Section Info: POLIT-319-01

Course Title: War: What Is It Good For?
Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026
Term: Spring Semester 2026
Description: A multidisciplinary exploration of the ways humans have understood, represented, experienced, and justified war over time and across cultures. Using art, literature, and film in addition to social scientific research, this course considers the many different meanings war has in human societies. It analyzes possible causes of war, including innate human drives, gender differences, socialization, regimes, and ideological and resource competition in a condition of international anarchy. It probes how war is experienced by soldiers and civilians. Finally, it examines justifications for war from a range of ethical perspectives.
Distribution(s): III - Social Sciences
Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate     Credits:4.00    

Faculty         Phone         Email address        
Sohail Hashmi   413-538-2693   shashmi@mtholyoke.edu  

Meeting Dates         Method         Meeting days         Meeting times         Building name         Room     Frequency    
01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026   Seminar   Monday   01:30PM - 04:20PM   TBA   TBA   Weekly

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Requisite Courses        
None                    

Comments        
Additional Comments        
Course Tags        
IR0001   INTREL: International Relations major   This course has been approved to count towards the International Relations major.  
POLIT-INTL   POLIT-INTL: Politics - International subfield   This course has been approved to count towards the International Politics subfield of the Politics major (100-200-level courses only) and minor (all courses).  
IR0004   INTREL-PS: International Peace & Security   This course has been approved to count towards the International Relations major's International Peace and Security focus.  
IR0006   INTREL-ET: International Ethics   This course has been approved to count towards the International Relations major's International Ethics focus.  

Cross-listed Sections        
None  

Course Availability
Section status: Waitlisted     Capacity: 18     Enrollment: 15     Available: 0     Waitlist: 2
Please note: The "Available" count will equal 0 in a Waitlisted course where spaces in the course have recently opened and students have not yet been moved into them from the waitlist.

BOOK INFORMATION

Book List         Required         Publisher Full Price        
To be determined.                    

Additional Book Comments        
This is NOT the complete book list for this class.