Instructor: Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo

108 Cleveland Hall
Office Hours:
                        Monday, 11:00AM.-12:00 Noon
                        Tuesday, 11:00A.M.-12:00 Noon
                        Thursday, 2:00P.M.-5: 00 P.M.
 

Required Books

Saul Mishal, Avraham Sela, The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Co-Existence, New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Gil Loesche, Beyond Charity: International Cooperation and the Global Refugee Crisis in Search for Solutions, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. (on reserve in the Library)

Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, (Third Edition), Basic Books, 2000.

Richard Mansbach, Edward Rhodes, Global Politics in a Changing World, Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin: 2000, chapters 2 and 13, section 13.1 (on reserve in the Library).
 

Course Description

What is violence? How does it manifest itself? Why do institutions, people, and various social classes use violence to achieve certain specific goals? What does violence produce in a given state, society or social group? What are its socio-economic and political implications, individually and collectively? Are, for instance, all wars morally bad? Can or should also any violent destruction lead to re-construction using the dialectics of Hegel and his reformist disciples, Marx and Engels?

The 20th century produced some of the most disastrous wars and/or war-like conditions in the world.  Thus, we will discuss the causes of wars and forms of violence associated with them. Whether it is violence of the state, political party, or violence of the society or violence of individuals against the state or certain social groups, human violence is directly linked to the phenomenon of refugees.  War and refugee problem are directly and dialectically linked with one another. However, both phenomena can produce themselves independently from their interactions but at the same time, each of them can reproduce the another.

In this course, we will explore theories of violence, their social and political implications and their consequences and how they engender and/or how they relate to refugee problems. We will develop arguments related to the dynamics of refugees as they affect world politics and the international political economy.

Requirements

-Student’s active participation in all discussions of the class (10% of the total grade);

-For each unjustified absence, 10 points will be deduced from the student’s total grade.

-A late work without justification will be penalized (-10 points if the work is turned in within 48 hours and ­20 points if it is turned in within 72 hours). After this period, that specific work loses all points.

Assignment number 1

Each student will write a critical review on "Theory of Aggression" of Michael Walzer in his book, Just and Unjust Wars, chapters 4 and 7, one of the required books in this class. This review is 4-5 double-spaced pages. In this work, the student will identify the issues concerning the different theoretical elements related to the origins of aggression, how it manifests itself, the different forms it takes, and the main arguments of the author. The main objective of this review is to help students understand the complexity of the notion of aggression and the nature of the arguments used to understand this complexity. The paper is due on March 11, 2002. This review will count for 15% of the final grade.

Assignment number 2

Each student will write a paper on "How the violence against either females (of any ages) or the violence against children (age 0-18/19) has been perpetrated and dealt with in the public sector (government, economy and the market, public administration, political realm, rural setting, and educational area). This is a comparative study in which students will examine violence in two countries, which are not dealt with in this class. One of the countries has to be located in the developing world and the other country has to be in the developed world.  Students can select countries, which were mentioned in the class but were not discussed sufficiently. The length of this paper is between 6 and 8 pages, typed and double-spaced, including footnotes and bibliography. Each student needs to have between 5 and 10 references. The paper is due on April 15, 2002. The paper will count for 20% of the final grade.
 

Assignment number 3 (Class Presentations)

Each student will conduct a research to be presented on the status of refugees in a selected region or subregion of the world. Students will make a choice from the following regions and sub-regions: Central and South America ("Latin America"), the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Pacific Region, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa, and Former Eastern Europe. The presentations will be held between April 30 and May 6, 2002. The presentation will count for 25% of the final grade.

In this research paper, students will have to identify the following issues:

(1) The origins of refugees or where they have come from?
(2) Who the refugees are; their ethnicity, social class, their religion, gender, etc.,
(3) The population of refugees in that region;
(4) Social, health, educational and economic conditions of refugees;
(5) Political conditions in that country sub-region or region.

Assignment number 4 (Final Paper)

Each student will write the final research paper on any topic or sub-topic on violence or refugee problems in a specific part of the world, (country, sub-region, continent, district, province, state, county) and show how national and global institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN), major political parties, religious organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are dealing with the problem you have identified.  The length of the paper is between 16 and 18 pages, (typed and double-spaced) including footnotes and bibliography. The number of references to be used should be between 8 and 12 (books, articles, etc.). In your research, you have to try to take into account the questions listed below into your analysis:

(1) What are the implications of violence or refugee problems in the search for peace and promotion of social programs?
(2) How to eradicate violence or problems associated with refugees?
(3) What should be the role of the state and this of private corporations in finding solutions that you have proposed?

The final paper will count for 30% of the total grade. It is due on May 10, 2002.

Schedule:

1/28-A General Introduction: Objectives, issues, and Requirements
Beyond Charity, pp. 1-10.

2/4-Perceptions, Causes, and Consequences of the Refugees
Beyond Charity, chapter 1.

2/11-International Refugee Problem as a Contemporary Political Phenomenon
Beyond Charity, chapter 2.

2/18-The Cold War and the Creation of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
Beyond Charity, chapter 4.

2/25-Refugees and Search for Peace
Beyond Charity, chapter 3.

3/4- Wars as Organized and Legitimized Violence
Film followed by a discussion

3/11-Using Violence for Political Goals
Global Politics, chapter 2 sections 2. 2 and 2.3, pp, 39-48.

3/25-Terrorism
Just and Unjust Wars, chapter 12 and Global Politics,  chapter 2, section 2.3.

4/1-The Case Study of Hamas as a Popular Movement:  A Controlled Violence
The Palestinian Hamas, chapter 3.

4/8-Continuation on the Case of Hamas
The Palestinian Hamas, chapter 4.

4/15-Women, the State, and War: A Feminist Perspective
Global Politics, chapter 13.1, pp. 385-395.

4/22- Resolving the Refugee Problem: Policies, Management, and Political Perspectives
Beyond Charity, chapters 7 and 8.

4/29 and 5/ 6 Class Presentations