Module Identifier IPM6530  
Module Title MILITARY DIMENSIONS OF HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Nicholas Wheeler  
Semester Semester 1  
Course delivery Seminar   1 x 2 hour per week  
Assessment Course work   Briefing Paper 3,000 words   40%  
  Essay   3,000 words   45%  
  Essay   Book Review 1,500 words   15%  

Aims and objectives


The aim of this module is to provide students with a Masters level knowledge of the military aspects of humanitarian intervention. The role that force can play in protecting human rights in cases of genocide and ethnic cleansing has been hotly disputed through the 1990s, and this module will enable students to critically assess the strengths and limitations of the military instrument. Having provided students with a conceptual appreciation of the military, political, ethical and legal issues associated with force, the second part of the module will apply these insights to specific case studies.


The learning and teaching objectives of the module are both subject specific and general. The latter include the development of oral and written skills through paper presentations, the writing of a book review or policy poisition paper, and the writing of two longer essays. The different teaching techniques employed on the module will enable students to develop a range of transferable skills that are at a premium in an increasingly competitive labour market. These include a capacity for independent research, teamwork where co-operation with others is at a premium; and role-playing where students have to develop a realistic empathy for the constraints that confront decision-makers in complex environments characterised by uncertainty and limited information.


The subject-specific objectives involve the attainment by the end of the module of a Masters level ability to discuss the following:
1. The place of military force in addressing humanitarian crises
2. The ethical and legal issues shaping humanitarian intervention
3. Force planning for intervention
4. Issues of political will and the role of the media
5. The role of the UN in authorizing and planning humanitarian interventions
6. The role of regional organisations in humanitarian intervenitons.
7. An ability to relate the conceptual ideas discussed on the module to specific case studies.


In assessing the success of the module in meeting these learning and teaching outcomes, the assessment will involve the following: a short assessed book reivew, the writing of a policy paper for the UN Secretary-General, and one longer assessed essay. These different forms of assessment will test how far students have developed the analytical and conceptual skills.