HUMAN SECURITY SEMINAR

Catalog description

What is human security? How does it differ from state security? What are the major issues confronting the human security agenda? This course will explore human security as a concept, a policy process, and normative goal pursued by the international community. This course will commence with an exploration of the conceptual debates as to how human security is defined and its relationship to the larger international security agenda. We will then study how some issues become prioritized as part of the human security agenda while others issues are abandoned. In addition, we will map how human security issues intersect with human rights, humanitarian intervention, genocide prevention, and civil-military relations. As part of the seminar format, students will be expected to write weekly analysis papers based on the assigned readings before each class to inform our discussion. For the research component of this class, students will choose an issue that falls under the human security agenda and assess how state and non-state actors have framed and addressed it through campaigns, policies, and other initiatives.