Human Rights, Humanitarian Order, and the State in Modern International Relations:
A Graduate Seminar of NCCU International Master’s Program in International Studies
(Spring 2014)
Instructor: Dr. Titus C. Chen (UC-Irvine), Associate Research Fellow, China Politics
Division, Institute of International Relations, NCCU
Office: Room 417, IIR
Phone: 02-82377312 (O)
E-mail address: chentitus@gmail.com
Office Hours: Tue. 10-12, or by appointment
This is a graduate seminar designed for NCCU International Master’s Program in
International Studies (IMPIS). The course will examine the roles, implications,
controversies, and prospects of human rights and humanitarianism in the modern
international system. Students are expected to finish weekly readings and engage
actively in discussion during each session.
Beginning in week 2 (Feb. 24), students are required to submit at least two analytic
questions, based on their reflection and critiques of weekly readings, with an aim to
enrich in-session discussion. Questions shall be submitted by email to Dr. Titus Chen
each Monday by 12pm. Beginning in week 3 (March 3), one student will lead the
summarization, discussion, and critiques of weekly readings of one session. The
weekly discussion leader is exempted from question submission, but is required to
submit to the instructor her/his summary, reflections, and critiques of weekly
readings by 10am. The instructor will then forward the file to the rest of the class. A
visual aid is encouraged but not required for in-session discussion.
Students are also required to submit an original paper by the last session (June 23).
The final paper shall address a theoretical or empirical issue that is related to course
subjects. The final paper shall be double-spaced, typed with font size of 12 points,
and no longer than 18 pages. The paper shall adopt the notes and bibliography
system of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Students are expected to discuss with the instructor regarding paper topics and
research methods. Students are required to submit a page of brief introduction of
paper topic and abstract by the session on May 5.
Grades of the final paper constitute 70% of course grade; in-session performance
and participation constitute the rest.
*UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL A STUDNET BE EXCUSED FOR EARLY
DEPARTURE FROM THE SEMINAR WITHOUT BEARING SIGNIFICANT
COSTS
A two-volume set of course reader is available for purchase at campus photocopy
station. Articles with a star sign will be delivered by e-mail.
Following is the course program and weekly readings
Week 1 (02/17)
Introduction of Course Policies & Participants
No weekly readings
Theme I: Human Rights and the State
Week 2 (02/24)
International Human Rights: General introduction
David P. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations, 2nd ed. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2006), Chapters 1-2.
Todd Landman, Political Science and Human Rights, in Interpreting Human
Rights: Social Science Perspectives, edited by Rhiannon Morgan and Bryan S.
Turner (London: Routledge, 2009), 23-43.
Week 3 (03/03)
Post-WWII International Human Rights Regimes
Thomas G. Weiss, David P. Forsythe, Roger A. Coate, & Kelly-Kate Pease, The
United Nations and Changing World Politics, 6th ed. (Boulder, C.O.: Westview
Press, 2010), Chapters 6-7.
Beth A. Simmons, Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic
Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), Chapter 2.
Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, Rules for the World: International
Organizations in Global Politics (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004),
Chapter 5.
Week 4 (03/10)
Issues of Human Rights in International Relations I: Sovereignty and Human Rights
Tim Dunne and Nicholas J. Wheeler, Introduction: Human Rights and the Fifty
Year’s Crisis, in Human Rights in Global Politics, edited by Tim Dunne and
Nicholas J. Wheeler (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 1-28.
*Christian Reus-Smit, Human rights and the Social Construction of Sovereignty,
Review of International Studies (2001), 27, 519-538.
Christian Reus-Smit, On Rights and Institutions, in Global Basic Rights, edited by
Charles R. Beitz & Robert E. Goodin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009),
25-48.
Andrew Hurrell, Another Turn of the Wheel? Basic Rights in International Society,
in Global Basic Rights, edited by Charles R. Beitz & Robert E. Goodin (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2009), 49-70.
Week 5 (03/17)
Issues of Human Rights in International Relations II: Culture, Tradition, and Human
Rights
Chris Brown, Universal Human Rights: A Critique, in Human Rights in Global
Politics, 103-127.
R. Panikkar, Is the Notion of Human Rights A Western Concept?, in Human
Rights: Critical Concepts in Political Science Vol. 1, edited by Richard Falk, Hilal
Elver and Lisa Hajjar (London: Routledge, 2008), 178-199.
Adamantia Pollis, Cultural Relativism Revisited: Through A State Prism, in Human
Rights: Critical Concepts in Political Science Vol. 1, 279-305.
Damien Kingsbury, Universalism and Exceptionalism in “Asia”, in Human Rights
in Asia: A Reassessment of the Asian Values Debate, edited by Leena Avonius
and Damien Kingsbury (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), 19-39.
Week 6 (03/24)
Issues of Human Rights in International Relations III: Regional Human Rights
Mechanisms
Daniel C. Thomas, The Helsinki Effect: International Norms, Human Rights, and
the Demise of Communism (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001),
Chapters 3, 5.
Makau Mutua, Human Rights: A Political & Cultural Critique (Philadelphia, P.A.:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), Chapter 3.
*Yung-Ming Yen, The Formation of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission
on Human Rights: A Protracted Journey, Journal of Human Rights 2011 (10)
393-413.
Week 7 (03/31)
Issues of Human Rights in International Relations IV: Human Rights Effects of
Non-State Actors
Thomas Risse and Kathryn Sikkink, The Socialization of International Human
Rights Norms into Domestic Practices: Introduction, in The Power of Human
Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change, edited by Thomas Risse,
Stephen C. Ropp, and Kathryn Sikkink (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1999), 1-38.
Susan Burgerman, Moral Victories: How Activists Provoke Multilateral Action
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001), Chapters 2, 4.
Audie Klotz, Norms in International Relations: the Struggle Against Apartheid
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1995), Chapters 6.
Week 8 (04/07)
Issues of Human Rights in International Relations V: Domestic Factors of Human
Rights Foreign Policy and Human Rights Compliance
Kathryn Sikkink, Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004), Chapter 3.
*Rana S. Inboden and Titus C. Chen, China’s Response to International
Normative Pressure: The Case of Human Rights, The International Spectator:
Italian Journal of International Affairs 2012 (47:2), 45-57.
*Olga A. Avdeyava, When Do States Comply with International Treaties? Policies
on Violence against Women in Post-Communist Countries, International Studies
Quarterly (2007) 51, 877-900.
*Lisa M. Sundstrom, Foreign Assistance, International Norms, and NGO
Development: Lessons from the Russian Campaign, International Organization
(2005) 59, 419-449.
Week 9 (04/14)
Issues of Human Rights in International Relations VI: Development, Trade, and
Human Rights
Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, Forced to Be Good: Why Trade Agreements Boost
Human Rights (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2009), Chapters 1, 6.
Mary Robinson, What Rights Can Add to Good Development Practice, in Human
Rights and Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement, edited by Philip
Alston and Mary Robinson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 25-41.
Christina Biebesheimer, The Impact of Human Rights Principles on Justice
Reform in the Inter-American Development Bank, in Human Rights and
Development: Towards Mutual Reinforcement, 269-296.
Jan Knippers Black, The Politics of Human Rights Protection (Lanham, M.D.:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), Chapter 13.
Week 10 (04/21) Documentary: Rwanda
Theme Two: International Humanitarian Order and the State
Week 11 (04/28)
International Humanitarian Order: General Introduction
Michael N. Barnett, The International Humanitarian Order (London: Routledge,
2010), Chapter 5.
Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss, Humanitarianism: A Brief History of the
Present, in Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, edited by
Michael Barnett and Thomas G. Weiss (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press,
2008), 1-48.
James D. Fearon, The Rise of Emergency Relief Aid, in Humanitarianism in
Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, 49-72.
Craig Calhoun, The Imperative to Reduce Suffering: Charity, Progress, and
Emergencies in the Field of Humanitarian Action, in Humanitarianism in
Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, 73-97.
Week 12 (05/05)
International Humanitarian Organizations in Perspectives I
Janice Gross Stein, Humanitarian Organizations: Accountable—Why, to Whom,
for What, and How?, in Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics,
124-142.
Peter Redfield, Sacrifice, Triage, and Global Humanitarianism, Humanitarianism
in Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, 196-214.
David P. Forsythe and Barbara Ann J. Rieffer-Flanagan, The International
Committee of the Red Cross: A Neutral Humanitarian Actor (London: Routledge,
2007), Chapters 3-4.
Michael Barnett and Martha Finnemore, Rules for the World: International
Organizations in Global Politics, Chapter 4.
Week 13 (05/12)
Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts & Wars
Final paper topic and abstract due
Larry Minear, The Craft of Humanitarian Diplomacy, in Humanitarian Diplomacy:
Practitioners and Their Craft, edited by Larry Minear and Hazel Smith (New York:
United Nations University Press, 2007), 7-35.
Toni Pfanner, Principled Humanitarian Action in the East Timor Crisis, in
Humanitarian Diplomacy: Practitioners and Their Craft, 174-193.
Nicholas Morris, The Balkans: The Limits of Humanitarian Action, in
Humanitarian Diplomacy: Practitioners and Their Craft, 347-371.
Sarah Kenyon Lischer, Dangerous Sanctuaries: Refugee Camps, Civil War, and the
Dilemma of Humanitarian Aid (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2005),
Chapters 4.
Week 14 (05/19)
Humanitarianism and International Security: Humanitarian Intervention I
Martha Finnemore, The Purpose of Intervention: Changing Beliefs About the Use
of Force (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2003), Chapters 3-4.
James Pattison, Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect:
Who Should Intervene? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), Chapters 1-2.
Week 15 (05/26)
Humanitarianism and International Security: Humanitarian Intervention II
Michael N. Barnett, The International Humanitarian Order, Chapter 6.
Richard Folk, Humanitarian Intervention: Imperatives and Problematics, in
Human Rights: Critical Concepts in Political Science Vol. III, 311-329.
Tom J. Farer, Humanitarian Intervention Before and After 9/11: Legality and
Legitimacy, in Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas,
edited by J. L. Hotlzgrefe and Robert Keohane (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2003), 53-89.
Heather Jacques Wood, Taylor Nuttall, and Kendall Stiles, Humanitarian
Intervention, in International Norms and Cycles of Change, edited by Wayne
Sandholtz and Kendall Stiles (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 263-288.
Week 16 (06/02) Dragon boat festival; no class
Week 17 (06/09)
Redefining International Humanitarianism I: Human Security
Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh and Anuradha M. Chenoy, Human Security: Concepts
and Implications (London: Routledge, 2007), Chapters 1-2.
Rob McRae, Human Security in A Globalized World, in Human Security and The
New Diplomacy: Protecting People, Promoting Peace, edited by Rob McRae and
Don Hubert (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001), 14-27.
Darryl Robinson and Valerie Oosterveld, The Evolution of International
Humanitarian Law, in Human Security and The New Diplomacy: Protecting
People, Promoting Peace, 161-177.
Week 18 (06/16)
Redefining International Humanitarianism II: Responsibility to Protect
Alex J. Bellamy, Global Politics and the Responsibility to Protect: From Words to
Deeds (London: Routledge, 2011), Chapters 1-4.
Week 19 (06/23)
Conclusion; final paper due
Peter J. Hoffman and Thomas G. Weiss, Humanitarianism and Practitioners:
Social Sciences Matter, in Humanitarianism in Question, 264-286.