Global Politics
Course content
Rules, laws and institutions do not simply drop from the sky. Social orders at different scales are produced and reproduced in political dynamics where efforts to consolidate and strengthen rights and authorities are being challenged by bearers of conflicting interests and unequal powers. Rules, laws and institutions connect local and global sites of politics in asymmetrical power relations, and make up political landscapes of regulation and resistance, of recognition and accountability, and of negotiation and conflict.
Global Politics focuses on the production as well as the reception and political and institutional effect of global political connections and disconnections. The agendas of powerful political players – nation states, business consortia, and organisations often from the global North – are mediated through international organisations, conventions and codified practices. This shapes institutional architecture and ideology. However, the reception and effects are virtually always localised and mediated through already existing institutions and actively pursued local agendas. Globalisation does therefore not produce uniform political and institutional outcomes but rather a tremendous variation of ideology, political movement, institutions and law. Especially in weak and fragile states, this tends to happen in unexpected ways.
The thrust of the course is on how global phenomena and dynamics
impact local arenas rather than on International Relations,
mainstream political science analysis of regime forms,
administration, or policy analysis. For these aspects, students are
advised to look for elective courses in the second year.
The course provides students with the conceptual tools to analyse and understand institutional dynamics and their consequences for developing countries and emerging economies. Especially, the students will be able to analyse dilemmas, tensions, and conflicts in legal and organisational infrastructures. The course will focus on what constitutes ‘data’ when analysing politics, law, and institutional change. The ability to combine data on policy, law, rules, practice, discourse, protest and conflict that cuts through levels from global to local is essential. This prepares students for engaging with amorphous forms of data in their careers.
MSc Programme in Global Development
After completing the course, the student should be able to:
Knowledge:
- Describe and define central concepts in global politics.
- Know why abstractions and concepts are central to the analysis of empirical questions.
- Show overview of the interconnections between different levels of political fields (global though to local).
- Show overview over state and non‐state governance systems.
Skills:
- Select relevant concepts for institutional analysis.
- Identify central actors, institutions, processes and norms
involved in the social production of political fields.
Competences:
- Collect and process relevant information for analysis of political dilemmas.
- Understand and critically reflect on the multidimensional character of politics in different fields (such as resource conflicts).
- Analytically connect resource conflicts to conflicts over governance and state formation.
There is a mixture of lectures and in-class workshops. The students will also write a brief essay to exercise their analytical skills. The essay will not be marked but will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Teaching material, chapters, articles and film will be made available through the course website.
Course registration is automatic for students on 1st semester.
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Oral examination
- Type of assessment details
- Individual, oral examination. Prior to the oral examination students are given 5-7 questions prepared by the course responsible. At the oral examination, students randomly choose one of the questions prepared, and they are then given 20 minutes to prepare their presentation. The preparation is followed by 20 minutes oral examination.
- Aid
- All aids allowed except Generative AI
All aids allowed, when the student prepares for the examination. One page of hand-written notes is allowed in the actual examination.
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
- Re-exam
-
The re-examination has the same form as the ordinary examination. If you fail an examination, you will be allowed two more attempts to pass the relevant course. The first re-examination will typically be scheduled immediately following the semester (February/August). The second re-examination will typically be scheduled in the following exam period.
In order to contact to sign up for the re-exam please contact Sanne Kunov, globaldevelopment@samf.ku.dk. You must sign up no later than 14 days before the re-exam date.
Criteria for exam assessment
Students are assessed to the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the course.
To obtain the top grade “12”, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes. Furthermore, the student must apply a mixed methods/interdisciplinary approach to obtain the top grade “12”.
To obtain the passing grade “02”, the student must in a satisfactory way be able to demonstrate a minimal acceptable level of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 36
- Preparation
- 108
- Practical exercises
- 18
- Exam
- 48
- English
- 210
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- AGDK14004U
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
-
1 block
- Placement
- Block 1
- Capacity
- 60
- Studyboard
- Study Board for Global Development
Contracting department
- Department of Anthropology
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Social Sciences
Course Coordinator
- Christian Lund (5-6c757e776d49726f7b7837747e376d74)
Timetable
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