NOTE: This course is only offered once every two years, and will not be offered in the fall of 2017 or the spring of 2018.
Humphrey School Dean Eric Schwartz will be teaching this course. Dean Schwartz served in the White House and the State Department in the Clinton and Obama Administrations, as well as the United Nations and with Human Rights Watch. From Syria and Iraq to Somalia and Sudan, civil conflict and complex emergencies, which principally impact populations in the global south, pose compelling challenges to the capacities of governments, NGOs and international organizations to prevent and alleviate suffering and promote recovery. Moreover, in the wake of the Cold War and especially after 9/11, officials became increasingly concerned about the security implications of political instability and state failure - resulting in greater attention to provision of humanitarian relief and the challenge of post-conflict reconstruction. This course, which will involve lecture and class discussion, will examine the efforts of the international community - governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others -- to respond to humanitarian, recovery and reconstruction challenges posed by civil conflict and complex emergencies. (We will also consider disasters related to natural hazards, like storm surges and hurricanes, though those will not be a major focus of the course.)
This course will take a broad and integrated approach, designed to give students a wide understanding of the lay of the humanitarian land and the questions with which policy makers and policy practitioners grapple - including those relating to security, disaster response and human rights, and the roles of international and non-governmental humanitarian organizations. In addition to focusing on the efforts of the international community, the course will examine the role and institutions of the United States government, the largest provider of international humanitarian aid. Outside the university, Dean Schwartz has been involved in the preparation of recommendations for a new Presidential administration on policy toward international humanitarian issues and he will draw on those efforts in engagement with students. Thus, in class discussion and through policy memos (see below), students may be asked to offer and/or react to options for international humanitarian organization and reform.