INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS

This course is one of the three modules of the Major: Policies and Institutions for Social Impact.
This course provides an introduction to the study of international negotiations from a theoretical and practical perspective. In an increasing number of policy areas, international negotiations play a fundamental role in shaping international and domestic policies. This development has important implications for the autonomy of national governments and the democratic accountability of elected representatives. The course will analyse the basic mechanisms of international negotiations through the study of classical readings and the analysis of cases.

The course aims to provide students with conceptual and theoretical tools to help them (a) assess the political impact of international negotiations; (b) analyse negotiation processes.

Basic knowledge of political and social science epistemology and methodology.

The first part of the course will explore the concept of international negotiations and the different types of international negotiations. The second part of the course will analyse the main aspects and steps of the negotiation process. The third part of the course will analyse cases of international negotiations in different policy areas.

Elster, Jon. "Arguing and bargaining in two constituent assemblies." U. Pa. J. Const. L., 1999.
Putnam, Robert D. "Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games." International organization, 1988.
Schelling, Thomas C. "An essay on bargaining." The American Economic Review 46.3, 1956.
The full list of compulsory readings will be available on Moodle.

Active participation in class (20%)
Presentation of a case-study during class (40%)
Final paper (40%)

written and oral

30L (31): excellent understanding of the questions/issue and the main concepts, excellent ability to formulate arguments and excellent coherence of the argumentation; 30-28: very good understanding of the questions/issue and the main concepts, and very good ability to formulate arguments despite some inaccuracies; 27-26: good understanding of the questions/issue and the main concepts, and good ability to formulate arguments despite significant inaccuracies and logical inconsistencies; 25-23: fair work with significant weaknesses in the understanding of the questions/issue and the main concepts, in the formulation of arguments and in the ability to reason logically; 22-19: basic understanding of the main concepts/issue with significant misunderstandings and errors; inaccurate and/or illogical formulation of arguments; 18: performance meets the minimum criteria; grades below 18: performance does not meet the minimum criteria.

Seminar/ Discussion of compulsory readings.

Before each session, students will have to read an article uploaded on Moodle.