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Transnational Politics and Institutions (STG-MA-FCR-TPI)

STG-MA-FCR-TPI

Description

The early twenty-first century has witnessed the amplification of international clashes believed to be on the wane, while enduring transnational problems still await solutions. In the twentieth century, these were managed by a network of state- and western-centric international institutions rooted in a post-WWII order. This mode of governance has densified and complexified, increasingly challenged to grant equal standing to the non-western world and to include a range of transnational non-state actors. It is also challenged by the rise of populist nationalism, illiberalism, and authoritarian regimes.

This course asks what is to be done to address these issues, grounded in the discipline of international relations and adopting a critical lens which, where relevant, includes feminist IR and post-colonial studies. It offers an overview of the ideas, theories and concepts in all fields touching on international studies and discusses a selection of issue-areas to explore the nature of transnational politics and institutions today.

The course is divided into two sections. Section I takes a transversal view of the historical and theoretical foundations of international relations, identifying actors and structures, and connecting analytical and normative implications to start making sense of the complexity of transnational processes that involve multiple agents interacting at different levels of interest aggregation. Section II shifts the focus to substantive issue-areas and policy challenges.

The course is designed to meet the needs of Master of Transnational Governance students who are preparing for careers in state institutions, supra-national and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, the media, the corporate world, and/or academia.

Its goals are to:

a)    Build on the rest of the courses taught in the Fall of 2024;
b)    Provide a space for open discussion on the questions raised in order to combine academic rigour with the concrete experiential knowledge of the students;
c)    Offer relevant background knowledge about conceptual frameworks in IR as well as about substantive issues in global and transnational governance;
d)    Enable students to articulate independent, critical and theoretically informed arguments about inter-state relations and transnational governance and to develop their research, writing and oral communication skills.

Section I: Main Theories, Concepts, and Perspectives
16/01    Week 1 - Traditions, foundations, contestation
23/01    Week 2 - Sources of change in international relations and the changing faces of sovereignty
30/01    Week 3 - Structures power, interests and ideas in shaping international institutions
06/02    Week 4 - Inclusion and exclusion in the liberal international order
13/02    Week 5 - Actors and normative benchmarks for transformative politics

Section II: Issue-areas in IR and Transnational Governance
20/02    Week 6 - Global peace and security governance
27/02    Week 7 - Global trade and development governance
06/03    Week 8 - Global climate change negotiations and global civil society: what is to be done?
13/03    Week 9 - Refugees, migrants and human rights
20/03    Week 10 - Global technopolitics: internet governance, cybersecurity and the new technological frontiers

The course concludes by taking stock of the transnational governance paradigm and by examining possible future trends.
27/03    Week 11 – “The future is unwritten”: past, present and future dilemmas of transnational governance

 

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