Course description

Human security emerged in the 1990s as an alternative to the traditional state-based national security paradigm. It is based on the idea that individuals, rather than states, should be the primary referent point for security and consequently that the provision of security for civilian populations is a responsibility of both the state and the international state system. This pivotal shift is not without tensions and problems, the most significant of which is that threats to the individual may be significantly different than threats to the state and may even encompass the state itself.At the same time, the human security concept remains exposed to academic and policy debates around whether threats should be narrowly (the freedom from fear agenda) or broadly (the freedom from want agenda) defined. Thus the course will focus on these divisions and on how human security changes the role that different actors and the international community play in conflict; examining how conflict affects individuals -- including civilians, refugees, and internally displaced persons -- and how humanitarian actors respond; as well as recent developments at the UN level including the protection of civilians agenda and the Responsibility to Protect doctrine on humanitarian intervention.

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