INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

While the international relations program of the Department of North African and East Asian Studies gives the student a firm grounding in the theoretical and intellectual basis of international relations, it is also essential that the student also have fluency in the nuts and bolts of international relations, that is to say, with the legal and procedural contexts of national institutions and positions, international organisations, and their affiliated international governmental and non- governmental organizations. Such fluency can be attained both by a detailed description of the institutions themselves, and by a discussion of how these entities have interacted in the context of specific political, economic, migratory, and human rights situations. The lectures will be given in English.

The students should attain fluency with the institutional forces that contribute to international relations. Furthermore, they should understand how these institutions have interacted to determine the course of international relations. Students should able, moreover, to formulate projections of how these institutions would act in subsequent developments in this context.

Awareness of recent and contemporary events in international relations, especially in relation to the Mediterranean and East Asian regions. A good, passive knowledge of written and spoken English.

This course, therefore, will be divided into two essential periods: The first will deal with a description of the legal and practical characteristics of many institutions some to which we continually refer without really understanding their legal and practical basis, such as an embassy and ambassadorship, a consulate, international organizations such as the UN, the EU, the Groups of 7 and 20, the IMF, Asean, etc. It will also define and delineate the legal mandates and practical activities of some important international operational organisations, such as the UN Refugee Organization (UNHCR). It will also address the role and nature of NGOs in both determining the course international relations and reacting to their ensuing effects.

The second phase of the course will deal with specific historic and more recent international situations, examining how those entities have interacted with each other to address, sometimes successfully, sometimes less so, these international events. It will also address the role of the media in international affairs.

These are all suggested but not necessarily required reading:

1) Confucius Institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute
2) G20: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G20
3) Group of Seven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Seven
4) Vienna Consular Treaty: https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_2_1963.pdf
5) Hillary Clinton, ‘Smart Power’ and a Dictator’s Fall: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hillary-clinton-libya.html
6) Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations: https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_1_1961.pdf

Written examination at the termination of the course. The examination will be a series of multiple choice questions written n English language with the possibility of optional essays. The essays may be written in English or Italian.

In presence lectures with the possibility of zoom.

Italian

written