War and Peace in IR Theory
| Zeit und Ort | Mittwoch, 18-20 Uhr Raum 161 |
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Despite the rise of other international problems such as the Financial Crisis or environmental degradation, war and peace still are important topic of international politics. Although large scale violent conflicts such as the Second World War seem to have disappeared, wars still exist even though they may have taken on a new set of characteristics. The course main aim is to apply International Relations (IR) theory to the issue of war and peace and asses whether the established theoretical paradigms can still offer explanations for such new kinds of wars. The focus will be on applying IR theory to empirical examples of violent conflict and investigating their explanatory strengths and weaknesses in what has been termed a ‘post-national constellation'. The course will thereby focus on Neo-Realism, Liberalism, Institutionalism, Constructivism, Critical Theory, Feminism and Green Politics. As most of the reading and all of the assessment and class discussion will be in English, a very good command of the language will be a prerequisite for joining the class.
