War and Peace in International Relations 2104-ERASMUS-WPIR
1. Armed conflicts: introductory issues (concepts, main categories, typologies and classifications)
Armed conflicts - main definitions, typologies and classifications (incl. factors constituting armed conflict, question of "level of intensity of violence", inter- vs. intra vs. intra-national internationalised conflicts, issue of one-sided violence, conflicts and interventions).
2.Old and New Wars
- Traditional (Clausewitzian) vision of armed conflicts. XX century wars – “the Old wars” - geopolitics, totality of wars, Cold War and its implications
- "New wars" theories (M. Kaldor, H. Muenkler) – sources of conflicts, main characteristics, limitations and strengths of the concept
3. Revolution in military affairs (RMA) - impact of technology on contemporary conflicts
Technology and war – RMA (sources, idea, forms and dimensions) and its implications (impact on strategies and methods of conflict)
4. Interventions - specificity, motives, forms, challenges
Interventions - specificity in relation to traditional armed conflicts, sources and forms, conduct - concepts of risk-transfer war (M. Shaw) and war amongst the people (R. Smith)
5. Insurgencies and counterinsurgencies. Privatisation of warfare
Insurgencies na dcounterinsurgencies - specificity of such military campaigns, sources of relevance in contemporary world, forms and strategies, humanitarian and international aspects.
Privatisations of violence (incl. Privat Military Companies)
Genesis of the phenomenon, sources of contemporary (post-Cold War), main forms and categories, main characteristics, legal, economic, political and social implications
6. War, Peace and Law - Ius ad bellum or contra bellum? Does a right to conduct a war exist? In what way a peace is established?
" Legal definitions of war and peace
" Legal framework of use of force - UN Charter
" Different types of aggression
" Armed attack and aggression
" Peacemaking tools
7. War, Peace and Law - Ius in Bello or Human Rights? How a warfare can be conducted?
" Targeting in armed conflicts and during a peace
" Main differences between International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law
" Lawful targets
" Protected persons and objects
8. War, Peace and Justice - reconciliation after war
" Concept of international crimes
" Different types of responsibility.
" Different institutions dealing with state and individual responsibility
9. War, Peace and Justice - reconciliation after war. International crimes and responsibility. Case study of World War II. Over 70 years after WW II, do we have still problems to be solved?
" Crimes not judged
" Reparations - state and individual claims
" Non-judicial forms of reconciliation
" Impact of time on reconciliation
10. War, Peace and Justice - a role of the International Criminal Court in prevention of wars and ensuring security
" Relation between the ICC and Security Council
" Criminalization of aggression
" Criminalization of other international crimes and its impact on peace processes
" Current proceedings before the ICC
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Has knowledge and a critical understanding of theoretical concepts and theories concerning contemporary armed conflict.
- Has skills to conceptualise, interpret and critically analyse contemporary armed conflicts, including humanitarian interventions; to interpret and analyse data concerning a certain armed conflict; has the ability to formulate independent views on armed conlifcts
- Has developed open, impartial attitude to discussion on armed conflicts, aseessment of their legal framework, consequences and humanitarian aspects
as knowledge about legal frameworks of use of force, conduct of hostilities, international crimes
- indicates lawful targets and protected persons and objects
- is able to discuss relation between peace and justice
- indicates main institution of international justice
(K_W01; K_W02; K_W03; K_W04; K_W05; K_U01; K_U02; K-K01)
Assessment criteria
final assessment: written exam test (multiple choice and open questions)
Practical placement
none
Bibliography
Political aspects:
- M. Kaldor, New and Old Wars. Organised Violence in the Global Era, Polity:Cambridge-Malden 1998, 2006, 2012
- M. Shaw, The New Western way of War, Polity: Cambridge-Malden 2005
- R. Smith, The Utility of Force. The Art of War in the Modern War, Vintage: New York 2008
- P. Singer, Corporate Warriors. The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Cornell UP: New York 2003, 2008
- M. van Creveld, The Transformation of War, Free Press: New York 1991.
- J. Baylis (et.al), Strategy in the contemporary world OUP: Oxford, 2007
- M. Boot, War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today, Gotham Books: New York 2006
- M. D. Cavelty, V. Mauer, The Routledge Handbook of Security Studies, Routledge:2010,
- SIPRI, SIPRI Yearbooks (various editions),
- HIIK, Conflict barometer (various editions),
Arendt, Hannah, Eichmann in Jerusalem — A Report on the Banality of Evil, (USA:
Penguin, 2006)
Brody, Reed, Bringing a Dictator to Justice: The Case of Hissène Habré, Journal of InternationalCriminal Justice, Vol.13, Iss.2, (2015)
Drumbl, Mark A., Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law, (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007
Grzebyk Patrycja, Criminal Responsibility for the Crime of Aggression (Rutledge 2013)
Schabas, William A., Unimaginable Atrocities – Justice, Politics, and Rights at the WarCrimes Tribunals, (UK: Oxford University Press, 2012)
Schabas, William A., An Introduction to the International Criminal Court, Third Edition, (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: