Offizielle Kursbeschreibung
[b]Course Description:[/b] Civil wars are the most common form of political violence in todays world, both in frequency and deadliness. This course offers an introduction to some of the main themes in the study of civil wars. We will examine what civil war is, how we can study it and why we might want to do so. We will look at how and why civil wars break out. We will also investigate what keeps civil wars going, from individual and collective drivers of violence, war economies and the politics of civil wars to international factors. Civil wars profoundly affect not only the lives of the armed actors perpetuating them, but also of the individuals, societies and states caught up in them. The seminar will also explore this theme, by studying patterns of violence and how they affect civilian populations, the reconfiguration of governing institutions in civil war and how civil war can affect individual and collective identities, including those of particularly vulnerable populations (women, children, displaced). Finally, the course looks at what can be done to address civil wars, by limiting conflict and violence, how civil wars can come to an end and what kinds of legacies they can leave.
In studying these substantive themes, the course will introduce students to different disciplinary perspectives beyond political science, explore different methodological approaches (quantitative, qualitative, interpretivist) and possible levels of analysis (micro/macro, sub-/cross-national), and examine how these different approaches affect the results of our research.
There may be changes to the syllabus over the course of the term, I would communicate these to students in due time.
[b]Learning Outcomes:[/b] This course aims to introduce students to some of the main concepts, theories, and debates in the study of civil war. It also aims to provide them with the basic analytical skills to develop research projects of their own. At the end of the course, students should be able to
[list]
[*]identify and describe some of the main themes in the study of civil war,
[*]summarize and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of different disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the study of civil war,
[*]apply the insights gained from the civil war literature to research projects of their own.
[/list]
[b]Credits Students from the MA on International Studies/Peace and Conflict Studies:[/b] To obtain credits for participation (Beteiligungsnachweis - BN), students are expected to complete the required readings and to actively participate in discussions. They must also provide short response papers (no longer than 1 page) for at least four of the sessions. While response papers are not graded, submission of these response papers is necessary for the obtention of the BN. In their response papers, students are expected to choose and discuss one or two aspects of the readings that they found particularly interesting, challenging, problematic, and to formulate at least one question that they want to be discussed in class. Response papers have to be circulated to both instructor and other participants by Friday, 5pm preceding the seminar via Moodle and may be discussed in class.
To obtain credits for the module (Modulabschlussprüfung - AP), students must -in addition to the above requirements - write a term paper. Term papers should be in English, no longer than 6,000 words and no shorter than 4,500. The paper should address a major question in the study of civil war and include a literature review, theoretical argument, and empirical evaluation of the theory, but alternative formats can be discussed with me. Students are expected to propose potential topics themselves, these proposals will need to be confirmed with me by session 13, in person or via email. Theme papers themselves need to be submitted by September 30th, 2021.
[b]Credits Students from the MA on Governance and Public Policy:[/b] To obtain credits, students are expected to complete the required readings and to actively participate in discussions. They must also provide short response papers (no longer than 1 page) for at least four of the sessions. While response papers are not graded, submission of these response papers is necessary for the obtention of the credits. In their response papers, students are expected to choose and discuss one or two aspects of the readings that they found particularly interesting, challenging, problematic, and to formulate at least one question that they want to be discussed in class. Response papers have to be circulated to both instructor and other participants by Friday, 5pm, preceding the seminar via Moodle and may be discussed in class.
Students from the MA on Governance and Public Policy must -in addition to the above requirements pass an oral exam of 25 minutes at the end of the term.
[b]Grading:[/b] Response papers will not be graded but may be discussed in class. Term papers will be graded in accordance with departmental standards. Usual rules on academic integrity apply. Late submission of papers will lead to grade deductions, except where justified through proper documentation (e.g. medical certification) and agreed with the instructor beforehand, as will excessively long or short papers. Oral exams are similarly graded in accordance with departmental standards.
[b]Requirements[/b]: Students need no prior knowledge of civil war studies. General interest in the topic is enough. The course is article-based and students will need to be able to (critically!) engage with both quantitative and qualitative academic papers. In-class discussions will be conducted in English, response and term papers will also have to be submitted in English.
[b]Course structure:[/b] The course will be held remotely, via Zoom. It will consist of 14 individual sessions, of 90 minutes each. While I will prepare introductory and context slides, the individual sessions will focus on the assigned readings and the questions and comments students have about them. Students are free to ask questions at any time.
[b]Preliminary course outline:[/b]
Block 1: Basic concepts
Session 1 - Introduction
Content/Themes:
Introduction
Organizational and administrative issues for the course
Why study civil wars?
Reading - required:
Pettersson, Therése; Öberg, Magnus (2020): Organized violence, 19892019. In: Journal of Peace Research 57 (4), 597613
Session 2 - Conceptualizing civil war
Content/Themes:
What is civil war? How can we define it?
Is civil war a unique type of conflict? What are the differences and similarities with other forms of political violence?
Should we think of civil war as on a "spectrum of political violence"? If so, where does it fall?
How can we resolve the interaction between civil war and other forms of violence?
Readings - required: (required: 814-831, recommended 832-58)
Charles Tilly (1985): "War Making and State Making as Organized Crime." In Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol, eds. Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 169-191
International Committee of the Red Cross (2008): How is the Term "Armed Conflict" Defined in International Humanitarian Law?, ICRC Opinion Paper at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/opinion-paper-armed-conflict.pdf
Readings - optional:
Session 3 - Studying civil war
Content/Themes:
Kaldor, Mary (2012): New and old wars. 3rd ed., revised. Cambridge: Polity Press, Introduction (1-14) and Afterword (202-221)
Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2001): "New" and "Old" Civil Wars. A Valid Distinction? In: World Politics 54 (1), 99118
What are key methodological and ethical challenges in the study of civil wars? Are some of them specific to the study of civil wars? How can they be overcome?
How can research choices and methods impact our results?
Readings - required:
Cronin-Furman, Kate, & Lake, Milli (2018): Ethics Abroad: Fieldwork in Fragile and Violent Contexts. In: PS: Political Science & Politics 51(3), 607-614
Landman, Todd; Gohdes, Anita (2013): A Matter of Convenience. Challenges of Non-Random Data in Analyzing Human Rights Violations during Conflicts in Peru and Sierra Leone In: Taylor B. Seybolt (Ed.): Counting civilian casualties. An introduction to recording and estimating nonmilitary deaths in conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Studies in strategic peacebuilding), 7792
Fazal, Tanisha M. (2014): Dead Wrong?: Battle Deaths, Military Medicine, and Exaggerated Reports of War's Demise. In: International Security 39 (1), 95125
Readings - optional:
Weidmann, Nils B. (2016): A Closer Look at Reporting Bias in Conflict Event Data. In: American Journal of Political Science 60 (1), 206218
Gohdes, Anita; Price, Megan (2013): First Things First. In: Journal of Conflict Resolution 57 (6), 10901108
Lacina, Bethany; Gleditsch, Nils Petter (2013): The Waning of War is Real. In: Journal of Conflict Resolution 57 (6), 11091127
Sukarieh, Mayssoun; Tannock, Stuart (2019): Subcontracting Academia: Alienation, Exploitation and Disillusionment in the UK Overseas Syrian Refugee Research Industry. In: Antipode 51 (2), 664680
Malejacq, Romain; Mukhopadhyay, Dipali (2016): The Tribal Politics of Field Research: A Reflection on Power and Partiality in 21st-Century Warzones. In: Perspectives on politics. 14 (4), 10111028
Hoffmann, Kasper (2014): Caught between apprehension and comprehension: Dilemmas of immersion in a conflict setting. DIIS Working Paper. Copenhagen (2014:09). Available online under http://hdl.handle.net/10419/148174
Block 2: Drivers of civil war
Session 4 - Causes and onset of civil wars:
Content/Themes:
What causes civil wars? And who is responsible for starting them?
How has the debate about the reasons for civil war outbreak evolved over time?
How have methodological evolutions influenced this debate?
Readings - required:
Cederman, Lars-Erik; Wimmer, Andreas; Min, Brian (2010): Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis. In: World Politics 62 (1), S. 87119
Lewis, Janet I. (2017): How Does Ethnic Rebellion Start? In: Comparative Political Studies 50 (10), S. 14201450
Readings - optional:
Fearon, James D., Laitin, David D. (2003): Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. In: American Political Science Review 97(1), 7590
Costalli, Stefano; Ruggeri, Andrea (2015): Indignation, Ideologies, and Armed Mobilization: Civil War in Italy, 194345. In: International Security 40 (2), 119157.
Cederman, Lars-Erik; Vogt, Manuel (2017): Dynamics and Logics of Civil War. In: Journal of Conflict Resolution 61 (9), 1992-2012
Chandra, Kanchan; García-Ponce, Omar (2019): Why Ethnic Subaltern-Led Parties Crowd Out Armed Organizations: Explaining Maoist Violence in India. In: World Politics 71 (2), 367416
Posen, Barry R. (1993): The security dilemma and ethnic conflict. In: Survival 35 (1), 2747
Thurber, Ches (2019): Social Ties and the Strategy of Civil Resistance. In: International Studies Quarterly 63 (4), 974-986
Session 5 Sustaining insurgency and counter-insurgency
Content/Themes:
Is there such a thing as politics of armed conflict?
Is mobilization and recruitment in civil war puzzling?
Readings - required:
Kalyvas, Stathis N.; Kocher, Matthew Adam (2007): How "Free" is Free Riding in Civil Wars?: Violence, Insurgency, and the Collective Action Problem. In: World Politics 59 (2), 177216
Parkinson, Sarah Elizabeth (2013): Organizing Rebellion. Rethinking High-Risk Mobilization and Social Networks in War. In: American Political Science Review 107 (3), 418432
Readings - optional:
Bacon, Tricia (2018): Is the Enemy of My Enemy My Friend? In: Security Studies 27 (3), 345378
Berman, Eli; Shapiro, Jacob N.; Felter, Joseph H. (2011): Can Hearts and Minds Be Bought? The Economics of Counterinsurgency in Iraq. In: Journal of Political Economy 119 (4), 766819
Long, Austin (2014): Whack-a-Mole or Coup de Grace? Institutionalization and Leadership Targeting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In: Security Studies 23 (3), 471512
Session 6 - The internationalization of civil war:
Content/Themes:
Are civil wars really domestic wars?
What international or transnational elements can play a role?
Can we still speak about civil wars in cases of external intervention?
Readings - required:
Salehyan, Idean; Siroky, David; Wood, Reed M. (2014): External Rebel Sponsorship and Civilian Abuse: A Principal-Agent Analysis of Wartime Atrocities. In: International Organization 68 (3), 633661
Bakke, Kristin M. (2013): Copying and learning from outsiders? Assessing diffusion from transnational insurgents in the Chechen wars. In: Checkel, Jeffrey T. (Ed.): Transnational dynamics of civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 31-62
Readings - optional:
Autesserre, Séverine (2009): Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence, and International Intervention. In: International Organization 63 (2), 249280
Tamm, Henning (2016): Rebel Leaders, Internal Rivals, and External Resources: How State Sponsors Affect Insurgent Cohesion. In: International Studies Quarterly 60 (4), 599610
Hegghammer, Thomas (2013): Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists Choice between Domestic and Foreign Fighting. In: American Political Science Review 107 (1), 1-15
Salehyan, Idean; Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede (2006): Refugees and the Spread of Civil War. In: International Organization 60 (2), 335-366
Block 3: Life in civil war
Session 7 Violence:
Content/Themes:
How is violence used in civil wars? Who uses it? Why?
Who is violence used against?
How does violence affect those exposed to it?
Readings - required:
Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2006): The Logic of Violence in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge studies in comparative politics), 246-329
Baaz, Maria Eriksson; Stern, Maria (2009): Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC). In: International Studies Quarterly 53 (2), 495518
Readings optional:
Balcells, Laia (2010): Rivalry and Revenge: Violence against Civilians in Conventional Civil Wars. In: International Studies Quarterly 54 (2), 291313
Wood, Elisabeth Jean (2009): Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare? In: Politics & Society 37 (1), 131161
Downes, Alexander B. (2007): Draining the Sea by Filling the Graves: Investigating the Effectiveness of Indiscriminate Violence as a Counterinsurgency Strategy. In: Civil Wars 9 (4), 420444
Session 8 Governance:
Content/Themes:
How can civil war reconfigure governance? Who provides governance in civil wars?
What allows governance to take place during war?
Is governance another "battlefield" of civil wars?
Readings - required:
Staniland, Paul (2012): States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders. In: Perspectives on Politics 10 (02), 243264
Revkin, Mara Redlich (2020): What Explains Taxation by Resource-Rich Rebels? Evidence from the Islamic State in Syria. In: The Journal of Politics 82 (2), 757764
Kaplan, Oliver Ross (2013): Protecting civilians in civil war: The institution of the ATCC in Colombia. In: Journal of Peace Research 50 (3), 351-367
Readings - optional:
Kasfir, Nelson; Frerks, Georg; Terpstra, Niels (2017): Introduction: Armed Groups and Multi-layered Governance. In: Civil Wars 19 (3), 257278
Ahram, Ariel I. (2019): Sexual Violence, Competitive State Building, and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In: Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 13 (2), 180196
Arjona, Ana (2016): Rebelocracy. Social order in the Colombian civil war. New York: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge studies in comparative politics), Chapters 3,6
Thakur, Shalaka; Venugopal, Rajesh (2019): Parallel governance and political order in contested territory: Evidence from the Indo-Naga ceasefire. In: Asian Security 15 (3), 285303
Arjona, Ana; Kasfir, Nelson; Mampilly, Zachariah Cherian (2015): Introduction. In: Ana Arjona, Nelson Kasfir und Zachariah Cherian Mampilly (Ed.): Rebel governance in civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 120
Session 9 Identities and communities:
Content/Themes:
How can civil war affect identities, individually and collectively? Is the effect necessarily negative?
How does it impact gender roles?
How does displacement impact communities?
Readings - required:
Hutchinson, Sharon Elaine (1996): Nuer Dilemmas. Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley: University of California Press (A Centennial book), 1-20, 103-157 (required: 103-109, 133-146, recommended for context: 1-20, 109-133, 146-157)
Lupu, Noam; Peisakhin, Leonid (2017): The Legacy of Political Violence across Generations. In: American Journal of Political Science 61 (4), 836851
Gilligan, Michael J.; Pasquale, Benjamin J.; Samii, Cyrus (2014): Civil War and Social Cohesion: Lab-in-the-Field Evidence from Nepal. In: American Journal of Political Science 58 (3), 604619
Readings - optional:
Wood, Elisabeth Jean (2003): Insurgent collective action and civil war in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics). Chapter 3
Pearlman, Wendy (2013): Emotions and the Microfoundations of the Arab Uprisings. In: Perspectives on Politics 11 (2), 387409
Bauer, Michal; Fiala, Nathan; Levely, Ian (2018): Trusting Former Rebels: An Experimental Approach to Understanding Reintegration after Civil War. In: The Economic Journal 128 (613), 17861819
Session 10: Case study the Syrian conflict.
Content/Themes:
Is the ongoing Syrian conflict a civil war? If so, since when?
Is the Syrian conflict unique?
Is the use of violence in Syria paradoxical?
How has the conflict affected governance?
Readings - required:
Abboud, Samer N. (2016): Conflict, Governance, and Decentralized Authority in Syria. In: Martin Beck, Dietrich Jung und Peter Seeberg (Ed.): The Levant in Turmoil. Syria, Palestine, and the Transformation of Middle Eastern Politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan (The Modern Muslim World), 5777.
Phillips, Christopher (2019): Structure, Agency and External Involvement in the Syrian Conflict. In: Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East. Washington DC (POMEPS Studies, 34), 6771
Martínez, José Ciro; Eng, Brent (2018): Stifling stateness: The Assad Regime's Campaign against Rebel Governance. In: Security Dialogue 49 (4), 235253
Block 4: Addressing civil war
Session 11 "Taming" civil war?
Content/Themes:
Can conflict be regulated? If so, by whom?
How does the international community intervene? Should it?
Readings - required:
Sassòli, Bouvier and Quintin, How Does Law Protect in War?, Fundamentals of IHL, Sections A and B, (https://casebook.icrc.org/law/fundamentals-ihl)
Fazal, Tanisha M. (2018): Wars of law. Unintended consequences in the regulation of armed conflict. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1-10, 192-216
Byers, Michael; Chesterman, Simon (2003): Changing the rules about rules? Unilateral humanitarian intervention and the future of international law. In: Holzgrefe, J. L.; Keohane, Robert O. (Ed.) (2003): Humanitarian intervention. Ethical, legal, and political dilemmas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 177-203
Readings - optional:
Luttwak, Edward N. (1999): Give War a Chance. In: Foreign Affairs 78 (4), 3644
Martínez, José Ciro; Eng, Brent (2016): The unintended consequences of emergency food aid. Neutrality, sovereignty and politics in the Syrian civil war, 2012-15. In: International Affairs 92 (1), 153173
Durham, Helen (2008): The Laws of War and Traditional Cultures: A Case Study of the Pacific Region. In: Commonwealth Law Bulletin 34 (4), 833841
Session 12 - Ending civil war:
Content/Themes:
What challenges exist to ending civil war?
How can civil wars end? Who can end them? And why would they?
Readings - required:
Howard, Lise Morjé; Stark, Alexandra (2018): How Civil Wars End: The International System, Norms, and the Role of External Actors. In: International Security 42 (3), 127171
Blair, Robert A.; Karim, Sabrina M.; Morse, Benjamin S. (2019): Establishing the Rule of Law in Weak and War-torn States: Evidence from a Field Experiment with the Liberian National Police. In: American Political Science Review 113 (3), 641657
Duursma, Allard (2020): African Solutions to African Challenges: The Role of Legitimacy in Mediating Civil Wars in Africa. In: International Organization 74 (2), 295330
Readings - optional:
Autesserre, Séverine (2014): Peaceland. Conflict resolution and the everyday politics of international intervention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1-19
Session 13 - After civil war: legacies of conflict.
Content/Themes:
How can civil wars affect post-conflict societies?
What are their chances of reoccurring?
Readings - required:
Matanock, Aila M. (2017): Bullets for Ballots: Electoral Participation Provisions and Enduring Peace after Civil Conflict. In: International Security 41 (4), 93132
Staniland, Paul (2017): Armed politics and the study of intrastate conflict. In: Journal of Peace Research 54 (4), 459467
Lake, Milli (2017): Building the Rule of War: Postconflict Institutions and the Micro-Dynamics of Conflict in Eastern DR Congo. In: International Organization 71 (2), 281315
Readings - optional:
Steele, Abbey; Schubiger, Livia I. (2018): Democracy and civil war: The case of Colombia. In: Conflict Management and Peace Science 35 (6), 587600
Session 14 Beyond civil war: Conclusion/Wrap-Up.
Content/Themes:
What have we learned about civil wars and the study of civil wars?
What can be taken away from these themes and topics beyond civil war studies?
Online-Angebote
moodle
[b]Course Description:[/b] Civil wars are the most common form of political violence in todays world, both in frequency and deadliness. This course offers an introduction to some of the main themes in the study of civil wars. We will examine what civil war is, how we can study it and why we might want to do so. We will look at how and why civil wars break out. We will also investigate what keeps civil wars going, from individual and collective drivers of violence, war economies and the politics of civil wars to international factors. Civil wars profoundly affect not only the lives of the armed actors perpetuating them, but also of the individuals, societies and states caught up in them. The seminar will also explore this theme, by studying patterns of violence and how they affect civilian populations, the reconfiguration of governing institutions in civil war and how civil war can affect individual and collective identities, including those of particularly vulnerable populations (women, children, displaced). Finally, the course looks at what can be done to address civil wars, by limiting conflict and violence, how civil wars can come to an end and what kinds of legacies they can leave.
In studying these substantive themes, the course will introduce students to different disciplinary perspectives beyond political science, explore different methodological approaches (quantitative, qualitative, interpretivist) and possible levels of analysis (micro/macro, sub-/cross-national), and examine how these different approaches affect the results of our research.
There may be changes to the syllabus over the course of the term, I would communicate these to students in due time.
[b]Learning Outcomes:[/b] This course aims to introduce students to some of the main concepts, theories, and debates in the study of civil war. It also aims to provide them with the basic analytical skills to develop research projects of their own. At the end of the course, students should be able to
[list]
[*]identify and describe some of the main themes in the study of civil war,
[*]summarize and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of different disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological approaches to the study of civil war,
[*]apply the insights gained from the civil war literature to research projects of their own.
[/list]
[b]Credits Students from the MA on International Studies/Peace and Conflict Studies:[/b] To obtain credits for participation (Beteiligungsnachweis - BN), students are expected to complete the required readings and to actively participate in discussions. They must also provide short response papers (no longer than 1 page) for at least four of the sessions. While response papers are not graded, submission of these response papers is necessary for the obtention of the BN. In their response papers, students are expected to choose and discuss one or two aspects of the readings that they found particularly interesting, challenging, problematic, and to formulate at least one question that they want to be discussed in class. Response papers have to be circulated to both instructor and other participants by Friday, 5pm preceding the seminar via Moodle and may be discussed in class.
To obtain credits for the module (Modulabschlussprüfung - AP), students must -in addition to the above requirements - write a term paper. Term papers should be in English, no longer than 6,000 words and no shorter than 4,500. The paper should address a major question in the study of civil war and include a literature review, theoretical argument, and empirical evaluation of the theory, but alternative formats can be discussed with me. Students are expected to propose potential topics themselves, these proposals will need to be confirmed with me by session 13, in person or via email. Theme papers themselves need to be submitted by September 30th, 2021.
[b]Credits Students from the MA on Governance and Public Policy:[/b] To obtain credits, students are expected to complete the required readings and to actively participate in discussions. They must also provide short response papers (no longer than 1 page) for at least four of the sessions. While response papers are not graded, submission of these response papers is necessary for the obtention of the credits. In their response papers, students are expected to choose and discuss one or two aspects of the readings that they found particularly interesting, challenging, problematic, and to formulate at least one question that they want to be discussed in class. Response papers have to be circulated to both instructor and other participants by Friday, 5pm, preceding the seminar via Moodle and may be discussed in class.
Students from the MA on Governance and Public Policy must -in addition to the above requirements pass an oral exam of 25 minutes at the end of the term.
[b]Grading:[/b] Response papers will not be graded but may be discussed in class. Term papers will be graded in accordance with departmental standards. Usual rules on academic integrity apply. Late submission of papers will lead to grade deductions, except where justified through proper documentation (e.g. medical certification) and agreed with the instructor beforehand, as will excessively long or short papers. Oral exams are similarly graded in accordance with departmental standards.
[b]Requirements[/b]: Students need no prior knowledge of civil war studies. General interest in the topic is enough. The course is article-based and students will need to be able to (critically!) engage with both quantitative and qualitative academic papers. In-class discussions will be conducted in English, response and term papers will also have to be submitted in English.
[b]Course structure:[/b] The course will be held remotely, via Zoom. It will consist of 14 individual sessions, of 90 minutes each. While I will prepare introductory and context slides, the individual sessions will focus on the assigned readings and the questions and comments students have about them. Students are free to ask questions at any time.
[b]Preliminary course outline:[/b]
Block 1: Basic concepts
Session 1 - Introduction
Content/Themes:
Introduction
Organizational and administrative issues for the course
Why study civil wars?
Reading - required:
Pettersson, Therése; Öberg, Magnus (2020): Organized violence, 19892019. In: Journal of Peace Research 57 (4), 597613
Session 2 - Conceptualizing civil war
Content/Themes:
What is civil war? How can we define it?
Is civil war a unique type of conflict? What are the differences and similarities with other forms of political violence?
Should we think of civil war as on a "spectrum of political violence"? If so, where does it fall?
How can we resolve the interaction between civil war and other forms of violence?
Readings - required: (required: 814-831, recommended 832-58)
Charles Tilly (1985): "War Making and State Making as Organized Crime." In Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol, eds. Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 169-191
International Committee of the Red Cross (2008): How is the Term "Armed Conflict" Defined in International Humanitarian Law?, ICRC Opinion Paper at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/opinion-paper-armed-conflict.pdf
Readings - optional:
Session 3 - Studying civil war
Content/Themes:
Kaldor, Mary (2012): New and old wars. 3rd ed., revised. Cambridge: Polity Press, Introduction (1-14) and Afterword (202-221)
Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2001): "New" and "Old" Civil Wars. A Valid Distinction? In: World Politics 54 (1), 99118
What are key methodological and ethical challenges in the study of civil wars? Are some of them specific to the study of civil wars? How can they be overcome?
How can research choices and methods impact our results?
Readings - required:
Cronin-Furman, Kate, & Lake, Milli (2018): Ethics Abroad: Fieldwork in Fragile and Violent Contexts. In: PS: Political Science & Politics 51(3), 607-614
Landman, Todd; Gohdes, Anita (2013): A Matter of Convenience. Challenges of Non-Random Data in Analyzing Human Rights Violations during Conflicts in Peru and Sierra Leone In: Taylor B. Seybolt (Ed.): Counting civilian casualties. An introduction to recording and estimating nonmilitary deaths in conflict. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Studies in strategic peacebuilding), 7792
Fazal, Tanisha M. (2014): Dead Wrong?: Battle Deaths, Military Medicine, and Exaggerated Reports of War's Demise. In: International Security 39 (1), 95125
Readings - optional:
Weidmann, Nils B. (2016): A Closer Look at Reporting Bias in Conflict Event Data. In: American Journal of Political Science 60 (1), 206218
Gohdes, Anita; Price, Megan (2013): First Things First. In: Journal of Conflict Resolution 57 (6), 10901108
Lacina, Bethany; Gleditsch, Nils Petter (2013): The Waning of War is Real. In: Journal of Conflict Resolution 57 (6), 11091127
Sukarieh, Mayssoun; Tannock, Stuart (2019): Subcontracting Academia: Alienation, Exploitation and Disillusionment in the UK Overseas Syrian Refugee Research Industry. In: Antipode 51 (2), 664680
Malejacq, Romain; Mukhopadhyay, Dipali (2016): The Tribal Politics of Field Research: A Reflection on Power and Partiality in 21st-Century Warzones. In: Perspectives on politics. 14 (4), 10111028
Hoffmann, Kasper (2014): Caught between apprehension and comprehension: Dilemmas of immersion in a conflict setting. DIIS Working Paper. Copenhagen (2014:09). Available online under http://hdl.handle.net/10419/148174
Block 2: Drivers of civil war
Session 4 - Causes and onset of civil wars:
Content/Themes:
What causes civil wars? And who is responsible for starting them?
How has the debate about the reasons for civil war outbreak evolved over time?
How have methodological evolutions influenced this debate?
Readings - required:
Cederman, Lars-Erik; Wimmer, Andreas; Min, Brian (2010): Why Do Ethnic Groups Rebel? New Data and Analysis. In: World Politics 62 (1), S. 87119
Lewis, Janet I. (2017): How Does Ethnic Rebellion Start? In: Comparative Political Studies 50 (10), S. 14201450
Readings - optional:
Fearon, James D., Laitin, David D. (2003): Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. In: American Political Science Review 97(1), 7590
Costalli, Stefano; Ruggeri, Andrea (2015): Indignation, Ideologies, and Armed Mobilization: Civil War in Italy, 194345. In: International Security 40 (2), 119157.
Cederman, Lars-Erik; Vogt, Manuel (2017): Dynamics and Logics of Civil War. In: Journal of Conflict Resolution 61 (9), 1992-2012
Chandra, Kanchan; García-Ponce, Omar (2019): Why Ethnic Subaltern-Led Parties Crowd Out Armed Organizations: Explaining Maoist Violence in India. In: World Politics 71 (2), 367416
Posen, Barry R. (1993): The security dilemma and ethnic conflict. In: Survival 35 (1), 2747
Thurber, Ches (2019): Social Ties and the Strategy of Civil Resistance. In: International Studies Quarterly 63 (4), 974-986
Session 5 Sustaining insurgency and counter-insurgency
Content/Themes:
Is there such a thing as politics of armed conflict?
Is mobilization and recruitment in civil war puzzling?
Readings - required:
Kalyvas, Stathis N.; Kocher, Matthew Adam (2007): How "Free" is Free Riding in Civil Wars?: Violence, Insurgency, and the Collective Action Problem. In: World Politics 59 (2), 177216
Parkinson, Sarah Elizabeth (2013): Organizing Rebellion. Rethinking High-Risk Mobilization and Social Networks in War. In: American Political Science Review 107 (3), 418432
Readings - optional:
Bacon, Tricia (2018): Is the Enemy of My Enemy My Friend? In: Security Studies 27 (3), 345378
Berman, Eli; Shapiro, Jacob N.; Felter, Joseph H. (2011): Can Hearts and Minds Be Bought? The Economics of Counterinsurgency in Iraq. In: Journal of Political Economy 119 (4), 766819
Long, Austin (2014): Whack-a-Mole or Coup de Grace? Institutionalization and Leadership Targeting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In: Security Studies 23 (3), 471512
Session 6 - The internationalization of civil war:
Content/Themes:
Are civil wars really domestic wars?
What international or transnational elements can play a role?
Can we still speak about civil wars in cases of external intervention?
Readings - required:
Salehyan, Idean; Siroky, David; Wood, Reed M. (2014): External Rebel Sponsorship and Civilian Abuse: A Principal-Agent Analysis of Wartime Atrocities. In: International Organization 68 (3), 633661
Bakke, Kristin M. (2013): Copying and learning from outsiders? Assessing diffusion from transnational insurgents in the Chechen wars. In: Checkel, Jeffrey T. (Ed.): Transnational dynamics of civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 31-62
Readings - optional:
Autesserre, Séverine (2009): Hobbes and the Congo: Frames, Local Violence, and International Intervention. In: International Organization 63 (2), 249280
Tamm, Henning (2016): Rebel Leaders, Internal Rivals, and External Resources: How State Sponsors Affect Insurgent Cohesion. In: International Studies Quarterly 60 (4), 599610
Hegghammer, Thomas (2013): Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists Choice between Domestic and Foreign Fighting. In: American Political Science Review 107 (1), 1-15
Salehyan, Idean; Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede (2006): Refugees and the Spread of Civil War. In: International Organization 60 (2), 335-366
Block 3: Life in civil war
Session 7 Violence:
Content/Themes:
How is violence used in civil wars? Who uses it? Why?
Who is violence used against?
How does violence affect those exposed to it?
Readings - required:
Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2006): The Logic of Violence in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge studies in comparative politics), 246-329
Baaz, Maria Eriksson; Stern, Maria (2009): Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC). In: International Studies Quarterly 53 (2), 495518
Readings optional:
Balcells, Laia (2010): Rivalry and Revenge: Violence against Civilians in Conventional Civil Wars. In: International Studies Quarterly 54 (2), 291313
Wood, Elisabeth Jean (2009): Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare? In: Politics & Society 37 (1), 131161
Downes, Alexander B. (2007): Draining the Sea by Filling the Graves: Investigating the Effectiveness of Indiscriminate Violence as a Counterinsurgency Strategy. In: Civil Wars 9 (4), 420444
Session 8 Governance:
Content/Themes:
How can civil war reconfigure governance? Who provides governance in civil wars?
What allows governance to take place during war?
Is governance another "battlefield" of civil wars?
Readings - required:
Staniland, Paul (2012): States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders. In: Perspectives on Politics 10 (02), 243264
Revkin, Mara Redlich (2020): What Explains Taxation by Resource-Rich Rebels? Evidence from the Islamic State in Syria. In: The Journal of Politics 82 (2), 757764
Kaplan, Oliver Ross (2013): Protecting civilians in civil war: The institution of the ATCC in Colombia. In: Journal of Peace Research 50 (3), 351-367
Readings - optional:
Kasfir, Nelson; Frerks, Georg; Terpstra, Niels (2017): Introduction: Armed Groups and Multi-layered Governance. In: Civil Wars 19 (3), 257278
Ahram, Ariel I. (2019): Sexual Violence, Competitive State Building, and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In: Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 13 (2), 180196
Arjona, Ana (2016): Rebelocracy. Social order in the Colombian civil war. New York: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge studies in comparative politics), Chapters 3,6
Thakur, Shalaka; Venugopal, Rajesh (2019): Parallel governance and political order in contested territory: Evidence from the Indo-Naga ceasefire. In: Asian Security 15 (3), 285303
Arjona, Ana; Kasfir, Nelson; Mampilly, Zachariah Cherian (2015): Introduction. In: Ana Arjona, Nelson Kasfir und Zachariah Cherian Mampilly (Ed.): Rebel governance in civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 120
Session 9 Identities and communities:
Content/Themes:
How can civil war affect identities, individually and collectively? Is the effect necessarily negative?
How does it impact gender roles?
How does displacement impact communities?
Readings - required:
Hutchinson, Sharon Elaine (1996): Nuer Dilemmas. Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley: University of California Press (A Centennial book), 1-20, 103-157 (required: 103-109, 133-146, recommended for context: 1-20, 109-133, 146-157)
Lupu, Noam; Peisakhin, Leonid (2017): The Legacy of Political Violence across Generations. In: American Journal of Political Science 61 (4), 836851
Gilligan, Michael J.; Pasquale, Benjamin J.; Samii, Cyrus (2014): Civil War and Social Cohesion: Lab-in-the-Field Evidence from Nepal. In: American Journal of Political Science 58 (3), 604619
Readings - optional:
Wood, Elisabeth Jean (2003): Insurgent collective action and civil war in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics). Chapter 3
Pearlman, Wendy (2013): Emotions and the Microfoundations of the Arab Uprisings. In: Perspectives on Politics 11 (2), 387409
Bauer, Michal; Fiala, Nathan; Levely, Ian (2018): Trusting Former Rebels: An Experimental Approach to Understanding Reintegration after Civil War. In: The Economic Journal 128 (613), 17861819
Session 10: Case study the Syrian conflict.
Content/Themes:
Is the ongoing Syrian conflict a civil war? If so, since when?
Is the Syrian conflict unique?
Is the use of violence in Syria paradoxical?
How has the conflict affected governance?
Readings - required:
Abboud, Samer N. (2016): Conflict, Governance, and Decentralized Authority in Syria. In: Martin Beck, Dietrich Jung und Peter Seeberg (Ed.): The Levant in Turmoil. Syria, Palestine, and the Transformation of Middle Eastern Politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan (The Modern Muslim World), 5777.
Phillips, Christopher (2019): Structure, Agency and External Involvement in the Syrian Conflict. In: Shifting Global Politics and the Middle East. Washington DC (POMEPS Studies, 34), 6771
Martínez, José Ciro; Eng, Brent (2018): Stifling stateness: The Assad Regime's Campaign against Rebel Governance. In: Security Dialogue 49 (4), 235253
Block 4: Addressing civil war
Session 11 "Taming" civil war?
Content/Themes:
Can conflict be regulated? If so, by whom?
How does the international community intervene? Should it?
Readings - required:
Sassòli, Bouvier and Quintin, How Does Law Protect in War?, Fundamentals of IHL, Sections A and B, (https://casebook.icrc.org/law/fundamentals-ihl)
Fazal, Tanisha M. (2018): Wars of law. Unintended consequences in the regulation of armed conflict. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1-10, 192-216
Byers, Michael; Chesterman, Simon (2003): Changing the rules about rules? Unilateral humanitarian intervention and the future of international law. In: Holzgrefe, J. L.; Keohane, Robert O. (Ed.) (2003): Humanitarian intervention. Ethical, legal, and political dilemmas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 177-203
Readings - optional:
Luttwak, Edward N. (1999): Give War a Chance. In: Foreign Affairs 78 (4), 3644
Martínez, José Ciro; Eng, Brent (2016): The unintended consequences of emergency food aid. Neutrality, sovereignty and politics in the Syrian civil war, 2012-15. In: International Affairs 92 (1), 153173
Durham, Helen (2008): The Laws of War and Traditional Cultures: A Case Study of the Pacific Region. In: Commonwealth Law Bulletin 34 (4), 833841
Session 12 - Ending civil war:
Content/Themes:
What challenges exist to ending civil war?
How can civil wars end? Who can end them? And why would they?
Readings - required:
Howard, Lise Morjé; Stark, Alexandra (2018): How Civil Wars End: The International System, Norms, and the Role of External Actors. In: International Security 42 (3), 127171
Blair, Robert A.; Karim, Sabrina M.; Morse, Benjamin S. (2019): Establishing the Rule of Law in Weak and War-torn States: Evidence from a Field Experiment with the Liberian National Police. In: American Political Science Review 113 (3), 641657
Duursma, Allard (2020): African Solutions to African Challenges: The Role of Legitimacy in Mediating Civil Wars in Africa. In: International Organization 74 (2), 295330
Readings - optional:
Autesserre, Séverine (2014): Peaceland. Conflict resolution and the everyday politics of international intervention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1-19
Session 13 - After civil war: legacies of conflict.
Content/Themes:
How can civil wars affect post-conflict societies?
What are their chances of reoccurring?
Readings - required:
Matanock, Aila M. (2017): Bullets for Ballots: Electoral Participation Provisions and Enduring Peace after Civil Conflict. In: International Security 41 (4), 93132
Staniland, Paul (2017): Armed politics and the study of intrastate conflict. In: Journal of Peace Research 54 (4), 459467
Lake, Milli (2017): Building the Rule of War: Postconflict Institutions and the Micro-Dynamics of Conflict in Eastern DR Congo. In: International Organization 71 (2), 281315
Readings - optional:
Steele, Abbey; Schubiger, Livia I. (2018): Democracy and civil war: The case of Colombia. In: Conflict Management and Peace Science 35 (6), 587600
Session 14 Beyond civil war: Conclusion/Wrap-Up.
Content/Themes:
What have we learned about civil wars and the study of civil wars?
What can be taken away from these themes and topics beyond civil war studies?
Online-Angebote
moodle
- Lehrende: Anonym
Semester: SoSe 2021