INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

This course is the International Politics course for the students enrolled in the Global studies path of the MA in Comparative International Relations (RIC).

The objective of this course is to give students a more nuanced and complete understanding of the international politics. Specifically, the course provides the basic tools to analyze and understand the major themes of international relations and global politics. At the end of the course, students will have the opportunity to develop an appreciation of theory and its utility in the study and practice of International Relations. In addition, students will have the opportunity to develop their own professional thinking in this field by improving their critical thinking and writing skills. Students will acquire a top-down and a bottom-up perspective on the major processes and developments in the global politics.

Admission criteria are those required by the study programme LM60.Other curricula will be evaluated on a case by case basis. A good knowledge of English is essential.

This course introduces students to the major theoretical approaches to international relations—Realism, Liberalism, Constructivism and Marxism—and uses these approaches to address a variety of past and contemporary issues. The primary aims of the course are to demonstrate how theory influences our explanations; to familiarize students with some important issues in international politics; and most important, to help students evaluate contemporary issues in international politics. Students will be required to attend all lectures and to keep up with the readings provided by the instructor. The course will also regularly incorporate discussion of contemporary events (and exams may reference them), so the students should keep up on what is happening in the world by regularly reading a current events news. The students are also advised to familiarize with mainstream national, regional and global daily newspapers, news agencies, political magazines, journals and periodic publications and also web sites of states’ political and bureaucratic institutions.

The course is divided into four parts:

Part I Foundations of IR

- an introduction to the International Relations;
- key concepts and main actors;
- theoretical approaches to international politics.

Part II War & Peace

- Types and causes of conflict;
- pathways to interstate peace;
- the use of force.

Part III Foreign policy and contemporary challenges

- The sources of foreign policy;
- the non-state actors;
- challenges to the sovereign state.

Part IV Facing the future

- The main global players;
- perspectives for the future order.

Final Exam (Oral)

Students who have never attended an International Relations course are strongly recommended to read one of the following texts:

1.- Robert Jackson, Georg Sørensen, and Jørgen Møller, Introduction to International Relations Theories and Approaches (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vth edition or more).
2.- Ilkenberry, J., Grieco, J., Mastanduno, M., Introduzione alle relazioni internazionali . Domande fondamentali e prospettive contemporanee (Torino: UTET Università, 2017).

All other reading materials will be provided on the class website (Moodle).

Final examination. oral.

The program for the exam is the same for both non-attending and attending students.

Lectures on Zoom, use of media, class discussion.

English

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "International cooperation" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development