War, Strategy, Democracy, and Politics

MPP 643

(3 units)

This course examines the strategic, material, and moral issues that democracies must address in waging war, from a theoretical and comparative historical perspective. This course strives to provide a foundation for understanding the perennial themes of war between open and closed societies. The case studies will illuminate the dilemmas, continuities, and discontinuities that democracies encounter in waging wars with closed societies, from the Peloponnesian War to the US war on terror. The objective of the course is not to provide answers, but to instill an appreciation and comprehension of one of the most fundamental and enduring responsibilities of any democratic statesmen: the role of commander in chief.