US Foreign Policy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law
Level:
Master's
CEU code:
IRES 5223
CEU credits:
1
ECTS credits:
2
Academic year:
2011/2012
Semester:
Winter
Start and end dates:
9 Jan 2012 - 17 Feb 2012 Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]:
Academic Program:
Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area:
International Relations
CEU Instructor(s):
John Shattuck External instructor(s):
Full description:
This course introduces students to the decision-making process inside the US government on US foreign policy responses to selected international crises since the end of the Cold War. Broad questions include defining US national security in a rapidly changing global environment, assessing the importance of human rights in national and international security, developing foreign policy objectives, fashioning diplomatic strategies, guiding the use of force, managing international crises, and understanding institutional politics. Topics to be covered in class sessions include failed states and human rights conflicts; responses to genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia; the relationship between peace and international justice; responses to terrorism; and the US military intervention in Iraq.
The class will focus on practical and immediate challenges facing US government officials in shaping and implementing US foreign policy responses to selected post-Cold War international crises. Emphasis will be placed on real-time issues rather than theoretical constructs. The instructor will draw on his experience as a US government official in the Clinton Administration, where he served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1993 to 1998, and US Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2000. Earlier he was Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs at Harvard University and Lecturer at the Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government; later he was CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Senior Fellow and Lecturer in International Relations at Tufts University.
