Statecraft, Peacekeeping and Nation Building (SPNB)
April 15 - May 5, 2010
Application period Sep 11 - Dec 15, 2009
Candidate Profile - Application Instructions - Application Form
The primary purpose of this course is to study humanitarian and peacekeeping interventions and evaluate policy-related issues affecting international relations and national policy-making in a democratic environment. The program focuses on the causes, motivations, incentives and needs for national-level decisions and for international coordination in undertaking such operations, and the implications of these missions to countries, regional peace and stability, and to the international community in the effort of providing enduring solutions that promote democracy, human development, and political stability. The content analyzes the intervention situation from several perspectives. It examines circumstances, claims, and justifications for intervention, such as the weakness of the states to confront protracted internal political violence, civil violence, and the effects of natural disasters on countries and regions. Furthermore, it explores the decision-making processes countries and multilateral organizations undertake before international crises. It permits participants to evaluate different types of crises and implications for the international community and regimes, such as natural humanitarian disasters, genocides, ethnic cleansing, natural environment collapses, and massive abuse of human rights.
The curriculum also provides insights in the political behavior of states or parties in conflict, the use of geographic-political areas as platforms for organized criminal and terrorist groups, and in the role of international actors to facilitate or explore sustainable solutions in conflict resolution. The course leads students to reflect on the multilateral, United Nations-based operations and on the United States Government approaches to what is know as "security, stability, transition, and reconstruction" (SSTR) operations as currently observed. Special attention is given to the on-going intervention in Haiti and other SSTR challenges related to the Western Hemisphere, in general, and the Caribbean basin, in particular.
