Conflicts in the 21st Century

1. Course Introduction

2. Theoretical Concepts I

Paul D. Williams, War, [In] Security Studies: an Introduction, 2nd ed., Paul D. Williams (ed.), London & New York: Routledge 2013, pp. 187-205.

John Garnett, The Causes of War and the Conditions of Peace, [In] Strategy in the Contemporary World, 4th ed., John Baylis, James J. Wirtz, Colin S. Gray (eds.), Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press 2013, pp. 19-38.

David Keen, War and Peace: What’s the Difference?, “International Peacekeeping”, Vol. 7, Issue 4 (2000), pp. 1-22.

3. Theoretical Concepts II

Caroline Thomas with Paul D. Williams, Poverty, [In] Security Studies: an Introduction, 2nd ed., Paul D. Williams (ed.), London & New York: Routledge, 2013, pp. 295-311.

Simon Dalby, Climate Change and Environmental Security, [In] Security Studies: an Introduction, 2nd ed., Paul D. Williams (ed.), London & New York: Routledge, 2013, pp. 311-323.

John Arquilla, The end of war as we knew it? Insurgency, counterinsurgency and lessons from the forgotten history of early terror networks, “Third World Quarterly”, Vol. 28, Issue 2 (2007), pp. 369-86.

4. War in Afghanistan

Joanna Spear, Counterinsurgency, [In] Security Studies: an Introduction, 2nd ed., Paul D. Williams (ed.), London & New York: Routledge, 2013, pp. 471-485.

Resignation Letter from US Foreign Service Officer Matthew P. Hoh (October 2, 2014).

Barnett R. Rubin, Negotiations Are the Best Way to End the War in Afghanistan, foreignaffairs.com, Mar. 1, 2019.

India Boland, Women in Afghanistan: The Forgotten Objective, “The SAIS Review of International Affairs”, April 23, 2019.

Movie War Machine (2017) based on the book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan (2012) by Michael Hastings.

5. Global War on Terrorism

Paul Rogers, Terrorism, [In] Security Studies: an Introduction, 2nd ed., Paul D. Williams (ed.), London & New York: Routledge, 2013, pp. 221-234.

Paul R. Pillar, Counterterrorism, [In] Security Studies: an Introduction, 2nd ed., Paul D. Williams (ed.), London & New York: Routledge, 2013, pp. 457-470.

Karen M. Fierke, The ‘War on Terrorism’: A Critical Perspective, “Irish Studies in International Affairs”, January 2005, Vol. 16, pp. 51–64.

Colin Flint and Falah Ghazi-Walid, How the United States Justified its War on Terrorism: Prime Morality and the Construction of a ‘Just War’, “Third World Quarterly”, Vol. 25, Issue 8 (2004), pp. 1379-1399.

Audrey Cronin, The “War on Terrorism”: What Does It Mean to Win? “Journal of Strategic Studies”, Vol. 37, Issue 2 (2014), pp. 174-97.

Leila Nadya Sadat, America's Drone Wars, “Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law”, Vol. 45, Issue 1 (2012), p. 215-234.

James D. Kiras, Irregular Warfare: Terrorism and Insurgency, [In] Strategy in the Contemporary World, 4th ed., John Baylis, James J. Wirtz, Colin S. Gray (eds.), Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press 2013 pp. 173-194.

6. Second Gulf War

John Baylis, Steve Smith and Patricia Owens, The Globalization of World Politics 7e: IR Theory in Practice Case Study: The Iraq War 2003, https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hB0SnTcYclUJ:https://www.oup-arc.com/protected/files/content/file/588f0e64e594eb0f0081c945-1485770369264-baylis7e_case_iraq.pdf+&cd=2&hl=pl&ct=clnk&gl=pl.

Ned Parker, The Iraq We Left Behind, “Foreign Affairs”, Mar/Apr 2012, Vol. 91 Issue 2, pp. 94-110.

Antony Blinken, Morning in Mesopotamia, “Foreign Affairs”, Jul/Aug 2012, Vol. 91, Issue 4, pp. 152-154.

Norman Ricklefs, A Solid State, “Foreign Affairs”. Jul/Aug 2012, Vol. 91 Issue 4, pp. 154-156.

Martin Harrow, The effect of the Iraq war on Islamist terrorism in the West, “Cooperation and Conflict”, Vol. 45, Issue 3 (2010), pp.274–293.

7. Libyan (Civil) War

Ivo H. Daalder, James G. Stavridis, NATO'S Victory in Libya, “Foreign Affairs”, Mar/Apr 2012, Vol. 91, Issue 2, pp. 2-7.

Alan J. Kuperman, Obama's Libya Debacle, “Foreign Affairs”, Mar 2015, Vol. 94 Issue 2, pp. 66-77.

Derek Chollet, Ben Fishman, Alan J. Kuperman, Who Lost Libya?, “Foreign Affairs”, May/Jun 2015, Vol. 94 Issue 3, pp. 154-159.

Elisabeth Johansson-Nogués, Gendering the Arab Spring? Rights and (In)security of Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan Women, “Security Dialogue”, October 2013, Vol. 44, Issue 5–6, pp. 393–409.

8. Syrian (Civil) War and ISIS

Audrey Kurth Cronin, ISIS Is Not a Terrorist Group, “Foreign Affairs”, Mar 2015, Vol. 94 Issue 2, pp. 87-98.

Stephen M. Walt, ISIS as Revolutionary State, “Foreign Affairs”, Nov/Dec 2015, Vol. 94 Issue 6, pp. 42-51.

Daniel Byman, ISIS Goes Global, “Foreign Affairs”, Mar/Apr 2016, Vol. 95 Issue 2, pp. 76-85.

Graeme Wood, True Believers: How ISIS Made Jihad Religious Again, “Foreign Affairs”, Sep/Oct 2017, Vol. 96 Issue 5, pp. 136-141.

John Mueller, Getting Real on the Terrorism Threat to the United States, “War on the Rocks”, August 23, 2016, http://warontherocks.com/2016/08/getting-real-on-the-terrorism-threat-to-the-united-states/.

9. Ukraine Conflict

Tor Bukkvoll, Why Putin went to war: ideology, interests and decision-making in the Russian use of force in Crimea and Donbas, “Contemporary Politics”, Vol. 22 Issue 3, (2016), pp.267–282.

John J. Mearsheimer, Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West's Fault, “Foreign Affairs”, Sep/Oct2014, Vol.93 Issue 5, pp. 77-89.

Daniel Treisman, Why Putin took Crimea: the gambler in the Kremlin, “Foreign Affairs”, May/Jun 2016, Vol. 95 Issue 3, pp. 47–54.

Michael McFaul, Moscow's Choice, “Foreign Affairs”, Nov/Dec 2014, Vol. 93 Issue 6, pp. 167-171.

Damian Strycharz, Dominant Narratives, External Shocks, and the Russian Annexation of Crimea, “Problems of Post-Communism”, Sep 2020, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10758216.2020.1813594.

10. China-US Competition

John J. Mearsheimer, The Gathering Storm: China’s Challenge to US Power in Asia, “The Chinese Journal of International Politics”, Vol. 3, Issue 4 (2010), pp. 381–396 or [longer] John J. Mearsheimer, Can China Rise Peacefully?, nationalinterest.org, Oct. 25, 2014 (chapter from John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of the Great Power Politics, New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2014).

Chengxin, Pan, The "China Threat" in American Self-Imagination: The Discursive Construction of Other as Power Politics, “Alternatives: Global, Local, Political”, Vol. 29, Issue 3 (2004), pp. 305-331.

Zbigniew Brzezinski and John J. Mearsheimer, Clash of the Titans, “Foreign Policy”, Issue 146 (2005), http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/22/clash-of-the-titans/.

Randall Schweller, Opposite but Compatible Nationalisms: A Neoclassical Realist Approach to the Future of US–China Relations, “The Chinese Journal of International Politics”, Vol. 11, Issue 1 (2018), pp. 23–48.

See more on Debating China-US Strategic Competition at the Chinese Journal of International Politics: https://academic.oup.com/cjip//pages/debating_china-us_strategic_competition

Security Studies: an Introduction, Paul D. Williams (ed.), 2nd ed., London & New York: Routledge 2013.

Strategy in the Contemporary World, 4th ed., John Baylis, James J. Wirtz, Colin S. Gray (eds.), Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press 2013

Conflict After the Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, Richard K. Betts (ed.), New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2017.

Seth G. Jones, Waging Insurgent Warfare: Lessons from the Vietcong to the Islamic State, New York: Oxford University Press 2017.

Lawrence Freedman, The Future of War: a History, New York: Public Affairs 2017.

Philippe Le Billon, Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources, Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press 2013.

Max Boot, Invisible Armies: an Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present, New York: Liveright Pub. Corp. 2013.

Hew Strachan, The Direction of War: Contemporary Strategy in Historical Perspective, Cambridge, United Kingdom; New York: Cambridge University Press 2014.

Mary Kaldor, New & Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era, 3rd ed., Stanford, California: Stanford University Press 2012.

The Sage Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Gus Martin (ed.), 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications 2011.