Rethinking Human Rights and Humanitarian

This advanced seminar critically examines the evolving challenges, limitations, and potential of human rights and humanitarianism as frameworks for justice and global governance. Centering human rights discourse, the course invites students to examine foundational concepts such as universality, accountability, sovereignty, and identity, while addressing complex topics and challenging cases. Through case studies, normative debates, and applied advocacy tools, students explore the responsibilities of state and non-state actors, the contested definition of the “human” in rights claims, and strategies for persuasion, enforcement, and reform in both policy and practice. Course themes include: The political limits and promise of human rights in global and national contexts; Accountability gaps across governments, corporations, and armed groups; The status of refugees, displaced persons, and marginalized groups; Humanitarian dilemmas, transitional justice, and foreign policy advocacy; The rise and fall of doctrines such as Responsibility to Protect (R2P); and Pragmatism, realism, and human rights under states of exception.