PPE3041 – Global Politics
This course introduces students to an unconventional way of thinking about world politics. Structured around a number of critical questions that have been puzzling humans for centuries, the course deals with familiar topics which continue to affect our global polity—such as conflict, gender, reconciliation, violence, nationalism, terrorism, post-colonialism, ethnicity, and others—but takes an original approach to them.
By integrating theory and history while drawing on a wide range disciplines such as international relations, sociology, peace studies, post-colonial studies, and others, each class will address a critical question through an illustrative example and will assess the responses that we, as a global collectivity, are giving to that question.
Why do people identify with nations? Do colonialism and slavery belong to the past? Why are some people better off than others? Why does global politics often turn to violence? Who has rights? Why is the world divided territorially? How do religious beliefs affect politics?
By combining theory and practice—and by approaching the field of global politics through a Socratic method rather than thematically—this innovative and highly interdisciplinary course aims to show students both the complexity and the relevance of contemporary global politics.
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Understand the key concepts associated with global politics;
- Understand the rationale, purpose and context in which such concepts developed;
- Appreciate the difference between international relations and global politics;
- Appreciate the importance of issues such as climate change, migration, inequality, resistance;
- Place global political issues in the context of colonialism, nationalism, capitalism and statehood;
- Understand the difference between the ‘victors’ and the ‘losers’ of globalization;
- Develop an ability to put forward a balanced argument on a given issue of global politics;
- Appreciate the importance of critically evaluating global politics issues.