Type of Violence: Civil War

The most important assignment, due by the end of the module, is a literature review (50%).The review should focus on the literature addressing a particular
type of violence discussed in this module, namely inter-state war, civil war, state repression, or automated warfare.
It is recommended but not mandatory to divide the literature review into two parts, the first focusing on definitions and the second on causes.
Your review should include 15 articles onyour chosen type of violence from a leading political science journal (e.g. the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the
Journal of Peace Research, Security Studies, Terrorism and PoliticalViolence, the American Political Science Review, etc.). Please do not include books,
policy reports of websites in your reference list. You are free to choose articles from any timeframe, as long as you include the latest research findings and
the current state of the art. The syllabus includes numerous relevant publications (also see the additional readings), but you are also asked to conduct
independent research to identify further research to be included in your review.
Leading journals only No argument expected 15 sources cited Two main parts of the literature review: 1. how is “…” [some type of political violence] defined –
what are the debates among these key scholars on how to define a certain type of violence; part 2: what are some causes of these “…” [violence] Do not need
a research topic yet Just research a certain type of violence – ie what is “terrorism” why does “terrorism” occur – consult the research Adhere to correct
referencing style – choose chicago or harvard and just stick to it – stay consistent Read the abstracts very carefully and understand what the main
contribution of the article is – skim the articles for the main conceptualizations (findings) on causes and the identification of a certain cause which will likely
be the main argument What is a literature review: explains certain keywords and establishes concepts about what other authors have done before – a
compilation or overview of relevant research towards your topic of study – identifying gaps or similar opinions in the literature – reviews and discusses what
kinds of gaps and opinions may arise in the existing literature Looking at the universe of research findings – what have we found on topic “x” and how can we
universally define this definition “x” Causes: why a certain type of violence occurs Encouraged to build on what you have done previously If you have an
interest in new wars, choose civil wars instead Use readings that are in our reading list and use your first assignment as a starting point Topics: Civil wars,
interstate wars, state repression or automatic warfare – if you are unsure, stick to what is there Potential pitfalls: Main focus is a type of violence which we
have gone over in this module so choose one of these types of violence – a lit review on culture and ethnicity is wrong and does not fit the assignment Read
the assignment correctly Examining more than one type of violence will make it so you cannot properly review – stick only to one Do not write a book review
or a policy review Policy reports are not journal articles – focus on journal articles What time frame should I choose? – recent articles are more relevant must
include new articles from the last five years Follow word count guidance – 10% over and under is allowed but try to stick to the word count What structure
should I choose? Focus on concepts then on causes How many articles do I need? 15 articles Preparing the review – carefully re-read the assignment, choose
a type of violence and potential journals where you might locate articles Do not use policy reports – only deal with journal articles Top journals: Conflict
resolution, peace journals, american journal of political science, journal of politics, perspective on politics You are asked to assemble 15 articles with
empirical analyses. It is part of the assignment to identify adequate articles, and to successfully assemble empirical research articles.