War and Peace: New Thinking About the Causes of War and War Avoidance

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER


Spring 2008 syllabus

Whatever the focus of your professional career, one issue that ought to be of considerable interest to all citizens is the avoidance of war. This interdisciplinary seminar will explore some of the latest thinking about the causes of international armed conflict and the ways in which future wars might be avoided and peace preserved. This seminar builds upon work the instructors began more than a decade ago as, respectively, the first Chairman of the Board and President of the congressionally-established U.S. Institute of Peace. Recent studies by Yale Professors Donald Kagan (History) and Bruce Russett (Political Science), and by University of Hawaii Political Science Professor Rudy Rummel, will be examined, along with a number of traditional intellectual approaches ranging from international law, arms control, and world federalism, to deterrence theory. Case studies of past wars will be examined to test competing theories. Prominent guest lecturers occasionally take part.

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