INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
- Academic year
- 2023/2024 Syllabus of previous years
- Official course title
- INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
- Course code
- LM5760 (AF:381049 AR:249973)
- Modality
- On campus classes
- ECTS credits
- 6
- Degree level
- Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
- Educational sector code
- SPS/04
- Period
- 1st Semester
- Course year
- 2
- Moodle
- Go to Moodle page
Contribution of the course to the overall degree programme goals
The course aims at developing the students’ comprehension of the international dimension of politics from a theoretical and practical perspective. International politics' processes, actors, representations and historical developments will be approached starting from the critical observation of a number of prominent phenomena - e.g. war and peace, the globalisation of economy, the rule of norms in international affairs. By means of appropriately guided class discussions and with the support of the reading materials, students will be given the opportunity to infer, with a certain degree of autonomy, concepts, theoretical premises and arguments that scholars, observers and practitioners rely on (more or less consciously), including the main paradigms and debates in IR and related disciplinary fields.
Expected learning outcomes
A set of conceptual and methodological instruments will be introduced and tested in order to approach international politics (as a field of study and a dynamic set of structures, actors and behaviours) in a critical, reflexive manner, to question the commonplaces and conventional readings that are current in everyday discourses, and to be able to grasp effectively and accurately present and future developments of world affairs.
Pre-requirements
Contents
- The globalization of world politics: definitions and problems
- Globalization and hegemony: politics, trade and global finance
- Anti-globalization and de-globalization: the crisis of the global system
- Unipolarism to Multipolarism: the changing structure of world order
- New and old security issues: proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, the privatization of war, humanitarian interventions
- Environmental issues
- Refugees and forced migration
- Poverty, hunger, and development
- Nationalism, national self-determination, and inter-national relations
- Human rights and international law
- Personal and collective identity in world politics: gender and race
- International organizations (IGOs, NGOs)
Referral texts
Bryan S. Turner, The Routledge International Handbook of Globalization Studies, Routledge, 2010 - selected chs.
Further reading materials (e.g. selected scientific articles and book chapters) about each of the issues listed in the "Content" section can be provided via Moodle. Students will be assessed based on their ability to draw on them in their exams.
Assessment methods
1) A written essay (4000 words) on a specific subject related to one of the general topics discussed in class. The teacher is available to provide guidance and suggestions to students in defining the subject, the research questions, the goals and the structure of the essay.
The deadline for the submission (via email) is one week before the exam date chosen by the student.
2) A standard written exam (in class). Students will answer three from a choice of many questions reflecting the course contents. Time available: 120 minutes. More information to be given in class and during the exam.
In both cases, the written essay/answers are supposed to to include:
- a section where the matter at hand is properly introduced and a the research question is identified and clearly expressed;
- a section where different theoretical positions about the issues are presented;
- a section in which a reasonably compelling argument about the subject is made or a critical analysis of existing arguments is provided;
- a concluding section including final considerations about further possible aspects of the problem to be addressed.
Teaching methods
Teaching language
Further information
Type of exam
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals
This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development