Pages
Those taking the course for credit can satisfy the requirement for written work in one of two ways: a typical class paper, or, a pair of review essays. The latter requires some explanation. The student will read at least two related books for each of the review essays, for a total of four books. These cannot be the required books on the syllabus.
Suggested Paper and Book Review Topics and Questions
Note: related questions are clustered together. This list is suggestive, not exhaustive. Please suggest alternatives.
- What has been the relative weight of legal, ethical, domestic political, and power political, motives in great power decisions to intervene in civil wars?
- Is Preventive Diplomacy a reasonable policy tool to avoid civil wars, or at least the worst excesses sometimes associated with such wars?
Can the Early Warning problem for civil wars and their humanitarian excesses be solved?
- How did alliance politics affect decisions to intervene?
Are there any systematic differences in the ways that different great powers approach civil wars? Why?
- Which types of military force, and what types of military strategy seem to be most useful for intervention into civil wars?
Is external intervention into civil wars best thought of as a deterrence problem or a coercion problem? Is this a useful distinction?
- How well have states integrated the political and military components of their interventions?
How has the coalition nature of modern interventions affected the conduct or outcome of these interventions?
- What would Cold War and earlier history of great power intervention into civil wars have taught us, had we bothered to examine it in 1990?
- What are the relative merits of neutrality vs. choosing sides for outsiders considering intervention?
- How does domestic politics in the intervener’s society affect decisions to intervene? Is the notion of an “exit strategy” before one intervenes, sound strategy or fatuous nonsense invented to gull skeptics?
- Do civil wars produce more war crimes or violations of international humanitarian law than other kinds of wars? Are they particularly destructive or vicious?
The following topics were discussed during this seminar.
WEEK # | TOPICS |
---|---|
1 | Background and Big Picture |
2 |
Key Interveners and Their Policy Preferences United States and Grand Strategy after the Cold War United States Europe Security Arguments Pro-Intervention Anti-Intervention |
3 |
Theories of Internal Conflicts: Origins, Nature, and Extent Extent of Internal Conflicts Origin of Internal Conflicts
|
4 |
Setting the Agenda: Doctors, Lawyers, and Journalists Early Wanting and Preventive Diplomacy The Role Of The Media The Role of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) International Law Ethics, Morals, and Norms |
5 |
External Intervention and the Use of Force? Deterrence and Coercion Delusions? Tactics Sanctions |
6 |
Political Strategy and Intervention Theories For Success |
7 | Northern Iraq and Somalia |
8 | Rwanda and Darfur |
9 | Balkans |
10 | Iraq |
11 | Libya |
12 and 13 | Student presentations |
Course Overview
This page focuses on the course 17.478 Great Power Military Intervention as it was taught by Professor Roger Petersen and Professor Barry Posen in Fall 2013.
This course examined systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions, and candidate interventions into civil wars from the 1990’s to the present. This course also asked what the experiences of the 1990’s can teach us about similar, but not identical, subsequent interventions and candidate interventions.
Course Outcomes
Course Goals for Students
By taking this course, students should gain a broader overall understanding of broad trends in international politics and globalization. They should also gain a grasp of the interaction between domestic politics and international politics, as well as more nuts and bolts issues of military power projection.
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
- Permission of the instructor
Requirements Satisfied
- H-Level Graduate Credit
- Can be applied toward a Master of Science in Political Science
- Can be applied toward a PhD in Political Science
Student Information
Enrollment
12 students
Typical Student Background
This course is designed for beginning level graduate students as well as advanced undergraduates and others with an interest in or experience with interventions. In addition, several visiting military fellows usually take this course.
How Student Time Was Spent
During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:
Seminar
- Met once a week for 2 hours per session; 13 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
- All students were expected to participate in class, and to complete the readings.
- One or more students per week were asked to make a 10-minute presentation outlining the key issues raised in the reading.
Out of class
- Readings in preparation for class sessions
- One class paper or two review essays
The following books are required reading for this seminar:
Finnemore, Martha. The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs about the Use of Force. Cornell University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780801489594. [Preview with Google Books]
Kuperman, Alan J. The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda. Brookings Institution Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780815700852. [Preview with Google Books]
Petersen, Roger D. Western Intervention in the Balkans: The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780521281263. [Preview with Google Books]
Lyons, Terrence, and Ahmed I. Samatar. Somalia: State Collapse, Multilateral Intervention, and Strategies for Political Reconstruction. Brookings Institution Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780815753513. [Preview with Google Books]
Prunier, Gérard. Darfur: A 21st Century Genocide. 3rd ed. Cornell University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780801475030.
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Grove Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780802144737.
Additional readings for the seminar are featured in the table below.
Week # | TOPICS | READINGS |
---|---|---|
1 | Background and Big Picture |
Finnemore, Martha. The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs about the Use of Force. Cornell University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780801489594. [Preview with Google Books] Heilbrunn, Jacob. “Samantha and Her Subjects.” National Interest 113 (2011): 6–15. Kildron, Lance. “The Libyan Model and Strategy: Why it Won’t Work in Syria.” Journal of Strategic Security 5, no. 4 (2012): 33–50. |
2 | Key Interveners and Their Policy Preferences |
United States and Grand Strategy after the Cold War Krauthammer, Charles. “The Unipolar Moment.” Foreign Affairs 70, no. 1, America and the World 1990/91 (1990–1991): 23–33. Posen, Barry R., and Andrew L. Ross. “Competing Visions for U.S. Grand Strategy.” International Security 21, no. 3 (1996–1997): 5–53. United States Miller, Benjamin. “The Logic of U.S. Military Intervention in the post-Cold War Era.” Contemporary Security Policy 19, no. 3 (1998): 72–109. Daalder, Ivo H. “Knowing When to Say No: The Development of U.S. Policy For Peacekeeping.” Chapter 2 in UN Peacekeeping, American Policy, and the Uncivil Wars of the 1990s. Edited by William J. Durch. Palgrave Macmillan, 1996. ISBN: 9780312160753. Evans, Gareth, Ramesh Thakur, et al. “Correspondence: Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect.” International Security 37, no. 4 (2013): 199–214. Europe Solana, Javier. “A Secure Europe in a Better World.” (PDF) European Council, Thessaloniki, 20/06/2003. Security Arguments Batt, Judy, and Dov Lynch. “What is a ‘Failing State’, and When Is It a Security Threat?” (PDF) EU Institute for Security Studies, 2004. Patrick, Stewart. “Weak States and Global Threats: Fact or Fiction?” Washington Quarterly 29, no. 2 (2006): 27–53. Pro-Intervention Crocker, Chester A. “Engaging Failing States.” Foreign Affairs 82, no. 5 (2003): 32–44. Mallaby, Sebastian. “The Reluctant Imperialist: Terrorism, Failed States, and the Case for American Empire.” Foreign Affairs 81, no. 2 (2002): 2–7. Solarz, Stephen J., and Michael E. O’ Hanlon. “Humanitarian Intervention: When is Force Justified?” Washington Quarterly 20, no. 4 (1997): 2–14. Anti-Intervention Stedman, Stephen John. “The New Interventionists.” Foreign Affairs 72, no. 1, America and the World 1992/93 (1992–1993): 1–16. Mandelbaum, Michael. “Foreign Policy as Social Work.” Foreign Affairs 75, no. 1 (1996): 16–32. Luttwak, Edward N. “The Curse of Inconclusive Intervention.” Chapter 16 in Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Edited by Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781929223275. |
3 | Theories of Internal Conflicts: Origins, Nature, and Extent |
Extent of Internal Conflicts Gleditsch, Nils Petter, Peter Wallensteen, et al. “Armed Conflict 1946-2001: A New Dataset.” Journal of Peace Research 39, no. 5 (2002): 615–37. Harbom, Lotta, Erik Melander, et al. “Dyadic Dimensions of Armed Conflict, 1946–2007.” Journal of Peace Research 45, no. 5 (2008): 697–710. For a portal to the data employed in the preceding articles, and much additional data, see the PRIO Network. Origin of Internal Conflicts – Identity Byman, Daniel, and Stephen Van Evera. “Why They Fight: Hypotheses on the Causes of Contemporary Deadly Conflict.” Security Studies 7, no. 3 (1998): 1–50. Fuller, Graham E. “America’s Uncomfortable Relationship with Nationalism.” (PDF) Stanley Foundation Policy Analysis Brief, July 2006. Origin of Internal Conflicts – Rotten Elites
Valentino, Benjamin. “Final Solutions: The Causes of Mass Killing and Genocide.” Security Studies 9, no. 3 (2000): 1–59. Origin of Internal Conflicts – Anarchy and the Security Dilemma Posen, Barry R. “The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict.” Survival: Global Politcs and Stategy 35, no. 1 (1993): 27–47. Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin. “Ethnicity, Insurgency and Civil War.” American Political Science Review 97, no. 1 (2003): 75–90. Themnér, Lotta, and Peter Wallensteen. “Armed conflict, 1946-2010.” Journal of Peace Research 48, no. 4 (2011): 525–36. |
4 | Setting the Agenda: Doctors, Lawyers, and Journalists |
Early Wanting and Preventive Diplomacy Betts, Richard K. “Surprise Despite Warning: Why Sudden Attacks Succeed.” Political Science Quarterly 95, no. 4 (1980–1981): 551–72. Stedman, Stephen John. “Alchemy for a New World Order: Overselling ‘Preventive Diplomacy’.” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 3 (1995): 14–20. Lund, Michael S. “Underrating Preventive Diplomacy.” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 4 (1995): 160–3. Atwood, J. Brian. “Letters to the Editor: A Thousand Rwandas.” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 5 (1995): 189–91. Stedman, Steven John. “Letters to the Editor: Weird Science.” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 5 (1995): 191. DeMars, William. “Waiting for Early Warning: Humanitarian Action After the Cold War.” Journal of Refugee Studies 8, no. 4 (1995): 390–410. De Waal, Alex, and Larry Minear. “Responses to DeMars.” Journal of Refugee Studies 8, no. 4 (1995): 411–7. Jentleson, Bruce W. “Preventive Diplomacy: A Conceptual Analytical Framework.” Chapter 1 in Opportunities Missed, Opportunities Seized: Preventive Diplomacy in the Post-Cold War World. Edited by Bruce W. Jentleson. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999. ISBN: 9780847685592. [Preview with Google Books] ———. “Preventive Diplomacy: Analytical Conclusions and Policy Lessons.” Chapter 13 in Opportunities Missed, Opportunities Seized: Preventive Diplomacy in the Post-Cold War World. Edited by Bruce W. Jentleson. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999. ISBN: 9780847685592. [Preview with Google Books] The Role Of The Media Strobel, Warren P. “The CNN Effect.” American Journalism Review 18 (1996): 32–4. Livingston, Steven. “Clarifying the CNN Effect: An Examination of Media Effects According to Type of Military Intervention.” (PDF) Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Research Paper R-18, June 1997. Bob, Clifford. “Power, Exchange, and Marketing.” Chapter 2 in The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780521607865. [Preview with Google Books] The Role of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)
International Law Ryniker, Anne. “The ICRC’s position on ‘humanitarian intervention.” Revue Internationale de la Croix-Rouge/International Review of the Red Cross 83, no. 842 (2001): 527–32. Bass, Gary Jonathan. “Introduction.” Chapter 1 in Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals. Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780691092782. ———. “Conclusion.” Chapter 7 in Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals. Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780691092782. Brown, Bartram S. “The Statute of the ICC: Past, Present and Future.” Chapter 4 in The United States and the International Criminal Court: National Security and International Law. Edited by Sarah B. Sewall and Carl Kaysen. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000. ISBN: 9780742501355. [Preview with Google Books] Bellamy, Alex J. “Whither the Responsibility to Protect? Humanitarian Intervention and the 2005 World Summit.” Ethics & International Affairs 20, no. 2 (2006): 143–69. Skim the following so that you are familiar with some of the relevant texts: Roberts, Adam, and Richard Guelff, eds. “1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” Chapter 16 in Documents on the Laws of War. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780198763901. Roberts, Adam, and Richard Guelff, eds. “1977 Geneva Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts.” Chapter 25 in Documents on the Laws of War. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780198763901. Evans, Malcolm D., ed. “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951),” and “Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967).” In Blackstone’s Statutes on International Law Documents. 11th ed. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199678617. [Preview with Google Books] Chapter VI: Pacific Settlement of Disputes, Charter of the United Nations, un.org. Chapter VII: Actions with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression, Charter of the United Nations, un.org. Ethics, Morals, and Norms PP. II, VII-XXI, 69-85 in The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (PDF - 3.78MB). International Development Research Centre, December 2001. |
5 | External Intervention and the Use of Force? |
Deterrence and Coercion Schelling, Thomas C. “The Art of Commitment.” Chapter 2 in Arms and Influence. Revised edition. Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 69–91. ISBN: 9780300143379. Posen, Barry R. “Military Responses to Refugee Disasters.” International Security 21, no. 1 (1996): 72–111. Delusions? Rose, Gideon. “The Exit Strategy Delusion.” Foreign Affairs 77, no. 1 (1998): 56–67. Betts, Richard K. “The Delusion of Impartial Intervention.” Chapter 18 in Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict. Edited by Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781929223275. Tactics Quinlivan, James T. “Force Requirements in Stability Operations.” Parameters 25, no. 4 (1995–1996): 59–69. Byman, Daniel, and Taylor B. Seybolt. “Humanitarian Intervention and Communal Civil Wars: Problems and Alternative Approaches.” Security Studies 13, no. 1 (2003): 33–78. Shafer, D. Michael. “Mao Minus Marx.” Chapter 5 in Deadly Paradigms: The Failure of U.S. Counterinsurgency Policy. Princeton University Press, 1989, pp. 115–32. ISBN: 9780691023090. Record, Jeffrey. “The American Way of War: Cultural Barriers to Successful Counterinsurgency.” (PDF) Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 577, September 1, 2006. Recommended Sanctions
Elliott, Kimberly Ann. “The Sanctions Glass: Half Full or Completely Empty?” International Security 23, no. 1 (1998): 50–65. Bash, Brooks L. “Airpower and Peacekeeping.” Airpower Journal 9, no. 1 (1995): 66. Treacher, Adrian. “A Case of Reinvention: France and Military Intervention in the 1990s.” International Peacekeeping 7, no. 2 (2000): 23–40. Thornton, Rod. “The Role of Peace Support Operations Doctrine in the British Army.” International Peacekeeping 7, no. 2 (2000): 41–62. Cutler, David. “Timeline: Libya’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi,” reuters.com, August 22, 2011. |
6 | Political Strategy and Intervention |
Theories For Success Barnett, Michael. “Building a Republican Peace: Stabilizing States after War.” International Security 30, no. 4 (2006): 87–112. Kaufmann, Chaim. “Possible and Impossible Solutions to Ethnic Civil Wars.” (PDF) International Security 20, no. 4 (1996): 136–75. Walter, Barbara F. “The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement.” International Organization 51, no. 3 (1997): 335–64. Nathan, Laurie, and Monica Duffy Toft. “Correspondence: Civil War Settlements and the Prospects for Peace.” International Security 36, no. 1 (2011): 202–10. Byman, Daniel. “Participatory Systems.” Chapter 6 in Keeping the Peace: Lasting Solutions to Ethnic Conflicts. John Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780801868047. [Preview with Google Books] Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin. “Neotrusteeship and the Problem of Weak States.” International Security 28, no. 4 (2004): 5–43. Herbst, Jeffrey. “Let Them Fail: State Failure in Theory and Practice: Implications for Policy.” Chapter 14 in When States Fail: Causes and Consequences. Edited by Robert I. Rotberg. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780691116723. [Preview with Google Books] Edelstein, David M. “Occupational Hazards: Why Military Occupations Succeed or Fail.” International Security 29, no. 1 (2004): 49–91. Doyle, Michael W., and Nicholas Sambanis. “Theoretical Perspectives.” Chapter 2 in Making War & Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations. Princeton University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780691122755. [Preview with Google Books] Downes, Alexander B., and Jonathan Monten. “Forced to Be Free?: Why Foreign-Imposed Regime Change Rarely Leads to Democratization.” International Security 37, no. 4 (2013): 90–131. |
7 | Northern Iraq and Somalia |
Iraq Weiss, Thomas G. “Northern Iraq, 1991–1996: A Difficult Act to Follow?” Chapter 4 in Military-Civilian Interactions: Intervening in Humanitarian Crises. Edited by Thomas G. Weiss. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999. ISBN: 9780847687466. Freedman, Lawrence, and David Boren. “Safe Havens’ for Kurds in Post-War Iraq.” Chapter 3 in To Loose the Bands of Wickedness: International Intervention in Defence of Human Rights. Edited by Nigel S. Rodley. Brassey’s, 1993. ISBN: 9781857530476. Recommended Rudd, Gordon W. “Operation Provide Comfort: Humanitarian Intervention in Northern Iraq 1991,” Thesis (Ph.D.), Duke University, 1993. Seiple, Chris. “The U.S. Military/NGO Relationship in Humanitarian Interventions.” (PDF) Peacekeeping Institute, Center For Strategic Leadership, U.S. Army War College, 1996. Somalia Western, Jon. “Sources of Humanitarian Intervention: Beliefs, Information, and Advocacy in the U.S. Decisions on Somalia and Bosnia.” International Security 26, no. 4 (2002): 112–42. Hirsch, John L., and Robert B. Oakley. “Reflections.” Chapter 8 in Somalia and Operation Restore Hope: Reflections on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping. United States Institute of Peace Press, 1995. ISBN: 9781878379412. Bolton, John R. “Wrong Turn in Somalia.” Foreign Affairs 73, no. 1 (1994): 56–66. Clarke, Walter, and Jeffrey Herbst. “Somalia and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention.” Foreign Affairs 75, no. 2 (1996): 70–85. Crocker, Chester A. “The Lessons of Somalia: Not Everything Went Wrong.” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 3 (1995): 2–8. Howe, Jonathan T. “The United States and the United Nations in Somalia: The Limits of Involvement.” Washington Quarterly 18, no. 3 (1995): 47–62. Recommended Farrell, Theo. “Sliding into War: The Somalia Imbroglio and US Army Peace Operations Doctrine.” International Peacekeeping 2, no. 2 (1995): 194–214. “Ambush in Mogadishu,” Frontline, pbs.org. Optional viewing asterix50bc. “Ambush in Mogadishu – The Real ‘Black Hawk Down’ story Part 1.” February 8, 2012. YouTube. Accessed January 23, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bw0av9khjw asterix50bc. “Ambush in Mogadishu – The Real ‘Black Hawk Down’ story Part 2.” February 8, 2012. YouTube. Accessed January 23, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgNhEdPm6O0 asterix50bc. “Ambush in Mogadishu – The Real ‘Black Hawk Down’ story Part 3.” February 8, 2012. YouTube. Accessed January 23, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vxloGpRt8 asterix50bc. “Ambush in Mogadishu – The Real ‘Black Hawk Down’ story Part 4.” February 8, 2012. YouTube. Accessed January 23, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNhPM5pp6Z4 |
8 | Rwanda and Darfur |
Rwanda Power, Samantha. “Bystanders to Genocide: Why the United States Let the Rwandan Tragedy Happen.” Atlantic Monthly 288, no. 2 (2001): 84–108. U.S. Policy on Reforming Multilateral Peace Operations (PDF), Presidential Decision Directive/NSC- 25, May 3, 1994. Destexhe, Alain. “The Third Genocide.” Foreign Policy 97 (1994–1995): 3–17. Prunier, Gérard. “The Great Lakes Crisis.” Current History 96, no. 610 (1997): 193–99. Feil, Scott R. Preventing Genocide: How the Early Use of Force Might Have Succeeded in Rwanda. Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1998. Prunier, Gérard. “The Hutu Republic (1959–1990): The Habyarimana Regime.” Chapter 2 in The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. Columbia University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780231104098. [Preview with Google Books] ———. “The Arusha Peace Marathon (June 1992-August 1993).” Chapter 5 in The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. Columbia University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780231104098. McDoom, Omar Shahabudin. “The Psychology of Threat in Intergroup Conflict: Emotions, Rationality, and Opportunity in the Rwandan Genocide.” International Security 37, no. 2 (2012): 119–55. Recommended De Forges, Alison Liebhafsky. Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. Human Rights Watch, 1999. ISBN: 9781564321718. Darfur Prunier, Gérard. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. Cornell University Press, 2007. “From The Editors: Again.” New Republic, May 15, 2006. “From The Editors: Again, Part II.” New Republic, June 19, 2006. Zengerle, Jason. “Student Aid.” New Republic, March 20 & 27, 2006. Rieff, David. “Moral Blindness.” New Republic, June 5 & 12, 2006. Straus, Scott. “Darfur and the Genocide Debate.” Foreign Affairs 84, no. 1 (2005): 123–33. Sandall, Roger. “Can Sudan Be Saved?” Commentary 118, no. 5 (2004): 38–44. Kurth, James. “Humanitarian Intervention After Iraq: Legal Ideals Versus Military Realities.” Orbis 50, no. 1 (2006): 87–101. Kuperman, Alan J. “Strategic Victimhood in Sudan,” New York Times, May 31, 2006. |
9 | Balkans |
Burg, Steven L., and Paul S. Shoup. The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention. M.E. Sharpe, 2000. ISBN: 9781563243097. [Preview with Google Books] Judah, Tim. Kosovo: War and Revenge. 2nd ed. Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780300097252. Independent International Commission on Kosovo. “Executive Summary.” In The Kosovo Report: Conflict, International Response, Lessons Learned. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780199243099. ———. “International Law and Humanitarian Intervention.” In The Kosovo Report: Conflict, International Response, Lessons Learned. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780199243099. Posen, Barry R. “The War for Kosovo: Serbia’s Political-Military Strategy.” International Security 24, no. 4 (2000): 39–84. Roberts, Adam. “NATO’s ‘Humanitarian War’ Over Kosovo.” Survival: Global Politics and Strategy 41, no. 3 (1999): 102–23. Hagen, William W. “The Balkans’ Lethal Nationalisms.” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 4 (1999): 52–64. Mandelbaum, Michael. “A Perfect Failure: NATO’s War Against Yugoslavia.” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 5 (1999): 2–8. Solana, Javier. “NATO’s Success in Kosovo.” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 6 (1999): 114–20. Steinberg, James B. “Response: A Perfect Polemic-Blind to Reality on Kosovo.” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 6 (1999): 128–33. “Kosovo Air Operations: Need to Maintain Alliance Cohesion Resulted in Doctrinal Departures.” (PDF) GAO-01-784, U.S. General Accounting Office, July 2001. “Kosovo/Kosova: As Seen, As Told - An analysis of the human rights findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, October 1998 to June 1999,” pp. 21-30, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, 1999. “Report To Congress: Kosovo/Operation Allied Force After-Action Report.” (PDF - 2.23MB) U.S. Department of Defense, January 31, 2000. |
10 | Iraq |
Fallows, James “Blind into Baghdad,” Atlantic Monthly, January 1, 2004. Diamond, Larry. “What Went Wrong in Iraq.” Foreign Affairs 83, no. 5 (2004): 34–56. Lawson, Chappell, and Strom C. Thacker. “Democracy? In Iraq?” Hoover Digest, July 30, 2003. Dobbins, James. “Who Lost Iraq? Lessons from the Debacle.” Foreign Affairs 86, no. 5 (2007): 61–74. Hendrickson, David C., and Robert W. Tucker. “Revisions in Need of Revising: What Went Wrong in the Iraq War.” Survival: Global Politics and Strategy 47, no. 2 (2005): 7–32. Fearon, James D. “Iraq’s Civil War.” Foreign Affairs 86, no. 2 (2007): 2–15. Posen, Barry R. “Exit Strategy: How to Disengage from Iraq in 18 Months.” Boston Review, January 1, 2006. Pollack, Kenneth M. “The Seven Deadly Sins of Failure in Iraq: A Retrospective Analysis of the Reconstruction.” brookings.edu, December 1, 2006. Biddle, Stephen. “Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon.” Foreign Affairs 85, no. 2 (2006): 2–14. Cole, Juan. “Audit of the Conventional Wisdom: Iraq’s Three Civil Wars.” (PDF) MIT Center for International Studies, January 2008. Simon, Steve. “The Price of the Surge: How U.S. Strategy is Hastening Iraq’s Demise.” Foreign Affairs 87, no. 3 (2008): 57–72, 74-6. |
11 | Libya |
Resolution 1973 (2011), United Nations Security Council, March 17, 2011. Hehir, Aidan. “The Permanence of Inconsistency: Libya, the Security Council, and the Responsibility to Protect.” International Security 38, no. 1 (2013): 137–59. Kuperman, Alan J. “A Model Humanitarian Intervention? Reassessing NATO’s Libya Campaign.” International Security 38, no. 1 (2013): 105–36. Wehry, Frederic. “The hidden story of airpower in Libya (and what it means for Syria),” foreignpolicy.com, February 11, 2013. Schmitt, Eric. “NATO Sees Flaws in Air Campaign Against Qaddafi,” New York Times, April 14, 2012. Walt, Vivienne. “How Did Gaddafi Die? A Year Later, Unanswered Questions and Bad Blood,” Time, October 18, 2012. For background on the military operation visit: NATO and Libya: Operation Unified Protector, February – October 2011, nato.int. Recommended Bell, Anthony, and David Witter.“Executive Summary.” In The Libyan Revolution, Part 1: Roots Of Rebellion. Institute for the Study of War, 2011. ———. “Executive Summary.” In The Libyan Revolution, Part 2: Escalation & Intervention. Institute for the Study of War, 2011. ———. “Executive Summary.” In The Libyan Revolution, Part 3: Stalemate & Siege . Institute for the Study of War, 2011. Bell, Anthony, Spencer Butts, and David Witter. “Executive Summary.” In The Libyan Revolution, Part 4: The Tide Turns. Institute for the Study of War, 2011. |
Course Meeting Times
Seminars: 1 session / week; 2 hours / session
Prerequisite
The permission of the instructors is required to take this seminar.
Course Overview
The primary purpose of this seminar is to examine systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions, and candidate interventions into civil wars from the 1990’s to the present. These civil wars were high on the policy agenda of western states during the 1990’s. Yet, these interventions were usually not motivated by obvious classical vital interests. Given the extraordinary security enjoyed by the great and middle powers of the west in the Cold War’s aftermath, these activities are puzzling. A secondary purpose of the seminar is to ask what the experiences of the 1990’s can teach us about similar, but not identical, subsequent interventions and candidate interventions.
The United States played a significant role in most of the cases. The interventions required the employment of significant military power in actual combat operations, and/or sustained peace enforcement operations, which cost real money. They often resulted in modest casualties for the interveners, and sometimes significant casualties for the objects of their intervention. The interventions were controversial, at least in the United States. These civil wars and the interventions they precipitated required considerable attention from policymakers. They were, in short, not “cheap.”
The interventions to be examined are the 1991 effort to protect the Kurds in N. Iraq; the 1993 effort to ameliorate famine in Somalia; the 1995 effort to end the conflict in Bosnia Herzegovina, the 1999 NATO war to end Serbia’s control of Kosovo, the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the 2011 intervention in Libya. By way of comparison the weak efforts made to slow or stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the murderous conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan will also be examined.
The seminar approaches these interventions with a range of questions:
- What were the broad policy arguments in favor of or opposed to these interventions?
- Who were the principal players arguing for intervention?
- What is known, or believed, about the basic nature of these civil wars—their causes, dynamics, and implications?
- What military strategies have outside powers tried to employ to achieve specific results in these civil wars, and which ones have proven most effective?
- What political strategies have been recommended for the reconstruction of these riven states?
- In each case, do we judge the intervention a success or failure, and how do we explain the success or failure?
These interventions command attention for both theoretical and policy scientific reasons. Theoretically, an examination of these interventions may tell us something about broad trends in international politics. They may shed light on such questions as the nature of “unipolarity,” or the erosion of sovereignty norms. An examination of these interventions is also necessary in light of the September 11 attack. Security related discussions now often focus on the counter terror war. Were the interventions of the 1990’s merely an interlude, while states awaited bigger threats? Or do they tell us something about the future of international politics? From a policy science point of view, these interventions all amounted to “limited wars” for the intervening powers. What do they tell us about how to conduct limited war? What have they taught us about modern conventional military power? What have they taught us about differences among the military organizations and capabilities of the western powers?
Format
This is a seminar. All who show up for class are expected to participate, whether they are taking the course for credit or not. All should do the reading, or the seminar format cannot work. The Professor will serve as discussion leader. Depending on numbers, one or more students per week will be asked to make a ten-minute presentation outlining the key issues raised in the reading. All students taking the course for credit will present some work during the final class meetings of the semester. Auditors working on related projects are also encouraged to present their work during these final meetings.
Evaluation
Those taking the course for credit can satisfy the requirement for written work in one of two ways: a typical class paper, or, a pair of review essays. See the Assignments section for further details.
Readings
The following books are required readings for this seminar.
Finnemore, Martha. The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs about the Use of Force. Cornell University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9780801489594. [Preview with Google Books]
Kuperman, Alan J. The Limits of Humanitarian Intervention: Genocide in Rwanda. Brookings Institution Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780815700852. [Preview with Google Books]
Petersen, Roger D. Western Intervention in the Balkans: The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780521281263. [Preview with Google Books]
Lyons, Terrence, and Ahmed I. Samatar. Somalia: State Collapse, Multilateral Intervention, and Strategies for Political Reconstruction. Brookings Institution Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780815753513. [Preview with Google Books]
Prunier, Gérard. Darfur: A 21st Century Genocide. 3rd ed. Cornell University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780801475030.
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Grove Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780802144737.
For additional readings, see the Readings section.