Sophomore Seminar: Mobilizing Shame: Violence, the Media, and International Intervention

3 units

Deciding when and when not to intervene in the affairs of a foreign and autonomous state has become a hot-button issue in light of the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the more recent lending of support to Syrian rebels. In this course, students will examine the emergence of the international community, the development of human rights, the rise of the war correspondent as a mythical figure, the creation of supranational political and military institutions, the influence of the media on public sympathies, and the changing nature of global politics. Case studies may include: the Greek War of Independence, the Crimean War, the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, the Vietnam War, Apartheid in South Africa, the Rwandan genocide, the Somali Civil War, and the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.