SGIA49430: International Organisations

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• The module aims to give students a holistic understanding of International Organisations (IOs) and familiarize students with the theoretical approaches used to analyse and explain IOs role in international politics. Students will gain an understanding of the history of international and regional organisations, their functions, their development, their internal dynamics, and major scholarly debates on their current role in international relations;
• The module aims to provide to students with an understanding of international organisation that goes beyond the core institutions of global governance. It will do this by broadening the concept of organisation to encompass less formalised institutions and also those that lie outside of the West.

• By the end of the module, students will
• Have an understanding of the core international organisations.
• Have an awareness that international organisations are diverse, multi-sited, unequal, and politically contested.
• Be able to deploy theory to analyse the politics of international organisations.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• On completion of this module, students will acquire knowledge and understanding of:
• The historical trends in the development of existing global institutional framework and the dynamic of change impacting international order;
• The value of theoretical approaches for the empirical analysis of IOs and an awareness of key theoretical debates in this area of study;
• An awareness of major global challenges facing international institutions in areas such as international order economic development, security, human rights and environmental sustainability.

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of the module students should be able to:
• To identify and critically analyse subject-related literature, including primary material;
• To identify and engage with conceptualisations and/or theorisations of major elements in the study of international organisations.
• To utilise a range of resources to understand and critically evaluate the goals, internal dynamics, and effectiveness of international organisations.

Key Skills:

• Students will also develop some important key skills, suitable for underpinning study at this and subsequent levels, such as:
• The capacity to engage in independent learning within a defined framework of study at an advanced level; Independent thought in analysing and critiquing existing scholarship on the subject area and in evaluating its contribution;
• Ability for independent thinking informed by the academic debate at an advanced level.
• The ability to master a complex and specialised area of knowledge and skills including the ability to communicate the results of their research to peers in a manner appropriate to an advanced level of study.

• The module is taught through an integrated set of interactive lectures and seminars.
• There are sixteen 1-hour lectures.
• There are eight 1-hour seminars. These are designed to synthesise components from the lectures for further reflective and theoretical thinking.
• Formative assessment in the form of a 1,500-word essay allows students practice in developing their skills in formulating a coherent and logically consistent written argument ahead of the 3,000-word summative assessments.

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