New Models for Social Cohesion in Divided Societies

IGA-218: Inclusive Security

Semester: Winter / January 2014

Instructor: Ambassador Swanee Hunt: (617) 496-4907

Course Schedule: Sunday, January 5 – Thursday, January 16

(Note: some evening commitments)

Location: 168 Brattle Street (January 5 and 16), HKS Campus (January 6 to 15)

Office: Taubman 128 (Center for Public Leadership)

Office hours: TBD

Course assistants: Audrey Keranen ()

CA office hours: By Appointment

Our class will take up these key questions:

· Do foreign policy experts need to recognize untapped resources to avert or resolve conflict?

· How do gender stereotypes impact public policies regarding violent conflict?

· What have women’s experiences been, across cultures, in confronting violent conflict?

· What are the dynamics between women-led, community-based initiatives and politics?

· What steps can policy makers take to benefit from these initiatives? Namely, what is the status of various conflict areas’ policies addressing issues of “women, peace and security”?

Such questions have been raised at an abstract level and hotly debated by theorists. This course will take that debate to a practical, policy-oriented level, examining the work of women in troubled regions worldwide. We will tease out the unexamined framework of successful women-led initiatives from conflicts around the world.

My aim is to offer you not only my experience and conceptual thinking, but also draw on your wisdom and to introduce you to experts from around the world. In this course you will bridge theory and practice. We will have as our guests 15 respected women leaders from various conflict areas.

The following countries are anticipated for the Winter/January 2014 course:

§ Afghanistan

§ Colombia

§ Philippines

§ Rwanda

§ Syria

Some participants will be experts who have firsthand knowledge and experience in developing and implementing national policies on peace and security. Many are in a position to influence the creation of similar policies in countries that don’t yet have them. You will examine different nations’ approaches policies and assess the problems they address and resolve. You will also have the opportunity to interview – or spend individual time with - women from each area. Doing so, you will break new ground in your analysis of what women organizers in general are doing in the face of war, thinking through how you, after you leave graduate school, can help create a bridge between them and policy makers. You will also have access to an extensive video library of interviews with women leaders in other conflict areas, including Bosnia, Israel/Palestine, and Rwanda.

You will enter the classroom with your own wealth of experiences and intellectual curiosity. You will leave this course with:

1) greater understanding of several regions of violent conflict, with a focus on national policies related to UNSCR 1325;

2) increased understanding of the traditional policy-making process;

3) new thoughts about the impact of gender on public policy;

4) insights about the role of women in peacebuilding efforts;

5) rationale for you, future leaders, to include all stakeholders around the policy-making table;

6) concrete strategies to move under-represented groups into the policy-making arena;

7) honed professional negotiation, advocacy, writing and presentation skills; and

8) personal insights into yourselves and your colleagues.

Student Profile:

No pre-requisites. Men are especially encouraged. Students from Fletcher, MIT et al. are welcome. The class make-up typically spans a wide range of experiences and perspectives, including students from different Harvard graduate schools.

Auditors:

Auditing students have two options: audit-only or audit-participate. Audit-only students attend classes but do not participate in group projects (presentations, briefings) and generally do not speak in class discussions. Audit-participate students complete readings, attend classes, participate in discussions, and engage in both the conflict presentation and policy briefing. Auditing students must decide whether to audit-participate prior to the first day of class and should not expect to switch to audit-only during the course.

Grading Breakdown

· Class Participation (30%)

· Conflict Presentation (15%)

· Final Policy Briefing (45%)

· Reaching In, Reaching Out (10%)

Assignments are due at 9:00AM and should be posted on the course website, unless otherwise noted. Points will be deducted from your grade for every day an assignment is late.

Class Participation

Each student will contribute to a rich class discussion. Readings are weighted toward the beginning of the course to allow you leeway to choose other readings later tailored to your specific interests. Before each class/during the reading period, post on the Wordpress questions the readings, either required or recommended, brought to mind. Please also post comments on readings/themes from class days. The quality of the comments/questions matters more than the quantity, so please keep that in mind when posting.

You are expected to have done the required reading assigned for each class; if you have not, you should not enter the class discussion. Learning happens most thoroughly with a balance of studying others’ ideas and your own direct experiences, so you will discuss your professional and personal experiences in class.

In addition, you will work with a team (three or four other students) for the major assignments. Your grade will be determined by your ability to work with this group. This group work can be the most challenging aspect of the course. With that in mind, you will do groundwork by jointly establishing goals, roles, and norms during your first meeting. You will have the opportunity to assess not only your own performance, but that of your group’s members as well.

Group Presentation (Wenesday, January 8 and Thursday, January 9)

Students will be given a chance to focus on one conflict or thematic area. Each group of four or five students will give a 30-minute presentation outlining the roots of the conflict or thematic issue they have chosen. Note: There are more groups (8) than number of conflict areas (7); thus, one groups will focus on NAP’s. Your group presentation should reflect a nuanced understanding of the diverse forces that drive hostilities in your country or thematic area. You should not explore women’s contributions to peacebuilding in your conflict/thematic area; that you will do during the final policy briefing. Rather, your goal is to provide your classmates the history of “your conflict/theme” and an overview of the current environment. You should feel free to be creative in this group presentation and may use PowerPoint, pictures, film clips, music, or other aids.

Final Policy Briefing (Tuesday, January 14 – Wednesday, January 15)

Each student group will give a 30-minute briefing to a major policy maker. The briefing will “press the case” that women should be included in efforts to avert conflict, launch a peace process, or stabilize a conflict area. The content of each presentation will depend on the policy maker being persuaded. You may use PowerPoint, pictures, or other aids appropriate to the setting.

In addition to the verbal presentation, you will prepare a written briefing, which you will post on the course website. It should have an enticing introduction and a compelling conclusion; outside references may be noted within the text or as endnotes or footnotes (if endnotes, those pages are included in the 14). Your assigned readings to be completed before class on January 15th are your classmates’ written briefings; you will critique their written work and provide feedback after their verbal presentations.

Both the written and verbal briefings should include:

1) a discussion of the nature of the conflict as it relates to the policy maker’s organization;

2) critical information about the role women currently play in the society in general, and in the conflict specifically;

3) in-depth description and analysis of the work of a few women you recommend be included in the policy maker’s work in the conflict (our guest experts are excellent primary resources);

4) specific ways the policy maker could involve women in current agency programs;

5) financial cost-benefit discussion;

6) appraisal of the political pitfalls and opportunities this recommendation will entail.

Each group will present its briefing to the policy maker of its choice, played by Ambassador Hunt or a guest. Student groups will identify a leading policy maker in any of several agencies or organizations to brief. It is up to you to select an organization relevant to your conflict and identify the person in the organization who will have enough clout to make a difference. Consider choosing the US Military, US State Department, Middle East Institute, European Union, Council on Foreign Relations, World Council of Churches, Anti-Defamation League, International Crisis Group, UN Security Council, UN Secretary General’s Office, UN High Commission for Human Rights, UN High Commission for Refugees, Central Intelligence Agency, or government leaders in individual countries.

The discussion following each policy briefing will assess strategies used, the power of the presentation, and suggestions for improvement. Group grades will be based on presentation clarity and tightness, persuasiveness of the arguments, and the accompanying written briefing.

Word to the Wise:

The written briefing will be assessed according to professional standards, i.e., no grammatical, punctuation, or spelling errors; no font size inconsistencies, dangling headings, etc. When you hand the briefing to the policy maker, you are saying, “This is the very best I am capable of producing.”

Each of you is responsible for the whole product, even if you were the original drafter of a specific segment. You are welcome to submit your written briefing to me for review and preliminary comments the day before your final submission. I will make every attempt to give it a timely turn-around. However, even the early submission should be in polished form.

Reaching In, Reaching Out

Each student will submit two short writings: a letter to the editor (200 words) and a personal integrative journal entry (500 words).

Your letter to the editor will be written to a major news outlet in response to a current event relevant to this course. It will respond to an article recently published in the newspaper or to the overall approach of the newspaper to the issue at hand.

Your journal entry will synthesize the readings, assignments, and class discussions through the lens of your personal experiences and will be read only by me. The writing should be thoughtful, demonstrating your personal growth in the class and referring explicitly to readings.

Resource Suggestions from Institute for Inclusive Security:

§ Inclusive Security Library List (sent as an email attachment on January 4th)

§ The Georgetown research repository:http://iwpsd.libguides.com/content.php?pid=339544&sid=2776115

§ YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/user/inclusivesecurity

§ Website resources section: http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/explore-resources/

§ Website publications library: http://www.inclusivesecurity.org/explore-resources/research-and-publications-library/

REQUIRED BOOKS (Available at the Harvard Coop or Amazon.com.)

Chapters TBD

§ Anderlini, Sanam Naraghi. Women Building Peace, What They Do and Why it Matters (2007).

§ Hudson, Valerie, et al. Sex and World Peace (2012).

§ Cohn, Carol Women and Wars (2013).

CLASS SESSIONS

This is a draft, subject to change. Below is last year’s schedule adjusted to this year’s calendar. The exact timing will be changed based on the availability of outside speakers, room assignments, number of students enrolled among others.

Reading Period: January 2 - 5

Welcome Dinner: Sunday, January 5

Ambassador Hunt’s home: 168 Brattle Street, one mile west of Harvard Square

Schedule

6:00 – 9:00 Dinner & introductions (Trial by Fire)

Assignment

· Please write “5 Interesting Things About Me” on the class’s WordPress page by Sunday, January 5, at 12 noon.

Class Session 1: Monday, January 6 (Room: TBD)

Introduction to Course: Gender

Schedule

9:30 – 10:15 More introductions (Trial by Fire)

10:15 – 10:45 Overview of the course/syllabus review

10:45 – 11:00 Break

11:00 – 11:45 Basketball film/discussion

11:45 – 12:15 Lunch (bring your own)

12:15 – 1:15 Discussion with Professor Valerie Hudson (By Skype)

1:15 – 1:30 Break

1:30 – 2:45 Threaded reading discussion

2:45 – 3:00 Group selection

3:00 Small group conflict presentation prep

Required Readings

· Woolley, Anita, Christopher Chabris, Alex Pentland, Nada Hashmi and Thomas Malone.Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups. Science29 October 2010:Vol. 330no. 6004pp. 686-688.

· Vedantam, Shankar. “Invisible Current” (2010), pg. 88-111

· Bohnet, Iris. Gender Equality: A Nudge in the Right Direction, The Financial Times, October 13, 2010.

· Catalyst, 2012. “Women in Government.”

Schedule

9:30 – 10:20 Threaded reading discussion

10:20 – 10:30 Break

10:30 – 11:30 Guest speaker – Ms. Zainab Salbi (By Skype)

11:30 – 12:00 Lunch (bring your own)

12:00 – 1:30 Fukuyama article debate

1:30 – 3:00 Amb. Hunt: Why Women?

Required Readings

· Salbi, Zainab. TED Talk, 2010.

· Fukuyama, Francis. “Women and the Evolution of World Politics.” Foreign Affairs, 77(5), (New York: Foreign Affairs, 1998): 24-40.

· Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Men Hate War Too.” Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 1999 (New York: Foreign Affairs, 1999): 118-122.

· Jaquette, Jane S. “States Make War (A Response to Fukuyama’s “Women and the Evolution of World Politics).” Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 1999, (New York: Foreign Affairs, 1999): 128-129.

· Wrangham, Richard. Demonic Males (1997). Chapter 9, p. 200-219.

· Barbara Ehrenreich, commencement speech at Barnard College (2004).

· McDermott, Rose. “Testosterone, Cortisol, and Aggression in a Simulated Crisis Game.” (University of Nebraska, 2006).

· McIntyre, Matthew. Sex differences in aggression during a simulated war game, Harvard University, 2007.

· UN Security Council Resolution 1820 on sexual violence during wars, 2008.

· UN Security Council Resolution 1888 mandating peacekeeping operations to prevent sexual violence, 2009.