STV9220 - The strategic use of force: Past, present, future
Course content
The Syria Conflict has raised many fundamental questions about the future of the use of force – legal as well as moral and political: Why did not the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) and human security trump claims of national sovereignty in the Syria case, when precedence could be found in the Kosovo Conflict and the Libya Conflict? How can the hesitation of the Western Powers – in particular France, the UK, and the US – to intervene in Syria be explained? Did the era of “interventionism” and the concept of a “new world order” based on liberal democracy and the rule of law end with the Syria conflict?
The academic study of the use of force for political purposes is relatively scant. There are lots of studies focusing on strategy, military operations, and military doctrines respectively, but very few focusing on the totality of the use of force. Why and when do states use force? How and where do they use force? And what are they learning after they have used force? These questions are extremely important to elaborate on, since the use of force in principal is the states last resort after all other means – such as diplomatic, economic, and political – have been exhausted. If force is not used strategically, i.e. rational and thoughtful, it could lead to disaster. Using force without having a strategy can even be seen as criminal. As Richard Betts expresses is:
Strategy is the essential ingredient for making war either politically effective or morally tenable. It is the link between military means and political ends, the scheme for how to make one produce the other. Without strategy, there is no rationale for how force will achieve purposes worth the price in blood and treasure. Without strategy, power is a loose cannon and war is mindless. Mindless killing can only be criminal. Politicians and soldiers may debate which strategic choice is best, but only pacifists can doubt that strategy is necessary. (Betts, 2000, p. 5, our emphasis)
Learning outcome
The aim of the course is to scrutinize the use of force as a phenomenon, in the past, in the present, and in the future. The course will have four themes: The use of force in the past, the concept of strategy, present experiences of the use of force, and the future use of force.
Admission
For PhD students writing dissertations on different aspects of the use of force, the course will be quite useful. The course will also be open to selected and invited specialists who are not in a PhD study program, such as military officers, and officials working in defence and foreign ministries. This will ensure a fruitful interaction between academics and practitioners. The course will have renowned international scholars as guest lecturers.
PhD candidates at UiO: Apply for the course in StudentWeb.
Other candidates: Application form
Application deadline: 1 June 2014
If you have questions regarding admission, please contact Guro Schmidt Øvregard
Teaching
Time: 23 - 27 June 2014
Place: Room 830, Eilert Sundts hus, University of Oslo
The required literature, approximately 900 pages, will be discussed explicitly at the seminars (see the schedule for detailed information). It is therefore very important for the quality of the discussions on the seminars that this literature is read by the students beforehand.
Since it is a PhD course, the discussions during the seminars will also revolve around different kinds of research design, epistemological and ontological approaches, sources, etc. Three questions will be of central importance when discussing the texts:
- What is the research problem and how well is it formulated?
- How is the research problem converted into a research design/strategy, and how well- founded is that research design (are there, for example, alternative designs and why so)?
- How rigorous are the results as regards validity, reliability, alternative interpretations, etc.
All the lectures and seminars will be held at the Department of Political Science, 8th floor, Eilert Sundts hus, University of Oslo. In addition, the course participants are invited to attend a symposium at the Norwegian Defence University College, the 25 and 26 June. The topic of the symposium is military doctrines and the use of force, and it will be held at the Norwegian Defence Command and Staff College, Building 10, located at Akershus Fortress in central Oslo.
Lecturers
Jan Willem Honig is Senior Lecturer at the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London. Between 2007 and 2011, he was on loan from the Department of War Studies to the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm where he was the first holder of the chair in military strategy. He remains a visiting professor there and also holds a visiting position at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University.
Benjamin Jensen is an Assistant Professor in the International Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy Programs at the School of International Service, American University in Washington, D.C. He is also an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the United States Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.
Kersti Larsdotter holds a PhD in Peace and Development Studies from Gothenburg University. At present she is affiliated with the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Uppsala University, where she does a post doc project on the conflicts in the great lakes region in Africa. Prior to that she was a lecturer and researcher at the Swedish National Defence College.
Janne Haaland Matlary is Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo. She was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Norway 1997–2000. Her main fields are NATO, the European Union as a political system, its foreign and security policy, European security at large as well as the importance of human rights, ‘soft law’, and public diplomacy.
Magnus Petersson is Professor of Modern History at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. Prior to that he was researcher a lecturer, Director of Studies and Head of Research and Development at the Swedish National Defence College (1998–2008).
Examination
Active participation in seminar discussions and completion of an analytical essay (7,500–10,000 words), either a review on a topic that is consistent with the course’s purpose or a draft research design for a PhD project, is required to pass the course. The essays shall be sent to Janne Haaland Matlary and Magnus Petersson no later than September 1st, 2014.
Explanations and appeals
- Explanation of grades - deadline and processing time
- Appeal about grades
- Complaint about formal exam errors