Time Schedule:
Jonathan M. Acuff
POL S 337
Seattle Campus
Comparative study of collective violence in modern states with emphasis on riots and pogroms. Readings include case materials drawn from Russian pogroms of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Hindu-Muslim riots in modern India, and race riots in the United States and Great Britain. Offered: jointly with JSIS B 337.
Class description
Description This course examines the relationship between various forms of violence and the state. We shall analyze several types of violence, including organized crime, revolution, genocide, and ethnic conflict. We will evaluate the relative effectiveness of several theories that attempt explain the causes of collective violence. In conjunction with the social scientific analysis of collective violence, we will also not lose sight of the necessity of the normative judgment of its perpetrators. Finally, we will explore attempts at preventing or ameliorating societal conflict and the relative merits of each. Several analytical claims and puzzles will be used to better focus our inquiry into the foundations and constitutive features of collective violence. First, we shall examine violent action as a continuum ranging from small sub-state groups to large ethno-national collectivities. Second, we will view conflict within and against such groups as structured by the interaction of both state and non-state organizations. Third, we are interested in variation in both outcomes and means. Specifically, why do some inter- and intra- group conflicts end in violence and others do not? Why are some large-scale social changes effected through largely non-violent means, such as the collapse of the Eastern bloc in 1989, while others occur in the context of massive, violent upheavals, as in the case of the French Revolution? Fourth, who is responsible for acts of collective violence? Are such acts ever justifiable? Why/why not? Finally, if impersonal structures dominate the lives of individuals, can we even speak of individual responsibility? Conversely, if individuals are responsible, which organizations should hold them to account? This course is both analytically and empirically demanding—students are expected to think critically and possess substantive knowledge of the people and events discussed herein. Students who enroll in this course should have completed the introductory courses in political science for the sub-fields of comparative politics and international relations (IR), both of which are offered every quarter. There is no “make-up session” or text that can adequately replace completion of this prior coursework. I will assume knowledge of the theories used in comparative politics and IR. Students who have not taken these classes will not be prepared for the analytical material contained herein.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
In order to do well in this course, students must have completed both POL S 203 and 204 or the equivalent course sequence in the Jackson School.
Class assignments and grading
Required Texts Some of these texts can be expensive. Students are encouraged to shop around online. Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998. ISBN: 0060995068 Jack A. Goldstone (ed.), Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative, and Historical Studies. Wadsworth Publishing, 2002. ISBN: 015506679X Stuart Kaufman, Modern Hatreds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001. ISBN: 0801487366 Barbara Walter and Jack Snyder (eds.), Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0231116276.
Additional assigned readings are available free online via JSTOR or as otherwise specified in the syllabus.
Midterm Exam: 40% Final (cumulative) Exam: 60%
Each exam will consist of short answer and essay questions. A list of possible essay questions will be provided prior to each test. The sample questions will help students both prepare for the exams and force them to evaluate the major issues and ideas raised by the course material. Although it will emphasize material covered since the midterm, the final exam is cumulative. Both exams will evaluate material from the readings not specifically covered in lecture.
