300453 MA: Politische Soziologie (S) (SoSe 2022)

Competencies: This course will provide students with a substantive understanding about the emergence and developments of world politics, which will be based on relevant theoretical approaches in International Relations and in Social Science in general. At the end of this module, students will be able to develop their own research questions, produce analysis and reflect on world politics issues in a more complex and critical manner.

Content of teaching: This module aims to present the development of world politics, from its historical emergence to the transformation of its main institutions and actors into what we call ‘world society’. For this, the module will firstly focus on (i) the history of international relations with the formation of the modern nation-state; the impacts of historical events such as Peace of Westphalia and the Congress of Vienna; and the consolidation of international society in the 20th Century. (ii) Subsequently, the module will discuss the formation of world society, based on sociological and international relations theory. And (iii) this module concludes with recent discussions on specific themes in world politics: international economy, human rights, international security, and environment.

Studienleistung: Students are required to attend sessions and read the respective assigned literature previously. They will work in groups in the week before sessions, discussing the ‘week questions’ proposed by the lecturer. At the session, they will share their reflections with the whole group. They will also be required to present one seminar individually on one of the following specific themes: international economy, human rights, international security or environment. Presentations will take 20-30 minutes, followed by discussion within the session group. All sessions will be exclusively in English.

Prüfungsleistung: You will write a paper discussing a world politics theme based on the framework of international institutions and norms that we have covered throughout our course. You may choose any theme/event from our thematic sessions (economy, security, human rights, environment), identifying: the historical development of its institutional and normative framework; the actors involved (individuals, states, international institutions and/or transnational actors); and how this connects to the international/world society debates. The deadline is on the 16th September 2022 (15 days before the end of the Summer Semester). The limit is 4000-6.000 words (including references and footnotes)