Global Governance

Course Objective

This course offers a comprehensive overview of the discipline and subject of International Relations (IR) and its main concepts and theories and approaches.

The learning outcomes are as follows:

Knowledge and understanding

(1) Advanced theories and approaches, as well as their meta-theoretical foundations, within the discipline of International Relations (IR), such as Normative Theory, Critical Theory, Postcolonialism, Poststructuralism and Feminism;

(2) A range of analytical techniques used to analyse international relations through different lenses, including ontological security, narratives and international ethics;The increasing internationalisation of the public domain and how this influences governance and policy at different, often interacting levels;

(3) How and why interstate relations and global governance - within the context of ongoing globalization - affects nation states and societies, and how different actors, such as states, governments, international organisations, multinational corporations (MNCs), and NGOs, collaborate and conflict within these transnational processes;

(4) The skills required for effective diplomacy and international negotiation;

(5) Contemporary world politics and pertinent themes such as democracy, security, the Global North-South divide, gender, neo-colonialism, intergovernmental organisations, hybrid governance and non-state actors.

Skills

(6) Apply their knowledge of advanced theories and approaches of IR to historical case studies and contemporary world events;

(7) Critically reflect upon the rival theoretical approaches in the discipline of IR;

(8) Function within a group and contribute to a joint research project (a diplomatic simulation exercise).

Course Content

This course follows from the first year course International Relations: Cooperation and Conflict by delving into more advanced theories and approaches to the study of International Relations (IR). While the first year course did touch upon critical approaches to the study of IR (e.g. Marxism), they will form a more substantial part of the focus in this second year course in the form of Critical Theory, Poststructuralism, Normative Theory, Postcolonialism and Feminism. The course will also delve more deeply into particular conceptual lenses - such as ontological security, narratives and international ethics - used by IR scholars to understand the contemporary international environment.

Cutting across the course is a focus on a number of themes, including how globalisation is changing the nature and content of world politics, the suitability (and yet also the perseverance) of the state-centric model for understanding the international sphere, the marginalisation of certain voices (particularly those in the Global South) within international politics and mainstream IR theorising, and the emergence of new forms of international order and global governance.

In this course the focus will be on seeking to understand these issues from various theoretical lenses and practical experience (most obviously through a negotiation simulation modelled on the African Union's institutional structures). Students will learn how different perspectives highlight different structures and different actors and processes, and how a deeper knowledge of these theories and their main concepts allows for a deeper understanding of the richness of IR and its relation to the rest of the social sciences, and of the complexity of today’s globalised world politics.

Additional Information Teaching Methods

Lectures (two two-hour lectures per week; attendance is not mandatory but is consistently predictive of success in the course)

Method of Assessment

Election observation report (pass/fail); International negotiation simulation; Final exam

Entry Requirements

Literature

Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (Eds.). (2023). The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations (9th edition). Oxford University Press.

Various journal articles, all available through the VU library website or Google Scholar.

Additional Information Target Audience

Second-year Bachelor students in Political Science, track Global Politics and specialization Mondiale Politiek.
Students in the Minor Political Science