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Course Description
Course Objectives
Course Requirements
Grading Scale
Required Texts
Human Rights Research Sources on the Web
Reading Assignments and Schedule
This course will address national and international efforts to promote justice and to establish the rule of law at the end of violent conflicts between and within nation-states. Ideally, efforts to promote peacebuilding and justice in the aftermath of violent conflicts will be comprised of a variety of objectives, including creating institutions that will foster lasting peace and stability, designing and implementing mechanisms for bringing accountability to perpetrators of war crimes and human rights abuses, and fostering reconciliation in war-torn societies. Because these objectives commonly are in tension, this course will explore the complex legal, political, and moral considerations that shape efforts to promote peacebuilding and justice. The term "post-conflict justice" often is used to describe peacebuilding and justice efforts. However, this term can be misleading as it might suggest that underlying conflicts have been resolved entirely. In fact, while peacebuilding and justice efforts typically are not pursued unless active violent hostilities are on hold, the underlying conflict commonly is still entrenched. Thus, national and international efforts to promote peacebuilding and justice are intended not only to promote justice and reconciliation but also to prevent renewed cycles of physical violence and active hostilities. In this context, we will explore a variety of international and national mechanisms for pursuing peacebuilding and justice, including war crimes tribunals, truth and reconciliation commissions, reparations, and apologies.
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 introduce students to the concepts of peacebuilding and post-conflict justice through a series of case studies of war crimes tribunals, truth and reconciliation commissions, and other international and national efforts to bring the perpetrators of war crimes and human rights abuses to justice.
2. To challenge students to consider the complicated moral, political and legal questions which shape efforts to promote peacebuilding and post-conflict justice.
3. To provide students with an opportunity to conduct and present independent research.
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COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Two Exams (50%): Students will be required to complete both a midterm and a final exam. These exams will consist of short answer and essay questions. Both the short answer and essay questions will require students to think analytically about the course material and to integrate information from readings, lectures, and discussions. 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. Each exam will be worth 25% of the final course grade. Exams will be graded for content, grammar, and style. I also will expect you to incorporate explicit references to the required readings.
**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 serious 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. Research Papers and Presentations (40%): Students will be required to complete an independent research project examining a specific case involving efforts to promote peacebuilding and post-conflict justice. In addition to describing the case, students also must assess the effectiveness of these efforts. (Alternatively, students may explore a current case involving violent conflict and develop policy prescriptions for how to pursue justice in this situation.) Final papers should be 15-20, double-spaced pages with standard fonts and margins. The research project will comprise 40% of your final grade and consists of the following elements:
a. Paper Drafts (15%): Drafts of these papers will be due on April 2. These drafts should represent significant progress towards completion of your project. By this time, I would expect that you have completed most of your research. You should have identified and gathered relevant reading material and any internet sources that will help you. You should have completed most of this reading by this time. You should have a detailed paper outline and a full, if incomplete, draft of the paper. Grades on late paper drafts will be lowered by 1% point per day. (Note: this deduction means 1% point off of your final course grade per late day.)
b. Group Presentations (10%): Paper topics will be categorized according to general themes, and students will be assigned to groups based on these categories. For example, students doing research on war crimes tribunals might be paired with students looking at the International Criminal Court, while students examining peacebuilding efforts might be paired with students completing case studies of peace agreements. During the final section of the course, each group will be responsible for teaching class on one day. Students may rely on information from their individual research papers in developing groups presentations, but 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. Your grades on these presentations will be based, in part, on peer evaluations of your contributions to the group. Accordingly, students should turn in brief individual comments (a paragraph or so) on each member's contribution to your group on the day of your group's presentation.
c. Final Papers (15%): Revised research papers will be due at the end of the semester and will be worth 15% of the final course grade. 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.)
3. Class attendance and participation (10%): Class attendance and participation will be worth 10% of the final course grade. In regards to attendance, you will be allowed two unexcused absences. After that, your participation grade will be lowered by 1% point off of your final course grade for each unexcused absence. An absence is excused only in the case of personal illness or family emergency. You must notify me in advance for your absence to be excused, and I may require you to document your illness or emergency. (Student athletes, musicians etc. also will be excused to participate in university-sponsored events but must provide me with the appropriate documentation forms.) Arriving late to class is rude both to the instructor and other students. If you arrive late to class, I will count you as absent for that day.
In regards to class participation, students should come to class prepared to ask and answer questions on the assigned readings. Also, I have scheduled several course periods entirely for class discussion. I have a prepared list of discussion questions for these days which you need to consider in advance. The syllabus contains links to the discussion questions you need to prepare for class participation on the specified days.
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. Your participation grade will reflect the extent to which you come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings in a thoughtful, productive, and civil manner. I reserve the right to give "pop-quizzes" at any time during the semester. I have done so in the past when students are not prepared for class.
In accordance with the emphasis on student-centered learning in Drake's mission statement, 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, your performance on the exams 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)
1. Neil J. Kritz, ed. Transitional Justice: How Emerging Democracies Reckon with Former Regimes, Volume I: General Considerations (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1995).
2. Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence (Beacon Press, 1998)
3. Geoffrey Robertson, Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice (New York: The New Press, 1999).
4. Gregory M. Scott and Stephen M. Garrison, The Political Science Student Writer's Manual (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995).
5.Your understanding of peacebuilding and post-conflict justice issues 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.
PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH SOURCES ON THE WEB
1. See Chapter 4 of the writer's manual by Scott and Garrison for a wide-ranging list of sources of information for research in politics and international relations.
2. Online research resources:
McGill
University, Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Reconstruction course
links
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations
Minnesota Human Rights Library
Project DIANA at Yale University
University of Cincinnati
College of Law
Women's Human Rights
Resources
Amnesty International homepage
United Nations homepage
U.S.
State Department Country Reports on Human Rights
Foreign
Affairs Online (links to sites in international law, human rights,
and the UN)
3. 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.
READING ASSIGNMENTS AND SCHEDULE
Part I: Peacebuilding and Justice: an Introduction
1/17 Introduction to the class
1/ 22 Minow, Chpt. 1: "Introduction" and Chpt. 2: "Vengeance and Forgiveness"
1/24 Robertson, Chpt. 11: "The Guernica Paradox: Bombing for Humanity"
"Integrating Human Rights and Peacework," Human Rights Dialogue, Series 2: No. 7 (Winter 2002)
1/29 Discussion: Peace, Reconciliation, and Justice
Part II: Judicial Efforts to Pursue Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Justice
1/31 Minow, Chpt. 3: "Trials"; Public Radio Documentary: In Search of Global Justice
2/5 Robertson, Chpt. 5: "War Law"
2/7 Robertson, Chpt. 6: "An End to Impunity"; Film: The Legacy of Nuremberg
2/12 Robertson, Chpt. 7: "Slouching Towards Nemesis"
2/14 Film: Calling the Ghosts
2/19 Robertson, Chpt. 8: "The Balkan Trials"; Skim the UN page on the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
2/21 Skim the UN page on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
2/26 Robertson, Chpt. 9: "The International Criminal Court"
2/28 Robertson, Chpt. 10: "The Case of General Pinochet"
March 1-3 Conference on Ethnic Conflict, Accountability and Reconciliation sponsored by Drake University and the U.S. Institute of Peace (I will provide details about the student portion of this conference as they become available. You will be required to attend the student component of this conference.)
3/5 Kritz, Chpt. 6 (pp. 337-349 and 375-438): "Criminal Sanctions: The Question of Prosecutions"
"Litigating Human Rights," Human Rights Dialogue, Series 2, No. 2 (Spring 2000)
3/7 Discussion: Prosecution and Punishment
3/12 MIDTERM EXAM
Part III: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and Reparations
3/14 Kritz, Chpt. 4: "Perspectives on Accountability and Moral Responsibility"
3/19 Spring Break, no class
3/21 Spring Break, no class
3/26 Minow, Chpt. 4: "Truth Commissions" and Kritz, Chpt. 5 (pp. 225-289): "Documenting the Former Regime: Commissions of Inquiry"; Film: Facing the Truth
3/28 Kritz, Chpt. 7: "Responsibility of Superiors and Subordinates"; Film: Facing the Truth
4/2 Kritz, Chpt. 8: "Non-Criminal Sanctions"; ROUGH DRAFTS OF RESEARCH PAPERS DUE
4/4 Minow, Chpt. 5: "Reparations" and Kritz, Chpt. 9 (pp. 500-571): "Treatment and Compensation of Victims"
4/9 Discussion: Truth Commissions and Reparations
Part IV: Student Presentations (Remember to turn in your peer evaluations on the day of your presentation.)
4/11 Group I
4/16 Group II
4/18 Group III
4/23 Group IV
4/25 No Class
Part V: Conclusions
4/30 Minow, Chpt. 6: "Facing History;" Robertson, "Epilogue"
5/2 Class Evaluations; FINAL DRAFTS OF RESEARCH PAPERS DUE
5/11(7:30-9:20) FINAL EXAM