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James Madison University
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James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
USA
June 5, 2012
Assignments and Preparation for the Master’s Summer School for Global Citizenship and Peace 2012
Students must complete all required readings before the beginning of the course. During the course, students will be very busy reading peers’ essays and engaging in a variety of structured and unstructured activities. Because they will not have time to complete required readings during their time in Hiroshima, it is essential that they do so before the course commences.
1. Seminar on defining global citizenship
On the first day of the seminar, each participant will participate in a discussion on global citizenship. Before the opening day’s seminar, student must complete the day’s readings, read some of the optional readings on global citizenship, and reflect on global citizenship in relation to their own lives and more broadly. Students should be prepared to present their theoretically and practically oriented views on global citizenship to the group.
2. Paper assignment – writing a paper
The course will consist of four course themes within the field of global citizenship and peace.
In 2012 the four themes are:
Theme 1 – Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament
Theme 2 – Global Governance and Policy
Theme 3 – Humanitarian Intervention
Theme 4 – Soft Power
Theme 1 – Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament
The evocative location of this Summer School program highlights the destructive power of modern inter-state warfare. The first Summer School theme will look at how the movement for nuclear disarmament has mobilized people around the world and contributed to the idea of global citizenship and the need to restrain governments. The second part of this theme will analyze the nuclear peace theory debate and its assumptions about international relations. Key questions for this theme include: Is nuclear disarmament feasible? If so, how can it be achieved? Does the spread of nuclear weapons reduce the chance for war?
Theme 2 – Global Governance and Policy
The potential and desirability of global governance is hotly debated in the field of international relations and in the policy-making community. Generally, global governance has developed on an ad hoc basis, via the piecemeal formation of international treaties, international norms, and other international governing institutions. What is the potential for global governance and the reduction of the power of the state in the future? What types of issues are more susceptible to global policy formation and international cooperation? How do individuals and global civil society fit within the formation of international policy? Why have states and other international actors been successful in mitigating or solving some international issues but not others? The essays for this theme could address any one of these or a related question.
Theme 3 – Humanitarian Intervention
As we have seen with this year’s intervention in Libya, humanitarian intervention is easier to get into then to get out of and any intervention throws up very deep questions about the nature of World Politics, human rights, state sovereignty and the proper use of force. Since the end of the Cold War, humanitarian intervention and international law in support of it has become an increasingly central part of World Politics. What are the forces that have led to this phenomenon and is it likely to continue? When is humanitarian intervention justified, and who or what body should decide this? Are there any recent examples of illegitimate humanitarian intervention? Are there examples of successful humanitarian intervention? These are some of the questions we will address in this theme and they are good questions for papers on this theme.
Theme 4 – Soft Power
Since the end of the Cold War, the number of non-state actors has proliferated, and their influence over international politics and policies has grown. Non-states actors have often employed non-material powers to influence states and international organizations. In more recent years, states have also begun using non-material powers to influence the international system. Under what conditions are these softer powers successful in international politics? What types of soft powers are most successful in influencing international politics? When are soft powers not useful compared to harder powers? Essays in this theme can address any of the above questions or other questions related to the use of soft power in international politics.
Students will have to write a well researched and carefully organized 4000-word essay on some aspect of the theme of their choice. All essays should be grounded in the relevant theoretical research associated with the theme, and we expect students to include research from sources in addition to the resources described in this document. All students are required to present their research essays and will receive feedback from the faculty and their peers in a mock-conference type of learning environment. Please direct any questions about the research paper to the secretariat, who will forward them to the appropriate faculty in charge of your theme.
Please indicate the Theme for your essay on top of the first page!
All papers should be double-spaced, in Times 12-point font, with standard margins and be submitted in a .doc, .dacx or .pdf format.
Deadline for submission of the paper: JULY 20, 2012.
Send files in pdf and/or doc format to INU Project Manager, Melanie Pissarius at: inu@jmu.edu
With the subject line: INU essay 2012 – INSERT YOUR NAME & THEME HERE