• Academic Credits: 3
  • Course for Minor: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
  • 01-790-364_01_Global_Order_Fall_2020.pdf
  • Syllabus Disclaimer: The information on this syllabus is subject to change. For up-to-date course information, please refer to the syllabus on your course site (Sakai, Canvas, etc.) on the first day of class.

Course Description:

This course considers alternative perspectives on the nature of global order since the end of the Cold War. The opening lecture part considers four key perspectives on the nature of global order since the end of the Cold War: a globalizing world order; a world of conflicting identities (cultural fragmentation), a liberal world order (cultural integration) and unipolarity. The course next examines international institutions as they have emerged to regulate global and regional security, and nuclear weapons proliferation. The third part of the course considers ethnic and cultural sources of co-operation and conflict in world politics, including the ‘end of history’ and ‘clash of civilizations’ theses. The final part of the course examines challenges to the system of states posed by American hegemony, trends towards globalization, the international spread of human rights, and global terrorism. The course concludes by reflecting on recent debates about whether we are entering a “post-American” or “post-Western” era in world politics. The course is designed to strike a balance between empirical and historical knowledge on the one hand and theoretical understanding on the other. Empirically it covers the most important developments and issues in international relations in the period after the end of the Cold War. Theoretically it introduces students to the central analytical concepts and theoretical approaches that are required to make sense of the questions that structure International Relations as an academic field of inquiry.