30485 - CURRENT POLITICAL PHENOMENA II
Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
Class-group lessons delivered on campus
Background knowledge on approaches to international politics (e.g. "Realist" and "Liberal" approaches) are useful for students. In addition, knowledge on 20th century world history is useful.
What are the causes of conflict and cooperation between states? During periods of conflict, what are the economic and diplomatic tools that states use to improve their gains and minimize their costs? To answer these questions, we survey the literature on International Relations with a special focus on three topics: (1) economic tools of statecraft (e.g. trade sanctions, foreign aid); (2) migration as a coercive tool, and (3) state sponsorship of rebel groups fighting rival states.
This course presents a broad and in-depth overview of the recent research on international politics. In particular, we will focus on non-military tools of coercion used by states in international politics.The course is organized into 2 parts:
Part I:
- Economic coercion (general introduction)
- Economic sanctions
- Migration as a coercive tool
Part II:
- State sponsorship of rebel groups
- Role of secrecy in coercion
- Describe the relationship between economic and political tools of statecraft.
- Recognize the trade-offs that states face when employing different diplomatic tactics.
- Explain current trends in international relations from a historical point of view.
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Identify the sources of economic and diplomatic power of state actors.
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Evaluate the merits and drawbacks of various tactics that are used in interstate bargaining.
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Evaluate the possible implications of domestic political changes on interstate relations.
- Face-to-face lectures
- Online lectures
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Lectures are structured according to the standard format: the instructor presents and elaborate on the material contained in the required readings, which the students have read before class.
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Attendance is not required, but strongly recommended. Some of the assigned readings feature a high degree of sophistication in terms of methods of analysis. Although no formal prerequisites are required, the lectures provide students some necessary (yet informal) background that help them gain a better understanding of those readings that include a technical component.
Continuous assessment | Partial exams | General exam | |
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x | x |
- Student assessment is based on two main components, a take-home assignment (or term paper) and a general written exam.
- Component will make up 50% of your course grade.
- The exam will be based on a mix of multiple choice and open questions.
- The purpose of multiple choice questions is to evaluate your ability to retrieve definitions and facts.
- The purpose of open-answer questions is to evaluate your ability to apply their knowledge to a particular case or present a coherent argument.
The required readings for this course are scientific articles, book chapters and policy reports that represent the key and/or state of the art contributions to the different topics analyzed. A complete list of the required and suggested reading is provided at the beginning of the course and is available on Bboard.