COURSE DESCRIPTION
With the change in the strategic environment following the end of the Cold War, the United States has participated more frequently politically, financially, and militarily in aiding failed/failing states. The United States conducts operations to prevent, contain, or resolve regional conflicts that threaten its national interests. U.S. participation, however, is not limited to military deployment, but includes the diplomatic, economic, and informational instruments of national power as well. In the current war on terrorism, mitigating the threats that failed states present will continue to play an important role in U.S. policy. The Bush administration has recognized that to defeat international terrorism, we must defeat its political and economic roots through military engagement, political development and economic investment.

These operations have evolved over the last 50 years in response to changes in the nature of conflict from that of interstate wars to intrastate conflicts. Traditional peacekeeping, therefore, has given way to more complex, multidimensional missions that combine enforcement actions with rebuilding activities. Often, these operations take place in conjunction with humanitarian emergencies and integrate a multitude of civilian players from international and regional organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the U.S. interagency community. Establishing and maintaining peace, the goal of any peace operation, requires more than the military creating a safe and secure environment. It also requires civil and political institutions that respect good governance and human rights, justice and reconciliation, economic and social well-being, and the rule of law. To achieve these challenging goals, military and civilian organizations must cooperate and coordinate effectively.

This course will examine the roles of the United Nations, the United States, and nongovernmental organizations in rebuilding war-torn societies—from peacekeeping to civil society development and institution-building to good governance cultivation. The focus is on developing a framework for analyzing the U.S’s approach to and participation in dealing with failed/failing states. Building on a foundation provided in the first two lessons, the course will analyze the sources of failure in states, the nature of international intervention, and civil-military coordination. A discussion on the challenges of post-conflict reconstruction will highlight the difficult, but fundamentally interdependent, relationships among the military, political, humanitarian, and economic developmental aspects of capacity building in war-torn nations. Ethical and legal issues in this regard will also be examined. The class will conclude with a simulation requiring students to apply lessons learned in class.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Examine current joint tactics, techniques, and procedures for the planning and execution of operations aimed at regenerating and rebuilding war-torn societies.
• Analyze the principles and policies that guide international and U.S. participation in dealing with states experiencing “failure” in terms of governance, security, societal welfare, and economic solvency.
• Analyze the models of approach to and participation in mitigating the threats from failed and failing states as they support national security goals and objectives.
• Analyze the challenges of civil-military and political-military coordination by examining the different roles, capabilities, characteristics, and cultures of various actors (international and regional organizations, nongovernmental organizations, interagency community, and military players) active in peace operations.
• Analyze the complexity of problems facing a post-conflict society that peace operations attempt to address and the interdependent relationship of the military, political, humanitarian, and economic elements of regenerating war-torn societies.
  

METHODOLOGY
The course will combine readings, lectures, interactive guest speaker presentations, seminar discussions, case studies, and a simulation exercise. It is the student’s responsibility to infuse knowledge gained in this elective into the core curriculum seminar discussions and to question guest lecturers about their views on peace operations, stabilization and reconstruction, and failed/failing states. Readings will mostly be found on Blackboard, but also might be found in the assigned texts or the Internet.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Students are required to prepare for and participate regularly in class discussions. Thorough preparation is necessary for maximizing the educational value of class discussions and guest lectures.
2. Students are required to prepare for and participate in the two-day simulation that will build a strategy for the post-conflict reconstruction of Zimbabwe. Students will be assigned an organization to represent throughout the simulation and grouped into functional sectors (security, governance, humanitarian, and development). Each sector is required to prepare and deliver a 5-7 minute presentation on its goals, objectives, and strategy for the reconstruction of Zimbabwe at the beginning of the simulation in Lesson 11. The simulation will conclude with a briefing of the final strategy through Power Point slides to a panel of experts.
3. To prepare for the simulation, students are required to read the background material provided by the faculty, research their assigned organization, and write one three-page paper. The paper, due during Lesson 5, will provide background on the assigned organization’s policy, structure, mission, and culture as it relates to Zimbabwe.
   

STUDENT EVALUATION
The instructors, based on ICAF and NWC regulations, will conduct student evaluations. Grades will be based on classroom and course contributions (50%), as well as participation in the simulation. In addition you will be required to write two papers, the first is a two – three page information paper about the organization you will play in the simulation (10%). The other paper you will be required to analyze the problem in the simulation based on the role you will play; that paper three-five page paper must identify problems confronting your organization and develop course of actions (COAs) to resolve the problem (s), that paper is 40% of your grade.

FACULTY
Dr. Michael Baranick
Dr. Charles Barry

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Ms. G. Lauren Lee

Additional NDU faculty may be invited as their areas of expertise are highlighted in class discussions. Senior guest speakers with experience in peace operations, planning processes, and policy coordination will augment the core instructional staff.