The course on Human Security is designed to heighten the sense of empathy in students by making them aware of the implications of crisis situations - be they wars, pandemic, environmental catastrophes, financial crisis, etc. - on the everyday lives of people in multi-dimensional ways. It introduces students to a broader conception of “security,” one which concerns itself not just with the stability of the state, but also with preventing and alleviating risks to people's survival, livelihoods and dignity.
Traditional security thinking and the tools of national security, i.e., military force, proved inadequate when it came to protecting the lives and well-being of people threatened by crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, economic crisis, famines and wars. The pandemic for example had devastating impacts on the economic, food, personal, environmental, and political security of states and people everywhere in different ways and to different degrees. Insecurity spread in a domino effect across people, nations and sectors. The same can be said about the multi-dimensional impacts of the war in Ukraine, in the Middle East or climate change globally: These crises impact people first and foremost in multi-dimensional ways. Solutions are therefore needed that can capture mutual vulnerability between insecurities, but current narrow national security strategies and concepts are not designed to respond to such complexity.
Human Security, seen from the perspective of people, is not only about preventing wars and conflicts. It goes beyond stability to encompass other ways that the survival, well-being and dignity of people can be ensured: managing pandemics, saving jobs in the midst of a financial crisis, having access to reliable supply of quality food and clean water, being protected from pollution, being free from gross violations of human rights, etc. Human Security means being free from fear, from want and from indignities.
The course combines lectures, case studies, discussions, and interactive group exercises to highlight linkages between theory and practice in every session. Students will learn how to define, critique and measure human security. They will learn how to design programmes and evaluate existing strategies from this perspective while analyzing contemporary crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East as well as climate change.
Working in groups, students will also conduct fieldwork and interviews among at-risk populations, such as refugees, in order to analyze people's own experiences with security and insecurity in their lives. Additional support will be given to students to locate refugees and for interview techniques including ethical standards.
Finally, students will get a chance to interact with guest lecturers, practitioners who have built careers in the UN and other international organizations on applying the human security concept and who will provide tips on working with people and communities in the field.
In this course, students will analyze international relations through the intersection of the fields of security, economic development and human rights. The course will examine the relationships between these fields providing examples and case studies from contemporary politics. It will be of interest to those interested in pursuing inter-disciplinary security research but also those interested in public policy and work in international organizations.
LEARNING OUTCOMES AND SKILLS
The class combines critical learning (through reflection about what constitutes as security, how HS differs from human rights, traditional security and development, how it can be protected and provided, what the role of international organizations is, what is the human security approach to the question of radicalization etc) with problem solving skills (how to design human security programmes, how to conduct evaluations, how to measure through quantitative and qualitative indicators etc.).
1) An oral presentation of a refugee case study as a group exercise, 30 % of the grade, to be presented during session in class.
Students will work in groups of 4-5 to identify a refugee and interview him/her to understand his/her story before migration, during transit and in the host country. Students will then present the story of the refugee using the Human Security perspective during the relevant session. Students will receive support to find refugees in Paris or are free to find to look for people to interview in Paris or abroad (through zoom). In addition, students will be encouraged to attend a workshop about interview techniques, including ethical standards when it comes to interviewing people who have experienced trauma and hardships. The time and location of the 2 hours workshop (outside of class hours) will be communicated.
2) A mid-term reflective essay up to 7 pages, 25% of the grade, to be handed in mid-semester. The essay will be a reflective, critical perspective engaging with one question chosen from among a list of questions the professor will provide,
3) An end of term problem solving project, the choice of which to be decided with the professor, to be handed in by the end of the last class, up to 15 pages, 35% of the grade. The paper can be for example a human security strategy for a country, an evaluation tool, an HS diagnosis of a country, a toolkit for community projects, a methodology for developing HS indicators, a blueprint for an HS debate or resolution at the UN etc.
4) Active participation in debates and discussions based on readings. 10 %
• For each session, the professor may send a PPT in advance, with some guiding questions to think about while doing the readings.
• During the first hour, the professor will give an interactive lecture and going over the materials and what needs to be learned for each theme. During the second hour, students will conduct guided group exercises or debates in order to put the knowledge into practice.
• Students can meet with the professor about their papers and careers.
• Reading for the sessions that will be posted at the beginning of the semester, aimed at feeding the debates and discussions among students. Skimming through the readings is a requirement.
• Slides will be provided for each session and then put on the share drive for students after the class.