University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)

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Students Take on Big Issues in Human Security at GSPIA

Taylor Seybolt
Assistant Professor and Director of the Ford Institute for Human Security
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
University of Pittsburgh

The Ford Institute for Human Security at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) engages in research on causes and consequences of political violence. We make our research findings available through publications, presentations, and consultation to national and international policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and other interested parties.

The Ford Institute treats human security and national security as mutually reinforcing. The gravest threats to human security arise when governments are unable or unwilling to protect their populations from internal and external dangers. Governments face their greatest challenges when the lives and livelihoods of their people are threatened.

As director of the Institute, I challenge students to think critically about some very uncomfortable subjects, like genocide, and what to do about them. Genocide is a big idea. It's a life or death issue. And it has some clear policy implications.

The Institute's students learn to bring academic excellence to real-world problems. I want the students to grapple with how to frame a problem and intellectually structure a response. This is one of the hardest things to do in policy research and analysis. We start with a broad issue and break it down into critically important components.

Currently, we have three research groups doing in-depth analysis on cutting edge issues. One research group addresses the question of how countries recovering from violent conflict transition from dependence on aid to sustainable development. The students compared levels of development aid and foreign direct investment in postconflict countries on one hand, with World Bank indicators of effective governance on the other hand. Early results show no apparent relationship between the amount of aid delivered to a country and the ability of the state to govern effectively. This troubling gap might be due to weak institutional capacity to absorb those resources.

A second research group focuses on the emerging norm of a "responsibility to protect." Critics fear it will lead to more military intervention. Research by the students at the Institute indicates that this idea has not increased the global incidence of military intervention. Equally important, when there has been an intervention, government rhetoric of protecting civilians appears to have changed more than the actual practice.

The third research group is analyzing the conditions under which the escalation of internal strife reaches a tipping point from "normal" violence to mass killing.

There's very little understanding in academic and policy circles about the short-term triggers of genocidal violence. There are many countries in the world where most of the factors that lead to genocide are present, but thankfully it doesn't happen. In a few cases it does, though, and we're trying to figure out why.

The Ford Institute for Human Security, founded in 2003, plays an instrumental role in developing one of the first human security majors in the country. The Ford Institute and the human security major prepare students for careers with policy think tanks, nongovernmental organizations in the United States and abroad, and government agencies.

We teach our students to think critically and creatively. This skill helps them propose practical, effective solutions for the most important policy issues we face today.

Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
University of Pittsburgh
www.gspia.pitt.edu
Email this school
(412) 648-7640

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