11.17 - 11.24
Subject: US foreign policy
Case Study: Civil War and famine in Somalia, early 1990s
Central Concepts: Isolationism; Interventionism
Relevant Essential Questions: Think through these questions as you study US action in Somalia.
- What is Evil, and when does it win?
- What is Order, and how much control is necessary to secure it?
- Are there ethics by which all should live?
- Why does conflict happen, and how might peace be restored?
- What are the tragic flaws of humanity?
- How does one enact true leadership?
- How can struggle, brokenness and adversity be overcome?
- What is it that determines worth or significance?
Content Targets: By the end of the study, you will need to know the following...
- PEOPLE: Muhammad Barre; George H.W. Bush; Boutros Boutros-Ghali; Muhammad Farrah Aidid; Bill Clinton; Gary Gordon; Randy Shughart
- TERMS: Somalia; Mogadishu; coup; dictatorship; warlords; centralization & decentralization of power; civil war; famine; United Nations; coalition; Operation Provide Relief; Secretary-General of the UN; Operation Restore Hope; Task Force Ranger; humanitarianism; diplomacy
Productivity Targets: During the study you will be expected to...
- Produce an annotated flowchart showing the cause-effect relationships between the significant developments that lead to Somalia's major humanitarian crisis of the early 1990s;
- Write an informative summary of the Somali crisis and UN response prior to 1993;
- Establish and evaluate prospective foreign policy actions that might have been recommended to President Clinton in the wake of the UN's declaration of war against Aidid;
- Write an informative summary of the US operation authorized by Pres. Clinton in 1993;
- Produce an analysis of the concept INTERVENTIONISM. Break it down to show that you understand the differences between humanitarian interventionism, diplomatic interventionism and military interventionism.
- Analyze primary and secondary source texts -- inferring key ideas, citing evidence, identifying text structures and methods of idea organization, establishing informative summaries, and clarifying the meaning and tone of words in context;
- Collaborate productively with others
