Spring Term 2017
Managing Humanitarian and Refugee Crises:
Challenges for PolicyMakersand PractitionersPA 5823
Friday, January 26, from 3 pm to 8 pm
Saturday, January 27, from 8 am to 4 pm
Professor Eric P. Schwartz
(Former Humphrey Dean and now President of Refugees International)
202 285 7939
Preliminary Syllabus
Note: This preliminary syllabus will be replaced by a more detailed syllabus by or before winter break.
Courseoverview:
This is a one credit course, and conducted in two sessions – Friday, January 26 from 3 pm to 8 pm (with breaks), and Saturday, January 27, from 8 am to 4 pm (also with breaks).
From Syria and IraqtoSomalia andSudan to Burma and Bangladesh,persecution, civil conflict andcomplexemergencies,whichprincipallyimpactpopulations in theglobal south, pose compellingchallengesto thecapacities of governments, NGOs, and internationalorganizations to prevent and alleviatesuffering andpromote recovery. In fact, especially in the wake of the Cold War, there was a fair degree of optimism about the capacity of the international community to effectively address humanitarian crises and promote stabilization and peacebuilding. But especially in the context of conflict in the Middle East and South Asia in recent years, policy-makers have increasingly questioned the ability of the international community to achieve that objective. Moreover, with the advent of a new presidential administration in the United States with an uncertain commitment to engagement or leadership on international humanitarian issues, these challenges seem even more complex.
This(very) short coursewillexamine the efforts ofthe internationalcommunity – governments,internationalorganizations,non-governmentalorganizations(NGOs),and others –to respond to humanitarian,recovery,andreconstructionchallenges posed by civilconflict and complexemergencies.(Wewill also very briefly consider disastersrelated to natural hazards,likestormsurges and hurricanes.)
The issues andinstitutions that relate broadlyto humanitarianchallenges and humanitariansufferingaround the world are oftenstudiedseparately.However,even in the short time we have, the course will takea broad andintegratedapproach,designed to givestudents a wideunderstanding of the lay ofthehumanitarian land and thequestions withwhichpolicy makers and policypractitionersgrapple –includingthoserelatingto security,disasterresponse, and human rights, and the roles ofinternational and non-governmentalhumanitarianorganizations. In addition to focusing on theefforts ofthe internationalcommunity, the course willexamine the roleandinstitutions oftheUnitedStatesgovernment, the largestproviderof internationalhumanitarian aid, including U.S. policy on refugee admissions.
In past years, I have had several guest speakers in the class. Over the course of our two days together, I hope to have 3-4 guests join us by Skype. I’ve listed below guests I’ve had in the past in my course and at the Humphrey School in one capacity or another, and I expect I will draw from the list when I develop our guests for the coming class.
- On humanitarianism: Michael Barnett, author of Empire of Humanity, University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, The George Washington University.
On NGOs in humanitarian response: Patricia McIlreavy, Vice President of the Humanitarian Policy and Practice Team at InterAction, an alliance of some 180 non-governmental organizations involved in humanitarian assistance and development.
On the organization of the U.S. government for humanitarian response: Brian Atwood, former Humphrey School dean, former USAID Administrator andformer Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary of State.
On peacekeeping: Victoria Holt, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.
On peacekeeping and the role of the military: James Schear, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict.
On human rights, Ken Roth, President of Human Rights Watch.
On humanitarian issues in Africa, Reuben Brigety, former U.S. Ambassador to the African Union and current dean of the Elliot School at George Washington University.
On Women, Peace and Security: FionnualaNíAoláin, Professor of Law at the University of Ulster’s Transitional Justice Institute in Belfast and the Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Societyat the University of Minnesota Law School.
Learningobjectives:
Studentsin this one credit class will gain a broadunderstanding ofthe policyissuesthat areinvolvedininternationalhumanitarianresponse – an understandingthat willintegrate conceptsfrom a range of fields – as well as knowledge ofthe key institutions thatdefine and impactpolicy and practice in thisarea. Students willalsogain an appreciation ofkey dilemmasfacedby policy-makers and practitionersinvolved inresponse to complexcrises,challenges toachievingpolicy and operationalobjectives, andstrategiesforsuccess. Of course, we will not have the chance to go into the depth and detail of a three credit course, but there is much we can do in two days.
Prerequisites:
Thereare noformalprerequisites,other thana keeninterestin the material, thoughthosewhoare not graduatestudentsshouldcontactmebefore the classbegins.
Course requirements and grading
To be completed anytime before the first class
You will be asked to complete a 4-5 page paper responding to 15 assigned questions drawn from the readings for the course. Each response in this paper should be about one paragraph, and the exercise is designed to ensure students have considered the readings carefully before the two class sessions. There will be about 15 hours of readings, in total, for the course. Because you will be completing this assignment before we’ve had class, the principal criterion for my evaluation will be whether the student demonstrates that s/he has read the material with some care. This first assignment will count for 25% of your grade.
To be completed during the two classes
Class participation. This will constitute 30% of your grade. Students will be evaluated by the quality of their engagement and all students (whether or not they are hand-raisers) wil l be given the chance to engage. This will constitute 30% of your overall grade.
A short in-class presentation (5-10 minutes) developed during the course of the two days of class. This will constitute 15% of your overall grade.
To be completed after class (by February 19)
A 4-5 page essay on a humanitarian policy of your choice, with your perspectives drawn from information learned in class. This will constitute 30% of your overall grade.
Organization of the course
I will organize our two day class around eight broad topic areas, and we will spend about an hour, on average, on each topic (this will vary depending on the complexity of the specific topic). As mentioned, I’m planning to have guest presenters for 3-4 of those topic areas. During the last two hours of the class on Saturday, we’ll have short in-class presentations by students.
In general, each hour long “module” will start with a short presentation of the material, followed by discussion. Over the course of the two days, we’ll structure discussions in various ways to keep it interesting. In some cases, especially when we have guests who present to us on Skype, we’ll have traditional class discussion. In other cases, we’ll break up into small group conversations, and have groups to present their observations/conclusions at the end of the hour long session. I will spell this out in the detailed syllabus to follow.
The subject areas:
Topic areas will include the following:
1. A History and Overview of Humanitarianism
We will consider the origins of both the concept of humanitarianism and the field of practice. What are the critical components of humanitarianism, and how do we understand the evolution of concepts like neutrality and impartiality, the interests of stakeholders and related issues? What is the larger political context in which humanitarian activities take place? We will consider and assess the breadth of the humanitarianism, as officials and representatives of NGOs have sought to go beyond the saving of lives, and have attempted to promote reconciliation and recovery in countries around the world.
2. The State of the Humanitarian World, and Where Does Humanitarianism Fit in Relations between States?
We’ll examine and discuss worldwide humanitarian trends, and then consider the fact that efforts to address crises take place within a larger international political context, broadly defined. How do policy-makers and practitioners make sense of that larger context, and how does it impact the actions they take or fail to take? To help answer this question, we may examine some basic perspectives on international relations and international politics, and consider how concerns about human rights and humanitarian response might be incorporated into various views on how the world works.
3. The United Nations, International Institutions, and Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Designed to Address Global Crises and to Protect Human Rights in Situations of Conflict Victims: Do they Matter, and Why?
We’ll examine the United Nations and other international institutions that establish the institutional and the legal context through which governments and international organizations involve themselves in humanitarian issues and through which the human rights of individuals affected by conflict are recognized and protected. What does the UN Charter suggest about the role of governments in responding to complex crises, what norms and institutions have been developed to provide such capacity, and what are the challenges to their effectiveness? We will also introduce the legal regimes surrounding various humanitarian issues and designed to safeguard rights, such as the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and other international instruments. And we will consider – very briefly – the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine.
4. The International Humanitarian Players, and Key International Humanitarian Issues
We’ll first consider the major public internationalinstitutions that haveemerged to addressinternational humanitarian issues,includingtheOfficefor the Coordination of HumanitarianAffairs(OCHA) andUN funds and programs that areinvolved in humanitarianissues (UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Food Program, etc.). Aspiringpolicy-makers and practitioners should know howthese institutions seek totranslate the concepts ofhumanitarianisminto programs involving billions ofdollars fromgovernments around the world.
We’ll also use this section to consider some of the key policy issues with which these institutions, and governments of the world, are now dealing. In particular, we’ll consider global initiatives designed to promote international “compacts” on refugees and on migration, focusing on longer term solutions what have in many cases been defined as intractable conflicts.
5. NGOs in International Humanitarian Response
Whetheritisthe Minneapolis-basedAmericanRefugeeCommittee,the International RescueCommittee,MedecinsSansFrontieres, Save the Children, ordozens if not many hundreds ofothers,non-governmentalorganizationsare playing akey role in international humanitarian response.How well organized andeffectiveistheNGO community inhumanitarian response?Towhatextent are NGOs in the developingworldengaged? Whatprogramand normative issues, suchas a rights-basedapproach to humanitarianassistance, arethey bringingforward? Andwhatissues of accountabilityarise in thiscontext,for the NGOsthemselves,as well as forpolicy-makerswhomustmakedecisions about providingsupport to these organizations?
6. U.S. Government in Humanitarian Response – Organization and Activities
There are many offices, agencies, and departments involved in the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance – and that number increases if we use an expanded definition of humanitarian assistance that includes peace-building. The bulk of U.S. civilian humanitarian assistance comes from two agencies: the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department, with USAID responsible for perhaps just over 50%, and the Department of State responsible for the rest, depending on how you define humanitarian assistance. We will consider the activities of these agencies, as well as others in the U.S. government, and explore a range of policy issues. Many new these issues have emerged in the administration of Donald Trump. We will also examine the U.S. refugee admissions program in this section.
7. Peacekeeping
Inthedecade ofthe 1990s, in particular, UnitedNations peacekeepers became the tool of choice in manysituations involvinginternationalefforts toaddress complexhumanitariancrises.But UnitedNationspeacekeepingwas not originallydevelopedwith suchambitiousobjectives.Wewillconsiderthetheory behindtraditional peacekeeping, and howthat has changed inrecentdecades. And we will consider, in particular, peace operations in Africa, where most of the world’s peacekeepers are deployed. We will also look at U.S. policies and perspectives around peacekeeping.
8. Women,Peaceand Security
This is a critical area for humanitarians, and one that is tragically and regularly neglected in humanitarian settings. Practitioners and scholars involvedinhumanitarian issues haveconsideredwomen, peace and securityfromseveral perspectives:they’ve focused on the imperative of preventing andpunishing violations ofthehuman rights ofwomen in situations ofpersecution and conflict and the differential needs of women in humanitarian settings. In addition, they’ve emphasized theimportance of reconstructionefforts thatrecognize therole of women asagents of economic,social and politicaldevelopment;and on the value of promotinggreaterinclusion of women inpositions of leadershipinpeacebuildingprograms.
Possible Course Readings – Please note that the list below is far more extensive than what you will be assigned.
The pre-class reading assignment will be added to this syllabus (which will be posted on classinfo) before winter break, and will also be sent to all registered students by January 1.
I expect to assign about 15 hours of before-class readings, or a total of about 350 pages (more or less). This seems about right and not too burdensome for a one credit course.
As I prepare the assigned reading list, I will focus on the following works, or works that are similar to what appears below. However, before purchasing or reading any materials, I’d suggest you wait for reading assignments that I will circulate, again, before winter break.
Again, please know that you will not have to read all of what is below! I’m presenting this list only to illustrate the kinds of materials from which I will excerpt the pre-class assignments. Obviously, I will assign only a small portion of these readings.
Books and reports from which we may read excerpts:
1. Barnett, Empire of Humanity, A History of Humanitarianism (CornellUniversityPress, 2011).
2. Betts and Collier, Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System, Penguin, 2017.
3. Weiss,Forsythe,Coateand Pease,TheUnitedNations and ChangingWorldPolitics,(Westview, Eighth Edition, 2016).
4. UNHCR, Global Trends - Forced Displacement in 2016
5. UnitedNations,Report ofthe Panel on UnitedNationsPeaceOperations (the “BrahimiReport”) (UnitedNations, 2000). ExecutiveSummary, at
and
United Nations Report of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations on uniting our strengths for peace: politics, partnership and people (United Nations 2015). A/70/95-S/2015/446* Pages 1-16, at
6. InternationalCommission on Intervention andStateSovereignty,The Responsibility toProtect(2001).
Journal articles:
Where books and reports, above, do not address some of the key issues in great depth (or when those books and reports need to be supplemented), we will also consider journal articles. Here are a few examples from which I will choose in assigning readings.
On the rationale (or lack thereof) for humanitarian engagement:
Walt, “International relations: one world, many theories,” Foreign Policy, No. 110, Special Edition: Frontiers of Knowledge. (Spring 1998), pp.29-32, 34-46.
Luttwak, “Give war a chance,” Foreign Affairs,July-August 1999 (six pages).
Walt, “Could we have stopped this tragedy? A realist grapples with his doubts on intervention in Syria.” Foreign Policy, September 21. 2015. At
Power, “Bystanders to Genocide: Why the United States Let the Rwandan Tragedy Happen,” Atlantic Monthly, September 2001, at
Secretary General’s presentation to the United Nations General Assembly, 20 September 1999. At
On the role of NGOs:
Schwartz, “Humanitarian NGOs as instruments, partners, advocates and critics in the governance of international humanitarian response: complementary or conflicting role? Asian Pacific Journal of Public Administration, 38:1, 2016, 43-59. (e-reserves)
Murdie and Peksen, “The Impact of Human Rights INGOs Shaming on Humanitarian Interventions,” Journal of Politics, Volume 76, Issue 1, January 2014, 215-228.
On peacekeeping:
Holt and MacKinnon, “The Origins and Evolution of U.S. Policy Towards Peace Operations,” International Peacekeeping (London), Volume 15, issue 1, 2008, pp. 18-34.
On women, peace and security:
NíAoláin, “Women, Vulnerability and Humanitarian Emergencies,” Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, Volume 18, Issue 1 (2011), pp. 1-23.
International legal and/or standard-setting documents:
These kinds of documents are also key to an understanding of international humanitarianism and related matters. Below are some that we will either review or which I will reference in class.
UN Charter.
“TheGenevaConventions of1949 and their AdditionalProtocols,”at ICRCWebsite,at geneva-conventions.htm
Convention and ProtocolRelatingto the Status of Refugees.At
Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, at
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, at
Core Humanitarian Standards: the Sphere documents
UNSCResolution1325, onWomen,PeaceandSecurity,31October2000. At
Materials from Agency Websites
Especially in sections relating to the U.S. government and international organizations, we may look at materials on websites of agencies such as the State Department, USAID, UNOCHA, UNHCR, the World Food Program and UNICEF.
Attendance
As we only meet on two days, attendance is critical. If you have special issues concerning attendance that emerge before or during class, let me know and we can discuss. Note that any requirements we have in our class are subject to University policy, as described in
Specialnote on stressfulissuesand on mental health and stressmanagement:
Becausehumanitarian crisesoften involve human rightsabuses and great suffering, some ofthe topics,readings,anddiscussionmay involve issuesthat impactstudentspersonally and profoundly.I will work hardto addresschallengingissueswithsensitivity,but you shouldfeelfree tospeak withmeif we aredealing withmaterialyoufindpersonallydifficult. Wewill ofcourse keep allsuch discussionprivate.
More generally, you mayexperience a range of issuesthat cancause barriers to learning, such asstrainedrelationships,increasedanxiety,alcohol/drugproblems,feelingdown,difficultyconcentrating, and/or lack of motivation.These mentalhealth concerns orstressfuleventsmaylead to diminishedacademicperformance or reduce your ability to participate in dailyactivities.Universityof Minnesota servicesare available toassist you withaddressing these andotherconcerns youmay be experiencing.You can learnmore about the broadrange of confidentialmentalhealthservicesavailable on campus via
If you are enrolled with Disability Services and would like to make an accommodation request, I encourage you to share this with me as soon as possible so that we can be of maximum support to you. See more on their services at the end of the syllabus.
Remember also thatthere are advisors in the HumphreyStudentServicesofficewhoare trainedand experiencedcounselors. Theyareavailable at very short noticeto address any concerns youhave and providefurtherresources withintheUniversity.You can visit Humphrey StudentServices inHHH 280, or on 612-624-3800.