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Political Science 343:

The Politics of Domestic Unrest

Jacob Kathman Office Hours: Time & Location:

508 Park Hall T: 3:30 – 4:30 TR: 2:00 – 3:20

kathman@buffalo.edu R: 3:30 – 4:30 Talbert 115

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course examines theories of violent political upheaval, and it assesses the empirical record

of these theoretical approaches. Civil war has become the primary forms of mass organized

violence in the international system. We will therefore seek to understand why civil wars occur,

what consequences are wrought by them, and how the international community may respond in

terms of conflict resolution. Furthermore, we will explore explanations of various phenomena

associated with civil war and severe unrest including political violence, genocide, child

soldiering, and other violent warfare tactics. Thus, we will seek to provide a rationale for

extreme violence and atrocious behaviors that are common during periods of political instability.

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

After completing this course, a student should be able to:

Identify and describe multiple theories used to explain domestic political instability

processes including civil war, genocide and phenomena associated with these issues such

as child soldiering and sexual violence.

Describe the historical contexts of various cases of domestic instability.

Apply theories of domestic instability to various case analyses.

Explain broad empirical patterns across cases of domestic political instability using the

theoretical approaches introduced in the class.

Analyze and assess the means by which issues of domestic instability can be ameliorated

using various tools available to the international community.

COURSE ORGANIZATION: To achieve these objectives, the course is divided into two sections that address relevant issues in

civil unrest. The first section introduces students to foundational concepts and various theories

that aim to explain the outbreak and duration of civil wars. The second section seeks to provide

explanations of the often brutal tactics employed by the combatants in civil conflict.

On many days I will lecture. However, given that this is an upper-level course, I expect these

lectures to be interactive. I will ask several open-ended questions, and I expect participation from

the students. There will also be days set aside that are based on discussion of the readings. These

days will be marked with a capitalized “DISCUSSION” on the course schedule. Similar to the

lectures, you are required to complete the readings for these classes prior to our meeting time so

that you can participate fully.

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GRADE SCALE

A 93-100 B+ 87-89.99 C+ 77-79.99 D+ 67-69.99

A- 90-92.99 B 83-86.99 C 73-76.99 D 60-66.99

B- 80-82.99 C- 70-72.99 F 0-59.99

OUTCOME ASSESSMENT:

Your course grade will be allocated in the following way:

Exams (33% each): There will be two tests. Each test will address the material that came

before it. The final is not cumulative. Your exams will include a combination of multiple

choice and written questions. There will be no excused absences for the exams.

Paper (18%): At some point in the semester, at a time of your choosing, you will write a

four-page (maximum) paper on the DISCUSSION readings. The readings for discussion

days are often controversial. Your job in this paper is to critically assess the reading and

either agree or disagree with the author’s overarching argument. You should include

your opinion of the issue at hand, and your opinion should not be a simple restatement

of the arguments made by the author(s). Your grade will reflect your mastery of the

topic and how convincingly you make your arguments. Refer to the last page of this

syllabus for directions on this paper.

Participation (15%): Interaction is a key to the success of this course. I will assign

participation grades for each student based on performance. Much of the participation

grade will be based on your activity during discussion days, but students who are

particularly engaged in lectures (asking meaningful questions, offering counterarguments,

staying awake, etc.) will benefit from this. Discussion days will be marked by

“DISCUSSION” in the reading list. These sessions will rely upon the readings due for

that day. Do the reading prior to coming to class. While attendance is not mandatory, you

will lose participation points if you are absent in the lectures and discussion sessions.

Note on Cell Phones and Laptops: In past semesters, the number of students who

fiddle with their phones during class has increased. This is a distraction. Yet prior

requests for students to stop texting in class have not limited the practice. Also, while

laptops may indeed be useful for taking notes, they have proved to be too great a

distraction for the students using them and especially for students sitting nearby.

Therefore, I will reduce your Final Grade by a full point on each occasion that I

see you writing a text, checking a received text, or using your laptop for up to a

total of 15 points. So please do not fiddle with your cell phones and laptops in class

or you risk significantly decreasing your final grade.

Learning Outcome Assessment Measure

Identify and describe multiple theories used to explain domestic political

instability processes including civil war, genocide and phenomena

associated with these issues such as child soldiering and sexual violence

Exams 1 & 2, Paper

Describe the historical contexts of various cases of domestic instability Exams 1 & 2, Paper

(subject-specific)

Apply theories of domestic instability to various case analyses Exams 1 & 2, Participation

Explain broad empirical patterns across cases of domestic political

instability using the theoretical approaches introduced in the class

Exams 1 & 2, Paper,

Participation

Analyze and assess the means by which issues of domestic instability can

be ameliorated using tools available to the international community

Exam 2, Participation,

Paper (subject-specific)

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ATTENDANCE: Attendance is not required. However, if you habitually miss class, you should

expect to fail the course. Consider this rule: your participation grade presupposes that you are in

class, actively taking part. If you’re absent, you can’t participate, and your grade will reflect this.

If you have a documented medical emergency, and you are not able to attend class or an

exam, inform me immediately.

Members of UB athletic teams should speak with me within the first two weeks of class if

you will be missing classes during the semester because of team activities.

REQUIRED TEXTS AND OTHER READINGS:

You are not required to purchase books for this class, as all readings will be posted on UB

Learns/Blackboard.

OTHER POLICIES:

Availability: I will be available by email and during office hours. If you have questions that

require a detailed response, I likely will not answer them by email, so you should feel free to

visit me during my office hours.

Disability Service: It is University policy to provide, on a flexible and individual basis,

reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to

participate in course activities or meet course requirements. Students with disabilities, which

have been verified through the Office of Student Disability Services, are encouraged to contact

their instructors to discuss their individual needs for accommodations.

Cheating and Plagiarism: Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty will

not be tolerated and will result in an automatic grade of “F” for the course and possibly further

punitive action. You may find more information about academic dishonesty at: http://undergrad-

catalog.buffalo.edu/policies/course/integrity.shtml

Lecture Schedule and Readings

WEEK 1: Introduction; Conceiving of Civil War 9/1 (Tues)

-Read the course syllabus

-Listen: “What Constitutes a Civil War?” with Nicholas Sambanis

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6549129

9/3 (Thurs) -Collier et. al. 2003. Breaking the Conflict Trap. Forward (ix-xi); Overview (1-10).

WEEK 2: Where Have All the Interstate Wars Gone? 9/8 (Tues) -Samuel Huntington. 1962 (reprinted 2005). “Patterns of Violence in World Politics” in

Conflict after the Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, ed. Richard Betts.

New York: Pearson/Longman: 467-490.

9/10 (Thurs) DISCUSSION: The End of History?

-John Mueller. Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War. Chapter 10:

The Obsolescence of War in the Developed World; Chapter 11: Implications and

Extrapolations.

-Francis Fukyama. 1989 (reprinted in 2005). “The End of History” in Conflict after the

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Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, ed. Richard Betts. New York:

Pearson/Longman: 5-16.

WEEK 3: Poverty & Privilege (Nicaragua) 9/15 (Tues) -Collier et. al. 2003. Breaking the Conflict Trap. Part 1/Chapter 2: “Let Them Fight It Out

Among Themselves?” pp. 11-49.

9/17 (Thurs) -Collier et. al. 2003. Breaking the Conflict Trap. Part 2/Chapter 3: “What Makes a

Country Prone to Civil War?” pp. 51-91.

WEEK 4: Week Canceled – Conference 9/22 (Tues) -Class Canceled – International Peacekeeping Conference

9/24 (Thurs) -Class Canceled – International Peacekeeping Conference

WEEK 5: Natural Resources: A Blessing and a Curse (Lootables) 9/29 (Tues) DISCUSSION: Debt Relief for Poor Countries?

-R. Greenhill, “The Unbreakable Link – Debt Relief and the Millennium Development

Goals,” Report from Jubilee Research at the New Economics Foundation, 2002.

-W. Easterly, “Debt Relief,” Foreign Policy, November/December 2001.

10/1 (Thurs) -Collier et. al. 2003. Breaking the Conflict Trap. Part 2/Chapter 4: “Why is Civil War so

Common?” pp. 93-118.

WEEK 6: Natural Resources: A Blessing & a Curse (Oil) (Uganda) 10/6 (Tues) -Watch: “Blood Diamonds – The True Story”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eThlmx7w9r0

Note: While this program was shown on national television via the BBC, it contains some

images that you may find distasteful. I invite you to begin the program. If you are made

uncomfortable by the program, stop watching, inform me of your unease before the 10/6

class period, and we will make an alternative arrangement.

10/8 (Thurs) -Robert Kaplan, “The Coming Anarchy”, The Atlantic Monthly, 1994.

WEEK 7: Rationalism, the Security Dilemma, & Civil War Duration 10/13 (Tues) DISCUSSION: Are Cultural Rivalries and Ethnic Conflict the Next Great Threat?

-Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations”

-John Bowen, “The Myth of Global Ethnic Conflict”

10/15 (Thurs) -Barbara Walter. 1997. “The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement.” International

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Organization 51(3): 335-364.

WEEK 8: Exam Week 10/20 (Tues) Midterm Exam Review

-Barbara Walter. 2002. “The Breakdown of Rwanda’s Peace Process.” Chapter 7 in

Committing to Peace: The Successful Settlement of Civil Wars. Princeton Univ. Press.

10/22 (Thurs) Midterm Exam

WEEK 9: Genocide I: Theories & Approaches 10/27 (Tues) -Stanley Milgram, “Behavioral Study of Obedience,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology,

1963, 67(4): 371-378.

10/29 (Thurs) DISCUSSION: To Intervene or Not to Intervene?

-R. Johansen, “Will We Do Nothing? Preventing Genocide”, Christian Century, 1996.

-E. Luttwak, “Give War a Chance”, Foreign Affairs, 1999

WEEK 10: Genocide I: Theories & Approaches 11/3 (Tues) -Benjamin Valentino. 2004. Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20

th

Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Chapter 1, pp. 9-29.

11/5 (Thurs) -Scott Feil. 1998. “Preventing Genocide: How the Early Use of Force Might have

Succeeded in Rwanda.” A Report to the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly

Conflict. Carnegie Corporation of New York.

WEEK 11: Genocide II: Rwanda, Sudan, & Intervention 11/10 (Tues) -Alan Kuperman. 2008. “The Moral Hazard of Humanitarian Intervention: Lessons from

the Balkans.” International Studies Quarterly 52(1): 49-80.

11/12 (Thurs) Class Canceled – Peace Science Society International Conference

-Robert Pape. 2003. “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.” American Political

Science Review 97(3): 343-361.

WEEK 12: Insurgency, Terror, & Counter-Insurgency 11/17 (Tues) DISCUSSION: Justifying Torture?

-Bruce Hoffman. 2002. “A Nasty Business.” The Atlantic Monthly (January).

11/19 (Thurs) -Mao Tse-tung. 1961 (reprinted in 2005). “On Guerrilla Warfare” in Conflict after the

Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, ed. Richard Betts. New York:

Pearson/Longman: 457-466.

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WEEK 13: Atrocious Tactics: Child Soldiering 11/24 (Tues) -Jens Christopher Andvig & Scott Gates, “Recruiting Children for Armed Conflict,” from

Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States, Chapter 5, Gates and Reich, 2010.

11/26 (Thurs) No Class. Thanksgiving.

WEEK 14: Atrocious Tactics: Sexual Violence; Peacekeeping 12/1 (Tues) -Elisabeth Jean Wood. 2006. “Variation in Sexual Violence During War.” Politics and

Society 34(3): 307-341.

-Watch: “Congo: Rape as a Tool of War (Part 1)”;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUH8ZhmEyP8&feature=related

-Watch: “Congo: Rape as a Tool of War (Part 2)”;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijtZara2pIA&feature=relmfu

-Watch: "Congo soldiers explain why they rape";

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbZIK9Ce0yM&feature=related

12/3 (Thurs) DISCUSSION: Should the United Nations be Given Stronger Peacekeeping Capabilities?

-Lionel Rosenblatt & Larry Thompson. 1998. From “The Door of Opportunity: Creating a

Permanent Peacekeeping Force.” World Policy Journal.

-John Hillen. April 5, 2000. From Statement Before the Subcommittee on International

Operations, Committee on Foreign Relations, US Senate.

WEEK 15: Peacekeeping & Peacemaking 12/8 (Tues) -Watch: “Scream Bloody Murder”, with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour

Note: I am assigning only certain parts of this program given its length and given the fact

that we’ll be covering some of the material in our lectures. Also, while this program was

shown on national television via CNN, it contains some images that you may find

distasteful. I invite you to begin the program. If you are made uncomfortable by the

program, stop watching, inform me of your unease before the 12/8 class period, and we

will make an alternative arrangement.

Part 1 of 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4vI18HJM2o

Part 2 of 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbMVUoRY6Z0&feature=relmfu

Part 3 of 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=082XRkIKWL8&feature=relmfu

Part 4 of 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCGKV26YXEA

Part 5 of 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL3RGB__5_M

Part 6 of 14: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxXekP_bSs

-Watch: "Somalia: The world’s worst failed state?"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2plSoSQhgo0

12/10 (Thurs) Final Exam Review

-Lotta Themner and Peter Wallensteen. 2012. “Armed Conflicts, 1946-2011.” Journal of

Peace Research 29(4): 565-575.

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Final Exam: 12/15 (Tues): 3:30pm – 6:30pm, Talbert Hall 115

Paper Guidelines: You will write a four-page paper on the readings from one of the DISCUSSION sessions. The

readings for discussion are often controversial. Your job in this paper is to assess the issue and

make an argument for why you either agree or disagree with the author. Focus on the strengths

and/or weaknesses of the author’s argument. You should include your own opinion of the issue

at hand, and your opinion should not be a simple restatement of the author’s arguments. Your

grade will reflect your mastery of the topic and how convincingly you make your arguments.

You should not spend significant time summarizing the author’s argument. Any summary should

only be made when they are critical to the points you wish to contend.

Although it is not required to do outside research, if you wish to show outstanding effort that will

improve your grade, I would recommend doing library research. This will include finding and

referencing other sources. Books and academic journals are valued much more highly than

newspapers and web sources. (Your references should appear both in the text and in a

bibliography at the end of the document; the bibliography will not count toward the page

requirement). If you choose to do outside research, the sources should be used to complement the

argument you make or to contradict the argument made by one or more of the authors.

For evaluation purposes, keep stock of the following:

You will choose the DISCUSSION day on which to write your paper. I would suggest that

you not wait until the end of the course to write your paper. If we run out of DISCUSSION

days and you have not yet written your paper, I will not allow you to write on a prior topic.

There will be no “re-writes,” and you will not be able to write on a second topic if you are

unhappy with your paper grade. Therefore, you should take this paper very seriously. Look

over the syllabus and find a topic that you believe would be interesting to think deeply

about. It would not hurt to do the readings well before your paper is due to be turned in.

Care should be taken to make sure that the paper is polished and well-written.

An electronic copy of your paper must be emailed to me (kathman@buffalo.edu) prior to

the DISCUSSION session for which you have written the paper. I will not accept emailed

papers that are turned in late.

These formatting requirements must be stringently abided by:

o 12pt Times New Roman font; double-spaced; 1 inch margins; page #s on each page

o In-text references must include the author’s last name and the year that the source was

published. If you are referencing a specific piece of text from a source (such as a

verbatim quotation), you should also include the page number in your reference. This

information should be contained within parentheses. For example: (Doe 2007, pp. 11-12).

o There should be a title page. (This will not count toward your four-page requirement).

o If you use outside sources, there should be a bibliography at the end of the paper. (This

will not count toward your four-page requirement). Using any of the major bibliography

style formats will be acceptable.