Wars and Violence

About

Recent years have seen a debate about the waning of war, though for millions of people around the world, wars and violence are part of their everyday lives with implications far beyond the war-torn states’ borders. Concurrently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the Israel-Hamas war in 2023 have led to questions about the return of prominence of wars and violence in regional and international politics.

This module introduces students to major trends in warfare (types of wars, the actors engaged in wars, targets in wars, funding of warfare, technology of warfare), theories explaining these trends, and ethical questions concerning how wars are fought. The module explores contemporary debates and issue areas such as international law, institutions, civil wars and peacekeeping.

Week one
Key questions on changing trends in wars and political violence
Introduction to central concepts, arguments and thinkers such as Carl von Clausewitz
Examination of how International Relations theories explain past and current war dynamics
Application of analytical and theoretical models, including rationalist and bargaining approaches, to cases such as the Syrian civil war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Week two
Examination of civil wars and how armed conflicts are shaped by internal and external forces
Discussion of the onset, duration and termination of civil wars and debates around foreign fighters
Analysis of conflict dynamics including the role of identity
Exploration of normative questions around the ethics of “just war”, the efficacy of international law, and issues of international norms, human rights, war crimes and domestic state practices

Week three
Exploration of empirical debates including peacekeeping and how environmental crises exacerbate violence in conflict-ridden societies, using case studies from sub-Saharan Africa
Examination of the future of warfare and emerging technologies
Discussion of how technological advances shape change in conflict and war, with focus on cyber warfare, military applications of artificial intelligence and lethal autonomous weapons

Course leader

Dr Bugra Susler

Course aim

This module aims to:

- Provide a comprehensive theoretical and empirical understanding of armed conflicts motivated by important policy questions.
- Develop a critical understanding of trends in wars, warfare and political violence.
- Help you to think through, both theoretically and empirically, how to explain these trends over time, across countries and within countries.
- Introduce wars and war-torn societies in different parts of the world.
- Train you, through class discussions and written assignments, to analyse empirical cases of armed conflict to inform theoretical and policy debates.
- Develop key skills for reading about, understanding and discussing conceptual issues and theoretical debates, applying concepts and theories to the empirical study of wars and violence, providing policy advice and writing essays

Fee info