Co-Ordinated Arts Program & Department of History

3

Co-ordinated Arts Program & Department of History

University of British Columbia

Hist 104

(“Topics in World History”)

Section 227, Winter 2014

Intervention and the Emergence of International Law

Instructor: Professor Timothy Brook

Office: Buchanan Tower 1117 Office hours: Wed 11-12, Thurs 9-10

Tutorial assistants: Sarah Basham, Eric Becklin

The history of the past five centuries has been one of violent conflict. Over this time, the cond-itions and costs of conflict have changed. Conflicts now occur over distance as often as they do across a mutual border. The casualties of conflict are overwhelmingly civilian. And state organizations have formulated an ever increasing number of instruments—treaties, conventions, laws, judgments—that have produced international law.

While we believe there is international law, it is not obvious what it is or does. States still go to war; civil-ians die in large numbers; and universal principles are regularly invoked to justify the mess. If international law exists, where do we find it?

This course presents a historical understanding of where international law comes from, and what it is capable of. It is not intended to provide a continuous account of the formation of international law. Rather, it takes an episodic approach, examining important moments and documents over the past five centuries form which to think about how the international order has created law. The course consists of 5 units. We begin in 1493 with attempts by the Pope to come up with a model to prevent global war between Portugal and Spain. From there we move to attempts to formulate a law of the sea in the 17th century, then consider the differences between Europe and Asia in the conventions governing interstate relations in the 17th and 18th centuries. We then move forward to the 20th century to examine how conflicts during World War Two were handled afterward. We end with the formulation of postwar conventions, and the doctrine known as the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

Readings

There is no textbook for this course. Instead, we will read a series of documents and short essays relating to the incidents and issues we study. Everything is available on the web or the course website: https://www.history.ubc.ca/course/history-104-227-topics-world-history. Some of the books from which the readings have been taken are on reserve in Koerner Library:

n  Bartholomé de las Casas, In Defense of the Indians, trans. Stafford Poole (1992)

n  Timothy Brook, Documents on the Rape of Nanking (University of Michigan Press, 1999)

n  Nick Cullather, Secret History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006)

n  Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus, Can Intervention Work? (New York: Norton, 2011)

The reading for this course is not heavy, but it requires your close attention. We will read slowly and intensively rather than extensively. Read what is assigned before you come, so that we can think through the readings together in class.

Assignments and Grading

In-class short essay (Tuesday September 23) 5%

Mid-term test (Thursday October 9) 15%

Essay (due Thursday November 13) 20%

Write a commentary on any aspect of Resolution 36/103 of the UN General Assembly (1981) in the light of what you have learned so far in the course. Do not tackle the whole document. Identify one section and ask what the UN General Assembly was arguing for and against, what principles it called upon, what history it invoked, and what results to hoped to achieve. Length: 1500 words. Late penalty: 1% per day.

Final exam (December exam period) 40%

The exam is in 3 parts. The first part consists of short identifications of people, events, and treaties discussed in the course. The second part asks you to answer one of three essay questions. The third part consists of only one required essay question, which is this:

“Was the doctrine of R2P a breakthrough in the development of international law, or a reversal? Justify your view by drawing on at least three examples from the course.”

Tutorial attendance and participation 20%

Tutorials are for talking about the readings, raising questions, debating issues, and discussing assignments. Your grade depends on doing the readings and coming prepared:

A: outstanding — I did all the readings, attended every session, raised and

discussed relevant issues, and responded thoughtfully to others

B: Good — I did most of the readings, came to most sessions, took part

C: Satisfactory — I did some of the readings but rarely spoke or interacted

D: Poor — I sometimes came and sometimes listened, but didn’t participate

F: Fail — I didn’t even manage that much

All written work must be your own. All quotations and material drawn from another source should be properly cited. Failure to acknowledge your sources constitutes plagiarism, which has serious consequences (ranging from failure of an assignment, to failure of the course, to suspension from the University). More details on citation and plagiarism are available at the History Department Writing Centre at http://www.history.ubc.ca/content/common-questions-about-citations. Details on University policies on misconduct are available at http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,54,111,960

Social contract

Learning is an interactive process. The lecture hall or classroom is the social medium for this course: give it your undivided attention. How we work together is something we will discuss in the first meeting, with the goal of creating a social contract governing our time together.

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Course introduction Week 1

Thursday Sept 4: Looking for international law

Unit 1 - Spain in the Americas, 1493-1521 Week 2

Tuesday Sept 9: Columbus returns

n  Alexander VI, Inter caetera (1493)

Thursday Sept 11: The Treaty of Tordesillas

n  Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), excerpts

Tutorials meet for the first time this week.

Tuesday Sept 16: The conquest of Mexico Week 3

n  Bartholomé de las Casas, In Defense of the Indians (1552), pp. 17-30

n  Bartholomé de las Casas, “Thirty Propositions”

Thursday Sept 18: The debate at Valladolid, 1550

n  Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, On the Reasons for the Just War among the Indians (1547)

n  “Summary of Sepúlveda’s Position,” in Las Casas, In Defense of the Indians, 11-16

Tutorial debate: Come prepared to defend Las Casas or Sepúlveda (you won’t get to choose).

Unit 2 – The international law of the sea Week 4

Tuesday Sept 23: The free sea * 5-minute in-class essay

n  Huig de Groot (Grotius), Freedom of the Seas, pp. 12-35, 45-46, 51-53

Thursday Sept 25: The closed sea

n  John Selden, Of the Dominion or Ownership of the Sea (1635/1652), excerpts

Tutorial debate: This time you are the lawyer for either Grotius versus Selden: are the seas open or closed, or should they be?

Unit 3 – European versus Asian models of interstate relations? Week 5

Tuesday Sept 30: The Peace of Westphalia, 1648

n  Peace Treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France, excerpts

Thursday Oct 2: The tribute system

n  Anthony Reid, “Negotiating Asymmetry,” in Negotiating Asymmetry: China’s Place in Asia, ed. Anthony Reid and Zheng Yangwen (Singapore, 2009), 1-25

Tutorial discussion: The Peace of Westphalia

Tuesday Oct 7: Portuguese intervention in China, 1523 Week 6

n  Brook, “Trade and Conflict in the South China Sea: Portugal and China, 1514-23,” in A Global History of Trade and Conflict since 1500 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), ed. Lucia Coppolaro and Francine McKenzie, 20-37.

*Thursday Oct 9: Mid-term exam

No tutorials this week

Tuesday Oct 14: Manchu intervention in Tibet, 1720 Week 7

n  Timothy Brook, “Tibet and the Chinese World-Empire,” in Empires and Autonomy, ed. Stephen Streeter et al. (UBC Press, 2009), 24-40

Thursday Oct 16: Consequences of the Manchu occupation

n  “Seventeen Point Plan for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” (1951)

Tutorial question: Is the tribute system a reasonable alternative to the Westphalian system?

Bonus event: The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors

Objects from Beijing opens at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Oct 18. Students are invited to view the exhibition and write an analysis of any object on display, asking such questions as: what is it? why has it survived? why is it on display? what story has it been asked to tell? This assignment is not required, but submit it by Oct 24 and you can earn up to 5 bonus marks. The instructor will be on site on the evening of Oct 21 to answer questions (admission is free Tuesday evenings).

Unit 4 – The Aftermath of World War II in Asia Week 8

Tuesday Oct 21: Japan intervenes in China, 1937

n  Brook, Documents on the Rape of Nanking: “Introduction” (pp. 1-23)

Thursday Oct 23: Japan’s war conduct

n  Brook, Documents on the Rape of Nanking: Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone, ed. Hsü Shu-hsi (pp. 1-18); The Family Letters of Dr. Robert Wilson (pp. 207-27)

Tutorial question: What are the appropriate restrictions for war? Can they be guaranteed?

Tuesday Oct 28: The invention of war crimes Week 9

n  The Lieber Code (1863), excerpts

n  “Charter of the International Military Tribunal” (Nuremberg, 1945): excerpts

Thursday Oct 30: The Tokyo Trial

n  International Military Tribunal for the Far East: Indictment

n  Brook, Documents on the Rape of Nanking: IMTFE Judgment (pp. 257-97)

Tutorial debate: Was justice done at the Tokyo tribunal?

Unit 5 – Postwar international law Week 10

Tuesday Nov 4: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

n  “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Thursday Nov 6: Guatemala: Spheres of interest and the Cold War

n  Nick Cullather, Secret History, pp. xi-xix, 127-32, online @ UBC Library

n  “Guatemala: Battle in the Backyard,” Time Magazine, 28 June 1954

Tutorial issue: What is right/wrong with the UDHR?

Tuesday Nov 11: Remembrance Day: no class Week 11

Thursday Nov 13: Canada and the responsibility to protect

Guest speaker: Professor Paul Evans, Institute for Asian Research

n  The Responsibility to Protect (2001), 1-18, 31-37, 57-75

http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ICISS%20Report.pdf

Tutorial issue: Defend or criticize R2P.

Tuesday Nov 18: Afghanistan and international intervention Week 12

n  Rory Stewart and Gerald Knaus, “Introduction” to Can Intervention Work?

Thursday Nov 20: Canada’s intervention in Afghanistan

n  “Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan” (2008)

Tutorial debate: Should Canada have intervened in Afghanistan?

Tuesday Nov 26: Drones: the ultimate intervention? Week 13

n  www.livingunderdrones.org

Thursday Nov 27: Course retrospective

Tutorial: Course review