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These courses focus at an advance level on a particular issue, concept, problem or question in international relations. In the fall semester 2009, the course offered will be:
PSC 374 Topics: International Relations
Militaries as Political Actors
In this course we examine one of the worlds’ oldest political institutions: militaries. A person would be hard pressed to identify a more powerful and important entity in world politics. Armed forces are created primarily to defend states and their interests against other states and threatening actors. However, they can also play an important role in the domestic political affairs of the states that they are created to defend. In a substantive sense, the purpose of this course is to improve student’s understanding of military actors and the various ways in which they are related to both international and domestic politics. Because an all-encompassing treatment of military affairs is impossible within the context of a single semester, this course will emphasize the role played by people (soldiers, officers and their civilian leaders) rather than machines (tanks, artillery pieces, small arms, etc.). We will study the nature and uses of war, civil-military relations, military actors in interstate relations and domestic politics, and current issues related to military affairs.
Prerequisite: Political Science 242 and consent of the instructor.
Credits: 1
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