Europe, Global Power Shifts and the Future of Multilateralism

Full course description

This course examines the challenges facing Europe in the context of a changing global order. Having critically explored the EU’s traditional support for “effective multilateralism”, it also considers the implications of global power shifts away from the West. In addition to discussing the theoretical and conceptual approaches to multilateralism and global power shifts, and Europe’s place in these, we will study the EU’s developing relationships with global powers such as the United States, China and India. Finally, we will apply our insights to three concrete cases: global governance challenges in the realm of global trade, global health and global climate change in a multipolar world.

In addressing these issues, the course will expand your knowledge of the EU’s role in the world, and the challenges that the current phase of global transformations pose for Europe. You will have to engage with the implications of an emerging multipolar world for multilateralism, the choices that the EU has to face in this context, as well as identifying the opportunities that present themselves. You will engage with the way in which the rise of new powers such as China, Brazil and India has changed the conflicts and challenges that multilateralism addresses. This also speaks to new governance solutions that have been proposed to overcome deadlock at the multilateral level in a multipolar world.  You will also apply the insights on the current crisis of multilateralism to three concrete cases of global governance, in areas in which Europe plays a prominent role: global trade, global health and global climate change.