17.478
Great Power Military Intervention
Examines systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions, and candidate military interventions, into civil wars since 1991. These civil wars did not easily fit into the traditional category of vital interest. These interventions may therefore tell us something about broad trends in international politics including the nature of unipolarity, the erosion of sovereignty, the security implications of globalization, and the nature of modern western military power.
Fall 2013
Topics
- Background and Big Picture
- Northern Iraq and Somalia
- Rwanda and Darfur
- Balkans
- Iraq
- Libya
- Student presentations
Readings
- 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.
- United States and Grand Strategy after the Cold War
- United States
- 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.
- Security Arguments
- Pro-Intervention
- Anti-Intervention
- 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.
- Extent of Internal Conflicts
- Origin of Internal Conflicts – Identity
- Origin of Internal Conflicts – Rotten Elites
- Origin of Internal Conflicts – Anarchy and the Security Dilemma
- Early Wanting and Preventive Diplomacy
- Stedman, Steven John. “Letters to the Editor: Weird Science.” Foreign Affairs 74, no. 5 (1995): 191.
- The Role Of The Media
- The Role of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)
- International Law
- 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.
- 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.
- Ethics, Morals, and Norms
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Theories For Success
- 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.
- 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.
- Optional viewing
- Feil, Scott R. Preventing Genocide: How the Early Use of Force Might Have Succeeded in Rwanda . Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1998.
- ———. “The Arusha Peace Marathon (June 1992-August 1993).” Chapter 5 in The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide . Columbia University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780231104098.
- De Forges, Alison Liebhafsky. Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda . Human Rights Watch, 1999. ISBN: 9781564321718.
- Prunier, Gérard. Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide . Cornell University Press, 2007.
- Rieff, David. “Moral Blindness.” New Republic , June 5 & 12, 2006.
- 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.
- Resolution 1973 (2011), United Nations Security Council, March 17, 2011.
- For background on the military operation visit:
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2013
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.