International Relations and Global Governance
Full course description
The course introduces students to international relations theories and engages students into a number of topical debates on the changing global environment and EU foreign policy. The course prepares for later courses in periods 4 and 5 by giving an introduction to mainstream and critical theories and concepts and the history of international relations. It also looks at the changes of the international system after the end of the Cold War and contemporary challenges for the EU in various policy fields such as security and climate policies. A key didactic principle is to build links between theories and their application throughout. The course shows how international relations theories can be applied to understand and explain not only state behaviour, but also global efforts at addressing global challenges.
In the skills component of this course concerns, students present policy advice to a fictitious superior in the EU on an important global problem. This work is presented in the form of a briefing note.
Course objectives
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Analyse how the global environment has changed since 1989;
- Understand the main challenges of contemporary international affairs for Europe and the EU;
- Summarise the main conceptual and theoretical approaches in the field of international relations and you understand their relevance for the position of Europe within a changing global environment;
- Understand the importance of expert input to foreign policy-making, and understand the challenges involved in that exercise;
- Apply concepts and theories to advanced academic questions and policy relevant cases in the field of international politics;
- Evaluate and form a judgement on scholarly arguments, including their implicit assumptions, in debates about a changing global environment;
- Participate in scholarly and policy debates on International Relations and Global Governance, within the international PBL classroom, with a focus on team-work (in preparation for chairing a tutorial), leading and facilitating discussions and time-management (both during tutorials).
- Present an analysis of foreign policy for a relevant actor.
Recommended reading
- Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (Eds.) (2023). The globalization of world politics: An introduction to International Relations (9th ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Dunne, T., Kurki, M., & Smith, S. (Eds.) (2020). International relations theories: Discipline and diversity (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Weiss, T. G. & Wilkinson, R. (Eds.) (2018). International organization and global governance (2nd ed.). London, New York: Routledge.
- Youngs, R. (2021). The European Union and global politics. Red Globe Press.