.gif){kind=small}
Course Description
Course Objectives
Course Requirements
Grading Scale
Required Texts
Reading Assignments and Schedule
The preamble to the Charter of the United Nations identifies several ambitious goals which framed the establishment of this international organization, including a desire "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" and to promote fundamental human rights, social progress, and economic development. Contemporary supporters of the UN continue to view it as the institutional embodiment of these idealistic goals and the primary hope for maintaining world peace and securing greater global justice. Conversely, realist scholars of international relations argue that the organization merely represents power politics in another form, often pointing to the organizational structure of the United Nations Security Council which clearly reflects the post-World War II balance of power. Some critics of the organization within the United States contend that the UN is nothing more than a bloated global bureaucracy which often acts inimically to U.S. national interests. Although the UN has a number of ambitious goals in a variety of areas, including peace and security, economic development, and human rights, in this course we will focus to a large extent on the UN's records in its efforts to promote international peace and security. To this end, we will examine UN peacekeeping efforts in great detail. In addition, we will look at a variety of proposals for UN reform.
The Department of Politics and International Relations seeks to induct students into the community of liberally educated individuals who are capable of understanding government and politics in terms of the theories, concepts, and tools of sophisticated political analysis which characterize the discipline of political science. The liberal-arts dimension of our mission stems from our belief that all people are embedded in a political environment which acts upon them in ways they must understand if they are to function effectively as active participants in a democratic society. Our goal, therefore, is not to train professional political scientists, but rather to produce the liberally educated citizen who is fluent in the language of politics and political analysis and thereby has a foundation for both citizenship in a democratic society and successful training in a job, in a graduate school, or in a professional school. Such a person has the capacity to recognize and evaluate assumptions, implications, and causal relationships pertaining to government and politics and, by extension, to other realms of human experience. Go to the home page of the Department of Politics and International Relations for more information on the basic objectives of the general program and upper-level courses in the department.
Additional course-specific objectives include the following:
1. To expand students' substantive knowledge of the United Nations, including the network of UN agencies, the wide range of issues in which the UN is involved, and the political factors shaping the UN's role in world politics
2. To examine the extent to which international organizations serve as agents of positive change in world politics
3. To give students an opportunity to make connections between the academic study of the United Nations and real-world policy issues related to the United Nation's role in world politics
1. Two exams (60%): Students will take a midterm exam during the semester and a final exam at the end of the semester. These exams will consist of short answer and/or essay questions. The exam questions will require students to think analytically about the course material and to integrate information from readings, lectures, classroom discussions, and where relevant, current events in world politics. Each exam will be worth 30% of your final grade. Exams will be graded for content, grammar, and style. I also will expect you to incorporate explicit references to the required readings. Though the final exam questions will focus largely on the course material covered since the midterm, they also will require students to build upon the cumulative knowledge they have gained throughout the course.
**Make-up exams will be given only in the case of family emergencies and serious illness, and I will require you to document your illness or emergency. In order to take a make-up exam, you must have a legitimate, verifiable family emergency or illness, and you must contact me in advance of the exam. Make-up exams must be taken within five days of the original exam date unless exceptional circumstances warrant a longer extension.
2. Case Studies: Research Papers and Group Presentations (40%):
Part IV of the course will focus on case studies of UN activities in various issue areas that are covered by the UN's mandate. The case study project will comprise 40% of your final grade and consists of the following elements:
a. Group Presentations (10%): The class will be divided into several groups assigned to conduct research on UN activities in a specific issue area, including peace enforcement, peacekeeping, economic development, public health, and human rights. Each group will make a presentation to the class and will lead class discussion on the day assigned to the issue area they are studying. In designing your group presentations, students may rely on information from your individual research papers. However, my expectation is that you will not simply read or present your own papers. Rather, I want you to work together as a group to find creative ways to present your findings and to generate class interest and discussion. I encourage you to identify appropriate readings for the class prior to the class session you are leading and to distribute them to the rest of the class in advance so that they are prepared to discuss the topic. Your grades on these presentations will be based, in part, on peer evaluations of your contributions to the group. I will provide you with peer evaluation forms that you will need to complete for each member of your group.
b. Research Papers (30%): In addition to making a group presentation on a particular issue area, individual students will write an individual research paper on a specific UN program that falls under the issue area on which they are working. For example, a student that is assigned to present on the issue of peacekeeping might do an individual research paper on the UN peacekeeping mission in Namibia or East Timor. A student working in the public health group might do a research paper on the WHO measles eradication program. Students will be assigned to issue groups in class, and I will work with you to identify individual research topics. You are required to submit a 15-20 page paper (typed, double-spaced with standard margins and fonts) that will be a detailed case study of a particular UN mission or program. In doing so, you also need to evaluate the general successes and failures of UN activities in that issue area.
Drafts of your research papers will be due mid-semester. These drafts should represent significant progress towards completion of your project. By this time, I will expect you to have completed most of your research. You should have identified and gathered relevant reading material. You should have completed most of your reading by this time. You should have a detailed paper outline and a full, if incomplete, draft of the paper. Revised research papers will be due at the end of the semester and will be worth 30% of the final course grade. Although your grades will be based primarily on the quality of your final submissions, I will consider the completeness and quality of your rough drafts in making judgments about your grades on this assignment. Grades on late papers will be lowered by 1% point per day. (Note: this deduction means 1% point off your final course grade per late day.)
Because you will be assigned to groups for these projects, you will be collaborating in conducting research for the case studies. However, I expect you to write your papers independently. Of course, plagiarism will not be tolerated. I will provide further guidelines regarding both the presentations and the case study papers in class
3. Class Attendance and Participation: Class attendance and participation will not be formally graded. Nevertheless, active student participation is an essential part of this course. I will use class attendance and participation in making judgements about final grades when students are on the border between letter grades. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings in a thoughtful, productive, and civil manner. You should be ready to ask and answer questions on the assigned readings. You need to participate actively in the class, but you should not attempt to dominate class discussion. I expect that students often will disagree with each other and with me. I will encourage an atmosphere in which we are free to challenge and criticize each other's arguments, but I expect all of us to be respectful and civil in our disagreements.
This course will stress active student learning. I expect that your consistent attendance and participation will facilitate your understanding of the course material. Moreover, because you will be required to integrate information from readings, lectures, and classroom discussions on the midterm and the final, and in your papers, your performance in the course should benefit from consistent attendance and participation.
4. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Plagiarism is the act of trying to pass off someone else's ideas, words, thoughts or inventions as one's own. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional, but it is a violation of academic integrity in either case. You must acknowledge your use of other's work when you quote them word for word (you must use quotation marks in the case of direct quotations), paraphrase, borrow ideas, incorporate factual information from someone else's work, or rely on another person's organization of material. You do not need to provide citations for common knowledge, but it is better to err on the side of caution if you have any doubts. If your paper includes uncited information and/or I suspect plagiarism, I will not grade your paper until you provide satisfactory documentation of your sources. If I discover a case of cheating or plagiarism, I will impose the most serious penalty allowed under university regulations and contingent on the nature of the violation. In cases of egregious plagiarism or cheating, I will give you a failing grade for the course and may recommend additional penalties at the college or university level, including suspension or expulsion. See the statement on Academic Honesty and Integrity at the Department of Politics and IR homepage for further details. Also, see me if you still have questions about academic dishonesty.
A 90-100 (Excellent)
B 80-89 (Good)
C 70-79 (Satisfactory)
D 60-69 (Poor)
F 0-59 (Failure)
See my statement on Basic Grading Standards under the Course Documents tab on the Blackboard course website.
1. Ziring, Lawrence, Robert E. Riggs, and Jack A. Plano, The United Nations: International Organization and World Politics 4th Edition (Wadsworth Publishers, 2005).
2. Course Packet available at Copy Cat.
3. Your understanding of the United Nations will be enhanced if you keep abreast of current world politics. I will not require you to subscribe to a specific newspaper. However, you should follow current international events through the media of your choice. Note: certain choices are likely to be wiser than others. National daily newspapers, such as The New York Times or The Christian Science Monitor, provide far more thorough international coverage than local dailes. You also can obtain at least basic information in some weekly newsmagazines or by following CNN. In addition to these examples, most national newspapers and television networks maintain on-line sources of news.
4. Online Journals/ Academic Universe/ Lexis-Nexis. You can access a variety of resources on world politics, including full text newspaper articles, legal resources, and reference information on specific countries, on the Resources and Reference Page of Cowles Library.
5. The United Nations Homepage also will be an invaluable source of information.
6. Finally, Foreign Affairs Online is an excellent web resource which provides links to sites in a variety of categories, including international law, human rights, and the United Nations.
READING ASSIGNMENTS AND SCHEDULE
Add to reading list/ schedule, Hilary Charlesworth, "Not Waving but Drowning: Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United Nations," Harvard Human Rights Journal 18 (2005): 1-18.
Part I: Historical Background, Political Foundations, and Decision-Making Processes of the UN
8/28 Introduction to class
8/30 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpt. 1; Read the Covenant of the League of Nations and the Charter of the United Nations. Come to class prepared to discuss the main features of each of these documents. Also, you should be ready to compare and contrast the two documents.
9/4 No class, Labor Day
9/6 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpt. 2; Go the the United Nations Homepage. Browse through this page to get a sense of the wide variety of activities in which the UN is involved and the network of agencies that make up the UN. We will discuss the broad array of UN agencies and activities in class.
9/11 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpts. 3 and 4
9/13 READER: Hulton, "Council Working Methods and Procedure;" Mahbubani, "The Permanent and Elected Council Members;" Ratner, "The Security Council and International Law"
9/18 READER: Goulding, "The UN Secretary-General;" Traub, "Off Target;" Rosett, "Blame Game"
Part II: Scope of UN Activities
9/20 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpts. 5-7; Browse the UN web resources on peace and security issues. Come to class prepared to discuss UN activities in the area of international peace and security, and bring any questions you have
9/25 Film: The UN at 50: A Force for the Future; Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpts. 5-7 (continued examination of peace and security issues)
9/27 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpt. 8
10/2 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpts. 9 and 10
10/4 MIDTERM EXAM
Part III: Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement
10/9 Film: The Triumph of Evil
10/11 Finish film: The Triumph of Evil; READER: Wallensteen and Johansson, "Security Council Decisions in Perspective;" Roberts, "The Use of Force;" Berman, "The Authorization Model;"
10/16 No class, Fall Break
10/18 READER: Shawcross, "Prologue", Chpt. 8 and "Epilogue"; Film: Where is the United Nations?
10/23 READER: David Rieff, "Nothing Was Delivered," The New Republic May 1, 2000: 26-33; Chandra Lekha Sriram, "Intervention in a Troubled World: Moving Beyond Shawcross and His Critics," Ethics and International Affairs 15: 1 (2001): 151-158
10/25 READER: Greig and Diehl, "The Peacekeeping-Peacemaking Dilemma;" UN Watch, "Who's Really Doing Peacekeeping Work;" Lacey, "UN Forces Using Tougher Tactics to Secure Peace;"
10/30 Peacekeeping simulation
11/1 Peacekeeping simulation
Part IV: Case Study Presentations
11/6 Case Study: Peace Enforcement
11/8 Case Study: Peacekeeping; Drafts of Research Papers Due
11/13 Case Study: Economic Development
11/15 Case Study: Public Health
11/20 No class, American Model United Nations in Chicago
11/22 No class, Thanksgiving break
11/27 Case Study: Human Rights
11/29 Case Studies in Comparative Perspective: What are the UN's relative strengths and weaknesses in various issue areas?
Part V: UN Reform
12/4 READER: Selections from The United Nations
12/6 READER: Selections from South Centre, For a Strong and Democratic United Nations
12/11 READER: Fassbender, "Pressure for Security Council Reform"; Hoge, "Annan Offers His Blueprint to Make the UN More Efficient"
12/13 Ziring, Riggs, and Plano, Chpt. 11; READER: Smith, "The United Nations and State Compliance;" "The World Without the United Nations;" class evaluations
The final exam is scheduled for Tuesday, December 19 from 2:00-3:50.