A bunker is an odd place to reconsider a course syllabus, especially
during a mortar attack in the middle of the night. Teaching the
historical case study method in introductory courses in international
relations, I often told students that we need history in IR, since our
theories do not lend themselves to laboratory testing. In the future,
I'll drop that comment. Since February 2003, I have been serving
on active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, mostly in the Sunni
Triangle. Wartime service has proved to be something of a laboratory
for me and has caused me to reevaluate some of the received wisdom of
international relations. War has validated some things we teach, but it
has also rendered problematic some conclusions I held perhaps too
comfortably. I have been trained by the military to see war with a
soldier's eye; it has been a strange experience to see it instead
through the eyes of a political scientist. Service in Iraq has provided
me the opportunity to consider the academic study of politics and war
in real time.The author wishes to thank
Dan Caldwell, Deborah Larson, Alan Rozzi, James Q. Wilson, the editors
of Perspectives on Politics, anonymous reviewers, and the men
and women in uniform lost during Operation Iraqi Freedom.