COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST - POLI 347:INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT, CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

University of Ghana

POLI 347: INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT, CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST: FIRST SEMESTER OF 2016/17 SESSION

INSTRUCTOR: Kumi Ansah-Koi    Lecture Sessions: Legon Campus: Mondays: 1730-1920 hours  at JQB 09

            Accra City Campus: Fridays: 0010-0012 hours at  Room 2, Ground Floor, Main Block.

E-mail Contact: kakoi@ug.edu.gh                      kktak55@gmail.com     

Course Overview and Objectives

This Course is a sequel to the Introduction to International Politics course done at Level 200. It particularly focuses on the international scene and international conflicts, on the possible resolution of those conflicts, and on human rights as an issue in international relations. The Course aims at offering students a deeper understanding of international relations; and a better appreciation of the complexities and dynamics relating particularly to human rights and conflicts in international relations.

Students should be regular and punctual in their class attendance. Classes would be interactive. Tutorial classes are compulsory in the Political Science department; and are especially relevant and helpful in this Course. Students would be required to keep abreast with current developments on the international scene. The readings listed here are basic and introductory. More would be highlighted in class. Much of the required readings for the Course are available on the internet; accessibility should therefore not be a problem.  Enjoy the Course.

Schedule of Topics

1. The International Setting and its Actors:

1. Origins and Nature/Features of the international setting
2. Identification of the Actors in International Relations
3. Distinction between the International /Foreign and the Internal/Domestic; and also between the Sub-National, National, and the Trans-National.  The increasingly blurred nature of that distinction.
   
   

1. International Conflicts: What they are, Nature, Types/Manifestation, and Case Studies. Basic Concepts in Peace/Conflict Studies: Incompatibility, Parties, Issues, Conflict Behaviour, Conflict Environment, Conflict Dynamics, Hostility, Antagonism, etc. 
   
   
2. The UN System and International Conflicts.
   
   
   
   
3. Conflict Resolution in International Relations.

1. Comparative Study of various mechanisms for Conflict Resolution. We would focus, for example, on such mechanisms as Diplomacy/Negotiations/Mediation, Resort to Force of Arms or Violence, Arbitration, International Law, Judicial Bodies like the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, Arbitration, and the like.
2. Distinction between Conflict Prevention/Aversion, Conflict Management, Conflict Resolution, and Post-Conflict Peace-Building/Making. We would as well focus on such incidental issues as Peace Support Operations, DDRR, Transitional Justice, and the like.
   
   

1. Regional/Sub-Regional Organizations and International Conflicts/Human Rights: Case Studies of the African Union, ECOWAS, and the European Union
   
   
2. Human Rights in the International Context (since World War Two).

1. World War Two and emergence of the notion of human rights in international relations
2. Human rights: What they are
3. State Obligations regarding Human Rights
4. Human Rights in contemporary international relations
5. Emergence of the notion of Crimes against Humanity; and the aftermath.
   
   

1. The International Bill of Human Rights
   
   
2. International Humanitarian Law
   
   
3. The Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals
   
   
   
   
4. Course Review/Conclusions  

Basic Readings/Documents/Treaties:

Sandy Ghandhi, Blackstone’s Statutes International Human Rights Documents, 6^th edition, Oxford University Press, 2008

Erskine Childers with Brian Urquhart, Renewing the United Nations System, Uppsala, Sweden,

Quentin Gausset, Michael A. Whyte, and Torden Birch-Thomsen (eds), Beyond Territory and Scarcity. Exploring Conflicts Over Natural Resource Management, Stockholm, 2005

Charter of the United Nations

Statute of the International Court of Justice

International Bill of Human Rights:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Optional Protocol 1 to the ICCPR

Optional Protocol 11 to the ICCPR

Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

Convention Against Torture

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

International Humanitarian Law

Geneva Convention 1: Wounded and Sick

Geneva Convention 11: Armed Forces at Sea

Geneva Convention 111: Prisoners of War

Geneva Convention IV: Civilians

Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions: International Conflicts

Protocol 11 to the Geneva Conventions: Internal Conflicts

African Charter on Human Rights and People’s Rights

Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe

Constitutive Act of the African Union

Lewis Coser, The Functions of Social Conflict, New York: Free Press, 1956

Deng and Zartman (eds.), Conflict Resolution in Africa, Washington DC: The Brookings Institution.

Sage Handbook of Conflict Resolution, London: Sage Publications

C A Crocker, F O Hampson,  & P Aall (eds.), Grasping the Nettle: Analysing Cases of Intractable Conflict, Washington DC: USIP Press..

End of Semester examination will consist of six essay questions covering the entire course, out of which students would be required to answer only three.

An assignment, to be given in class mid-way through the course, would constitute the mandatory 30% Interim Assessment grade.