculation of the final grade.

2 The Paper: This paper will be approximately 20 double spaced pages. A rough draft will be due in class on the 18 th of November. The final version of the paper will be due on Monday, the 6 th of December. First year graduate students may want to use this paper as a vehicle for trying out ideas for their second year papers or explore topics that they believe may be relevant to their dissertations. They also may want to consider using this paper as a basis for a review essay or an article for eventual submission to a scholarly journal for publication. Second year and other advanced students may want to use the paper as a way to develop a dissertation proposal, a grant proposal, or a chapter of a dissertation. What should I write about? There are several answers to that question. The list below provides suggestions and is not exhaustive. 1. An analytical paper will identify a significant problem related to the politics of internal wars. This can take either a comparative politics perspective, focusing on the dynamics among groups directly engaged in one or several conflicts, or it can consider the international dimension of internal conflicts or a combination of these approaches. The emphasis of this type of paper will be on constructing a model or a theory to explain a problem. It will not test the model or theory against a particular set of data. To do so would be to write: 2. An empirical paper will identify a significant problem related to internal wars, evaluate an existing set of policies designed to address this problem, propose a new way of approaching the problem that takes the reader beyond existing research, and use data to demonstrate the plausibility of this new argument. This type of paper can focus on a single case or it can examine a set of cases. Historical texts, ethnographic information, and statistical analyses of crossnational data all are appropriate sources of data. The author should justify the choice of data and evaluate its reliability. 3. A review essay would survey a body of work related to one aspect of internal wars. An essay of this type focuses on a coherent debate (or identifies one that ought to take place) and identifies avenues for future research. Several of the readings in this syllabus provide good examples of review essays. 4. A research proposal for a grant application or dissertation proposal would identify a significant problem related to internal wars. It would evaluate current approaches to addressing this problem and justify the need for additional research. It then develops a research design to address this absence. Critical commentary consists of two response papers (20 percent of total grade 10 percent each), a commentary of a fellow student s rough draft of the class paper assignment (10 percent of the total grade), and class participation (10 percent of the total grade).

3 Response papers should be about three pages long. These papers will help students formulate an interpretation of the readings, and will give students a sense of how to approach prelim exam preparation. The reading for that week should be summarized, but this part of the exercise should not be at the expense of interpretation. The emphasis here is on the response. What do you consider to be unanswered questions in the reading? Draw connections between the readings; their methods, data and conclusions. These essays may include all the readings for one week or a subset of them. They do not need to include footnotes or a bibliography (except for references to works that are not included on the syllabus). Students will choose the weeks for their responses after the first class. These essays should be sent to me by 5pm on the day before the class. The commentary on student papers will provide fellow students with constructive criticism and suggestions for their papers. Paper writers will provide a copy of their rough draft to fellow student commentators when submitting the rough drafts of papers to me on the 18 th of November. Commentaries will be due to me after the Thanksgiving holiday (Monday the 29 th of November). By this time commentary writers will have provided a copy of their comments to their paper writer. These commentaries can be as long or as short as one wants. Above all, they should be constructive. Class participation requires reading assignments prior to class in preparation to arrive at seminars with the ability to discuss them. Readings: required readings will be contained in a reading packet. I have a master copy which can be borrowed to be reproduced on demand at Copycat on Sherman Avenue. We will visit Copycat immediately after the first class meeting on the 23 rd of September. Students also may borrow the reading packet from me to make their own copies before that date. The following books are recommended for purchase. Paul Collier, et al. (2003) Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil Wars and Development Policy. Washington DC & New York: World Bank & Oxford University Press, at: Mary Kaldor (2001) New & Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era. Stanford University Press. (recommended) Barbara Walter & Jack Snyder, eds. (1999) Civil wars, Insecurity, and Intervention, Columbia University Press. Monica Duffy Toft (2003) The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Thomas Homer-Dixon (1999) Environment, Scarcity, and Violence, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

4 Laura Silber & Allan Little (1997) Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation, New York: Penguin. Gerard Prunier (1997) The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, New York: Columbia University Press. I will hand out primary source materials throughout the course. These are materials that I have collected from among armed groups in Africa and the former Soviet Union. CLASS CALENDAR Overview & Empirical Evidence: the Two Significant Cases 23 September: Overview of the course and the Record of Recent Conflict Paul Coller, et al. (2003) Why Is Civil War so Common? in their Breaking the Conflict Trap, , at Ted Robert Gurr, Monty Marshall and Deepa Khosla (2003) Peace and Conflict: A Global Survey of Armed Conflicts, Self-Determination Movements, and Democracy. (College Park: University of Maryland, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, Available at Håvard Hegre (2004) The Duration and Termination of Civil War, Journal of Peace Research, 41:3 (Summer), September: Yugoslavia Laura Silber & Allan Little (1997) Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation, Penguin. Text that you purchased Mary Kaldor (2001) Bosnia-Herzegovina: A case Study of a New War, in her New & Old Wars. Stanford, In the text that you purchased John Mueller (2000) The Banality of Ethnic War, International Security, 25 (Summer), October: Rwanda

5 Gerard Prunier (1997) The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, Columbia. Text that you purchased II: A Variety of Explanations of Internal Wars 14 October: Rational Actors and Explanations of Conflict: Individual and Group Security Dilemmas and Other Responses to Threats Russell Hardin (1995) Self Interest, Group Identity, Albert Breton, et al., Nationalism and Rationality, New York: Cambridge University Press, James Fearon & David Laitin (2003) Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil Wars, American Political Science Review, 97:1 (Feb), Jack Snyder & Robert Jervis (1999) Civil War and the Security Dilemma, Barbara Walter & Jack Snyder, eds., Civil Wars, Insurgency, and Intervention, Columbia, In the recommended text or available in the reading packet V.P. Gagnon (1994/95) Ethnic Nationalism and International Conflict: The Case of Serbia, International Security, 19:3 (Winter), Donald Horowitz (2000) Conflict Theory and Conflict Motives, Ethnic Groups in Conflict [2 nd edition], Berkeley: University of California Press, October: More Structure and the Addition of Proximate Causes: The Importance of Resources, War Economies, Power Struggles, Leadership and the Advantages of Conflict Group Action or Individual Choice? Rui de Figueiredo, Jr. & Barry Weingast (1999) The Rationality of Fear: Political Opportunism and Ethnic Conflict, Barbara Walter & Jack Snyder, eds., Civil Wars, Insurgency, and Intervention, Columbia, In the recommended text or available in the reading packet Paul Collier (2003) What Makes a Country Prone to Civil War? in his Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development, World Bank, Paul Collier (2000), Rebellion as a Quasi-criminal Activity, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 44:6, Michael Ross (2004) What Do We Know about Natural Resources and Civil Wars? Journal of Peace Research, 41:3 (Summer),

6 Stephen Stedman & Fred Tanner (2003) Refugees as Resources in War, in their edited volume, Refugee Manipulation: War, Politics, and the Abuse of Human Suffering, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, Charles King (2001) the Benefits of Ethnic War: Understanding Eurasia s Unrecognized States, World Politics, 53 (July), Alexandra Stiglmayer (1994) The Rapes in Bosnia-Herzegovina in her edited volume, Mass Rape: The War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, University of Nebraska, 28 October: Big Structures and Causes of Conflict: International System of States, Legacies of Colonialism and Decolonization Mary Kaldor (2001) read all but Bosnia-Herzegovina in her New and Old Wars. Stanford. In the text that you purchased Robert Rotberg (2003) Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators, In Rotberg, ed., State Failures and State Weakness in a Time of Terror, Brookings Institution Press, Jeffrey Herbst (2000) The Political Kingdom in Independent Africa, in his States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Kalevi Holsti (2004) War, in his Taming the Sovereigns: Institutional Change in International Politics, New York: Cambridge University Press, November: Environment: resources and Local Social Structures Colin Kahl (1998) Population Growth, Environmental Degradation, and State- Sponsored Violence: The Case of Kenya, International Security, 23:2 (Fall), Thomas Homer-Dixon (1999) Environment, Scarcity, and Violence, Princeton. Text that you purchased 11 November: Geography Monica Duffy Toft (2003) The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identities, Interests and the Indivisibility of Territory, Princeton: Princeton University Press. Text that you purchased

7 III: Evaluating Policies for Preventing and Resolving Conflicts 18 November: International Fixes Michael Doyle & Nicolas Sambanis (2005) Making War and Building Peace: The United Nations after the Cold War, forthcoming, Princeton [portions]. Barbara Walter (2002) Introduction in her Committing to Peace: Successful Settlements of Civil Wars, Princeton: Princeton University Press, James Fearon & David Laitin (2004) Neo-Trusteeship and the Problem of Weak States, International Security, 28:4, (Spring), Chaim Kaufman (1997) Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Civil Wars, in Brown, ed., Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, The same argument can be found in his When All Else Fails chapter in the recommended Walter & Snyder text, Nicolas Sambanis (2000) Partition as a Solution to Ethnic War: An Empirical Critique of the Theoretical Literature, World Politics, 52 (July), Daniel Posner (2004) Civil Society and the Reconstruction of Failed States, in Robert Rotberg, ed., When States Fail: Causes and Consequences, Princeton: Princeton University Press, November: Do Some Conflicts Fix Themselves? Jeffrey Herbst (2004) Let Them Fail: State Failure in Theory and Practice: Implications for Policy, in Robert Rotberg, ed., When States Fail: Causes and Consequences, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Roy Lichlider (1995) The Consequences of Negotiated Settlements in Civil Wars, , American Political Science Review,89:3 (Sept), Stathis Kalyvas (2001) New and Old Civil Wars: A Valid Distinction? World Politics, 54, Leonard Wantchekon (2004) The Paradox of Warlord Democracy: A Theoretical Investigation, American Political Science Review, 98:1, (Feb),