Problems and issues in International Relations

The global order and the international system attempt to come to terms with core problems that are both pressing and sometimes protracted, such as war and violence, terrorism, peace and peacebuilding, security, nationalism and identity, human rights, gender, poverty, race and racism, development and inequalities, governance and authority and climate change and the environment.

In this course, you get deep knowledge of the pressing problems that shape the global order and address how those challenges are constituted in different parts of the world, how they affect different contexts differently and how they can be dealt with. The course emphasizes the importance of gender, race and class as important analytical categories.

Apart from academic literature, course books and policy briefs, works of fiction such as novels, films and popular culture are a part of the teaching, this in order for you to learn how different material represent, describe and visualize world problems.

The course is writing-intensive and will train you systematically in the art of academic writing, which will be of use in your future working life. During the course, you will get the opportunity to be creative in terms of using different forms of expression and analysis (e.g., videos, ‘narratives’, policy briefs, source criticism, and data analysis).