IR5005 - Global Governance

You will learn by engaging with a carefully selected reading list and attending lectures which will introduce key concepts and theories, such as the reasons why international institutions exist, how they work and what they do. Seminars will expand on these issues and deepen understanding through group work and discussion

Your academic development will be facilitated through engagement with the academic literature and by talking with peers and academics about your understanding of the literature. The module lead and module tutors will provide ongoing feedback on your learning during contact time in class (i.e. lectures and seminars), and offer office hours to further discuss any questions that you may have. A module Blackboard site will provide access to online reading lists and other learning material, enabling further study beyond lectures and seminars.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:

1. Analyse and critically discuss the institutional structures of (select) international organisations and their ability to respond to challenges of international cooperation
2. Critically analyse the complexities of selected policy sectors and/or case studies

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3. Investigate and analyse problems, applying and connecting concepts and theories to historic and emerging case studies and data to begin to challenge ‘common sense’ explanations of politics and your own understanding of politics

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
4. The ability to synthesis complex information and to construct an argument based upon evidence
5. Presentation skills, especially presenting my ideas on the literature I have read for the module

Formative feedback will be provided on an ongoing basis in seminars (and lectures).

Summative assessment consists of two 2,000 word essays, each worth 50% of the overall grade, which will assess your critical understanding of institutions and policies of (select) international organisations.

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The continuing existence (and growth) of global, transnational and international problems requires mechanisms of governance that are equally global in scope. Global governance, traditionally defined as “governance beyond the [nation-]state” (Rosenau) is the collective sum of processes and institutions that facilitate the process of problem-solving and cooperation.

This module will discuss the role and functioning of international organisations in global governance to illustrate how states, and increasingly non-governmental organisations, solve problems in situations of interdependence.