POSC 365 - Just War in Comparative Perspective

Introduce students to a wide variety of ways of thinking about justice and warfare, across time, space, and religion. Using political science–rather than theology or philosophy–as the lens for inquiry emphasizes the role played by political power in the creation and transmission of these systems of value. Beginning with an exploration of the roots of Western Just War thinking in the ancient world (Greece, Rome, and Israel), the course explores traditional just war thinking in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Students delve into source texts, examining the evolution of just war thought in a historical and comparative context, and the course illustrates the ways in which concepts of justice may be contingent on both a society’s religious/ethnical beliefs and its military capabilities. Finally, the course turns to contemporary scholarship to ask, is just war theory still relevant today? Modern just war responses to weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and counter-insurgency warfare provide students the opportunity to apply these ancient theories to the modern world.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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