1. WHY STUDY INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT AND SECURITY?
What big themes in your readings today impacted your belief that this class is worth taking?
What do we mean by conflict in this class? What do we mean by security?
What do we mean by war? Battlefield deaths (1000) vs. casualties (3:1)
What are the main types of war?
(1) Militarized inter-state disputes
(2) extra-state disputes (IGOs vs states)
(3) intra-state (civil war)
(4) internationalized intra-state conflict

2. WHY STUDY INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT AND SECURITY?
What are some other ways that wars differ?
Role and casualties of non-combatants (terrorism, genocide, eliminationism)
Goals: Imposition of will, secession, unification, revolution, preventive vs. preemptive
Where the war takes place: in one state, in cities, in state-controlled territories
Type of weapons used: WMDs vs. conventional arms
How many combatants and relative balance of sides (asymmetrical warfare; low intensity conflict)
Where can we get data on war?
How big of a problem is war today?:

11. HOW DO WE STUDY THE CAUSES OF CONFLICT?
What are the three main types of PSC theories?
Normative vs. empirical theory
Descriptive theory
Explanation & prediction
Why isn’t correlation the same as causation?
What the difference between a necessary vs. a sufficient cause? B/w a “root” cause and a proximate cause?
Does prediction = prescription? If we can anticipate that variable x will cause war, can we then solve for war? (AIDS and HIV)
Are the causes of war = causes of peace?

12. HOW DO WE STUDY THE CAUSES OF WAR AND PEACE?
What is necessary for a good explanatory theory that we’ll be able to do something with:
Generalizability
What is falsifiability and theory testing?
What is operationalization?
What is replicability?
What is the difference between a necessary and a sufficient cause of war or peace?

13. WHY STUDY CONFLICT WITH “IMAGES” OR LEVELS OF ANALYSIS?
What’s the difference between an “image” (how we see) and a “level” (where we look) of analysis? Both are useful metaphors… but are they theories?
Is it more useful to have five areas to look (Cashman) or just three (Ken Waltz)? Can we collapse Cashman’s framework to make our life easier?
What are first image scholars interested in? Leaders & followers
The second image? Govt./econ structure, societies, “substate?” decision makers and “dyads”
What are the core concepts of the third image theories?:
(1) Anarchy
(2) Self-help and sovereignty
(3) The security dilemma
Are these images mutually exclusive? Contradictory?