Unit ECONOMICS OF CONFLICT AND SECURITY

Course
International relations
Study-unit Code
A006029
Curriculum
Conflitti internazionali, studi strategici e analisi di politica estera
Teacher
Luca Pieroni
Teachers
  • Luca Pieroni
Hours
  • 60 ore - Luca Pieroni
CFU
8
Course Regulation
Coorte 2025
Offered
2025/26
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Formazione economico-statistica
Academic discipline
SECS-P/01
Type of study-unit
Obbligatorio (Required)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian
Contents
Peace, war and international security is an area in which economists are often conspicuous by their absence, to a degree that rivals the importance of economic issues to the problems at hand. While conflicts have significant negative effects on some of the world’s poorest economies, development economic textbooks give it little attention (not more than a passing mention). When they are considered, conflicts are often simply seen as another exogenous shock to economies. The reality is that economics plays important roles in the preparation for, the onset of and the continuation of wars that often go beyond the nation states involved. Economics also has important roles to play in the creation and maintenance of peace and security in dealing with the post-conflict effects. Roles that it has often played poorly in the past.
Reference texts
Caruso R. Economia della pace, Il Mulino, 2016 Additional lectures • Collier, Paul, 2007 "The Bottom Billion" Oxford University Press. • Feinstein, A. 2012. The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, pb, Penguin. • Holden, P. 2017. Indefensible: Seven myths that sustain the global arms trade, Zed Books and University of Chicago Press. Collected by Paul Holden • Smith, Ron P "Military Economics", Palgrave, 2009, an excellent nontechnical overview
Educational objectives
Students find this course a fascinating way of applying and extending their knowledge of economics to deal with important real world problems. This course considers the contributions that economics makes and can make to the understanding of conflict war and peace. It deals with the economics of security, covering the causes and effects of military spending; the economics of the international arms industry and trade; the economic causes and effects of conflicts, both international and national; the economics of post conflict reconstruction; and the economic causes and effects of terrorism.
Prerequisites
Successful passed Economics I
Teaching methods
Online lectures, seminars, and lab sessions
Learning verification modality
- Unseen exam 60%. -Make presentations of ongoing seminarial projects at end of lectures (10%). - Final project the 30%
Extended program
The following gives a brief overview of the topics to be covered. Each topic will take about 4 hours. Session 1: Introduction: This provides an overview of issues and some background. There will also be a discussion of the projects. Session 2: Military Spending and the Economy: This considers the different economic Schools of thought and how they understand the role that military spending can play in an economy, considering both advanced and developing economies. It will discuss the channels through which the military sector can affect the rest of the economy. Session 3: The Determinants of Military Spending: This session considers the literature on what determines the levels of military spending and the relative importance of economic, political and strategic factors. Session 4: Military Expenditure, Growth and Development: This session considers the theoretical and empirical literature on the likely effect of military spending on the economy. Session 5: Producing the Means of Destruction: This session considers the changing nature of the international arms industry, issues of monopoly monopsony and globalisation. Session 6: The Economics of Conflict: This session considers how economists have contributed to the understanding of war and conflict between countries. Session 7: The Determinants Civil War: This session will focus on why civil conflicts start and continue. It will look at the work generated by the “greed-grievance” debate. Session 8: The Costs of Conflict: This session considers the economic and other costs that conflicts impose on countries and regions. It considers the issues of measurement and reviews the available empirical analyses. Session 9: Post Conflict Reconstruction: This session considers the economics of post conflict reconstruction. It considers how different the economic issues can be after conflict and the problems created when international organisations failed to recognise this. Session 10: Arms Trade and Offsets: This session will consider the economic issues involved in the arms trade, it dynamic and the way various initiative and vested interest affect behaviour. It will touch on the ongoing ‘Arms Deal’ trial. Session 11: The Economics of terrorism: This session will consider how economics has helped understand the nature of terrorism. Session 12: Project presentations: In this session students will present and discuss their projects Group Project to develop in the lab. Groups of 2 or 3 will determine a question or hypothesis and examine it in detail. Preferably using data and focusing on Africa. Word limit is 5,000 words. Full details will be provided during the 1st week.
Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
Zero poverty Reduce inequalities Peace, justice and strong institutions
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