Political Violence
Professor Scott Straus
Political Science 948
Spring 2018
422 North Hall, Ogg Room, Mondays 10am-12pm
Office: 110 North Hall
Office Hours: Mondays 12:30-2:00 and by appointment
Email:
Phone: 263-1894
Course Description
Although violence is an ancient social phenomenon, the study of violence is increasingly common in political science and related disciplines. Within the past 15 years, an exciting field of study has emerged, bringing together experienced and newer scholars alike and researchers with diverse regional interests and methodological approaches. This course is designed to introduce students to core debates and to cutting edge research in the emerging field. The central questions asked during the course include: What is violence? Are different types of violence—such as civil war, terrorism, ethnic violence, and genocide—meaningfully studied together? What are the key research questions that have been identified in the emerging area of study and what questions deserve more attention? What are the differences in terms of methodological approach, theoretical arguments, and empirical findings when violence is studied at the macro-level versus the micro-level? What are the relative roles that core variables such as states, economies, ethnicity, and ideology should play in explaining the phenomenon of political violence? Is political violence inherently dynamic and an endogenous process? Are there any cumulative empirical findings emerging from this field? And how should researchers evaluate competing hypotheses? Research design and the problemof linking theory to evidence will be of particular concern. The course should appeal to students in both the comparative politics and international relations subfields as well as to students in other disciplines and/orwith regional interests in Africa, Europe, Latin America, and South Asia.
Course Requirements
Final Papers
Each student will be required to write a final paper, which should be an original research article (25-30 double-spaced pages in length). The subject of the paper must relate in some fashion to the subject of violence. I would accept a review essay but prefer a research paper that could be developed into a publication.
Gaps-in-Literature Papers
During the course of the semester, each student must write twoshort papers that revolve around some subset of the reading assignments. I call these “gaps in literature” papers in that each paper should identify a hole or problem in the existing literature. By that, I mean that students should isolate some unaddressed question, some blindspot, some unmeasured or undemonstrated assumption, some significant contradiction, or some methodological flaw in the existing literature. Students are encouraged to present their findings in tabular form or in some other systematic fashion that illustrates similarities and differences across texts. The papers should be about 2000 words in length.
Weekly Questions
Instead of weekly reaction papers, each week students should isolate at least two questions or concerns that they would like to discuss during the weekly seminar. Students should send the list of questions and concerns to the classlist by 9 pm Sunday, the day before the seminar meets.
Seminar Participation
Each student is expected to attend and participate in every seminar.
Grading
Final paper: 40%
Seminar Participation: 40%
Gaps-in-Literature Papers: 20%
Credit Hours
The course is worth three credits. I expect you to attend and participate actively in the seminar for 120 minutes each week, as well as spend eight hours on average per week on the reading, writing, and research components of the class.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Ana Arjona, Rebelocracy: Social Order in the Colombian Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
LaiaBalcells, Rivalry and Revenge: The Politics of Violence during Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
StathisKalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Benjamin Lessing, Making Peace n Drug Wars: Crackdowns and Cartels in Latin America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Philip Roessler, Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa: The Logic of the Coup-Civil War Trap (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Scott Straus, The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006).[I will supply]
Please purchase the books at your bookseller of choice. All articles and book chapters other than the books listed above will be available at the course website onlearn@UW.
January 29: Course Introduction and Concepts of Violence
Edward Ball, “United States v. DylannRoof,” New York Review of Books, March 9, 2017, pp. 4-8, available here
Nicholas Barnes, “Criminal Politics: An Integrated Approach to the Study of Organized Crime, Politics, and Violence,” Perspectives on Politics 15:4 (2017), pp. 967-987.
Youssef Cohen, Brian Brown, and A.F.K. Organski, “The Paradoxical Nature of State Making: The Violent Creation of Order,” American Political Science Review 75:4 (1981), pp. 901-910.
Johan Galtung, “Violence, Peace, and Peace Research,” Journal of Peace Research 6:3 (1969), pp. 167-191.
Francisco Guitiérrez-Sanín and Elisabeth Jean Wood, “What Should We Mean by a ‘Pattern of Political Violence’? Repertoire, Targeting, Frequency, and Technique,” Perspectives on Politics 15:1 (2017), pp. 20-41.
StathisKalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 1-31.
Max Weber, “Politics as a Vocation,” excerpt reprinted from Catherine Besteman, Violence: A Reader (New York: New York University Press, 2002), pp. 13-18.
RECOMMENDED
Nicholas Sambanis, “What Is Civil War? Conceptual and Empirical Complexities of an Operational Definition,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 48:6 (2004), pp. 814-858.
February 5: Logics of Violence
Bernd Beber and Christopher Blattman, “The Logic of Child Soldiering and Coercion,” International Organization 67:1 (2013), pp. 65-104.
StathisKalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 146-209.
StathisKalyvas, “The Ontology of Political Violence,” Perspectives on Politics 1:3 (2003), pp. 475-494.
Robert Pape, “The Strategic Logic of Suicide Bombing,” American Political Science Review 97:3 (2003), pp. 343-361.
Thomas Schelling, Arms and Influence (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966), pp. 1-34.
Paul Staniland, “States, Insurgents, and Wartime Political Orders,” Perspectives on Politics 10:2 (2012), pp. 243-264.
Scott Straus, Making and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015), Chapter 1.
Benjamin Valentino, “Why We Kill: The Political Science of Political Violence against Civilians,” Annual Review of Political Science17 (2014), pp. 89-103.
Steven Wilkinson, Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 1-18.
RECOMMENDED
Have a look at Lessing’s book, Chapter 3
February 12: Dynamics of Violence
FotiniChristia, Alliance Formation in Civil Wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012), Chapter 2
Randall Collins, Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), pp. 37-136, SKIM 1-35.
Nils Hagerdal, “Ethnic Cleansing and the Politics of Restraint: Violence and Coexistence in the Lebanese Civil War,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Advance Access 2017.
StathisKalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 87-145.
Roger Petersen, Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 1-79.
Scott Straus, The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006), chapter 3.
Monica Duffy Toft and Yuri Zhukov, “Islamists and Nationalists: Rebel Motivation and Counterinsurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus,” American Political Science Review 109:2 (2015), pp. 222-238.
Barbara Walter, “The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement,” International Organization 51:3 (1997), pp. 335-364.
RECOMMENDED
Barry Posen, “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict,” Survival 35:1 (1993), pp. 27-47.
February 19: Macro-Level Determinants of Violence I: States, Economies, and Tactics
RikhilBhavnani and Bethany Lacina, Nativism and Economic Integration across the Developing World: Collision and Accommodation, Book Manuscript, 2018, read as much as you can but focus on Chapters 1 and 4.
Paul Collier and AnkeHoeffler, “Greed and Grievance in Civil War,”Oxford Economic Papers 56:4 (2004):563-595.
James Fearon and David Laitin, “Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War,” American Political Science Review 97:1 (2003), pp. 75-90.
Paige Fortna, “Do Terrorists Win? Rebels’ Use of Terrorism and Civil War Outcomes,” International Organization 69 (2015), pp. 519-556.
Edward Miguel, ShankerSatyanath, and Ernest Sergenti, “Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variables Approach,” Journal of Political Economy 112: 4 (2004), pp. 725-753 and 2011 update in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.
Michael Ross, “How Does Natural Resource Wealth Influence Civil War?” International Organization 58 (2004), pp. 35-67.
Benjamin Valentino, Paul Huth, Dylan Bach-Lindsay, “’Draining the Sea,’: Mass Killing and Guerrilla Warfare,” International Organization 58 (2004), pp. 375-407..
RECOMMENDED: Christopher Blattman and Edward Miguel, “Civil War,” Journal of Economic Literature 48:1 (2010), pp. 3-57.
February 26: Macro-Level Determinants (and Dynamics) of Violence II: Ethnicity, Exclusion, and Ideology
Lars-Erik Cederman, Brian Min and Andreas Wimmer. "Why do ethnic groups rebel? New data and analysis," World Politics 62:1 (2010), pp. 87-119.
Lars-Erik Cederman, Kristian SkredeGleditsch, and HalvardBuhaug, Inequality, Grievances, and Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013), pp. 1-53.
Francisco Gutierrez Sanin and Elisabeth Jean Wood, “Ideology in Civil War: Instrumental Adoption and Beyond,” Journal of Peace Research 51: 2 (2014), pp. 213-226.
StathisKalyvas, “Ethnic Defection in Civil War,” Comparative Political Studies 41:8 (2008), pp. 1043-1068.
Roger Petersen, Understanding Ethnic Violence: Fear, Hatred, and Resentment in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 17-39.
Max Bergholz, “Sudden Nationhood: The Microdynamics of Intercommunal Relations in Bosnia-Herzegovina after World War II,”American Historical Review 118:3, pp. 679-707.
March 5: Micro-and Meso-LevelDeterminants (and Dynamics) of Violence: Localities, Groups, and Individuals
Dora Costa and Matthew Kahn, Heroes and Cowards: The Social Face of War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), pp. 1-119 SKIM.
Thomas Hegghammer, “Should I Stay or Should I Go? Explaining Variation in Western Jihadists’ Choice between Domestic and Foreign Fighting,” American Political Science Review 107:1 (2013), pp. 1-15.
Macartan Humphreys and Jeremy Weinstein, "Who Fights? The Determinants of Participation in Civil War," American Journal of Political Science 52:2 (2008), pp. 436-455.
Jason Lyall, "Are Coethnics More Effective Counterinsurgents? Evidence from the Chechen War," American Political Science Review 104:1 (2010), pp. 1-20.
Sarah Parkinson, “Organizing Rebellion: Rethinking High-Risk Mobilization and Social Networks in War.” American Political Science Review 107:3 (2013), pp. 418–32.
Jana Krause, “Non-Violence and Civilian Agency in Communal War: Evidence from Jos, Nigeria,” African Affairs 116:463 (2017): 261-283.
Robert Braun, “Religious Minorities and Resistance to Genocide: The Collective Rescue of Jews in the Netherlands during the Holocaust,” American Political Science Review 110:1 (2016), 127-147.
FarhadKhosrokhavar, Radicalization Why Some People Choose the Path of Violence trans. by Jane Marie Todd (New York: The New Press, 2017), pp. 1-22.
RECOMMENDED
Jan Pierskalla and Florian Hollenbach, “Technology and Collective Action: The Effect of Cell Phone Coverage on Political Violence in Africa,” American Political Science Review 107:2 (2013), pp. 207-224.
Corinna Jentzsch. Militias in Mozambique. Working Paper.
March 12: Civil War Dynamics in Greece
StathisKalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), review previously read chapters and finish remainder of the book.
Elisabeth Jean Wood, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), Chapter 1, 7, and 8.
***FIRST GAP IN LITERATURE PAPER DUE NO LATER THAN 3/12***
March 19: Violence in the Spanish Civil War and Beyond
LaiaBalcells, Rivalry and Revenge: The Politics of Violence during Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Jessica Stanton, Violence and Restraint in Civil War: Civilian Targeting in the Shadow of International Law (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016), chapter 1.
April 2: Insurgent Dynamics in Colombia and Beyond
Ana Arjona, Rebelocracy: Social Order in the Colombian Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Dara Kay Cohen, Rape in Civil War (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2016), Introduction and chapter 1.
April 9: Criminal and State Politics in Latin America
Benjamin Lessing, Making Peace n Drug Wars: Crackdowns and Cartels in Latin America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
***SECOND GAP IN LITERATURE PAPER DUE SOMETIME BEFORE 4/9***
April 16: Coup-Proofing and Civil Wars in Africa
Philip Roessler, Ethnic Politics and State Power in Africa: The Logic of the Coup-Civil War Trap (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Recommended:
Philip Roessler and Harry Verhoeven, Why Comrades Go to War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).
April 23: IF YOU WISH Genocide in Rwanda
Scott Straus, The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006).
Lee Ann Fujii, Killing Neighbors: Webs of Violence in Rwanda (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009), Chapter 5.
Philip Verwimp, “An Economic Profile of Peasant Perpetrators of Genocide, Journal of Development Economics 77 (2005), pp. 297-323.
April 30: Research Consultations
Papers due May 8 by 5 pm