93670 - TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

After an introduction on the main theories of international relations (i.e. realism, liberalism, constructivism) and on some key concepts such as the balance of power and hegemony, the course examines some of the most important issues of current international affairs. In particular, it explores a series of empirical phenomena and themes such as inter-state wars, civil conflicts, peace building, conflict resolution, terrorism, and drone warfare. At the end of the course, students are expected to understand the fundamental aspects and the distinctive elements of a variety of issues in the current world. Finally, students will be able to apply complex theoretical tools to the empirical reality.

Contenuti

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

Testi/Bibliografia

Lectures:

1) Introduction

- Simon Leys, 2013, "The Idea of the University", in S. Leys, The Hall of Uselessness, New York Review of Books, pp. 461-464.

- Lorenzo Zambernardi, 2016, “Politics is too important to be left to political scientists,” European Journal of International Relations, 22, 1, 3-23.

2) Security as a Multidimensional Concept

- Emma Rotschild, “What is Security?,” Daedalus, Vol. 124, No. 3, (Summer, 1995), pp. 53-98.

- John Mueller & Mark G. Stewart, “Terrorism and Bathtubs: Comparing and Assessing the Risks”, Terrorism and Political Violence, published online 28 December 2018.

3) Power Politics

- Tucidide, “Dialogo tra gli Ateniesi e i Meli,” La guerra del Peloponneso, V, 84-114.

- Machiavelli, Il Principe, any edition.

4) The contemporary international system

John Ikenberry, "The end of the international liberal order?", International Affairs, 94: 1 (2018) 7–23.

John Mearsheimer, "Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order", International Security, Volume 43, Issue 4, Spring 2019, pp.7-50.

5)Hegemonic rivalry

- Robert Gilpin, 1988, “The Theory of Hegemonic War,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 18, 4, 591-613.

- G. Allison, “The Thucydides Trap”, The Atlantic, September 24, 2015.

6) Armed Conflicts: nature, geography, and lethality

Pettersson, Therese; Stina Högbladh & Magnus Öberg (2019). Organized violence, 1989-2018 and peace agreements. Journal of Peace Research 56(4).

7) Inter-state conflicts I

- Geoffrey, Blaney, The Causes of War, New York, The Free Press, Ch. 8, 9.

- Azar Gat , “The Changing Character of War”, in Hew Strachan and Sibylle Scheipers (eds) The Changing Character of War; available at http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.ezproxy.unibo.it/view/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199596737.001.0001/acprof-9780199596737-chapter-2

8) Inter-state conflicts II

- Steven Pinker, “A History of Violence”, at http://edge.org/conversation/mc2011-history-violence-pinker, fhttps://www.edge.org/conversation/mc2011-history-violence-pinker

9) Civil War I

- Francesco N. Moro "Civil Wars", in Paul Joseph ed., The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives, Sage 2017.

- Stathis N. Kalyvas, “The Changing Character of Civil Wars, 1800–2009”, in Hew Strachan and Sibylle Scheipers (eds) The Changing Character of War, Ch. 11; available at http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.ezproxy.unibo.it/view/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199596737.001.0001/acprof-9780199596737-chapter-12

10) Civil Wars II

Barbara F. Walter, The New New Civil Wars Annual Review of Political Science 2017 20:1, 469-486

11) Mid-Term

- No reading

12) Terrorism I

- The United States is a Leading Terrorist State: An Interview with Noam Chomsky. https://monthlyreview.org/2001/11/01/the-united-states-is-a-leading-terrorist-state/.

-D'Alema: "Definire i talebani terroristi è una stupidaggine", HuffPost, 11 settembre 2021; https://www.huffingtonpost.it/entry/dalema-definire-i-talebani-terroristi-e-una-stupidaggine_it_613c5fdde4b00ff836ecffa6.

- Alex Peter Schmid, “Terrorism: The Definitional Problem,” Case Western Journal of International Law, 36, 2, 2004, pp. 375-419

13) Terrorism II

Erica Chenoweth, Terrorism and Democracy", Annual Review of Political Science 2013, 16:1, 355-378

14) Insurgency

- D., Galula, Counterinsuregency Warfare: Theory and Practice, Westport, Praeger, Ch. 1, 7.

15) Counterinsurgency

D. Kilcullen, Counterinsurgency, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 1-13, 165-227.

Lorenzo Zambernardi, "Counterinsurgency's Impossible Trilemma", Washington Quarterly, 33, 3, pp. 21-34.

A. Mack, "Why Big Nations Lose Small Wars", World Politics, 27, 2, 1975, pp. 175-200.

16) Drone warfare

- G. Chamayou, Drone Theory, London, Penguin.

17) Genocide

- Adrian Gallagher, Genocide and its threat to contemporary international order(2013), capitolo 5.

- Martin Shaw, Genocide and International Relations: Changing Patterns in the Transitions of the Late Modern World (2013), capitolo 9.

18) The longest war: the conflict in Afghanistan

- M. Barry, Kabul's Long Shadows: Historical Perspectives, Liechtenstein Institute at Princeton, 2011; available at http://www.operationspaix.net/DATA/DOCUMENT/4371~v~Kabuls_Long_Shadows__Historical_Perspectives.pdf

19)The Erosion of Military Power

- E. Luard, The Blunted Sword, New York, New Amsterdam, 1988, pp. 1-24.

20) Final exam

- No reading

 

Metodi didattici

Lectures and seminars

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Attending students in-class: two written exams during the course

Online Attending students: one oral exam in one of the official exams.

Non-attending students (in-class exam): written exam (10 questions)

Non-attending students (online exam): oral exam

Non-attending students must study also one of the following books:

Mearsheimer, J.J. 2018. The Great Delusion: Liberal Dream and International Realities (New Haven: Yale University Press)

 

Zambernardi, L. 2022. Life, Death, and the Western Way of War (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Teams, Power Point, Video

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Lorenzo Zambernardi