Nat Security Human Rights

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

The promotion of human rights and the protection of national security are often considered to be mutually exclusive goals, existing in tension if not competition as separate objectives of U.S. policy. Questions about when, why, and to what degree, if at all, human rights promotion should feature in U.S. national security policy continue to challenge policymakers, including as a result of an increasing number of actors with the information and means necessary to mobilize constituencies within and across borders. Policymakers therefore require familiarity with the terminology, history, and a well-informed understanding of comparative approaches to human rights and national security policy. This course will provide the student with a basic, but thorough, survey of the theories, international legal regimes, domestic and international political forces, key mechanisms, and global debates related to the international human rights movement in the context of U.S. national security policy. The course will blend theory, history, case study, and practical exercise through three sections designed to meet the needs of students with varying interests and backgrounds, but intended to enable the eventual practical application of lessons learned by students who specialize in a national security-related field. The first section of the course will explore the origins and competing theories of human rights. Students will analyze the tensions between and within different theories of rights, including between universalism and cultural relativism, and between socialist, liberal, and realist concepts of rights. Students will then consider how human rights fit within different theories of international relations, with a particular emphasis on the relevance of human rights to security cooperation and conflict. The section will conclude with a survey of the international legal frameworks that govern and define human rights, international humanitarian law (law of armed conflict), and international criminal accountability. The second section will focus on the sources of influence and means of implementation of human rights policy. First, the class will examine how congress, civil society, and the advocacy community influence human rights policy, followed by consideration of ways that the human rights agenda can be incorporated into – or constrained by – a variety of mechanisms, to include security assistance programs and multilateral organizations, particularly the United Nations. The third section will focus on a selection of key contemporary issues in human rights and national security, and the course will culminate in a practical exercise designed to provoke debate and consideration of competing viewpoints on rights in practice. Students will discuss, analyze, and debate how the protection of human rights impacts short-term and long-term national security interests in the context of various contemporary challenges, such as U.S. counterterrorism policy, partnered operations, and the nexus of U.S. international development policy, human rights, and national security.