As I handed in my last final paper with a sigh of relief and
scramble to board a plane for the United States for a short trip home (more blogs
to cover that!) I realize that perhaps I didn’t describe my courses this term
as best I could and decided to take this short opportunity to do it now:
In addition to my thesis (which is a course and a HALF in
itself!), I had four courses this term.
The
first was Globalization which was
taught by several professors and very interesting. We had the opportunity to visit Maha Chai on
a field trip and walk in the shoes of a migrant worker on the shrimp farm (See
Blog post "A Broomstick Will Never Look the Same"). One interesting
component of the class was that every week students were chosen to debate a
topic and had to present arguments for or against an issue. I had the honor of defending the concept that
multinational corporations abuse
human rights. I was happy to have this
topic, although perhaps I thought just this one time, it might be fun to argue
the other side (multinational corporations promote human rights) – as I always
like a challenge and normally would not have the opportunity to take “the dark
side.” However, I wound up liking this
topic so much that I wrote my opinion piece on it – taking an alternative
approach and writing as Justice Ruth Ginsburg of the United States Supreme
Court, drafting a futuristic concurring opinion for the verdict on the usage of
the Alien Tort Claims Act and whether it can be applied to corporations. This is a current debate that is ongoing in
the Supreme Court today via Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum.
 |
| In the elevator on one of our field trips to the World Bank! |
My second course was The
Politics of Public Policy which examined the stakeholders, parties and
politics involved behind the scenes in public policy decision making. We had the opportunity to visit the United
Nations for conferences and have guest lecturers from around the world talk
about their experiences with policy. As
you may know, I am quite the sucker for policy, law and reform, and in another
life (or with a different salary) I would have loved to have gone to law school
and study policy in-depth. It was very
exciting for me to hear about policy around the world and how different
countries approach mapping policy.
Third was Migration
where we learned about the international migration patterns around the world,
refugee statuses, internally displaced persons, and more. Some of us were fortunate enough to attend a
multi-day field trip to the temporary shelters (refugee camps) along the
border, which was perhaps my favorite trip of this entire program and a once in
a lifetime opportunity. I gush about
these experiences in my blog, starting with the entry titled, "Mae La Refugee Camp/Temporary Shelter".
 |
| Showing off our Chula Political Science Polos! |
Lastly, my favorite course this semester was Conflict Resolution (or as we learned
to call it, “Conflict Transformation” as after conflict there is often not
resolution but a transformation of the conflict). I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to
have lecturers who were at the heart of resolving conflicts around the world –
be it in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Aceh or Southern Thailand. Having the opportunity to hear these
lecturers describe peace building and negotiation and mediation strategies from the tables of some of the most
important conflict resolution works in the world was unparalleled. I thoroughly enjoyed writing my final term
paper for this course, which analyzed the impact of the International Criminal
Court (ICC) and how its recent verdicts (on warlords Thomas Lubanga and Charles
Taylor) have set up a form of systemic conflict transformation – working to
establish an international system and understanding on war crimes, crimes
against humanity and genocide, raise awareness, and deter others from doing
similar actions in the future. I found this
course and this topic fascinating and seriously hope to continue working along
these amazing talents in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment