War and Peace in International Relations

Description du cours

When and why do states go to war with each other? When do they choose to resolve their differences peacefully?

With the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and interstate conflict in the Middle East, these questions have once come to the forefront of academic and popular discussion. War and Peace in IR looks to introduce theories surrounding interstate conflict in conjunction with a day-long geopolitical simulation and case study analysis.

This course is designed to give students an introduction to International Relations from the perspective of interstate conflict. The first half of the course will involve a group conflict/negotiation simulation game. Students will be divided into groups representing fictional nations with ongoing territorial, resource, and legal disputes. Trade, diplomacy, and war are all valid policy options in this scenario as students will have to meet certain objectives unique to their state before the end of the simulation.

Afterwards, students will learn about various theories and frameworks that try to explain interstate conflict. The class will then engage with the Ukraine War as a case study, using their experiences in the simulation and theories to develop a position on why the war started.

This course is structured so that both relative newcomers and students experienced in geopolitical simulation can leave the course having learned something new about international relations and conflict. If you have experience in or have always wanted to try Model United Nations, Model Parliament, or any other kind of simulation exercise, this is the course for you.