NUST - PG Courses

PCS-921 PEACE, MULTILATERALISM AND THE UN

Campus	CIPS
Programs	PG
Session	Fall Semester 2016
Course Title	PEACE, MULTILATERALISM AND THE UN
Course Code	PCS-921
Credit Hours	3
Pre-Requisutes	None
Course Objectives	The course will present students with the institutional and policy tasks of the UN System – the only truly comprehensive multilateral institutional framework. It will examine major challenges - armed conflict, human rights violations, climate change, barriers to free trade, under-development, lack of access to technology and innovation. These challenges are complex, multidimensional and can only be solved multilaterally. And here is the dialectic – the challenges are pressing, however the solutions should not be quick fixes - decision-makers should think about the effects on future generations, when addressing the most pressing issues of today. The UN System, with its large potential for international co-operation needs to become a global leader of sustainability, offering long-term strategies, uniting all actors towards solving global problems. The core mandate of the UN was to maintain international peace and security and the course will study the shortages and advantages of the security mechanisms, the problems and the achievements of the UN organs to deal with threats to the peace. It will discuss many other ways the United Nations and its System (specialized agencies, funds and programmes) affect our lives and make the world a better place. The Organization’s work on a broad range of fundamental issues, from sustainable development, environment, disaster risk reduction, international health, and climate change are introduced providing an overview of problems, mechanisms available, impacts, challenges and potential to grow.
Detail Content	Week 1: UN System: Origin, Structure Lecture 1: Establishment of the UN System UN Charter. UN Principal Organs San Francisco Conference The UN System and the Cold War UN Charter. Purposes and Principles of the UN UN Charter as International Constitution: Legislative, Executive and Judicial Division of Authority UN General Assembly, its Sessions and Committees Lecture 2: UN Security Council: Powers and Limitations Powers of the Security Council Limitations: Legal, Political, Institutional Right of Veto UN Charter as International Constitution: Legislative, Executive and Judicial Division of Authority Reform of the Security Council Lecture 3: International Court of Justice International Adjudication. ICJ Dispute Resolution Mechanisms. Nicaragua v. U.S. Issues of Jurisdiction & Admissibility ICJ Advisory Opinions: Legality of Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons ICJ and the ‘judicial review’ of Security Council resolutions. Lockerbie (Libya) and Genocide (Bosnia) Case Reform of the Security Council Week 2: Climate Change Lecture 1: Environment (UNEP, UNDP, WB) Rise of environmental concerns in Global agenda Challenges: Millennium eco-systems assessment Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and priority concerns Lecture 2: Environmental security (WMO, ISDR, HABITAT) GEOSS: Global earth observation system of systems Disaster risk reduction Recovery and reconstruction: Housing Lecture 3: Climate Change (UNFCCC, WMO) IPCC reports Projected global warming impacts Projected global dimming impacts Week 3: Peace and Human rights Lecture 1: Peacekeeping Operations. Peace Building Mechanisms UNDPKO and Traditional and Second generation Peacekeeping. Conflict Relapse and need of Peace building Establishment of the Peace Building Commission Achievements and Shortages: Burundi, Sierra Leone etc. Lecture 2: Human Rights Mechanisms Human Rights Council. Establishment. Critical Assessment of its work Protection of vulnerable groups (UNHCR, CEDAW, CRC, UNICEF) Lecture 3: International Criminal Tribunals ICTY ICTR ICC Universal Jurisdiction Week 4: Lecture 1: International Co-operation and Development (UNDP, World Bank) Conceptualizing human development: HDI and Human security Achieving MDGs International cooperation: achievements and challenges Lecture 2: Trade (WTO, UNCTAD) Evolution of WTO Globalization and Trade IPO and Development challenges Lecture 3: Global Health (WHO) WHO Framework Infectious deceases, AIDS Global health delivery Week 5: Lecture 1: Science and Technology (UNESCO) Higher education in a globalised world Education for Sustainable Development: vertical and horizontal integration Science and Environment: the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) Lecture 2: Food and Agriculture (FAO, IFAD) Food security, status and projections Agro diversity for sustainable food production Investment in food production Week 6: UN System: Way Ahead Student Presentations *The topics listed above are subject to change. Assessment The students will be assessed through quiz tests, presentations and an end of term test. The two hour test will consist of five questions from which students will be required to answer two questions.
Text/Ref Books	The First Four Years, 2009–2012, UNU-ISP, Published: April 2013. Aginam, Obijiofor, John Harrington and Peter K. Yu, The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS Intellectual Property and Access to Essential Medicines Otsuki, Kei, Sustainable Development in Amazonia, April 2013 Clammer, John, Culture, Development and Social Theory, April 2013 Vesselin, Popovski and Mónica Serrano, After Oppression: Transitional Justice in Latin America and Eastern Europe, November 2012. Heo, Emilia Seunghoon Reconciling Enemy States in Europe and Asia June 2012 Policy Documents Breakey, Hugh, Angus Francis, Vesselin Popovski, Charles Sampford, Michael G. Smith and Ramesh Thakur, Enhancing Protection Capacity: Policy Guide to the Responsibility to protect and the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts, 12 November, 2012. Luepschen, Claudia, Ruediger Kuehr,and Federico Magalini, Policy Brief No. 6, 2013: Towards Zero Waste in Industrial Networks: Policy Recommendations from the ZeroWIN Project Research Reports Synthesis Report on Sub regional Research in Asia and Pacific: Global Environmental Partnership Nexus December 2011 Journal Sustainability Science Journal, Published by Springer on behalf of The Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science of the University of Tokyo (IR3S) and the United Nations University (UNU).
Time Schedule
Faculty/Resource Person	Assistant Professor – Dr Mumtaz Zia Saleem (MS)