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Terms such as globalization and global governance have become buzzwords
since the 1990s. In this seminar we investigate both concepts, ask in what
way they are helpful for understanding contemporary problems of
international relations and inquire into the politics driving the
developments described by these terms. To do so we will adopt an
actor-oriented perspective and focus on issues of development and peace.
Taking an actor oriented perspective means to ask, who the significant
actors in global politics are, how they “make” problems global and how they
become powerful.
In the first part of the seminar, we investigate different types of actors,
such as states, international organizations, non-governmental organizations,
transnational networks, companies and experts. We investigate their
different roles in global politics and how they influence policy formulation
and implementation. In the second part, we focus on specific issues of
development and peace. We focus on the developments since the 1990s. We
discuss whether security and development are currently merging fields, and
what effect these developments have for issues such as policy coordination
and participation. Summing up these discussions we ask in the third part of
the seminar what general conclusions we can draw from our discussions. Are
there trends we can identify? Can we for instance observe a trend towards
more democratic forms of global politics?
The seminar offers an introduction to the major actors of global politics
and to the main theories conceptualizing these. In successfully completing
participants will be able to understand the complexity of global
policymaking and will have basic knowledge about the crucial perspectives of
grasping and ordering this complexity. |
