Advanced Seminar in Development and Conflict (DHP P225)
FLETCHER SCHOOL

FALL
Instructors:
Diana Chigas
617-627-3329
Peter Uvin
617-627-2731

This course will examine the emerging field of cultural conflict analysis and conflict resolution, and will critically evaluate its usefulness in confronting contemporary global political and humanitarian challenges. One of the most baffling challenges to contemporary efforts at international cooperation in a broad range of pursuits is the profound diversity of human cultural expressions. This cultural diversity is often ignored in the hopes that compelling globalizing trends in economics, politics, and culture will simply overwhelm these “inconvenient” regional and ethnic peculiarities. But these “peculiarities” are often at the heart of numerous conflicts, sometimes very deadly conflicts. Systematic attempts to understand the relationship of cultural difference, conflict, and methods of peacemaking, are a recent analytic undertaking, and they raise fundamental questions about prevailing methods of globalization and international diplomacy. Simulations will be utilized. (Friday 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.)

Why should the people you’re supposed to lead follow you? If you believe that your charisma, your exalted office, or your vision is reason enough, you’re in trouble.

While these qualities may affect how others relate to you, the unvarnished truth is that other people will follow you when they judge it’s in their best interest to do so. Whether they’re acting as individuals or team members, people almost always give first priority to their own interests. Just as wise negotiators focus not on the other side’s positions but rather on their interests, effective leaders seek to understand the interests of those they lead and to find ways of satisfying those interests in order to achieve organizational goals.

Leaders’ failure to comprehend fully the interests of those they lead can have disastrous results. In 1985, Joe Foran established Dallas-based Matador Petroleum Corporation to find and develop oil and gas deposits in the American Southwest. Through a series of shrewd acquisitions, Foran built Matador into one of the larger privately held petroleum firms in Texas. To raise capital, he gave investors seats on Matador’s board. With a 10% interest in Matador, Chairman and CEO Foran remained its largest individual investor.

In spring 2003, Tom Brown Inc., a publicly traded oil company based in Denver, offered to buy Matador for $388 million. Foran opposed the offer, which he felt did not account for Matador’s growth potential. At the board meeting to discuss the bid, Foran was astounded when the other directors voted to approve the sale. He realized too late that the other directors’ interests were not the same as his own.

Foran had the energy, talent, and time to build a company that would give him financial security in his retirement, which was still many years away. But most of the other directors were retired individuals who had been hurt by a falling stock market and declining investment returns. Their interest was to take the money and run-and that’s exactly what they did. Had Foran understood all this earlier, he might have been able to structure an arrangement that would have given the directors the cash they needed while still allowing him to keep control of his company.

Effective leaders realize that they need to know people as individuals to truly understand their interests. Some individuals care more about long-term career development, for instance, than about compensation. When you understand where employees’ true interests lie, you can then shape your messages and your actions to meet those interests in ways that will achieve your leadership goals.

Adapted from “Real Leaders Negotiate,” by Jeswald W. Salacuse, Professor, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Seminar on Peace Operations (ILO L224)
FLETCHER SCHOOL

FALL
Instructor:
Ian Johnstone
Fletcher School
617-627-4172
ian.johnstone@tufts.edu

Enthusiasm for peacekeeping has waxed and waned in recent years, from exuberance in the early 1990s to disappointment and disinterest in the mid-90s, back to cautious enthusiasm at the end of the decade, to what is now almost universal recognition that peace operations are an important strategic tool for the management of international peace and security. Between 1999 and 2008, 13 major UN peacekeeping missions were established, along with regional operations undertaken by NATO, the European Union, African Union, ECOWAS and various other organizations and coalitions. There were more than 40 UN and non-UN peace operations deployed in the year 2007. This course combines a thematic and case study approach to this complex aspect of contemporary international affairs. We will look at UN and non-UN peace operations, broadly defined to include peace-keeping, peace enforcement and post-conflict peace-building. We begin with a number of sessions on fundamentals: the UN Charter framework, history and types of peace operation, doctrine, functions and capacity. Select cases are studied to draw out common themes and concerns, such as the problem of ‘spoilers’, the peace v. justice debate, the dilemmas of humanitarian action and the challenges of state-building. The focus is on post-Cold War operations, examined in light of past experience and official attempts to reflect on the evolving nature of peacekeeping. The course concludes with a series of student-led presentations on recent missions, designed to draw on knowledge garnered from the cases, themes and issues studied earlier. (Monday 3:20-5:20 p.m.)

Seminar on International Mediation (DHP D 221)
FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY

SPRING
Eileen Babbitt
Fletcher School
617-627-3796

This seminar focuses on the role and functions provided by mediators in the international arena. Mediation is located within the broader family of international intervention approaches, as practiced by individuals, international and transnational organizations, small and large states, and in bilateral or multilateral contexts. Topics to be covered include: exploring the role of international mediation in preventing, managing, or resolving conflicts; understanding the perspective of a mediator as opposed to other parties in a dispute; analyzing strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of international mediators; understanding the strategies and tactics that have been adopted in previous mediation efforts; and exploring how mediation might be used in current conflicts. Students must have completed DHP220 or have permission of instructor. (Monday 3:20-5:20 p.m.)

Processes of International Negotiation (DHP D 220)
FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY

FALL and SPRING
Instructors:
Brian Ganson (FALL Sec. 01, 03)
617-471-1497
Eileen Babbitt (SPRING, Sec. 01)
617-627-3796
Nadim Rouhana (SPRING (Sec. 02)
627-627-5451

This course explores the processes, rather than specific substantive issues, of international negotiation. Using exercises and simulations, it examines the nature of conflict in the international arena; the special characteristics of negotiation in the international setting; pre-negotiation and the problems of inducing parties to negotiate; negotiation dynamics; the roles of culture and power; and the strategy and tactics of international negotiation. International mediation, arbitration, special problems of multilateral negotiation, and the follow-up and implementation of negotiated agreements are also examined. Enrollment limited to 30 per class. (FALL: Section 01: Monday 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Section 03: Tuesday 3:20-5:20 p.m.; SPRING: Section 01: Tuesday 3:20-5:20 p.m.; Section 02: Thursday 5:30-7:30 p.m.)

Politics and Processes of Reconciliation: Transitional Justice and Multicultural Citizenships (DHP D229)

FLETCHER SCHOOL

SPRING

Instructor:
Nadim Rouhana

[Description not yet available] (Tuesday 5:30-7:30 p.m.)

International Treaty Behavior: A Perspective on Globalization (ILO L209)
FLETCHER SCHOOL

FALL
Instructor:
Antonia Handler Chayes
617-627-3582

This seminar examines treaty behavior over a broad spectrum of subject areas—including security, environment, trade and human rights. Approaches to international agreements affect economic, security and foreign policy in this interdependent world. The seminar examines IL and IR theories of compliance. It explores exceptionalism in treaty behavior—American and other nations. The seminar offers students the opportunity to do research in depth on one or more treaties, or the behavior of a given nation or group of nation under several treaties. Prior law courses helpful but not required. (Wednesday 3:20-5:20 p.m.)

International Relations: Theory and Practice (DHP P 200)
FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY

FALL
Instructor:
Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
Fletcher School
Tufts University
617-627-2738

Traditional, behavioral, and post-behavioral theories of international relations, and the nature of theory in international relations; the role of normative theory; levels of analysis, structure-agent relationships, and concepts of foreign policy behavior and decision making; utopian/neo-liberal and realist/neo-realist theory, and democratic peace theory; theories of power and its management; theories of integration, cooperation, conflict, war, and geopolitical and ecological/environmental relationships; constructivism; systems theory; regime analysis; the relationship between theory and the international system in the early 21st century; traditional and contemporary paradigms of the international system. (Tuesday and Thursday 9:40-10:55 a.m.)

International Environmental Negotiation
FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY (Fletcher P231)
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (DUSP 11.364)
(Not offered in 2009-2010)

Global environmental policy concerns (e.g., climate change, ozone depletion, deforestation, acid rain, ocean dumping, desertification, fisheries decline, biodiversity, and forest loss) have become increasingly important in international relations. This seminar looks at the problems of achieving development while maintaining natural systems and capital. This requires negotiating multilateral environmental agreements that can effectively manage common resources, take joint action to prevent global commons degradation, achieve transboundary pollution control, and the dilemmas of harmonizing environmental standards. At the core of these three problems are issues of how best to structure international negotiations.

The class will operate as a research seminar. After examining the present treaty system and how it is negotiated, each student will be expected to prepare a prescriptive case analysis of an international environmental negotiation. Students should have background in negotiation and international relations.

Humanitarian Action in Complex Emergencies (DHP D230)
FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY

FALL
Instructor:
Daniel Maxwell
617-627-3410

This course examines the evolution of the humanitarian action in relation to changes in the operating environment and changes in the international system. This multi-disciplinary course will cover a broad range of subjects, and addresses a number of topics:
• A historical perspective on humanitarian action
• The normative frameworks of humanitarian action – international humanitarian law, humanitarian principles, and codes of conduct;
• Conceptual frameworks for addressing the protection of life, livelihoods, rights and safety of people caught in complex emergencies;
• The impact of conflicts and the “global war on terror” on humanitarian space and humanitarian action.
• The political economy of conflict and humanitarian aid;
• Methodologies developed to improving the effectiveness and accountability of humanitarian action;
• The evolving structure of the international humanitarian system;
• The ethical and practical implications of adopting a rights based approach;

The course will rely on a case-study approach to examining these issues, and students will be involved in developing the case studies for presentation in class. By the end of this course students will be aware of the foundations on humanitarian action (International Humanitarian Law, humanitarian principles, different traditions); the historical, legal, social, political and moral context of the causes and consequences of humanitarian emergencies; the main analytical frameworks used to understand complex emergencies; and major forms of humanitarian responses to complex emergencies. Students will understand the complex relationship between humanitarian action and the international environment, the impact of humanitarian emergencies on social relations, and will have a working knowledge of the principles and standards of accountability for engaging in humanitarian response in complex emergencies. (Tuesday 9 a.m.-noon.)