War and Peace
New Thinking About the Causes of War and War Avoidance
Georgetown University Law Center
Spring 2009 Syllabus
Suggested Paper Topics
Dates & Topics
January 16, January 23, January 30, & February 6
I. Theories of War and War Prevention
A. Introduction and Overview: Theories of War and War Prevention
1. Some Classics About War
2. Competing Perspectives About the Nature of War on the Eve of the War to End All Wars
3. Theories of War and War Prevention
February 13
II. Internal Checks on War: Democracy as a Strong Correlative of Peace—The “Second Image”
A. The Democratic Peace: Examining Non-War Between Democracies and Some Possible Counter-Examples
February 20
B. Are Democracies Less War-Like?: The Record of Democracies versus Non-Democracies
C. An Examination of Possible Underlying Reasons for the Democratic Peace
1. Concentration of Power
2. Expectations of Peacefulness
3. Normative Beliefs and Institutional Structures
4. Domestic Political Culture
5. Domestic Structure and Decisional Constraints
6. Structural and Behavioral Attributes
7. Liberalism
8. Government Failure
D. Prevailing in War: The Record of Democracies versus Non-Democracies
Feb 27
III. External Checks on War: Deterrence—The “Third Image”
A. Deterrence and How it Operates: A Continuing Debate
B. The Effects of a Double Deterrence-Failure: Simultaneous Absence of Adequate Deterrence in both the Political and Military Domains
C. Democracies and Deterrence: The State of Knowledge About Comparative Effectiveness of Democracies and Non-Democracies in Deterring
March 6
D. New Thinking About Deterrence: Modalities for Deterring Regime Elites
1. War Crimes Indictments or Trials
2. Targeting of Command and Control During Hostilities
3. Governmental Replacement as a War Aim
4. Governmental De-Recognition or Loss of U.N. Membership
5. Travel, Financial, and Other Personalized Sanctions
6. Civil Remedies
7. Other
***Spring Break March 8-15, 2009 – No Classes***
March 20
IV. Individual Psychology and Perspectives—The “First Image”
A. Personality Type
B. Belief Systems: Political, Religious, Cultural, Historical
C. Life Experience
D. “Wired” Cognitive Bias Including Prospect Theory
E. Mao: A Case Study in the “First Image”
March 27
V. Democracy as a Correlative of Other Major Foreign Policy Goals
A. Human Rights and Avoidance of Genocide and Democide
B. The Debate About Implementing Human Rights (Human Rights Alone or Human Rights and Democracy Building?)
C. The Debate about Democracy and Economic Development
D. Totalitarianism and Environmental Destruction
E. Totalitarianism and Famine
F. Totalitarianism and Corruption
April 3
VI. Implementing Incentive Theory in Democratic Foreign Policy
A. The Debate about the Conditions and Modalities for Democracy Building
B. “Pushback” Against Democracy
C. Democracy Building and Deterrence in U.S. Foreign Policy
***Easter Break, No Classes: April 10-12, 2009***
April 17
VII. Selected Case Studies
A. World War I
1. Overview
2. The Eastern Front
3. The Western Front
B. World War II
1. The European Theater
2. The Asian/Pacific Theater
April 24
C. The Korean War
D. The Indo-China War and Its Aftermath
E. The Gulf War, The Iraq War and the War on Terror
***Last Day of Classes: April 25, 2009***