IGA-218: Inclusive Security

(**Content, including dates and times, are likely to change**)

Semester: Winter / January 2016

Instructor: Ambassador Swanee Hunt

Course Schedule: Sunday, January 3 – Friday, January 15

(Some evening commitments)

Location: 168 Brattle Street (Jan 3), TBD (Jan 4-15)

Office: Taubman 128 (Center for Public Leadership)

Office hours: TBD

Course assistants: Cate Klepacki ()

Marissa Moore ()

CA office hours: By appointment

Our class will address these key questions:

· Do foreign policy experts need to recognize untapped resources to avert or resolve conflict?

· How do gender stereotypes impact public policies regarding violent conflict?

· What have women’s experiences been, across cultures, in confronting violent conflict?

· What are the dynamics between women-led, community-based initiatives and politics?

· What steps can policy makers take to benefit from these initiatives? Namely, what is the status of various conflict areas’ policies addressing issues of “women, peace and security”?

Such questions have been raised at an abstract level and hotly debated by theorists. This course will take that debate to a practical, policy-oriented level, examining the work of women in troubled regions worldwide. We will tease out the unexamined framework of successful women-led initiatives from conflicts around the world.

My aim is to offer you not only my experience and conceptual thinking, but also to draw on your wisdom and to introduce you to experts from around the world. In this course you will bridge theory and practice. We will have as our guests 20-24 respected women leaders from various conflict areas.The countries/conflict areas for the Winter/January 2016 course have not yet been selected.

Participants will be women exercising leadership that is stabilizing their country or region. In the most difficult circumstances, they are examples of the difference women make when they are around major decision-making tables, with formal or informal authority. We will hear first-hand their strategies and reflections on how women play a critical role in preventing violent conflict, ending hostilities, implementing peace agreements, mobilizing their communities to reconcile, and rebuilding post-conflict. You will have the opportunity to individually interview women in more depth. Doing so, you’ll break new ground in your analysis of what these leaders are doing in the face of war, thinking through how you, after you leave graduate school, will create bridges between them and policy makers (including yourself). You will also have access to an extensive video library of interviews with women leaders in other conflict areas, including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Kenya, Libya, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia, Rwanda, Sudan/South Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan, among others.

You will enter the classroom with your own wealth of experiences and intellectual curiosity. You will leave this course with:

1) greater understanding of several regions of violent conflict, with a focus on national policies related to UNSCR 1325;

2) increased understanding of the traditional policy-making process;

3) new thoughts about the impact of gender on public policy;

4) insights about the role of women in peacebuilding efforts;

5) rationale for you, future leaders, to include all stakeholders around the policy-making table;

6) concrete strategies to move under-represented groups into the policy-making arena;

7) honed professional negotiation, advocacy, writing and presentation skills; and

8) personal insights into yourselves and your colleagues.

Student Profile:

No prerequisites. Men are especially encouraged. Students from Fletcher, MIT, etc. are welcome. The class make-up typically spans a wide range of experiences and perspectives, including students from different Harvard graduate schools.

Auditors:

Auditing students have two options: audit-only or audit-active. Audit-only students attend classes but do not participate in group projects (presentations, briefings) and generally do not speak in class discussions. Audit-active students complete readings, attend classes, participate in discussions, and engage in both the conflict presentation and policy briefing. Auditing students must decide whether to be audit-active prior to the first day of class and should not expect to switch to audit-only during the course.

Grading Breakdown

· Class Participation (30%)

· Conflict Presentation (15%)

· Final Policy Briefing (45%)

· Reaching In, Reaching Out (10%)

Assignments are due 30 minutes before the start of class and should be posted on the course website unless otherwise noted. Points will be deducted from your grade for each day an assignment is late.

Class Participation

Each student will contribute to a rich class discussion. Readings are weighted toward the beginning of the course to allow you to choose other readings tailored to your specific interests later in the course. Before each class, post any questions or comments you have about the readings to the course Wordpress site. The quality of your comments matter more than the quantity.

You are expected to have completed the required readings for each class; if you have not, you should not enter the class discussion. Learning happens most thoroughly with a balance of studying others’ ideas and your own direct experiences, so you will be encouraged to discuss your professional and personal experiences in class.

You will work in small groups for the two major course assignments. Your grade will be determined by your ability to work with this group; such work can be the most challenging aspect of the course. With that in mind, it will benefit you to jointly establish goals, roles, and norms during your first meeting. You will have the opportunity to assess not only your own performance, but that of your teammates as well.

Group Conflict Presentation (Friday, January 8th)

Students will be given a chance to focus on one conflict area. Each group of four or five students will give a 30-minute presentation outlining the roots of their conflict. Your group presentation should reflect a nuanced understanding of the diverse forces that drive hostilities in your assigned country. You should not explore women’s contributions to peacebuilding in your conflict area, as that is the purpose of the final policy briefing. Rather, your goal is to provide your classmates the history of your conflict and an overview of the current environment. Be sure to be creative in this presentation; you may use PowerPoint, pictures, film clips, music, or other aids.

Final Policy Briefing (Wednesday, January 13th)

Each student group will give a 30-minute briefing to a major policy maker. The briefing will press the case that women should be included in efforts to avert conflict, launch a peace process, and/or stabilize a conflict area. The content of each presentation will depend on the policy maker being persuaded. You may use PowerPoint, pictures, or other aids appropriate to the setting.

In addition to the verbal presentation, you will prepare a written briefing of up to 14 pages, which you will submit to the course assistant for circulation in class. The briefing should have an enticing introduction and a compelling conclusion; outside references may be noted within the text or as endnotes or footnotes (if endnotes, those pages are included in the 14). Your assigned readings for January 15th will be your classmates’ written briefings; you will critique their written work and provide feedback following their verbal presentations.

Both the written and verbal briefings should include:

1) a discussion of the nature of the conflict as it relates to the policy maker’s organization;

2) critical information about the role women currently play in the society in general, and in the conflict specifically;

3) in-depth description and analysis of the work of a few women you recommend be included in the policy maker’s work in the conflict (include our guest experts as primary resources);

4) specific ways the policy maker could involve women in current agency programs;

5) financial cost-benefit discussion;

6) appraisal of the political pitfalls and opportunities this recommendation will entail.

Each group will present its briefing to a policy maker of its choice, played by Ambassador Hunt or a guest. Student groups should identify a leading policy maker in any of several agencies or organizations who will have enough clout to make a difference. Suggested organizations include the U.S. Military, U.S. State Department, Middle East Institute, European Union, Council on Foreign Relations, World Council of Churches, Anti-Defamation League, International Crisis Group, UN Security Council, UN Secretary General’s Office, UN High Commission for Human Rights, UN High Commission for Refugees, Central Intelligence Agency, or government leaders in individual countries.

The discussion following each policy briefing will assess strategies used, the power of the presentation, and suggestions for improvement. Group grades will be based on presentation clarity and tightness, persuasion of the arguments, and the accompanying written briefing.

Word to the Wise:

The written briefing will be assessed according to professional standards, i.e., no grammatical, punctuation, or spelling errors; no font size inconsistencies, dangling headings, etc. When you hand the briefing to the policy maker, you are saying, “This is the very best I am capable of producing.”

Each of you is responsible for the whole product, even if you were the original drafter of a specific segment. You are welcome to submit your written briefing for review and preliminary comments the day before your final submission. However, even the early submission should be in polished form.

Reaching In, Reaching Out

Each student will submit two short writings: a letter to the editor (200 words) and a personal integrative journal entry (500 words).

Your letter to the editor will be written to a major news outlet in response to a current event relevant to this course. It will respond to an article recently published in the newspaper or to the overall approach of the newspaper to the issue at hand.

Your journal entry will synthesize the readings, assignments, and class discussions through the lens of your personal experiences and will be read only by the teaching staff. The writing should be thoughtful, demonstrating your personal growth in the class and referencing the readings.

Resource Suggestions from Institute for Inclusive Security:

· Inclusive Security Library List: http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/explore-resources/

§ The Georgetown Women, Peace & Security research repository:http://iwpsd.libguides.com/content.php?pid=339544&sid=2776115

§ YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/user/inclusivesecurity

§ Website resources section: http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/explore-resources/

§ Website publications library: http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/explore-resources/research-and-publications-library/

REQUIRED BOOKS

§ Anderlini, Sanam. Women Building Peace, What They Do and Why it Matters (2007). Entire book. Available at the Harvard COOP or Amazon.com.

§ Cohn, Carol. Women and Wars (2013). Foreword, Chapters 5-7 and 10, 8-9 highly recommended. Available at the Harvard COOP or Amazon.com.

§ Gerzema, John, and Michael D'Antonio. The Athena doctrine: How women (and the men who think like them) will rule the future. John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Read the Introduction and choose one country chapter, to be presented to your peers in class as a case study.

§ Hudson, Valerie, et al. Sex and World Peace (2012). Chapters 3 and 4. (Will send out notice once available on dropbox)

RECOMMENDED BOOKS

§ Banaji, Mahzarin R., and Anthony G. Greenwald. Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People. Random House LLC, 2013. Chapters 1 & 2

§ Naím, Moisés. The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being in Charge Isn't What It Used to Be., 2014. Suggested chapters TBD

CLASS SESSIONS

Reading Period: January –1-3

Welcome Dinner: Sunday, January 3rd (Ambassador Hunt’s home: 168 Brattle Street)

Schedule

5:00 – 9:00 Dinner and introductions, discuss presentation styles

Assignment

· Please write a 2-3 sentence bio of yourself and one sentence highlighting what you want to get out of the class. Send your bio, along with a photo, to the course assistant by noon on Saturday, January 3.

· Please write “Five Interesting Things About Me” on the class’s WordPress page by noon on Sunday, January 4.

· Please complete the 30min assigned Implicit Association Test following the dinner on Sunday night. Details and the link will be distributed at dinner. This assignment should be completed by class time on Monday, January 5.

Class Session 1: Monday, January 4th (Room: TBD)

Introduction to Course: Gender

Schedule

9:00 – 10:30 Overview of the course and syllabus review

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 11:30 Basketball film and discussion

11:30 – 12:15 Threaded reading discussion, Anderlini

12:15 – 1:00 Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 Implicit Association Test discussion

2:30 – 3:00 Choose conflict areas

3:00 Small group conflict presentation prep

Required Readings

· Woolley, Anita, et al.“Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups.” Science.Vol. 330, no. 6004, October 2010: 686-688.

· Vedantam, Shankar. “Invisible Current,” pp. 88-111 in The Hidden Brain. Spiegel & Grau, 2010.

· Bohnet, Iris. “Gender Equality: A Nudge in the Right Direction.” The Financial Times, October 13, 2010.

· “Women in Government.” Catalyst, 2012.

· Nye, Joseph S. “When Women Lead.” Project Syndicate. February 8, 2012.

· Bowles, Hannah Riley. “Psychological Perspectives on Gender in Negotiation.” Chapter 28 in The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Psychology. Ryan, Michelle and Nyla Branscombe, eds. Sage Publications Ltd. 2013.

Schedule

9:00 – 10:30 Presentation: Security Concepts

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 11:30 Threaded reading discussion, Anderlini

11:30 – 12:45 Film clip and discussion: Why aren’t more women participating in peace talks?

1:15 – 2:45 Fukuyama article debate

2:00-3:00 TENTATIVE: In person with Azra Jafari

2:45 – 4:00 Film clip and discussion: Iron Ladies of Liberia