New Undergraduate Course American Interventions After the Cold War INR Th 2:00PM - 4:45PM BEL 0243 Dr. Lee Metcalf This class will explore questions that have arisen in regard to American interventions after the end of the Cold War. What drives American intervention? Is it driven by the classical realist factors of power and interests or is it driven by changing norms? Since the seventeenth century, international law and norms have supported the idea of state sovereignty, which has largely shielded national governments from outside interference in domestic affairs. Since the weak international response to mass violence and genocide in Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia, however, some sought a more nuanced interpretation of sovereignty. A new idea, the responsibility to protect, says that sovereignty involves responsibilities as well as rights for states. It holds that when a national government fails to protect its people from mass violence, or indeed commits it, the international community has the right and the duty to intervene. This new interpretation was endorsed in a non-binding vote in the United Nations in 2005, but is far from being universally accepted in practice. The class will be a combination of lecture and student led discussion. There will be no tests. The students will write short reaction papers to the readings and write a research paper.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 19:18:27 +0000
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