Active Participation in Class Discussions:
The course will be run as a seminar, where debate and discussion are the norm. For each session, written discussion questions will serve as our starting point; seminar leaders will only lecture and/or summarize as necessary. For this format to be successful, students need to read the majority of seminar readings prior to our first meeting on 26 May.
Preparation of Discussion Points:
For each class session, students should prepare a brief list of discussion questions and comments (3-5 in number); these should be based on the readings and will be distributed to all other seminar participants. (Please make sufficient copies for distribution!) Your questions/comments should reflect a critical assessment of those readings. What are their strong and weak points? Their meta-theoretical, theoretical, methodological, empirical contributions? How do they relate to or build upon other readings or discussions? For the problems you identify, how might you fix them?
Completion of an Analytic Essay:
Students have two options. (I) Prepare an analytic review on a topic that is of special interest and is consistent with the course's purpose and theme. Or (II), prepare a draft research design for a PhD project on civil war where qualitative methods play some role. In either case, essays should be a minimum of 6000-10000 words and are due by 31 August 2008.
Credits:
10 ECTS
Readings:
The following five books can be purchased at the Akademika Book Store on the Blindern campus.
Gerring, John, Case Study Research: Principles and Practices (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Hansen, Lene, Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War (London: Routledge, 2006)
Kalyvas, Stathis, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Weinstein, Jeremy, Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Wood, Elisabeth Jean, Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
In addition, a number of the other assigned articles and chapters will be available through a set of course compendiums that can also be purchased at Akademika.
On the availability and status of both the books and compendiums, please consult with Øyvind Colbjørnsen (oyvind.colbjornsen@stv.uio.no) in the Political Science main office.