Human Security and Human Development

This course will critically examine the promises and limitations of “human security” and “human development,” two concepts adopted by the UNDP and other UN agencies as well as by a number of countries. Central to the examination is the question: What are the political and policy implications of a “people-centered” reconceptualization of security and development and how should nations address their major human security and human development problems? The course will review the evolution of the two concepts, their operational definitions, and the UNDP’s annual Human Development Report, which provides the Human Development Index (HDI) of most of the members of the United Nations. Each student will then select a country of interest to her/him and develop a report that gives illustrative examples of human security and human development challenges it faces, describes how it addresses or fails to address those problems, and provides recommendations for how it should. The students are free to choose a policy area of concern to them, e.g., standard of living, employment, health, education, environment, housing, movement (migration), culture, language, and faith (religion).