Politics of Protection - Period 5

Social Sciences & Humanities Program
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Dates: 1/31/20 - 5/30/20

Social Sciences & Humanities

Politics of Protection - Period 5

Politics of Protection - Period 5 Course Overview

OVERVIEW

CEA CAPA Partner Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Primary Subject Area: International Relations
Instruction in: English
Transcript Source: Partner Institution
Course Details: Level 400
Recommended Semester Credits: 3
Contact Hours: 84

DESCRIPTION

What do the formal adoption of the Responsibility to Protect Paradigm, safe havens a la Srebrenica, the current refugee crisis around the Mediterranean Sea, climate change and the melting of the Arctic tell us about contemporary world society? Who is included who is excluded? Who and what deserves protection? Whose security? This course explores new modes of global governance linked to the emergence of an international politics of protection. This politics of protection comes in different forms and is intimately bound up with contemporary humanitarianism, international development, security and law.

We will reflect upon the forms of power that this politics might give rise to, authorize, delimit, and preclude (Orford 2011). In what ways might it open up new possibilities for greater human rights, international rule of law, and democracy? Or does the politics of protection rather signal a new age of empire, based on Western values, or even a 'human right to dominate' (Perugini and Gordon 2015)? Could governance and regulation produce new forms of vulnerability and victimization for the victims it seeks to protect?

This course will discuss pressing issues in contemporary world politics. Building on debates in political philosophy, international politics and international legal theory the course critically reflects upon whether and when political programs in the name of 'protection' can provide the intended relief or security they promise.

The course will provide a thorough understanding of the rise of the politics of protection as a mode of global governance. Students will engage in key debates, and gain in-depth knowledge of different perspectives and the legal rules that (seek to) govern world society. The course readings, discussions and assignments (see below) are intended to guide students to a level of critical thinking and writing on complex and pressing issues linked to global governance in world society. With the help of a variety of texts and sources as well as guest lectures and documentary screenings, we will reflect upon the ethical, political and legal dimensions of protection within world society.

Each seminar will use the guiding questions and concepts as tools for reflection, and invite students to actively participate in the debate.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) awards credits based on the ECTS system. Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.

This is an Honors course.


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