| Learning outcome | Prescribed content | Possible examples
(Intended as a starting point only: for many topics, local and current examples will be more appropriate than the ones listed, and many more examples are listed than are expected to be covered during the course)
|
|---|
| Nature of power |
Definitions and theories of power |
- John Mearsheimer, Joseph Nye, Antonio Gramsci, Steven Lukes
|
| Types of power |
- Hard versus soft; economic, military, social, cultural; individual versus collective; unilateral versus multilateral
|
| Operation of state power in global politics |
The evolving nature of state sovereignty |
- Terminology (eg state, nation, nation-state, stateless nation)
- The Westphalian conception of state sovereignty
- Present-day status of sources of state sovereignty, eg possession and use of force, international law and norms, recognition by other states due to economic and balance of power considerations, consent (or lack thereof) of the governed through political participation
- Present-day challenges to state sovereignty, eg globalization, supranationality, humanitarian intervention, indigenous rights
|
| Legitimacy of state power |
- Democratic states, eg unitary states, federal states
- Authoritarian states
- Fragile/failed states
|
| Function and impact of international organizations and non-state actors in global politics |
The United Nations (UN) |
- The UN, eg Charter of the United Nations, UN principal organs (General Assembly, Security Council, etc) and subsidiary organs and agencies
|
| Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) |
- World Trade Organization (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Union (EU), African Union, Arab League, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
|
| Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multinational corporations (MNCs) and trade unions |
- NGOs, eg International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Greenpeace, BRAC
- MNCs, eg Unilever, Philips, IKEA, Lenovo, Tata
- Trade unions, eg International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
|
| Social movements, resistance movements and violent protest movements |
- Social movements, eg Occupy, Avaaz
- Resistance movements, eg Arab Spring, Orange Revolution in Ukraine
- Violent protest movements, eg Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Hezbollah, Naxalites
|
| Political parties |
- USA’s Republican and Democratic parties, Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD), Communist Party of China (CPC)
|
| Informal forums |
- G20, The Group of Seven (G7), The Group of Eight (G8), G2, World Economic Forum (WEF), World Social Forum (WSF)
|
| Legitimacy of non-state actors |
- Representativeness
- Means of exerting influence
- Efficacy
|
| Nature and extent of interactions in global politics |
Global governance |
- UN Security Council resolutions, climate change agenda, Basel accords on financial regulation, WTO trade agreements, regional decision-making
|
| Cooperation: treaties, collective security, strategic alliances, economic cooperation, informal cooperation |
- Treaties, eg Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Montreal Protocol
- Collective security, eg North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Organization of American States (OAS)
- Strategic alliances, eg China’s alliances in Latin America and Africa, USA–Taiwan, USA–Israel, India–Afghanistan
- Economic cooperation, eg bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, regional economic integration, facilitation and regulation of international production
- Informal cooperation, eg extraordinary rendition, technology harmonization, cultural exchange
|
| Conflict: interstate war, intrastate war, terrorism, strikes, demonstrations |
- Interstate war, eg Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, South Sudan
- Intrastate war, eg Syria, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Central African Republic
- Terrorism, eg Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Boko Haram
- Strikes and demonstrations: local examples
|
