International Relations and Warfare: 1918-2024

Course Description

Warfare is an intrinsic part of the international state system and a central feature of the discipline of international relations and this course will serve to introduce students to it. As such, lectures will cover a mix of both theoretical frameworks and real-word historical and ongoing conflicts. The class will begin with a discussion of key theories of international relations, primarily the schools of realism and liberalism, as well as more recent critical theories such as feminism, Marxism, and post-colonialism. Having established these theoretical frameworks, the students will be able to proceed to the historical discussions. Students will learn about the interwar years- including the Versailles Peace Conference and the establishment and failure of the League of Nations- and the debate between realism and liberalism herein- before progressing to the Second World War and the usage of atomic bombs against Japan. In the context of the Cold War, this course will cover topics such as the strategy of containment and nuclear deterrence, as well as events such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War, as well as the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. This course will conclude with an overview of warfare in the twenty-first century, covering events such as the September 11th attacks, the Iraq War, the Arab Spring and its fallout in Libya and Syria, the Russo-Ukrainian War, as well as the rise of China and its implications for the international system.

This course will largely be seminar based, first delivered as a series of lectures, and then group discussion. Due to the constraints of the program and my inability to assign readings related to the course content, these lectures will serve to provide the students with the information they need to discuss both the theoretical and historical components of the course material. No graphic material, such as pictures or videos, will be presented to the students to keep these topics age appropriate.