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Bilkent University

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Undergraduate and Graduate Programs 2024-2025


IR 494 Causes and Prevention of War

This course examines the causes and prevention of war. The goal is to discover and assess why interstate and intrastate (civil) wars take place and how to prevent or at least control them. The first part of the course focuses on theoretical aspects of war and in the second part we aim to empirically understand war through the study of various case studies. The two world wars, ethnic cleansing in states such as Rwanda are only a couple of the cases we cover. By the end of the course students will be familiar with basic theories of causes of war and cases associated with them. Finally, an assessment of the possible causes of wars of the future, namely terrorism follows with a focus on possible means to prevent such wars. The course objective is to involve the students in an in-depth examination of war through discussion of extensive readings, class presentations and critical essay writing. Credit units: 3 ECTS Credit units: 5.

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