Courses

Approaches & Schools In International Relations

The course examines some of the key approaches and schools in IR theory with a special focus on the field of war and peace and international security. One useful and neat way to distinguish among the numerous theories in IR is to divide them not only to realist and liberal approaches but also to offensive and defensive ones. Thus, we will focus on the differentiation among defensive realism, offensive realism, defensive liberalism and offensive liberalism. A partly related important distinction is between hard and soft power. Some of the other key concepts we will discuss include the concepts of security, level of analysis, balance of power and hegemony, polarity and also types of war and peace. Due to time limitations we will mention more briefly the constructivist approach.

War And Peace

The seminar will survey competing causes of war and sources of peace according to a variety of IR theories. Another focus of the seminar is to discuss different types of war (and also different kinds of peace). We’ll start with a general analysis of the changes in the types of war conducted in the current international system in comparison with wars in past systems. We’ll contrast wars of expansion and conquest based on cost-benefit calculations with inadvertent wars of insecurity and fear. Key concepts will include the security dilemma and the offense-defense balance and also preemptive vs. preventive wars. Another type of causes of war is related to territorial conflicts, which are partly related to enduring rivalries. Another section of the course deals with what might be called “identity wars” such as “the clash of civilizations” and ethno-national conflicts. Looking at domestic politics, we’ll examine the so-called diversionary wars and also whether democratization has stabilizing or de-stabilizing effects. We’ll also investigate the relations between failed states and civil wars, trans-border violence, and regional and global security. Finally, we’ll examine a great variety of peacemaking avenues, including the effects of military defeats on the war-proneness of revisionist states.

Arab-Israeli Relations

The course will address some of the key issues of regional security in the Middle East. Thus, we will be able to better understand some of the major opportunities and challenges faced by Israel and its neighbors in their regional security environment. In the first meetings, the class will address some of the conceptual foundations of regional security and their relationships with war and peace. In the next stage we’ll study the historical foundations of the regional conflicts in the Middle East, with a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflict—both on the wars and on the peace process. We’ll also pay attention to the role of the great powers in the region while posing the question: are they stabilizers or de-stabilizers? We’ll address the major factors which affect war and peace in the region and their implications for regional security: realist factors related to the regional balance of power, and also questions of state and nationalism. Finally, we’ll discuss the likelihood and the implications of possible democratization. The class will evaluate its effects on rising or declining militant challenges related to ethno-nationalism and Islamic Fundamentalism and what their implications are for Israel’s standing in the region.

Peace & Conflict Honors Seminar I: Regional Conflicts

The seminar will discuss the origins of regional conflicts and the sources of regional wars. We will also address the conditions for reaching regional peace. The class will examine the sources of great-power regional involvement and its effects on regional security. The seminar will also address the implications of regional conflicts for international security. During the course we will develop a theory of regional war and peace and apply it through an examination of the sources of regional war and peace in the Middle East, South America, the Third World, the Balkans and Eastern Europe and Western Europe. We will discuss which policies are the most useful for advancing peace in the different regions and what is the likelihood of promoting peace in these regions. This seminar is the centerpiece of the Honors Program in Peace & Conflict Studies and only students in this program can participate. The course in the spring is not a continuation of the Peace & Conflict Honors Seminar I offered in the fall.