Political Science 479Z Topics IR: Post-Conflict Reconstruction. Mark Baskin T-Th : 4:15 5:35. Hours in Contact Office: T, Th:

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1 Political Science 479Z Topics IR: Post-Conflict Reconstruction Mark Baskin T-Th : 4:15 5:35 POS 479Z, Humanities 0109 mark.baskin@cid.suny.edu Hours in Contact Office: T, Th: Course Objectives: This course will explore sources of the new, post-cold-war armed conflicts and reconstruction at the end of wars. It will go into international organizations, bad neighborhoods, ideology, identity politics and the drive for resources. It will examine third-party intervention; how wars end; and postwar economic, political and social reconstruction. It will consider cases from Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. The class will address current issues under discussion in New York and international capitals, as well as the deeper dynamics of these conflicts. It will address priorities, decision-making, unintended consequences, and formal and informal national-international relationships. Students will employ class discussions, written exercises and role playing to understand the logic of different vantage points (international-local, Government-NGO, Critical-Constructive) of national-international conflict management and underlying dynamics of development. Core Readings Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story of Hell on Earth Robert I. Rotberg, ed., When States Fail: Causes and Consequences, Princeton U Press, 2003, Francis Fukuyama, State Building, Governance and World Order in the 21 st Century (Cornell, 2004) Philip Roeder and Donald Rothchild, eds., Sustainable Peace: power and democracy after civil wars (2005) Paul Diehl, Peace Operations (2008) Annual Review of Global Peace Operation, 2008 (2008) Keith Brown, Transacting Transition: The Micropolitics of Democracy Assistance in the Former Yugoslavia (Kumarian, 2006). Other required readings will be on e-reserve. The password is: givepeaceachance Students are expected to remain abreast of current developments in peace operations and conflict situations through the elite media: New York Times, National Public Radio, BBC, Washington Post, CNN, Fox and others. Students are also expected to understand the particular biases of the various media. Requirements Papers I, II and III 60% Final 20% Conference Participation 10% Attendance/Participation 10% 1

2 Writing and Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the intentional or unintentional use of another s words or ideas without giving credit to that person. While this includes copying text word for word without the use of quotation marks, it also includes paraphrasing another person s work without proper citation. Intellectual honesty is a core value of university and the foundation of faculty and student development. Students guilty of plagiarizing any material will receive a failing grade for the course and the evidence will be automatically turned over to the Office of Student Conduct. During the first week of class, all students must review the UAlbany Library s tutorial on plagiarism entitled: Plagiarism 101 ( In this course, we will employ the program Turnitin to assess whether students have engaged in plagiarism. Participation. Class participation consists of preparation for and engagement in class discussion. It entails regular class attendance, completing assigned readings, asking relevant questions, and taking positions on issues raised in class. Final: an in-class essay exam will give the opportunity to present information and opine on the material covered in class. Papers: There will be three written assignments. Detailed assignments will be handed out in class Annotated Bibliography on one of the following five themes: Humanitarian Relief, Security and Justice, Economic Development, Political Development, and Social Capital and Civil Society as it plays out in one of the 28 missions covered in the Annual Review of Global Peace Operations Case Study that explores the background to the issue that was covered in the annotated bibliography. It should present historical background to the conflict; discuss the settlement that led to a specific peace operation; and present timely and complete information on the players involved in addressing the issue; and the degree of success they are having. Detailed instructions will follow. Policy Memorandum and Background Note. A two-part note that gives background to one of the issues of policy or operations and that recommends a course of action to a senior executive, such as a Foreign Minister, UN Secretary General, Commander in the Field, Civilian Head of Peace Operations. It will further develop the issue and country that have been the subject of the first two assignments and will constitute the class Conference on Reconstruction (below). Conference: The class will conclude with a 5-Session Conference on Reconstruction, in which students will present their policy memoranda that address the following issues at separate sessions: Humanitarian Relief, Security and Justice, Economic Development, Political Development, and Social Capital and Civil Society. Students will be expected both to make a presentation of their own paper, and ask questions and engage in a discussion concerning the papers written by other students. 2

3 COURSE OUTLINE Date Due Class Activity Theme/Issue January 22 Introduction January 27, 29 States February 3, 5 State failure February 10, 12, February 24, 26 International community Intervention March 3, 5 (3/3) First Paper Order and Rule of Law (Annotated Bibliography) March 10, 12 March 17, 19 March 24, 26 Humanitarian/Economic Reconstruction Political Interim Administration Political Power Sharing March 31, April 2 (4/2) Second Paper Political Local (Case Study) Government April 7, 14 Human Rights, Social Capital, Civil Society April 16 EU Presentation April 21, 23 (4/30) Third paper Conference on Reconstruction April 27, 30 (Policy Memo) 1. Humanitarian Relief May 5 2. Security and Justice 3. Economic Development 4. Political Development 5. Social Capital and Civil Society 3

4 Some Themes. This course will address lessons learned and good practices for policy makers and field operations. It presumes that such lessons and practices best emerge from a good understanding of a breadth of cases and motivations that underlie individual behavior and collective action. How are the new wars different from those of an earlier era? How do bad neighborhoods exacerbate conflict? Who is the international community, what are its rules of behavior, and how does it work with local forces? How have policy makers learned lessons from the past? What is specific to different types of policy? What are the components of post-war development and transition? What are the priorities of international missions at the end of wars? How do local and international organizations cooperate and coordinate their activities? What is the balance between providing services and building local capacity? January 23: Introduction: Conflict and Development Useful and Recommended Readings Clifford Geertz, Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, E-Reserve Andrew Mack, Civil War: Academic Research and the Policy Community, E-Reserve Steven van Evera, How to Write a Paper, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science, on e-reserve January 28, 30: On States and Administration: How are states and administration related? What is the problem of state-building? Is it possible to study states using the scientific method? What are the elements that contribute to political development? Fukuyama, State building, entire book February 3, 5, 9: On state Failure: What are the factors that lead states to fail? What is the difference between fragile, collapsed, and failed states? Is this meaningful? How do states break down socially, economically and politically? What are other examples of failed states? Can international institutions prevent state failure? Robert Rotberg, When States Fail, Causes and Conequences, pp Stathis Kalyvas, The Ontology of Political Violence: Action and Identity in Civil Wars, Perspectives on Politics, vol. 1, no 3. (September 2003), pp February 10, 12: The International Community : What are the differences among International Governmental Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations? How effective has the UN been in peace operations? Will a US-led peace operation likely to be more effective? What motivates individual peacekeepers in peace operations? 4

5 Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story of Hell on Earth, entire book Paul Diehl, Peace Operations, (Cambridge, Polity, 2008) February 24, 26: Intervention: what do we know? What are the criteria by which we can assess that it is appropriate to intervene in a conflict? What is the role of third parties in interventions? Does humanitarian Intervention differ from preemptive war? What kind of planning takes place among international officials in advance of an intervention? International Commission on State Sovereignty, Responsibility to Protect, and e-reserve I. William Zartman, The Timing of Peace Initiatives: Hurting Stalemates and Ripe Moments, The Global Review of Ethnopolitics, Vol 1, no. 1 (2001), 8-18, on e-reserve Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2008, pp Scott Atran, Robert Axelrod, Richard Davis, Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution, Science, August 2007, , handout Recommended James Dobbins et al, America s Role in Nation Building from Germany to Iraq, on e-reserve Michelle, Maiese, Codes of Conduct for Interveners, Beyond Intractability. Mary Anderson, The Implications of Do No Harm for Donors and Aid Agency Headquarters d_agency_headquarters.php The Do No harm Handbook, on E Reserve March 3, 5: Order and Rule of Law What are the challenges in establishing order and rule of law at the end of internal wars? What roles are played by international and domestic military, police, judiciary, corrections, and legal codes? How significant are transnational networks of organized and white collar crime? Why does killing continue? International Peace Academy, Managing Security Challenges in Post-Conflict Peace Building, e-reserve Susan Rose Ackerman, Establishing the Rule of law, Rotberg, ed., pp OECD, Enhancing the Delivery of Justice and Security, (2007), on e-reserve. Recommended: David Bayley, Democratizing the Police Abroad: What to Do and How to Do it, e-reserve Mark Baskin, Lessons Learned on Kosovo s Judiciary, e-reserv March 10, 12: Humanitarian Relief and Economic Reconstruction What are the basic aid strategies of international organizations and donor country governments? How are the immediate humanitarian needs of food and shelter balanced against longer term issues involving refugees and IDPs? How are choices made to balance international capacity and building 5

6 national capacity? To what extent do immediate, humanitarian needs conflict with political exigencies of the intervention? How do planners make trade-offs on reconstruction, economic reform and employment growth? Nat Colletta, et al, Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration: Lessons and Liabilities in Reconstruction, Rotberg, pp Kaysie Studdard, Transformation of War Economies, E-Reserve Donald R. Snodgrass, Restoring Economic Functioning in Failed States, Rotberg, pp Jeff S. Merritt, Quick Impact, Slow Recovery? Funders Priorities and the Local Realtities of Transition Programming, Transacting Transition, ed. By Keith Brown, pp Clemson Turregano and Keith Brown, Trust, Bricks and Mortar: KFOR and the Rebuilding of the Pones Schoolhouse, Transacting Transition, ed. By Keith Brown, pp March 17, 19: Political Reconstruction Interim Administration What are the international community s legacies of colonialism and post World War 1 and II reconstruction? Were the wrong lessons learned during the Cold War and in the Balkans? Can the International Community effectively manage and guide the development of post conflict states? Jens Meirenrich, Forming States after Failure, Rotberg, pp Mark Baskin, Between Exit and Engagement: On the Division of Authority Between International and Domestic Institutions in Transitional Administrations, vol. 10 (2004) Global Governance, pp Keith Brown, The New Ugly Americans? Making Sense of Democracy Promotion in the Former Yugoslavia, Transacting Transition, ed. By Keith Brown, pp Roeder and Rothchild, Chapter 1. Michael Barnett, Building a Republican Peace, International Security, on e-reserve March 24, March 26: Political Reconstruction Power Sharing Is it possible to design institutions that will provide political stability at the same time that they encourage broad political participation? How can warring groups ethnic groups, nations, factions, social classes agree to respect common principles and rules of the game? How effective are solutions that look to elections, parliaments or political decentralization? Is power sharing a more effective mechanism of conflict prevention than power dividing? Roeder and Rothchild, Sustainable Peace, Power and Democracy After Civil Wars, Part I. 6

7 March 31, April April 2: Political Reconstruction: Local Government Why does local government matter? How can international administrations work most effectively to support good local administration? Who are the key players in the multiple transitions that take place at the end of wars? How has the effort to build peace fared in the Balkans? In Iraq? Mark Baskin, Local Governance in Kosovo: a Link to Democratic Development? Kosovo Between War and Peace: Nationalism, Peacebuilding and International Trusteeship, eds. Tonny Brems Knudsen and Carsten Bagge Laustsen (London, Routledge). e-reserve Roeder and Rothchild, Part II, pp Dennison Lane and Keith Brown, Who s in Charge? Reflections on the UN Administration in Kosovo, Transacting Transition, ed. By Keith Brown, pp April 7, 14: Human Rights, Social Capital, Civil Society Can a civil society be a basis for political and social pluralism and support emerging democracy at the end of internal wars? How important is social capital and social reconstruction in providing a basis for a stable peace. What is the role of international and local NGOs and traditional social organizations in supporting civil society and social capital? Paula Pickering, Generating Social Capital for Bridging Ethnic Divisions in the Balkans: Case Studies of two Bosniak Cities, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 29, no. 1 (2006), pp Jennifer Widener, Building Effective Trust in the Aftermath of Severe Conflict, Rotberg, ed, pp Daniel Posen, Civil Society and the Reconstruction of Failed States, Rotberg, ed., pp Sally Broughton-Micova, Confidence-Building, Market Forces, and the Public Good: Challenges of Media Intervention in Post-conflict Macedonia, Transacting Transition, ed. By Keith Brown, pp Paul J. Nuti, Toward Reflective Practice: Understanding and Negotiating Democracy in Macedonia, Transacting Transition, ed. By Keith Brown, pp April 16, EU Presentation April 21, 23, 28, 30, May 5: Conference on Reconstruction Student s Papers and Presentations on: o o (4/21) Humanitarian Relief o (4/23) Security and Justice o (4/28) Economic Reconstruction and Development o (4/30) Political Reconstruction and Development o (5/5) Social Capital and Civil Society 7