ClassInfo - Spring 2018 Public Affairs Classes

Spring 2018 | PA 5823 Section 001: Managing Humanitarian and Refugee Crises: Challenges for Policymakers & Practitioners (68629)

Instructor(s): Eric Schwartz
Class Component:: Lecture
Credits:: 1 Credit
Grading Basis:: Student Option
Instructor Consent:: No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:: In Person Term Based
Times and Locations:: Regular Academic Session

01/26/2018

Fri 03:00PM - 08:00PM

UMTC, West Bank

Hubert H Humphrey Center 25

01/27/2018

Sat 08:00AM - 04:00PM

UMTC, West Bank

Hubert H Humphrey Center 25
Enrollment Status:: Open (39 of 40 seats filled)
Also Offered:: (Tentative) Fall 2024
(Tentative) Spring 2023

Course Catalog Description:: Examines response of governments, international organizations, NGOs, and others to global humanitarian and human rights challenges posed by civil conflict and other complex emergencies in places such as Syria, the Middle East region, South Sudan, Somalia, Burma, and elsewhere. Course will also consider and assess UN and other institutions established to address these issues (like UNOCHA and UNHCR). In addition, course will examine US policy toward humanitarian issues and refugees (including US refugee admissions).
Class Notes:: Class meets on 1/26-1/27/2018. Student who have taken 5823 when it was a 3-credit class should not take this 1-credit version. http://classinfo.umn.edu/?eschwart+PA5823+Spring2018
Class Description:: Former Humphrey School Dean Eric Schwartz will be teaching this course. He is now President of Refugees International in Washington, DC. Before serving as Dean of the Humphrey School from 2011 to 2017, Professor 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.

This is a one credit course that will meet on Friday, January 26, from 3 pm to 8 pm, and on Saturday, January 27, from 8 am to 4 pm.

Whether in Burma (Myanmar), Syria, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan or elsewhere, repression, 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. This course, which will involve lecture, guest 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 one-credit 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 (including the U.S. refugee admissions program).
Who Should Take This Class?:: Students interests in human rights, refugees, international humanitarian response, multilateral humanitarian organizations and U.S. foreign policy
Learning Objectives:: Students will gain a broad understanding of the policy issues that are involved in international humanitarian response - an understanding that will integrate concepts from a range of fields - as well as knowledge of the key international and U.S. institutions that define and impact policy and practice in this area. Students will also develop an appreciation of key dilemmas faced by policy-makers and practitioners involved in response to humanitarian crises, challenges to achieving policy and operational objectives, and strategies for success.
Grading:: TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE CLASS
25% -- a short paper responding to 12 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.

TO BE COMPLETED DURING THE CLASS
30% -- class participation
20% -- a short in-class presentation (5-10 minutes) developed during the course of the two days of class.

TO BE COMPLETED AFTER CLASS (BY FEB 19)
25% -- a 2-3 page thought paper on a humanitarian policy of your choice, with your perspectives drawn from information learned in class.
Exam Format:: No exam
Class Format:: Combination of lecture, guest lecture and class discussion.
Workload:: Workload outside of class will include --
1. A short paper on the assigned readings.
2. A 2-3 page paper on a humanitarian policy issue of your choosing, in which you offer your perspectives and integrate information learned in class.
Textbooks:: https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/68629/1183
Syllabus:: http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/eschwart_PA5823_Spring2018.pdf
Past Syllabi:: http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/eschwart_PA5823_Spring2023.pdf (Spring 2023)
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/eschwart_PA5823_Spring2021.pdf (Spring 2021)
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/eschwart_PA5823_Spring2020.pdf (Spring 2020)
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/eschwart_PA5823_Spring2019.pdf (Spring 2019)
http://classinfo.umn.edu/syllabi/eschwart_PA5823_Fall2016.pdf (Fall 2016)
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:: 29 December 2017

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2018 Public Affairs Classes

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