Seminar International Relations and Global Governance at the Movies

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEMINAR Movies can be parsimonious and effective tools to tell stories, to convey messages, to generate emotions – and to teach university students about International Relations and Global Governance. According to Engert and Spencer (2009), there are four main ways of using movies as pedagogical instruments: movies may be shown to students to portray historical events (e.g. Cold War, Cuban missile crisis); to spark debates on specific issues and themes in IR (e.g. terrorism, humanitarian action); to provide examples of cultural narratives which ought to be deconstructed (Orientalism in Western movies, anti-Americanism in Turkish movies, patriotism and anti-Japanese / anti-Western message in Chinese martial arts movies); and finally to explain and criticise IR theories. In addition, there are several undeniable advantages to relying on movies for teaching purposes (Engert and Spencer, 2009): the human memory stores visual and emotional contents more effectively than it stores merely oral contents; movies echo practices of cultural consumption of younger generations of students via television and the Internet; images ensure that the whole class has an identical starting point (a hook) for ensuing discussions; the stories told in movies make abstract concepts concrete and easily accessible; movies activate emotional attachment, which tends to increase attention spans and class participation; finally movies act as levelling devices which dampen power structures within the classroom between the instructor and students, thereby potentially emphasising learning and participation rather than teaching and mere listening. This seminar discusses five movies, all of which address some of the issues dealt with in the plenary lecture -Internationale Beziehungen und Global Governance”. The purpose of this seminar is therefore threefold: -first, to illustrate concepts such as peace, internal conflict or humanitarian intervention with moving images that convey stories and meaning in a way which differs from the spoken or written word; -second, to use movies as a starting point to stimulate the collective discussion about some of the complexities and moral ambiguities associated with taking a personal position on topics related to peace and conflict; -third, to critically reflect upon the modes and conditions of production of visual representations of war and peace. Recommended reading -Engert, Stefan and Spencer, Alexander (2009), « International Relations at the Movies: Teaching and Learning about International Politics Through Film » in: Perspectives 17(1), pp. 83-104 -Weber, Cynthia (2005), International Relations Theory: a critical introduction, Routledge, second edition [read the two introductions] -Shapiro, Michael J. (2009), Cinematic Geopolitics, Routledge ORGANISATION OF THE SEMINAR Seminars will take place every Friday from 25.10.2013 to 07.02.2014 from 10:00 to 12:00. There will be no class held on 27.12.2013 and on 03.01.2014. Movies will be screened in class the week before they will be discussed in plenary. The movie screening will take place Friday immediately after the end of the seminar (12:00 to 14:00). -MOVIE 1 will be screened on 08/11/2013 and discussed in class on 15/11/2013. -MOVIE 2 will be screened on 29/11/2013 and discussed in class on 06/12/2013. -MOVIE 3 will be screened on 13/12/2013 and discussed in class on 20/12/2013. -MOVIE 4 will be screened on 10/01/2014 and discussed in class on 17/01/2014. -MOVIE 5 will be screened on 24/01/2014 and discussed in class on 31/01/2014. It is the students’ responsibility to ensure that they have seen the movies before attending the seminars. INSTRUCTOR Dr. des. Mathieu Rousselin holds a M.A. in Political Science from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (France), a M.A.S. in European Studies from the College of Europe (Poland) and a PhD in International Affairs and Political Economy from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). He has taught European politics and Political science at the College of Europe (Belgium), at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) as well as at various universities in Tunisia. His teaching and research interests are: EU external relations and foreign/security policies; global environmental governance; democratisation and social movement theory; territorialisation processes; and the politics of representation. Email: rousselin@gcr21.uni-due.de and rousselin.mathieu@gmail.com Phone: 0203 298 61 131 [office hours] Address: Centre for Global Cooperation Research, Schifferstraße 196, D-47059 Duisburg PRESENCE POLICY Since the added-value of the seminar lies in the exchanges and discussions that will take place during the seminars, students are encouraged to attend all contact sessions. As far as I am concerned, I will be present and available to discuss any pending issue after each contact session. SEMINAR OUTLINE Seminar title: International Relations and Global Governance at the Movies Instructor: Dr. des. Mathieu Rousselin Language of instruction: English Learning objectives: Students should understand… 1. … the interplay between local, regional and global factors leading to peace or conflicts; 2. … the emergence, the progression and the resolution of violent conflicts; 3. … the role of local, national and foreign actors as well as of Non State Actors; 4. … the role of the United Nations and of other international organisations in the prevention of conflicts, in the mediation efforts once a conflict has appeared and in the consolidation of peace once the conflict has ended. Content: The seminar will address… 1. … key concepts such as conflict, violence, war, peace; 2. … the causes, the progression and the consequences of violent intra-state conflicts; 3. … the various possibilities of intervention for external actors – prevention, mediation, intervention, reconstruction and consolidation. Examination: 30-min oral exam which will deal for 15 min with the lecture -Internationale Beziehungen und Global Governance” and for 15 min with students’ areas of specialisation (Vertiefungsbereich). Area of specialisation: In the framework of their Vertiefungsbereich, students write a paper of 1’000 words (+/- 10% - with a point sanction for each 500 words below 900 or beyond 1’100 words) in which they discuss one of the topics covered in class on the basis of a movie of their choosing. Students can speak with the instructor if they need guidance to find a movie or a topic. An indicative list of potentially relevant movies can be found at the end of this outline. The paper should be structured as follows: 1) short presentation and summary of the movie (up to 25% of the paper); 2) discussion of the selected topic in the movie (at least 50% of the paper); 3) added-value of the movie to discuss this particular topic (up to 25% of the paper). OUTLINE OF THE SEMINAR Session 1 (25.10) Introduction session Session 2 (1/11) What is war ? Conceptual session – difference between war, violence and conflict. How to categorise wars – between states, within state, between a state and a NSA. Session 3 (8/11) Causes and forms of warfare Analytical and historical session – start from a series of real-life wars and discover their causes. Show the evolution of forms of warfare. Session 4 (15/11) first movie – Black Hawk Down First case study on Somalia – new forms of warfare (guerrilla, unidentified opponent, failed states). Session 5 (22/11) What is peace? Conceptual session – difference between positive and negative peace. Role of trust, of institutions, of legitimacy. Session 6 (29/11) Back to peace! Describe the chain: prevention, mediation, intervention, reconstruction and consolidation. Session 7 (6/12) second movie – Goodbye Bafana. Second case study on the difficulty of building peace/trust. Session 8 (13/12) Sovereign states and the responsibility to protect Presentation and discussion of the concept, followed by the third comparative case study on Libya versus Syria. Show that R2P still depends on UN mandate and hence, on states. Session 9 (20/12) third movie – Hotel Rwanda Fourth case study – when UN intervention fails, and why. Session 10 (10/01) War and peace, freedom and justice Freedom is mostly gained by breaching the peace! War may have its necessity. Sixth case-study on Tunisia. Session 11 (17/01) fourth movie – Lord of War Fifth case study on Non-State Actors in Armed conflicts Session 12 (24/01) Constructing discourses of war and peace Show that some actors are strategically calling events -wars” to gain international support (War on Terror) whereas others use -peace” understood as stability (social peace, societal peace) to legitimate their domination (Arab dictators). How democracies talk about -wars” Session 13 (31/01) fifth movie – In the Loop Satirical movie on storytelling and UK/US relationship during the Iraq war. Session 14 (07/02) Wrap-up session Open session where students can come back on any unclear part of the course and ask question. LITERATURE War (sessions 2 and 3) Compulsory: 1. Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War 2. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/war/#6 3. Clausewitz, On War, book 1: http://www.clausewitz.com/readings/OnWar1873/BK1ch01.html Recommended: 4. Jack S. Levy and William R. Thompson, Causes of War, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010 5. Greg Cashman, What Causes War?: An Introduction to Theories of International Conflict, Lexington Books, 2000 6. Sun Tzu, The Art of War 7. Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars, Stanford University Press, 2007 8. General Rupert Smith, The Utility of Force, The art of war in the modern world, Penguin, 2006 [especially Part Three] Peace (sessions 5 and 6) Compulsory: 1. Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace [careful, the Peace article is not as good as the War article! For your information, the Stanford Encyclopaedia has no Peace entry] 2. Oliver P. Richmond, The Transformation of Peace, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007: Read pp. 15-17, conclusions of the first 5 chapters and Part 3 / Chapter 6 pp. 181-201 3. United Nations, An Agenda for Peace, 1992: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/47/277 4. -Editorial” in: Journal of Peace Research 1(1), pp. 1-4, 1964 Recommended: 5. Oliver P. Richmond, Peace in International Relations, Routledge, 2008 [see Part 1 for theoretical approaches to peace] 6. Roland Paris, At War's End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict, Cambridge University Press, 2004 [multiple case studies] 7. Elise Boulding, Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History, Syracuse University Press, 2000 8. Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay Responsibility to protect (session 8) Compulsory: 1. Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_to_protect 2. Alex J. Bellamy, Responsibility to Protect: The Global Effort to End Mass Atrocities, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009, chapter 1 -Sovereignty and Human Rights”, pp. 8-34 3. UNRIC website: http://www.unric.org/en/responsibility-to-protect?layout=default Recommended: 4. David Chandler, -The responsibility to protect? Imposing the ‘Liberal Peace’” in: International Peacekeeping, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2004 [polemic] 5. Navigate on the website http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/ and read the ICISS report: http://responsibilitytoprotect.org/ICISS%20Report.pdf 6. Alex J. Bellamy, -The Responsibility to Protect—Five Years On” in: Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 24, Issue 2, pages 143–169, Summer 2010 7. Ramesh Thakur, The United Nations, Peace and Security: From Collective Security to the Responsibility to Protect, Cambridge University Press, 2006 [chapter 11] 8. Lecture by Noam Choamsky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Hb9uqjcYk War and peace, freedom and justice (session 10) Compulsory: 1. Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory 2. Paul Butler, -By Any Means Necessary: Using Violence and Subversion to Change Unjust Laws” in: UCLA Law Review, 2003, pp. 721-773 – the paper can be downloaded here: http://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=butler%20by%20any%20means%20necessary%3A%20using%20violence%20and%20subversion%20to%20change%20unjust%20laws&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umass.edu%2Flegal%2FLorenz%2FDeathPenalty%2FButler.doc&ei=5hvkUd2VLNDAswba4IHgDg&usg=AFQjCNF2uTI9jKxCEcu9Lwv2HxGnu8kNUg&bvm=bv.48705608,d.Yms 3. Michael Walzer, The Argument about Humanitarian Intervention, available online at: http://them.polylog.org/5/awm-en.htm Recommended: 4. Richard Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice – A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars, Simon & Schuster, 2009 5. Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, Basic Books, 1977 AND Arguing About War, Yale University Press, 2004 6. Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen from the Constitution of Year I (1793), available at http://www.columbia.edu/~iw6/docs/dec1793.html [in particular articles 33, 34 and 35] 7. Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace, available online at: http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/grotius/Law2.pdf [read through, for example Book 1, chapter1 and Book 3, chapter 1] 8. Juan Cole in Democracy Now – Tunisia Uprising -Spearheaded by Labor Movements, by Internet Activists, by Rural Workers; It’s a Populist Revolution-, available at: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/18/juan_cole_tunisia_uprising_spearheaded_by Narratives of war and peace (sessions 12 and 13) Compulsory: 1. Wikipedia article -Narrative”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative 2. Hidemi Suganami, -Narrative Explanation and International Relations: Back to Basics” in: Millennium: Journal of International Studies Vol.37 No.2, 2008, pp. 327–356 3. Navigate through this website: http://www.buildingpeace.org/visualizing-global-conflict-and-peacebuilding 4. Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, Picador, 2004 OR (alternatively) Michael J. Shapiro, Cinematic Geopolitics, Routledge, 2009 Recommended: 5. Alister Miskimmon, Ben O’Loughlin and Laura Roselle, Forging the World: Strategic Narratives and International Relations, Working paper Royal Holloway / ELON University, available at: http://newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk/storage/Forging%20the%20World%20Working%20Paper%202012.pdf [particularly pp. 3 to 7] 6. Andrew Linklater, -Grand narratives and international relations” in: Global Change, Peace & Security, Volume 21, Number 1, February 2009, pp. 3-17(15) 7. John Gittings, The Glorious Art of Peace: From the Iliad to Iraq, Oxford University Press, 2012 [esp. chapter 1] 8. Alex Danchev, On Art and War and Terror, Edinburgh University Press, 2011 9. Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, Picador, 2004 10. Michael J. Shapiro, The Politics of Representation: Writing Practices in Biography, Photography and Policy Analysis, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1988 11. Michael J. Shapiro, Violent Cartographies: Mapping Cultures of War, University of Minnesota press, 1997 12. Michael J. Shapiro, Cinematic Political Thought: Narrating Race, Nation and Gender, NYU Press, 1999 13. A promising forthcoming book (next Oct 2013) Frank Möller, Visual Peace: Images, Spectatorship and the Politics of Violence (Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies), Palgrave-McMillan Sozialwissenschaften Universität Duisburg-Essen WS 2013/14 Powi B.A., Politikwissenschaft (Bachelor of Arts) Rousselin Mathieu