International relations scholars have been studying the causes of war
for quite some time now.  At times, it is fair to say that these
questions have dominated IR theory.  So, it is fair to ask what do we
know after all this work?  I am not so much interested in summarizing
the components of a theory of war (e.g., what do we know about arms
races or crises?) - although that can hardly be avoided - as I am in
evaluating more holistic statements about why and how wars come
about.  One question to ask is why do we have so many hypotheses
about war causes but so few theories?  Another question to raise is
whether war as a process has been subject to substantial evolution
and, as a consequence, its “moving target” nature makes it difficult
to develop theories about it.  As a matter of practicality, we will
utilize John Vasquez’s theory of war as a seminar armature and branch
out from there.  Students will be evaluated primarily in terms of a
seminar paper on some mutually negotiated approach to the theoretical
study of war.