B8540 - CAUSES OF WAR

Learning outcomes

The course explores the most influential theories regarding the causes of war. Drawing on literature from political anthropology, social psychology, strategic studies, diplomatic history, sociology, political theory, and international relations, it identifies key variables and causal pathways that illuminate war as a recurring phenomenon, as well as specific conflicts. Historical examples are used throughout to illustrate the theoretical material and help students develop critical perspectives. The course aims to equip students with a comprehensive "toolbox" of applied knowledge, enabling them to conduct their own analyses of international conflicts.

Course contents

1.1: Introduction

1.2: Deciding for War: Leaders and Advisors

2.1 and 2.2: Deciding for War: Rational Actors, Organizations and Bureaucracies

3.1: Political Institutions and War

3.2: Interest Groups and Lobbies

4.1: Diversion and War

4.2: Capitalism, Interdependence and War

5.1 and 5.2: Strategic Interaction, Bargaining, and War

6.1: Military Technology and War

6.2: International Anarchy and the Security Dilemma

7.1 and 7.2: Polarity, Stability and War

8.1: Power Transition and Hegemonic War

8.2: The Liberal International Order and its Crisis

9.1 and 9.2: The Rise of China and the End of Unipolarity

10.1 and 10.2: The Ukrainian War

Readings/Bibliography

1.1: Introduction

Required readings:

• M. Howard, The Causes of War, Temple Smith, 1983, pp. 7-22.
• K. Waltz, Man, the State and War, Columbia University Press, 1959, pp. 224-238.
• J. Levy, «Theories and Causes of War», in C. Coyne and R. Mathers (eds.), The Handbook of the Political Economy of War, Elgar, 2011, pp. 13-33.

1.2: Deciding for War: Leaders and Advisors

Required readings:

• R. Jervis, «War and Misperception», Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XVIII, 4, 1988, pp. 675-698.
• Y. Khong, «Vietnam, the Gulf, and US Choices: A Comparison», Security Studies, II, 1, 1992, pp. 74-95.
• I. Janis, Groupthink, Houghton Mifflin, 1982, pp. 2-13; 72-96; 174-197 (or the 1972 edition, Victims of Groupthink, pp. 2-13; 75-100; 184-206).
• J. Mercer, «Prospect Theory and Political Science», Annual Review of Political Science, 8, 2005, pp. 1-21.

Recommended readings:

• S. Dyson, «Personality and Foreign Policy: Tony Blair’s Iraq Decision», Foreign Policy Analysis, II, 3, 2006, pp. 289-306.
• R. Jervis, «Do Leaders Matter and How Would We Know?», Security Studies, XXII, 2, 2013, pp. 153-179.
• J. Gross Stein, «The Micro-Foundations of International Relations Theory: Psychology and Behavioral Economics», International Organization, LXXI, Supplement 1, 2017, pp. 249-263.
• R. Lebow, «Miscalculation in the South Atlantic: The Origins of the Falkland War», Journal of Strategic Studies, VI, 1, 1983, pp. 5-35.
• S. Smith, «Groupthink and the Hostage Rescue Mission», British Journal of Political Science, XV, 1, 1985, pp. 117-123.
• S. Yetiv, «Groupthink and the Gulf Crisis», British Journal of Political Science, XXXIII, 3, 2003, pp. 419-442.
• J. Levy, «Loss Aversion, Framing Effects, and International Conflict. Perspectives from Prospect Theory», in M. Midlarsky (ed.), Handbook of War Studies II, University of Michigan Press, 2000, pp. 193-221.

2.1 and 2.2: Deciding for War: Rational Actors, Organizations and Bureaucracies

Required readings:

• G. Allison and P. Zelikov, Essence of Decision. Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, 2nd ed. Longman, 1999, pp. 197-242 and 325-366.
• B. Bueno de Mesquita, «The Contribution of Expected Utility Theory to the Study of International Conflict», Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XVIII, 4, 1988, pp. 629-652.
• J. Monten and A. Bennett, «Models of Crisis Decision Making and the 1990-91 Gulf War», Security Studies, XIX, 3, 2010, pp. 486-520.
• S. Sagan, The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents and Nuclear Weapons, Princeton University Press, 1993, pp. 156-203.

Recommended readings:

• B. Bernstein, «Understanding Decision-making, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Review Essay», International Security, XXV, 1, 2000, pp. 134-164.
• J. Valenta, «The Bureaucratic Politics Paradigm and the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia», Political Science Quarterly, XCIV, 1, 1979, pp. 55-76.
• J. P. Taylor, «War by Time-Table», in From the Boer War to the Cold War, Penguin Books, 1996, pp. 116-181.
• J. Levy, «Organizational Routines and the Causes of War», International Studies Quarterly, XXX, 2, 1986, pp. 193-222.
• E. Rhodes, «Do Bureaucratic Politics Matter? Some Disconfirming Findings from the Case of the U.S. Navy», World Politics, XLVII, 1, 1994, pp. 1-41.
• L. Holland, «The US Decision to Launch operation Desert Storm: A Bureaucratic Politics Analysis», Armed Forces and Society, XXV, 2, 1999, pp. 219-242.
• J. Legro, «Accidents Waiting to Happen. Military Culture and Inadvertent Escalation in World War II», International Security, XVIII, 4, 1994, pp. 108-142.
• P. Feaver, «The Right to Be Right: Civil-Military Relations and the Iraq Surge Decision», International Security, XXXV, 4, 2011, pp. 87-125.
• A. Zegart, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI and the Origins of 9/11, Princeton University Press, 2007, pp. 101-119.

3.1: Political Institutions and War

Required readings:

• J. Owen, «How Liberalism Produces Democratic Peace», International Security, XIX, 2, 1994, pp. 87-125.
• S. Rosato, «The Flawed Logic of Democratic Peace Theory», American Political Science Review, XCVII, 4, 2003, pp. 585-602.
• J. Weeks, «Strongmen and Straw Men: Authoritarian Regimes and the Initiation of International Conflict», American Political Science Review, CVI, 2, 2012, pp. 326-347.

Recommended readings:

• M. Fendius Elman (ed.), Paths to Peace: Is Democracy the Answer?, The MIT Press, 1997, pp. 1-57.
• K. Rasler and W. Thompson, «Malign Autocracies and Major Power Warfare», Security Studies, X, 3, 2001, pp. 46-79.
• D. Drezner, «The Realist Tradition in American Public Opinion», Perspectives on Politics, VI, 1, 2008, pp. 51-70.
• B. Russett and J. Oneal, Triangulating Peace. Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, Norton, 2001, pp. 15-79.
• J. Levy, «Preventive War and Democratic Politics», International Studies Quarterly, LII, 1, 2008, pp. 1-24.

  · Dafoe, J. Oneal and B. Russett, «The Democratic Peace: Weighing the Evidence and Cautious Inference», International Studies Quarterly, LVII, 1, 2013. pp. 201-214.

• D. Auerswald, «Inward Bound: Domestic Institutions and Military Conflicts», International Organization, LIII, 3, 1999, pp. 469-504.
• M. Tomz and J. Weeks, «Public Opinion and the Democratic Peace», American Political Science Review, CVII, 4, 2013, pp. 849-865.

3.2: Interest Groups and Lobbies

Required readings:

• J. Snyder, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, pp. 1-65, 305-322.
• J. Mearsheimer and S. Walt, «The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy», Middle East Policy, XIII, 3, 2006, pp. 29-87.
• R. Lieberman, «The ‘Israel Lobby’ and American Politics», Perspectives on Politics, VII, 2, 2009, pp. 235–57.

  Recommended readings:

• S. Brooks, «Economic Actors’ Lobbying Influence on the Prospects for War and Peace», International Organization, LXVII, 4, 2013, pp. 863-888.
• B. Freeman, «The Lobbying Battle before the War: Russian and Ukrainian Influence in the US», Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, QI Briefs #26, July 20, 2022.
• B. Voltolini, Lobbying in EU Foreign Policy-Making, Routledge, 2016.
• Jordi Calvo Rufanges, «The Arms Industry Lobby in Europe», American Behavioral Scientist, LX, 3, 2016, pp. 305-320.
• M. Ahamad, The Road to Irak. The Making of a Neoconservative War, Edinburgh University Press, 2014.

  4.1: Diversion and War

  Required readings:

• J. Levy and L. Vakili, «Diversionary Action by Authoritarian Regimes: Argentina in the Falklands/Malvinas Case», in M. Midlarsky (ed.), The Internationalization of Communal Strife, Routledge, 1992, pp. 118-146.
• M. Fravel, «The Limits of Diversion: Rethinking Internal and External Conflict», Security Studies, XIX, 2, 2010, pp. 307-341.
• R. Hendrickson, «Clinton’s Military Strikes in 1998: Diversionary Uses of Force?», Armed Forces and Society, XXVIII, 2, 2002, pp. 309-332.

  Recommended readings:

• T. Morgan and C. Anderson, «Domestic Support and Diversionary External Conflict in Great Britain, 1950- 1992», Journal of Politics, LXI, 3, 1999, pp. 799-814.
• Oakes, «Diversionary War and Argentina's Invasion of the Falkland Islands», Security Studies, XV, 3, 2006, pp. 431-463.
• J. Levy, «The Diversionary Theory of War: A Critique», in Midlarsky, M.I. (ed.), Handbook of War Studies, Unwin Hyman, vol. I, 1989, pp. 259-288.
• J. Meernik and P. Waterman, «The Myth of the Diversionary Use of Force by American Presidents», Political Research Quarterly, IL, 3, 1996, pp. 573-590.
• J. Keller and D. Foster, «Presidential Leadership Style and the Political Use of Force», Political Psychology, XXXIII, 5, 2012, pp. 581-598.
• T. Morgan and C. Anderson, «Domestic Support and Diversionary External Conflict in Great Britain, 1950- 1992», Journal of Politics, LXI, 3, 1999, pp. 799-814.

  4.2: Capitalism, Interdependence and War

  Required readings:

• W. Mommsen, Theories of Imperialism, Random House, 1980, pp. 3-69.
• N. Angell, The Great Illusion, 1910, any edition, Part I, chapt. 3, Part II, chapt. 2.
• A. Gat, «The Democratic Peace Theory Reframed: The Impact of Modernity», World Politics, LVIII, 1, 2005, pp. 73-100.

  Recommended readings:

• V. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), any edition, chapt. 4-7.
• J. Schumpeter, «Imperialism and Capitalism» (1919), any edition.
• E. Morse, «The Politics of Interdependence», International Organization, XXIII, 2, 1969, pp. 311-326.
• R. Cooper, «Economic Interdependence and Foreign Policy in the Seventies», World Politics, XXIV, 2, 1972, pp. 159-181.
• K. Waltz, The Myth of Interdependence, in C. Kindleberger (ed.), The International Corporation, The MIT Press, 1970, pp. 205-223.
• L. Robbins, The Economic Causes of War, Fertig, 1968 (1st ed. Cape, 1939).
• G. Schneider, K. Barbieri and N. Gleditsch (eds.), Globalization and Armed Conflict, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
• D. Copeland, «Economic Interdependence and War », International Security, XX, 4, 1996, pp. 5-41.

5.1 and 5.2: Strategic Interaction, Bargaining, and War

Required readings:

• G. Snyder, «"Prisoner's Dilemma" and "Chicken" Models in International Politics», International Studies Quarterly, XV, 1, 1971, pp. 66-103.
• T. Schelling, Arms and Influence, Yale University Press, 1966, pp. 1-55.
• J. Fearon, «Rationalist Explanations for War», International Organization, IL, 3, 1995, pp. 379-414.
• C. Achen and D. Snidal, «Rational Deterrence Theory and Comparative Case Studies», World Politics, XLI, 2, 1989, pp. 143-169.

Recommended readings:

• D. Lake, «Two Cheers for Bargaining Theory: Assessing Rationalist Explanations for the Iraq War», International Security, XXXV, 3, 2010-2011, pp. 7-52.
• G. Blainey, The Causes of War, The Free Press, 1988 (3rd ed.), pp. 108-124.
• P. Senese and J. Vasquez, The Steps to War, Princeton University Press, 2008, pp. 7-36, 251-279.
• J. Stein, «Deterrence and Compellence in the Gulf, 1990-91», International Security, XVII, 2, 1992, pp. 147-179.
• A. Sartori, «The Might of the Pen: A Reputational Theory of Communication in International Disputes», International Organization, LVI, 1, 2002, pp. 121-149.
• J. Kirshner, «Rationalist Explanations for War? », Security Studies, X, 1, 2000, pp. 143-150.
• Glaser, «Political Consequences of Military Strategy: Expanding and Refining the Spiral and Deterrence Models», World Politics, XLIV, 4, 1992, pp. 497-538.
• R. Wagner, «Bargaining and War», American Journal of Political Science, XLIV, 3, 2000, pp. 469-484.
• Reiter, «Exploring the Bargaining Model of War», in Perspectives on Politics, I, 1, 2003, pp. 27-43.

6.1: Military Technology and War

Required readings:

• S. Van Evera, «Offense, Defense, and the Causes of War», International Security, XXII, 4, 1998, pp. 5-43.
• R. Jervis, «Cooperation under the Security Dilemma», World Politics, XXX, 2, 1978, pp. 167-214.
• S. Sagan and K. Waltz, The Spread of Nuclear Weapons, Norton, 2013 (3rd ed.), pp. 3-40; 135-214.

Recommended readings:

• R. Russell, «Persian Gulf Proving Grounds: Testing Offence-Defence Theory», Contemporary Security Policy, XXIII, 3, 2002, pp. 192-213.
• J. Mearsheimer, Conventional Deterrence, Cornell University Press, 1983.
• J. Levy, «The Offensive/Defensive Balance of Military Technology: A Theoretical and Historical Analysis», International Studies Quarterly, XXVIII, 2, 1984, pp. 219-238.
• K. Lieber, «Grasping the Technological Peace: The Offense-Defense Balance and International Security», International Security, XXV, 1, 2000, pp. 71-104.
• J. Shimshoni, «Technology, Military Advantage, and World War I», International Security, XV, 3, 1990-91, pp. 187-215.
• P. Pakur, «India’s and Pakistan’s Unstable Peace: Why Nuclear South Asia Is Not like Cold War Europe», International Security, XXX, 2, 2005, pp. 127-152.

6.2: International Anarchy and the Security Dilemma

Required readings:

• K. Waltz, «The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory», Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XVIII, 4, 1988, pp. 615-628.
• J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, Norton, 2001, pp. 29-54.
• R. Wagner, War and the State, University of Michigan Press, 2007, pp. 1-39.

Recommended readings:

• E. Labs, «Beyond Victory: Offensive Realism and the Expansion of War Aims», Security Studies, VI, 4, 1997, pp. 1-49.
• C. Glaser, «The Security Dilemma Revisited», World Politics, L, 1, 1997, pp. 171-201.
• L. Dehio, The Precarious Balance (1948), Knopf, 1962.
• E. Gulick, Europe's Classical Balance of Power, Cornell University Press, 1955.
• C. Glaser, «When Are Arms Races Dangerous? Rational versus Suboptimal Arming, International Security, XXVIII, 4, 2004, pp. 44-84.
• D. Reiter, «Exploding the Powder Keg Myth: Pre-emptive Wars Almost Never Happen», International Security, XX, 2, 1995, pp. 5-34.
• D. Nexon, «The Balance of Power in the Balance», World Politics, LXI, 2, 2009, pp. 330-359.

7.1 and 7.2: Polarity, Stability and War

Required readings:

• K. Deutsch and J. Singer, «Multipolar Power Systems and International Stability», World Politics, XVI, 4, 1964, pp. 390-406.
• J. K. Waltz, «The Stability of a Bipolar World», Daedalus, XCIII, 3, 1964, pp. 881–909.
• Gaddis, «The Long Peace. Elements of Stability in the Postwar International System», International Security, X, 4, 1986, pp. 99-142.
• W. Wohlforth, «The Stability of a Unipolar World», International Security, XXIV, 1, 1999, pp. 5-41.
• R. Schweller, «Tripolarity and the Second World War», International Studies Quarterly, XXXVII, 1, 1993, pp. 73-103.

  Recommended readings:

• T. Christensen and J. Snyder, «Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks: Predicting. Alliance Patterns in Multipolarity», International Organization, XLIV, 2, 1990, pp. 137-168.
• R. Aron, Peace and War: A Theory of International Relations, Doubleday, 1973, pp. 94-104.

• W. Wohlforth, «Unipolarity, Status Competition, and Great Power War», World Politics, LXI, 1, 2009, pp. 28-57.
• N. Monteiro, «Unrest Assured. Why Unipolarity Is Not Peaceful», International Security, XXXVI, 3, 2011/2012, pp. 9-40.
• T. Volgy, R. Corbetta, K. Grant and R. Baird (eds.), Major Powers and the Quest for Status in International Politics: Global and Regional Perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
• T. Volgy and S. Mayhall, «Status Inconsistency and International War: Exploring the Effects of Systemic Change», International Studies Quarterly, XXXIX, 1, 1995, pp. 67-84.
• D. Copeland, The Origins of Major War, Cornell University Press, 2000, pp. 1-55, 209-246.
• Y. Deng, «Better Than Power: ‘International Status’ in Chinese Foreign Policy», in Y. Deng and F. Wang (eds.), China Rising: Power and Motivation in Chinese Foreign Policy, Roman & Littlefield, 2005, pp. 51-72.

8.1: Power Transition and Hegemonic War

Required readings:

• Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, Book I.
• R. Gilpin, «The Theory of Hegemonic War», Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XVIII, 4, 1988, pp. 591-613.
• W. Kim, «Power Transitions and Great Power War from Westphalia to Waterloo», World Politics, XLV, 1, 1992, pp. 153-172.

Recommended readings:

• M. Beeson, «Hegemonic Transition in East Asia? The Dynamics of Chinese and American Power», Review of International Studies, XXXV, 1, 2009, pp. 95-112.
• C. Doran, Systems in Crisis, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 44-90, 104-107, 125-132, 166-190.
• G. Modelski, «The Long Cycle in Global Politics and the Nation State», Comparative Studies in Society and History, XX, 2, 1978, pp. 214-235.
• J. Levy, «Theories of General War», World Politics, XXXVII, 3, 1985, pp. 344-374.
• S. Chan, «Exploring Puzzles in Power-Transition Theory: Implications for Sino-American Relations», Security Studies, XIII, 3, 2004, pp. 103-141.
• R. Lebow and B. Valentino, «Lost in Transition: A Critical Analysis of Power Transition Theory», International Relations, XXIII, 3, 2009, pp. 389-410.
• Y. Khong, «Primacy or World Order? The United States and China’s Rise», International Security, XXXVIII, 3, 2013-2014, pp. 153-175.
• J. Levy, «Power Transition Theory and the Rise of China», in R. Ross, and Z. Feng (eds.), China’s Ascent: Power, Security, and the Future of International Politics, Cornell University Press, 2008, pp. 11-33.
• T. Onea, «Between Dominance and Decline: Status Anxiety and Great Power Rivalry», Review of International Studies, XL, 1, 2014, pp. 125-152.

  8.2: The Liberal International Order and its Crisis

  Required readings:

• F. Fukuyama, «The End of History?», The National Interest, 16, Summer 1989, pp. 3-16.
• S. Huntington, «The Clash of Civilizations?», Foreign Affairs, LXXII, 3, 1993, pp. 22-49.
• M. Mandelbaum, «Is Major War Obsolete?», Survival, XL, 4, 1998-99, pp. 20-38.
• The symposium on Mandelbaum, published in Survival, XLI, 2, 1999, pp. 139-152.
• J. Mearsheimer, «Bound to Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Liberal International Order», International Security, XLIII, 4, 2019, pp. 7-50.

Recommended readings:

• P. Gleick, «Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and International Security», International Security, XVIII, 1, 1993, pp. 79-112.
• K. Kaysen, «Is War Obsolete? A Review Essay», International Security, XIV, 4, 1990, pp. 42-64.
• E. Luttwak, «Where Are the Great Powers? At Home with the Kids», Foreign Affairs, LXXIII, 4, 1994, pp. 23-28.
• E. Luttwak, «Toward Post-Heroic Warfare», Foreign Affairs, LXXIV, 3, 1995, pp. 109-122.
• T. Homer-Dixon, Environment, Scarcity, and Violence, Princeton University Press, 1999.
• «Climate Change and Conflict», Special Issue, Journal of Peace Research, IL, 1, 2012, pp. 3-257.
• «The Demography of Conflict and Violence», Special Issue, Journal of Peace Research, XLII, 4, 2005, pp. 371-508.
• D. Johnson and M. Toft, «Grounds for War. The Evolution of Territorial Conflict», International Security, XXXVIII, 3, 2013/2014, pp. 7-38.

  9.1 and 9.2: The Rise of China and the End of Unipolarity

  Required readings:

• J. Levy, «Power Transition Theory of the Rise of China», in R. Ross and Z. Feng (eds.), China’s Ascent: Power, Security and the Future of International Politics, Cornell University Press, 2008, pp. 11-33.
• J. Mearsheimer, «Can China Rise Peacefully?», The National Interest, October 2014.
• S. Brooks and W. Wohlforth, «The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers in the Twenty-First Century: China’s Rise and the Fate of America’s Global Position», International Security, XL, 3, 2015-16, pp. 7-53.
• J. Lind, «Back to Bipolarity: How China's Rise Transformed the Balance of Power», International Security, IL, 2, 2024, pp. 7–55.
• E. Ashford and E. Cooper, «Yes, the World is Multipolar», Foreign Policy, October 5, 2023.
• J. Bekkevold, «No, the World is not Multipolar», Foreign Policy, September 22, 2023.
• M. Spektor, «Rise of the Nonaligned. Who Wins in a Multipolar World?», Foreign Affairs, January-February 2025.

  Recommended readings:

• T. Kim, A. Taffer, K. Zhang, «Correspondence: Is China a Cautious Bully?», International Security, XLV, 2, 2020, pp. 187–193.
• M. Beckley, «The Peril of Peaking Powers: Economic Slowdowns and Implications for China's Next Decade», International Security, XLVIII, 1, 2023, pp. 7–46.
• Y. Khong, «Primacy or World Order? The United States and China’s Rise», International Security, XXXVIII, 3, 2013-2014, pp. 153-175.
• N. Hang, «The Rise of China: Challenges, Implications, and Options for the United States», Indian Journal of Asian Affairs, XXX, 1/2, 2017, pp. 47–64.
• C. Glaser, «Will China’s Rise Lead to War? Why Realism Does Not Mean Pessimism», Foreign Affairs, XC, 2, 2011, pp. 80–91.
• J. Nye, «How Not to Deal with a Rising China: a US Perspective», International Affairs, XCVIII, 5, 2022, pp. 1635–1651.
• J. Dobbins, «War with China», Survival, LXV, 4, 2023, pp. 221-238.
• S. Schindler, J. DiCarlo, and D. Paudel, «The New Cold War and the Rise of the 21st-century Infrastructure State», Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, XLVII, 2022, pp. 331–346.

  10.1 and 10.2: The Ukrainian War

  Required readings:

• George F. Kennan, «A Fateful Error», The New York Times, Feb. 5, 1997.
• J. Mearsheimer, «The Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine War», Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, 21, 2022, pp. 12–27
• E. Gotz and P. Ekman, «Russia’s War Against Ukraine: Context, Causes, and Consequences», Problems of Post-Communism, LXXI, 3, 2024, pp. 193-205.
• M. Specter, «Realism after Ukraine: A Critique of Geopolitical Reason from Monroe to Mearsheimer», Analyse & Kritik, XLIV, 2, 2022, pp. 243-267.
• S. Charap and S. Redchenko, «The Talks That Could Have Ended the War in Ukraine. A Hidden History of Diplomacy That Came Up Short—but Holds Lessons for Future Negotiations», Foreign Affairs, April 16, 2024.
• H. Hale and A. Lenton, «Do Autocrats Need a Foreign Enemy? Evidence from Fortress Russia», International Security, IL, 1, 2024, pp. 9–50.
• B. Posen, «Putin's Preventive War: The 2022 Invasion of Ukraine», International Security, IL, 3, 2025, pp. 7–49.
• V. Ferraro, «Why Russia Invaded Ukraine and How Wars Benefit Autocrats: The Domestic Sources of the Russo-Ukrainian War», International Political Science Review, XLV, 2, 2023, pp. 170-191.

  Recommended readings:

• J. Mearsheimer, «Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West's Fault: The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin» Foreign Affairs, XCIII, 5, 2014, pp. 77-89.
• M. Dunford, «Causes of the Crisis in Ukraine», International Critical Thought, XIII, 1, 2023, pp. 89-125.
• H. Edinger, «Offensive Ideas: Structural Realism, Classical Realism and Putin’s War on Ukraine», International Affairs», XCVIII, 6, 2022, pp. 1873-1893.
• [https://press.armywarcollege.edu/do/search/?q=author%3A%22Ilmari%20K%C3%A4ihk%C3%B6%22&start=0&context=16941514] and [https://press.armywarcollege.edu/do/search/?q=author%3A%22Jan%20Willem%20Honig%22&start=0&context=16941514], «Ukraine’s Not-So-Whole-of-Society at War: Force Generation in Modern Developed Societies [https://press.armywarcollege.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3329&context=parameters] », T [https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters], LV, 1, 2025.
• A. Mahon, J. Pearce, A. Korobkov, R. Gabdulhakov, N. Gozalishvili, R. Topuria, N. Stercul, M. Vacarelu, «Forum: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: What Did We Miss?», International Studies Perspectives, XXV, 3, 2024, pp. 325–358.
• A. Hyzen and H. Van den Bulck, «Putin’s ‘War of Choice’: U.S. Propaganda and the Russia–Ukraine Invasion», Journalism and Media, V, 1, 2024, pp. 233-254.
• R. Lebow, (2022). «International Relations Theory and the Ukrainian War, Analyse & Kritik, XLIV, 1, 2022, pp. 111-135.
• M. Polianskii, «Russian Foreign Policy Research and War in Ukraine: Old Answers to New Questions?», Communist and Post-Communist Studies, LVII, 2, 2024, pp. 156-172.
• F. Rösch, «Realism, the War in the Ukraine, and the Limits of Diplomacy», Analyse & Kritik, XLIV, 2, 2022, pp. 201-218.
• N. Smith and G. Dawson, «Mearsheimer, Realism, and the Ukraine War», Analyse & Kritik, XLIV, 2, 2022, pp. 175-200.
• W. Lippert, «How conventional arms control failures caused the Russo-Ukraine War», Defense & Security Analysis, XL, 1, 2024, pp. 138-160.
• V. Nadkarni, P. D’Anieri, S. Kerr, G. Sharafutdinova, X. Pu, D. Ollapally, P Velasco, C. Moore, A. Divsallar, «Forum: The Russia–Ukraine War and Reactions from the Global South», The Chinese Journal of International Politics, XVII, 4, 2024, pp. 449–489.
• O. Costa, C. Martínez Blanc, «Back to the Roots? The War in Ukraine and Grand Theories in International Relations», in: C. Wiesner and M. Knodt (eds), The War Against Ukraine and the EU, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, pp. 23-42.
• E. Cohen and P. O’Brien, The Russia-Ukraine War: A Study in Analytic Failure, Center for Strategic and International Studies, September 2024.

Teaching methods

Biweekly sessions consist of instructor-led lectures and student presentations based on structured reading assignments.

Assessment methods

Final evaluation will be based on a comprehensive oral examination, in which students are expected to demonstrate a depth of understanding that extends beyond the lecture content. Performance in student presentations will also contribute to the overall assessment.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Cesa