POL6606   International Political Sociology of Civil Wars   (30 credits)

Description

Based on contemporary approaches to International Relations and Political Sociology, this module will introduce students to the politics of civil war, the dominant form of armed conflict today. The module will open with an overview of international conflict trends and the debate on the 'new' versus 'old' nature of present-day wars. The second part will focus on structural determinants of the cross-national and sub-national variation in civil wars. The remainder will explore the micro-level foundations of fighting, from the 'greed' versus 'grievance' and 'opportunity' versus 'motivation' debates, to the complex interaction of rationalist and constructivist mechanisms of mobilization and recruitment.

Reading List