The Discussion Post project consists of all members of the course submitting mat
The Discussion Post project consists of all members of the course submitting material they discover outside of the course that bears on either of the two shooting wars currently underway: the war in Ukraine (going back to Feb of 2022), and the war in Israel. The assignment is in two parts.
Part 1: once each time window, locate and submit a link online to an article from a digital publication (e.g., New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, Foreign Affairs), blog or similar post (e.g., from a research organization, such as CSIS or the Institute for the Study of War to personal blogs), an opinion piece. The linked piece may be chiefly descriptive, laying out details of what has happened, who’s done what to whom, and may open out to examining patterns of interaction and response; it may shift more explicitly to an explanatory mode, seeking to account for why actors do what they do or why they respond as they do; or it may offer an assessment or interpretation of events. All are fine.
To complete Part 1 of the assignment, in addition to submitting the link, I want you to (a.) identify whether the piece speaks to questions of mobilization, definition and treatment of the enemy, or potentially a link between the two; (b.) and write 2 to at most 4 sentences laying out what you see is notable or significant about the piece. For example, the piece identifies the several organized groups in a conflict, and carefully distinguishes among them, or speaks to international actors playing a role in the conflict; or perhaps it specifies precisely how one group or another uses force and against whom, exactly, and with what consequences. Perhaps it details a new pattern mobilization and a reallocation of troops and materiel in response to a pattern of attacks. Or perhaps it goes still deeper. Be specific when you can — which actors, what social groups, doing exactly what or experiencing what, and so on. In writing this part, think about all of the analytic tools we’ve developed, such as looking at the relationship between the central state, the armed forces and society, and whether and how attack distinguishes between combatants and noncombatants, and with what effect.
