1. Introduction
   

   Serves as the overview of the course.

   • Introduction
   • Sovereignty
   • Anarchy
   • Proximate versus Underlying Causes
   • The Strategic World
2. Conflict versus Cooperation
   

   Can states cooperate despite competing interests?

   • Overview
   • The Prisoner's Dilemma
   • The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of World War I
   • Tariffs and the Barriers to Free Trade
   • Arms Races
   • The Shadow of the Future
   • Grim Trigger
3. The Rationality of War
   

   War is costly. So why do states fight against each other?

   • Overview
   • The Unitary Actor Assumption
   • War's Inefficiency Puzzle
   • The Algebraic Bargaining Model of War
   • War's Bargaining Range
   • Crisis Bargaining
   • Preventive War
   • Information Problems and Incentives to Misrepresent
   • Issue Indivisibility
   • Preemptive War
4. International Trade
   

   Why do states trade with one another? Why do trade disputes begin?

   • Absolute Advantage
   • Comparative Advantage
   • Trade Rivalry
   • Resolving Trade Disputes
   • The Relative Gains Problem
5. The Democratic Peace Theory
   

   Are democracies less war-prone than non-democracies?

   • Overview
   • Explaining the Democratic Peace
   • Correlation versus Causation
   • The McDonald's Peace Theory
   • The Capitalist Peace
   • The Rise of China
6. Principal-Agent Problems
   

   How do leader incentives screw things up for the rest of us?

   • What Is a Principal Agent Problem?
   • Diversionary War
   • Gambling for Resurrection
   • Democratic Accountability
   • Leader Retirement
   • Fighting for Survival and Peace through Instability
   • Bargaining and Leaders
   • Pandering (to Ohio and Florida)
7. The United Nations Security Council
   

   The most manipulative political body in the world?

   • Overview
   • Veto Power
   • Libya, Syria, and Insincere Voting
   • Bribery on the Security Council
   • Rally 'Round the Flag Effects
8. Public Goods Provision
   

   The obstacles of public goods provision and the solutions to collective action problems.

   • What Is a Public Good?
   • Monitoring Institutions
   • Collective Action Problems
   • Hegemonic Provision of Public Goods
   • Issue Linkage
9. Nuclear Proliferation
   

   The causes and consequences of nuclear proliferation.

   • Who Has Nuclear Weapons?
   • Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
   • Is War Obsolete?
   • Nuclear Pessimism
   • Leveraging Nuclear Strength
   • Bargaining over Proliferation
   • Iran's Nuclear Program
   • Covert Nuclear Programs
   • The Iraq War: A Rational Mistake?
10. Terrorism and Insurgency
    

    What makes terrorist tick?

    • Are Terrorists Rational?
    • Why Suicide Terrorism?
    • Terrorism and Spoiling the Peace
    • Should We Ignore Terrorists?
    • Where Does Terrorism Fester?
    • Commitment Problems
    • Exploitation and Civil War Settlement
    • The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement
    • The Definition of Terrorism
11. Conclusion
    

    What have we learned here?

    • Wrap Up

Have you been living somewhere in the world at some point in your life? Good--you are qualified to take this course.

Decent historical background knowledge won't hurt, but you can always read the Wikipedia page if I reference some event you aren't familiar with.

We will also be playing around with some simple game theoretical models. The math will be intentionally simplistic, so don't worry if you don't like algebra.

I have divided the course into ten units. Each unit contains 5-10 lectures that flesh out the topic. Lectures run an average of eight minutes.

All lectures are video-based and hosted on YouTube.

I wrote a textbook entitled "The Rationality of War" to match the third unit. It is available on Amazon for $.99:

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Theory-101-Rationality-ebook/dp/B008X12GIW/

You can also find mirrors of this course on YouTube and Udemy:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB5965C13F4B0B2DA

http://www.udemy.com/internationalrelations101/

I am a PhD student in political science, specializing in formal modeling and international relations.