90597 - GEOPOLITICA DEI CONFLITTI

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will know the main explanatory theories of the war. They will have become familiar with the classical scholars of the sector and will also master contemporary literature. The topics that student will have to know in depth will cover the causes and consequences of wars, the different types of war that occurred in human history, the transformations of wars and the political, economic, technological causes of these transformations, as well as the conditions that must be present in order to make them stable. Furthermore, the student will know the methods of investigation most commonly used in the study of war.

Course contents

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.

The course aims to discuss the so-called "riddle of war" through a long-term analysis of collective violence in different geographical areas. The course is divided in three sections. The first section is dedicated to exploring the spatial dimension in the processes of building political authority. To this end, the classes will look into the development of political space in the transition between nomadic communities and sedentary communities, the forms of political communities (cities, proto-states, empires) in the antiquity and the role of violence in the establishment and functioning of such political and social orders. The second section will deal with the origins of modern states in Europe, the reasons for the birth of European empires, the forms of governance of the latter and the reasons for the imperial decline, with a focus on the role of violence in these processes. The third section is devoted to the debate on the forms of war in the contemporary age and deals in particular with: a) research on "new" wars and civil wars as dominant forms of conflict in the current international system and, b) research on changes in political authority, with reference to alternative forms to the nation-state, to the theses related to neo-medievalism and to studies on the governance of insurgent groups.

 

Readings/Bibliography

The full list of readings for students who regularly attend classes will be circulated on the first day of class and posted on the class website on “Insegnamenti Online”at iol.unibo.it

Students who do not regularly attend classes are invited to contact the instructor as early as possible in the semester.

1. Introduzione al corso: guerra e configurazioni dell'autorità politica

* Gat, A. (2006), War in Human Civilization, Oxford University Press, Preface

* Pinker, S. “The surprising decline in violence”, Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence/transcript

2. La nascita dello “spazio umano” e violenza nello “stato di natura”

* Gat, A. (2006), War in Human Civilization, capp. 1-3 e 7

Letture consigliate

* Christian, D. (2011). Maps of time: An introduction to big history. University of California Press, cap. 7*.

* Mellars, P. (2006). Why did modern human populations disperse from Africa ca. 60,000 years ago? A new model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(25), 9381-9386. Sul sito: http://www.pnas.org/content/103/25/9381

3. Confinare e organizzare lo “spazio umano”: proto-stati e violenza

* Gat, A. (2006), War in Human Civilization, capp. 8-10

* Bogaard, A. (2015), “Communities”, in The Cambridge World History, Volume II: A World with Agriculture, 12000 BC – 500 CE.Cambridge University Press, cap. 5.

* Scott J.C. (2017). Against the Grain. A Deep History of Earlier States. cap. 2.

* Olson, M. (1993). Dictatorship, democracy, and development. American political science review, 87(3), 567-576.

4. Dal feudalesimo allo stato moderno

* Gat, A. (2006), War in Human Civilization, cap. 11

* Poggi, G. (1990), Lo Stato, Il Mulino, cap. 3

* Tilly, C. (1984), ‘Sulla formazione dello stato in Europa. Riflessioni introduttive’, in Tilly, C. (a cura di) La formazione degli stati nazionali nell’Europa occidentale, Il Mulino, cap. 1

5. Geopolitica degli Imperi

* Gat, A. (2006), War in Human Civilization, capp. 13 e 14

* Rosenstein, N. (2015), War, State Formation, and the Evolution of Military Institutions in Ancient China and Rome, in Morris, I. e Scheidel, W. (a cura di), Rome and China Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires, Oxford University Press, cap. 2*

* Barkey, K., & Gavrilis, G. (2016). The Ottoman millet system: Non-territorial autonomy and its contemporary legacy. Ethnopolitics, 15(1), 24-42

6. Le nuove guerre (2): cosa, dove, quando?

* Sambanis, N. (2004). What is civil war? Conceptual and empirical complexities of an operational definition. Journal of conflict resolution, 48(6), 814-858

* Allansson, Marie, Erik Melander and Lotta Themnér, 2017. Organized violence, 1989-2016. Journal of Peace Research. 54(4), 574-587

7. Riorganizzare lo spazio politico: la fine dello Stato?

* Arjona, A. (2014). Wartime institutions: a research agenda. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 58(8), 1360-1389

* Boege, V., Brown, A., Clements, K., & Nolan, A. (2008). On hybrid political orders and emerging states: state formation in the context of ‘fragility’. Sul sito: http://edoc.vifapol.de/opus/volltexte/2011/2595/pdf/boege_etal_handbook.pdf

* Lee, M. M., Walter‐Drop, G., & Wiesel, J. (2014). Taking the state (back) out? Statehood and the delivery of collective goods. Governance, 27(4), 635-654.

* Zielonka, J. (2007). Europe as empire: The nature of the enlarged European Union. Oxford University Press

8. Attori esterni e ordini politici

* Lee, M. M. (2018). The international politics of incomplete sovereignty: How hostile neighbors weaken the state. International Organization, 72(2), 283-315.

* Lange, M. K. (2004). British colonial legacies and political development. World development, 32(6), 905-922

* Malejacq, R. (2016). Warlords, intervention, and state consolidation: A typology of political orders in weak and failed states. Security Studies, 25(1), 85-110

Seminario 9 A/B: Proto-state making

* Boix, C. (2015). Political Order and Inequality. Their Foundations and Their Consequences for Human Welfare. Cambridge University Press, cap. 1 “Tabula Rasa”.

* North, D., Wallis, J. e Weingast, B. (2009), Violence and Social Orders. Cambridge University Press, cap. 2 “The Natural State”*.

* Mayshar J. et al. (2018), The Emergence of Hierarchies and States: Productivity vs. Appropriability, Working Paper, sul sito:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/omoav/mmnp9_1_2018.pdf

Seminario 10 A/B: La violenza nella formazione dello stato moderno

* Kiser, E., & Linton, A. (2002). The hinges of history: State-making and revolt in early modern France. American Sociological Review, 67(6), 889-910

* Mathis, S. M. (2013). From warlords to freedom fighters: Political violence and state formation in Umbumbulu, South Africa. African Affairs, 112(448), 421-439

* Blaydes, L., & Paik, C. (2016). The impact of Holy Land Crusades on state formation: war mobilization, trade integration, and political development in medieval Europe. International Organization, 70(3), 551-586

Seminario 11 A/B: Violenza e costruzione degli imperi europei

* Parker, G. (1976). The" Military Revolution," 1560-1660--a Myth?. The Journal of Modern History, 48(2), 196-214

* Satya, P. (2018), Empire of Guns: The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution, Stanford University Press, Part 1 (capp. 1-4)

* Falola, T. (2009). Colonialism and violence in Nigeria. Indiana University Press, cap. 1*

* Luttikhuis, B., & Moses, A. D. (2012). Mass violence and the end of the Dutch colonial empire in Indonesia. Journal of Genocide Research, 14(3-4), 257-276

Seminario 12 A/B: il dibattito sulle “nuove guerre”

* Kaldor, M. (2013). In defence of new wars. Stability: International Journal of Security and Development, 2(1)

* Kalyvas, S. N. (2001). “New” and “old” civil wars: a valid distinction?. World politics, 54(1), 99-118

* Malantowicz, A. (2013). Civil war in Syria and the new wars debate. Amsterdam LF, 5, 52

Seminario 13 A/B:

* Cederman, L. E., Weidmann, N. B., & Gleditsch, K. S. (2011). Horizontal inequalities and ethnonationalist civil war: A global comparison. American Political Science Review, 105(3), 478-495

* Brubaker, R., & Laitin, D. D. (1998). Ethnic and nationalist violence. Annual Review of sociology, 24(1), 423-452

* Posen, B. R. (1993). Nationalism, the mass army, and military power. International security, 18(2), 80-124

Seminario 14 A/B: Rebel governance

* Mampilly, Z. (2012). Rebel rulers: Insurgent governance and civilian life during war. Cornell University Press, capp. 2-6*.

 

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminars, class presentations 

Assessment methods

Students who DO NOT regularly attend classes

§ class presentation and participation (30 % of the final grade)

§ term paper, 6000-7000 words (70% of the final grade). The topic of the paper will be agreed with the instructor.

Students who DO NOT regularly attend classes will be assessed through a final take-home written exam. The exam will be composed by 3 questions and students will have to provide answers in the range of 1000 words each. Exams will be made available on Esami OnLine (EOL) 4 days before the exam dates (“appelli”) as posted on AlmaEsami and will be due on exam date by noon.

Teaching tools

Class slides su “Insegnamenti Online”, sul sito iol.unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Niccolò Moro