This course examines the causes of war, with a focus on practical measures to prevent and control war. Topics include causes and consequences of misperception by nations; military strategy and policy as cause of war; religion and war; U.S. foreign policy as a cause of war and peace; and the likelihood and possible nature of great wars in the future.
The historical cases covered include World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Seven Years’ War, the Arab-Israel conflict, other recent Mideast wars, and the Peloponnesian War.

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard political scientist Stephen M. Walt for a discussion of how to think about balancing power in international politics. They also consider the role theory might play in formulating foreign policy and consider the way the world is responding to the U.S. hegemony in the aftermath of 911 and the Iraq War. (58 min)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes General Tony Zinni for a discussion of national security challenges facing the United States in the 21st century. He analyzes the failure of U.S. foreign policy to address the new instabilities threatening world order and discusses the lessons of the Iraq War. (57 minutes)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard Professor Samantha Power for a discussion of her new book, "Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World." The conversation focuses on the lessons of De Mello's life for understanding the challenges confronting world order in the 21st century. (56 minutes)

Conversations Host Harry Kreisler welcomes historian and classicist Victor Davis Hanson for a discussion of the Peloponnesian War and its lessons for today. He compares that conflict with the war in Iraq. He talks about imperial ambition, the conflict between civilizations, and military power as an instrument to achieve democratization in the struggle between modernity and tradition. (53 min)

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Michael Gordon, Chief Pentagon Correspondent for The New York Times, for a discussion of his new book Cobra II, co written with General Bernard E. Trainor. In the interview, Kreisler and Gordon discuss the origins of the war plan, the key decision makers the intelligence failure before and during the war, the insurgency, SaddamŐs war plan, and the implications of the war for the American military. (59 min)

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes Historian Juan Cole for a discussion of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East. He also explores the importance of religion in understanding events in Iran and Iraq and he addresses the impact of the communications revolution on his own work as a scholar involved in the policy debate. (59 min)

This course examines systematically, and comparatively, great and middle power military interventions, and candidate military interventions, into civil wars from the 1990s to the present. These civil wars did not easily fit into the traditional category of vital interest. These interventions may therefore tell us something about broad trends in international politics including the nature of unipolarity, the erosion of sovereignty, the security implications of globalization, and the nature of modern western military power.

This course will explore the organization and functions of the U.S. Intelligence Community, its interaction with national security policymakers, key issues about its workings, and the challenges it faces in defining its future role. The events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq have focused new attention on national intelligence, including the most significant reorganization of the community since the National Security Act of 1947. The course will highlight some of the major debates about the role, practices, and problems of national intelligence.

Iraq today is in turmoil; it is considered unstable economically and politically. Prior to the United States’ invasion, Saddam Hussein, who was known as a brutal dictator, was responsible for the torture and death of Iraqi citizens. This seminar will provide insight into the life and death of Iraqi citizens under the Hussein regime. Learning Target: I can create a logical argument explaining why Saddam Hussein’s actions in Iraq needed international intervention.StandardsCC.1.2.11–12.C - Analyze the interaction and development of a complex set of ideas, sequence of events, or specific individuals over the course of the text.CC.1.2.11–12.E - Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.

The Iraq Hurr website is a news broadcast website that includes radio and video components as well as news articles. The majority of the content concerns Iraq, but world news is also reported on the site. Components of the website include current events, politics, economics, security, society, and various programs such as sports and human rights in Iraq. Podcasts are also available, as is a free app for both iPhones and Android.

Database of Hebrew and Arabic texts recovered by a US Army team in Iraq. Primary Resources/Authentic Texts. The restoration and preservation of these documents is explained.

Born in Brooklyn to an Iraqi father and a Syrian mother, Jack Marshall explores the cultures and cities that shaped his artistic awakening. (27 minutes)

This kit covers stereotyping of Arab people, the Arab/Israeli conflict, the war in Iraq and militant Muslim movements. Students will learn core information and vocabulary about the historical and contemporary Middle East issues that challenge stereotypical, simplistic and uninformed thinking, and political and ethical issues involving the role of media in constructing knowledge, evaluating historical truths, and objectivity and subjectivity in journalism.

This course surveys the history of the Middle East, from the end of the 19th century to the present. It examines major political, social, intellectual and cultural issues and practices. It also focuses on important events, movements, and ideas that prevailed during the last century and affect its current realities.

Students will be able to identify and explain significant historical events in Iran and Iraq by creating an individual online RAFT activity.

The wars in Iraq and Syria have changed the course of international relations in the 21st century. During these conflicts, hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been displaced. After 13 years, these conflicts continue with no end in sight. The central question of this course is: How do political science theories and methods help us understand the course of these wars? In this course, you will answer this question by integrating three elements: theory, data/description, and application of theory to data/description. The primary goal of this course is to bolster students’ skills in using various social science methods to explain important variations in violent conflict.

The purpose of this course is to acquaint the student with the missions, capabilities, and costs of the largely non-nuclear forces that make up the bulk of the U.S. military establishment. The course will also introduce the student to basic techniques for the assessment of relative military capabilities between adversaries in given theaters of military action. Central to the course will be an examination of historical cases of military action that shed light on current defence issues. Many of these cases are recent.