Introduction

Why War?

Monday January 3 2011

Lecture 1: Introduction

PS 2BB3: Introduction to the Study of War

Dr Colin Salter, Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

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 Introductions

Dr Colin Salter
e: saltec@mcmaster.ca
t: (905) 525 9140 ext. 23722

Consultation:
Monday 2:30-4:30 pm
Togo Salmon Hall room 302

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 Introductions

Nick Longaphy
e: longapns@mcmaster.ca

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 Outline

• What is War?
• Remembering war
• Assessment overview

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 What is war?

...to different people war may have very different

meanings.
Quincy Wright (1942)

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 What is war?

Dead Prez (2002)

‘That’s War!’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGHvGJRSOzE

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 What is war?

The cops stop you just cause you black that’s war
Run your prints through the system that’s war
When they call my hood a drug zone that’s war
Slum lords charge me for the rent that’s war
Why they so rich and we poor that’s war
When they murdered Amado Dialo that’s war
Dead Prez (2002) Thats’s War lyrics

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 What is war?

Marching through the streets is a strategy of war

Knowing self defense is a strategy of war
Soldiers try to link with other soldiers that’s war
Revolutionaries gotta know the art of war
Dead Prez (2002) Thats’s War lyrics

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 Remembering war...

Redgum
‘I was only 19’ (1983)

The Herd
‘I was only 19’ (2005)

http://www.brokenyellow.com/mvideos/mvideos.html

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 Assessment structure

Assessment Format Length Due Date Weighting

Participation in class
25%
1 Participation discussion & n/a weekly
(see notes)
activities
max. 15
2 Short Presentation — 20%
minutes
3 Commentary writing task 1250 words Week 7 20%
Essay
4 writing task 200 words Week 9 (see notes)
Proposal
5 Essay writing task 2250 words April 11 35%

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 Attendance

Non-attendance will significantly impact on what you

can learn from this course.

By not participating, you also detract from the ability

of others to learn with you.

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 Attendance
If you miss more than 2 tutorials, marks will be
subtracted from your final mark, as follows:

- 0, 1 or 2 absences: no penalty
- 3 absences: 8% subtracted
- 4 absences: 10% subtracted
- 5 absences: 12% subtracted
- 6 absences: 15% subtracted

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 McMaster email policy

The course instructor will only open emails sent from

McMaster email addresses. Emails sent from any other
email provider (e.g. Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo) will not be
opened and will be deleted immediately. This policy protects
confidentiality and confirms your identity.

This applies to your TA as well.

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 Summary

• Defining war
• How we remember war

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 Citations & further reading
David P. Barash & Charles P. Webel (2009) Peace and Conflict Studies, 2nd Edition, Sage Publications.
(Chapter 2: ‘The Meanings of Wars’).
Karl von Clausewitz (1832) ‘On War’.
Dead Prez (2002) ‘That’s War!’, from Turn Off the Radio: The Mixtape Vol. 1 (Audio CD).
Dead Prez (2010) ‘Soul Power’, from Turn Off the Radio Vol. 4: Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz (Audio
CD).
The Herd (2005), featuring John Schumann, ‘I was only 19’ from The Sun Never sets (Audio CD). Video
by Broken Yellow.
Quincy Wright (1942) A Study of War, University of Chicago Press.

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 Image sources
Pablo Picasso (1937) Guernica. Oil on canvas.
Unknown soldier in Iraq. Date unknown. sourced from http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/06/09/some-
interior-situational-sources-war-–-part-v/
Carlos Latuff (2003) War 2. Sourced from http://latuff2.deviantart.com/art/War-2-27832944
Crimethinc (undated) War on Terror/Drugs. http://www.crimethinc.com/tools/downloads/

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