The course seeks to enhance International Development major students’ understanding of the past, present and future of the United Nations. It also provides background information and analysis of major multilateral institutions working with the UN in the area of international development. The first part of the course is devoted to understanding the big picture of what the UN has done in the past, the current activities of the UN and the direction it is going. The main aim of this first part is to establish a firm foundation of how the UN works and to become familiar with its complex bureaucracy. The main focus of the second part of the course is to understand the nature of the problems confronted by the UN and international community in their efforts to maintain international peace and security, cooperate in solving international problems such as eradicate poverty, promote respect for human rights and sustainable development. The main purpose is to assess the UN efforts in addressing these substantive problems. Not only should the students be experts on the UN activity, by the end of the course they should develop a firm grasp on the major problems that characterize international politics and global governance.

1. 1
1004212: United Nations and Multinational Organizations in
International Development
Academic Year 2/2015: 25 January – 15 May 2016
School of Social Innovation
Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai Thailand
COURSE SYLLABUS
Time: Tuesday 12:00 – 14:50
Location: E3 Room 102
Class website: MFU E-learning system, Google Classroom, Facebook Page
Lecturer: Ajarn Chirada Na Suwan
Office Hours: Mon 13:00 – 15:00, Wed 09:00 – 12:00 or by appointment
Contact info: chirada.na@mfu.ac.th Phone: 053-916676
Online Page: Google Classroom, Class Facebook group (Soc-In UN Group)
COURSE OVERVIEW
The course seeks to enhance International Development major students’
understanding of the past, present and future of the United Nations. It also provides
background information and analysis of major multilateral institutions working with
the UN in the area of international development. The first part of the course is devoted
to understanding the big picture of what the UN has done in the past, the current
activities of the UN and the direction it is going. The main aim of this first part is to
establish a firm foundation of how the UN works and to become familiar with its
complex bureaucracy. The main focus of the second part of the course is to understand
the nature of the problems confronted by the UN and international community in their
efforts to maintain international peace and security, cooperate in solving international
problems such as eradicate poverty, promote respect for human rights and sustainable
development. The main purpose is to assess the UN efforts in addressing these
substantive problems. Not only should the students be experts on the UN activity, by
the end of the course they should develop a firm grasp on the major problems that
characterize international politics and global governance.
Through active classroom participation and the term paper, students will have
opportunity to integrate their understanding of international politics within the specific
context of the UN and affiliated organizations. Classroom discussions and related
assignments require that students be up-to-date with current events that are related to
the UN in order to provide their own perspectives on these issues during the in-class
quizzes or when completing the reflection papers. By the end of the course, students
will showcase their skills in making in-depth analysis and assessment of the UN
performance in addressing problems of international community in their individual
term paper.

2. 2
TEACHING APPROACH
Given the lecturer’s teaching experience, students learn best by actively participating
in the teaching-learning process. The course will be conducted as a seminar –
encouraging discussion and active participation of students with introductory lectures
and excerpts from documentary or other media relevant to the week’s topic. At least
one hour of each class will be devoted to critical thinking exercises, group
presentation or debate-related activities on the thematic focus of the selected
organizations.
POLICIES
Class attendance: Attendance will be checked regularly by in-class assignments or
quizzes. There are no exceptions to the attendance requirement; however, exceptions
may be granted for a catastrophic event or illness with documentation
Email and Class communication: The lecturer will periodically communicate with
students through the MFU E-learning system/ Google Classroom; therefore, students
are responsible for checking their assigned e-learning account on course webpage
regularly. Additionally, students may communicate with the lecturer and peers
through email and social media such as Facebook group.
Mobile/electronic devices: Students are expected to be respectable to the lecturer and
peers by maintaining conducive learning environment. Mobile phones and other
electronic devices must be turned off or set in Airplane mode. Text messaging,
emailing, and surfing the web are prohibited in class unless as part of classroom
activities or during e-Quiz session.
Late Assignments: Group/Individual Assignments submitted via online tools/emails
after stated deadlines will be counted as late. Turning in the work late will result in no
grade for such assignment.
Make-Up Exams: Make-up exams will only be allowed under emergency
circumstances with proper documentation.
On-line Facilities:
Student can access MFU e-learning platform for materials provided in class, or the
Facebook Page: (Soc-In UN Group) and Google Classroom for required readings and
other course materials, as well as updates from the instructor throughout the semester.
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING1
The key to success in this course is your own responsibility. Meaningful participation
in every session will contribute to quality classroom discussion for all and your own
learning process. Discussion and in-class weekly assignments (quizzes and reflection
papers) rely heavily on the required readings; hence the readiness to participate is
mandatory. All students’ written works, including the term paper, must be
grammatically correct, concise and persuasive, and all sources must be cited
appropriately.
1
"Adjusted"from"the"course"syllabus"of"Professor"Kyle"Beardsley"for"BA"course"‘the"United"
Nations’"(2011)"at"Duke"University."

3. 3
(Quizzes 5%) Every other week will begin with a short quiz (up to 5 times in total)
about the readings assigned for that week. The format will be multiple choices and a
short answer. The questions will be quite general, drawing on themes, concepts and
actors that are discussed in the readings. Students that understand the main points of
the readings will do well on the quizzes.
(Reflection papers 15%) Students will turn in a 1-pg reflection paper in ‘handwriting
format’ every other week, throughout the semester (a total of 3 pieces, each worth
5%). The purpose of the papers is to provide practice in concise writing and to
understand some of the intricacies of the UN. Students will choose one component
(organ, body, agency, council, committee, etc.) of the UN that was discussed in the
previous week. Then, they will concisely summarize what that component does and
describe where it fits within the UN bureaucracy. Finally, the students will address
whether the budget expenses for this component are worthwhile. In this last section,
the student should provide a sense for how expensive the component is and whether or
not the component is doing enough to merit such funding.
(Term paper 20%) Each student will choose one of the substantive issue areas
covered after Mid-Term exam (no more than two students can have the same issue
area) as a topic of their term paper. Within 20-25 pages (including the references), the
student will answer the overall question of how the UN can be more effective at
addressing the problem at hand. For example, if the human rights topic were chosen,
the paper would be on how the UN can be more effective in addressing human rights
issues. If the peacekeeping topic were chosen, the paper would be on how the UN can
be more effective in addressing the problem of conflict recurrence. In addition to
engaging the course material, students are expected to do significant outside research
using both primary sources of UN documents and secondary scholarly sources.
Term Paper Policy:
1. Plagiarism will Not be tolerated and is grounds for failing the course. Consult
‘Harvard Guide to Using Sources’ in following link for detailed policy:
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page355322
2. Papers that rely primarily on material that is neither a primary source nor a
scholarly source (such as news articles or solely web-based materials) will not
receive full credit.
3. Papers that rely too heavily on a single scholarly source will also not receive
full credit—scholars frequently disagree with each other and a good research
paper is one that can draw on multiple perspectives to better understand a topic.
4. Use Chicago Manual of Style’s author-date formatting for citations &
references (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html).
Make sure to select the “author- date” tab.

4. 4
Classroom Participation 20%
a) Quizzes 5%
b) Reflection papers 15%
Midterm Exam 30%
Individual Term Paper 20%
Final Exam 30%
TOTAL 100%
REQUIRED TEXTS
Thomas G. Weiss and Sam Daws. (2008), The Oxford Handbook on the United
Nations. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieve online from
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199560103.001.00
01/oxfordhb-9780199560103
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
DFI-Oxfam. (2015). Financing the Sustainable Development Goals: Lessons from
government spending on the MDGs. Government Spending Watch 2015 Report.
Collaboration between Development Finance International and Oxfam. Retrieve
from https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/rr-
financing-sustainable-development-goals-110615-en.pdf
Howard, Lise Morje. (2008). UN Peacekeeping in Civil Wars. New York: Cambridge
University Press. Chapter 1 (pp. 1-20). Retrieve from
http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/81388/excerpt/9780521881388_excerpt.pdf
IPCC. (2011). Summary for Policymakers. In: IPCC Special Report on Renewable
Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. Retrieve from
(http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report/IPCC_SRREN_SPM)
United Nations. (2012). United Nations at a Glance. New York: United Nations.
Retrieve from http://www.unic-ir.org/unatglance.pdf
UN Web TV. (2015). ‘Preventing and combating abuse of ICT for terrorist purposes, New
York Dec 16-17, 2015’ http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/watch/part-1-preventing-
terrorists-from-exploiting-the-internet-and-social-media/4665962159001#full-text

5. 5
COURSE OUTLINE
Week Topic Reading & Class activities
Wk: 1
(26 Jan 2016)
Course Overview and Introduction
- Class management, syllabus
review and learning methodology
- Online resources
• Research skill
• Pre-Test: ‘United Nations at a
Glance’ (UN, 2012)
Wk: 2
(2 Feb 2016)
Theoretical approaches to the study
of international organization:
- Legal Perspectives
- Evolution in knowledge
- What is the UN and why does it
exist?
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 2-4
• Documentary2
: ‘History and
Functions of the United
Nations’
Wk: 3
(9 Feb 2016)
Class is Cancelled given the MFU
annual commencement
Wk: 4
(16 Feb 2016)
UN historical legacy: Exploring the
Past
- World politics: Continuity and
Change since 1945
- The UN Charter
- The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 1
• In-class quiz #1
Wk: 5
(23 Feb 2016)
UN Organs: The present functions
- UN Principal Organs: Part I
o General Assembly
o Security Council
o Economic and Social
Council
Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 5-7
Wk: 6
(1 Mar 2016)
UN Organs: The present functions
- UN Principal Organs: Part II
o Trusteeship Council
o Secretariat
o Secretary-General
o International Court of
Justice
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 8-11
• In-class quiz #2
Wk: 7
(8 Mar 2016)
UN Relationships with other actors
- Regional Groups and Alliances
- Bretton Woods Institutions
- Civil Society
- Private Sector
- Media
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 12-16
• Due Date of Reflection paper
(No.1: The UN Organs)
2
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfVl_s1PxIk""

6. 6
Wk: 8
(15 Mar 2016)
Future perspectives of the UN:
Prospects for Reform
- Principle organs
- Financing
- Widening participation
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 38-40
• In-class quiz #3
Wk: 9
(21-25 Mar
2016)
Mid-term Examination
25 March 2016 @13:30 - 16:30
Wk: 10
(29 Mar 2016)
Conflict management and Arms
Control
- An Agenda for Peace:
Disarmament, Peaceful Settlement
of Disputes and Conflict
Prevention
- Counter-Terrorism Committee
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 17, 18, 24
• UN Web TV: ‘Preventing and
combating abuse of ICT for
terrorist purposes, New York
Dec 16-17, 2015’
Wk: 11
(5 Apr 2016)
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
- Lessons drawing from success and
failure in UN Peacekeeping
- Peacekeeping operations
- Post-conflict peacebuilding
Humanitarian Intervention and the
Responsibility to Protect
! Sanctions and Humanitarian
Intervention
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 19, 20-23
• UN Peacekeeping in Civil
Wars: Introduction. (Howard,
2008)
• Due Date of Reflection paper
(No.2: Conflict management)
Wk: 12
(12 Apr 2016)
UN and Development Agenda
- Coordinating economic and social
affairs
- Natural resource management and
sustainable development
- Democracy and good governance
- Human development
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 32, 34, 36-37
• In-class quiz #4
Wk: 13
(19 Apr 2016)
Humanitarian Assistance and
Human Security
! Humanitarian action and
coordination
! Human Security Approach and
Youth Policy
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 27, 31, 33
• Ebola: the failures of the
international outbreak response
(MSF, 2014)
• Due Date of Reflection paper
(No.3: Development)
Wk: 14
(26 Apr 2016)
Human Rights
! Norms and machinery
! Women and Gender: the UNSC
Resolution 1325
! Minorities and Indigenous peoples
• Reading: Weiss & Daws
(2008) Chapters 25, 28, 30

7. 7
Wk: 15
(3 May 2016)
Environment and Climate Change
! International political responses to
climate change: the 2015 United
Nations Climate Change
Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11
! UN Sustainable Development
Goals
• In-class quiz #5
• Summary for Policymakers
(IPCC, 2011)
• ‘Financing the Sustainable
Development Goals’ (DFI-
Oxfam, 2015)
Wk: 16
(10 May 2016) Review for Final Exam
• Due Date of Individual Term
Paper at 5:00pm in TWO
formats;
1. A Printed version, at Office
E1-4th
floor; AND
2. Online submission of the
document file to
chirada.na@mfu.ac.th
Wk: 17
(16-27 May
2016)
Final Examination
18 May 2016 @13:30-16:30