Civilians in Conflict

This course examines what social scientists know about how to create policies that protect civilians in armed conflict. Students will learn the basic international law on conflict-affected civilians and consider dilemmas in implementing and enforcing that law, in historical perspective and in the context of current policy dilemmas. Students will write a reflection paper comparing and contrasting their experience of the "global war on terror" as a civilian with the experience of a civilian from another conflict-affected country; will work in groups to address specific policy problems in civilian protection related to the use of drones (including the ethics of 'targeting killing,' whether aerial warfare is inherently indiscriminate, the psycho-social impacts of drones on civilians, and how to monitor drone casualties); and will write an integrative final essay on the effectiveness of the civilian protection regime and how it might be improved.