17.423: The Causes and Prevention of War
Spring 1998
TA: David Mendeloff

Discussion Questions for 23 February

1. To finish up our discussion of hypotheses on military factors as a cause of war, please review the questions, as well as the list of terms, from last week.
   



2. You've now been introduced to the first family of hypotheses on national misperception as a cause of war. How satisfying do you find these psychological hypotheses? Following from the discussion in lecture, can you offer any competing non-psychological explanations for the various misperceptions offered by Jervis?
   



3. How would you test these psychological hypotheses?
   



4. If you find these hypotheses convincing, what are the practical implications for policy-making? How could knowledge of these psychological causes of war help policy-makers avoid or prevent war?