Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2500259 Political Science and Public Management | OB | 3 | 1 |
2503778 International Relations | OB | 2 | 1 |
We expect students to have basic previous knowledge of International Relations, developed for instance by way of a general course on IR. We also expect them to be able to keep themselves informed about internaternational current affairs, as well as some capacity for analysis, argumentation, and debate.
This is an advanced education course, and it complements the knowledge acquired in previous, more general courses (particularly on International Relations).
It will allow students to develop their own view about the post-Cold War international system, and in turn it will contribute to their further training in IR and help them take more specific IR classes or get ready for graduate programmes.
Students will learn about the key changes that have taken place in the international system since the end of the Cold War, in issue areas such as the form and distribution of power, actors and their (new) roles, challenges, conflicts and relationships. They will also learn about some of the concerns that have defined international relations since the early 1990s.
It is around such matters that we expect students to develop their analytical skills, as well as their capacity to articulte and debate ideas and concepts.
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM (2022-2023)
Group 01 Dra. Esther Barbé
Group 51 Dr. Oriol Costa
INTERNATIONAL ORDER: CONCEPTS AND INSTRUMENTS FOR ANALYSIS
International order: classical approaches (Hobbes, Grotius, Kant)
Types of order: international order, globalized order, world order, globalized international order.
Levels of analysis: de-centralized globalization
Multi-dimensionality of the international agenda
States system (pluralism)
Sovereignty
International order based on:
- Powers (hierarchy)
- Institutions (multilateralism)
- Values (solidarism)
Globalization: the end of geography, a single (an unequal) world, instantaneity, density
Transformation of the capitalist system: global value chains and technological revolution.
Order as global governance:
- Beyond the states system (Commission on Global Governance, 1995)
- Provision of international public goods (health, environment)
- Governance between states (trans-governmental networks)
- Private governance (private authorities)
Changes in the material, normative and institutional structures of the international system.
Sources of change: Power, ideas and institutions
- Power: competition for power and distribution of power
- Distribution of power: polarity and polycentrism
- Ideas (norms and values): shared or rival
- Norms of coexistence, cooperation and solidarism
- Emerging norms: Human security and sustainable development
- Institutions: Formal and informal multilateralism (international organizations, conventions, minilateralism).
- Practical multilateralism (utilitarianism) and normative multilateralism (principled)
CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER SINCE 1989
Constitutive phase (1989-2001)
Transitional phase (2001-2008)
Contestation phase (from 2008)
Unipolar moment
US hegemony: material and normative base
Leader of the (Western) economic liberal order
Military hyper-power, without rivals and without a mission
*Case study: Gulf war - 1991
Neo-idealism: New International Order (Bush)
Liberal ideas: democracy, market economy, human rights*
Economic neo-liberalism: Washington consensus
Liberal solidarism and emerging norms: protection of civilians
*Case study: UN peacekeeping operations in the context of “new wars”.
Institutional renaissance: the case of the UNSC
Malleable institutions: NATO, CSCE, EU
*Case studies: New institutions
Institutionalization of established norms:
-World Trade Organization -1994 (free trade)
Institutionalization of emerging norms:
-UN Conference on the Environment and Development – Rio 1992 (sustainable development)
-Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – 1998 (international criminal justice)
-Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel landmines - 1997 (protection of civilians)
Uni-multipolar moment
Emerging Powers – BRIC. China’s accession to the WTO (2001)
9/11 attacks (2001) and global terror. Asymmetrical rivalry
Rivalry in the non-proliferationagenda (Iran, North Korea)
Mechanisms that erode hegemony: Soft balancing
*Case study: Kosovo or the emergence of Russia as a rival.
Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015): modes of development and appearance of the Global South
Fight against terror and illiberal states: torture and mercenaries
The limits of liberal solidarism: Protection of civilians vs sovereignty
*Case study: The emergence of Responsibility to Protect in a context in which protection of civilians had failed (Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo).
US unilateralism: the Iraq war and the UNSC (2003)
Alternative multilateralism: US and the coalitions of the willing
*Case studies: the limits of global governance mechanisms
- WTO (emerging powers and clash of interests)
- Ottawa Convention and the ICC (membership)
- Reform of the UNSC (legitimacy problems)
- Creation of the UN Human Rights Council (re-distribution of power)
- Non-Proliferation Treaty (erosion of the regime)
Re-distribution of power: raise of the Chinese economy, competition for resources and technological rivalry
Economic crisis (2008) in the changing landscape (China as a financial power). Beginnings de-globalization.
The return of power politics: power transition and the China-US rivalry.
*Case studies: the return of power politics
- Re-emergence of Russia: Georgia (2008) and Ukraine (2014)
- Emergence of China in the Pacific: South China Sea.
Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) en the framework of a contested globalization.
Controversies over the norms of liberal solidarism (individual rights)
The role of China, Russia, the Global South and the US
*Case studies: Controversies over norms
- Re-definiton of Human Rights: traditional values (UNHRC)
- Erosion of international criminal justice: sovereignty and anti-colonialism (ICC)
- Erosion of gender equality: right to life (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights)
Crisis of the international liberalorder. Actors, new powers, Global South and the US
Financial crisis (2008) an changes in minilateralism: from G7 to G20
Failure of institutional reform (IMF) and alternative multilateralism (institutions lead by China)
American anti-multilateralism (Trump): erosion of the WTO, NATO, INF, UNESCO, Paris Agreement, WHO.
*Case study: institutional crisis
-A deadlocked WTO
Three big crises: 2001 (terrorism), 2008 (economy), 2020 (health)
Changes in power, ideas and institutions
The impact of Covid-19 as an enhancer of previous trends
PRACTICAL SESSIONS WITH DELIVERABLES
These is an indicative list of issues pertaining to a context shaped, from the point of view of norms, by sustainable development and human security. During the term we will work on two such issues. Note cards will be produced for each of them, a debate will take place at class for each of them, and then a written exercise too. More information will be available at Campus Virtual.
During the course 2021-2022 we will work on two different issues that are hotly debated internationally: climate change and Sexual and reproductive health and rights. The instructions for these seminar sessions can be found at Campus Virtual. Apart from other documents (also to be found at Campus Virtual), you must use, as a basic reading, the following book:
Barbé, E. (dir)., Las normas Internacionales ante la crisis del orden liberal, Tecnos, Madrid, 2021.
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Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Learning activities with audiovisual material | 4 | 0.16 | 3, 4, 10, 9, 24, 30, 6 |
Lectures | 34 | 1.36 | 3, 4, 8, 10, 9, 17, 16, 24, 28, 5, 6 |
Seminars | 10 | 0.4 | 3, 4, 8, 10, 9, 18, 20, 17, 15, 16, 24, 29, 28, 30, 27, 5, 6 |
Type: Supervised | |||
Out-of-class supervision of deliverables and office-hours more generally | 5 | 0.2 | 3, 8, 10, 9, 11, 18, 17, 15, 16, 24, 29, 28, 27, 6 |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Autonomous out-of-class work | 49 | 1.96 | 17, 15, 16, 24, 28 |
Autonomous out-of-class work related to seminars | 40 | 1.6 | 3, 4, 8, 11, 18, 20, 17, 15, 16, 24, 29, 28, 30, 27, 5, 6 |
The final qualification depends on the grades obtained in the following assignments.
1. A final exam. The final exam (individual and in written form) aims to test the degree of knowledge of students, both as regards analytical concepts and substantive issues addressed in the course (all the course is included in this, also issues raised in seminar sessions). The exam accounts for 50% of the final grade. You need to pass the exam (5 points out of 10) in order to pass the course.
2. Two short exercises to be written at class . Students will have worked with the key documents and discourses issued by several international actors and will also hand in an out-of-class paper. A debate session will sum-up and extract knowledge in a participatory way. The final written exercises account for 20% of the final grade each.
3. Participation in class activities and debates accounts for 10% of the final grade.
Notes on the course:
In order to successfully pass the course, students will need at least a 5/10 at the final exam. The exam is designed for students to show a basic and balanced knowledge of the theoretical and substantive contents of the three blocks of the syllabus. A minimum of 5/10 at the exam grade is a necessary condition for the rest of the grades to be taken into account. Students who fail the exam will have to re-take it.
There will also be re-take options for the other assignments.
The precise dates of the seminar sessions and the debates on the reports will be announced at Campus Virtual, together with the rest of the course plan. The files for the preparation of these sessions will be found at Campus Virtual too.
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Final exam | 50% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 2, 4, 25, 8, 7, 10, 9, 13, 17, 16, 21, 24, 28, 19, 26, 5, 12, 6 |
International regime: deliverables, in-class debate and short written in-class exercise. | 20% | 2 | 0.08 | 3, 1, 2, 4, 25, 8, 7, 10, 9, 17, 16, 23, 21, 22, 24, 28, 30, 6 |
Participation | 10% | 0 | 0 | 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 20, 17, 15, 16, 23, 21, 24, 28, 19, 27, 6 |
R2P: deliverables, in-class debate and short written in-class exercise. | 20% | 3 | 0.12 | 3, 1, 2, 4, 25, 7, 11, 18, 20, 14, 15, 23, 21, 22, 24, 29, 30, 27, 12 |
See the syllabus
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