Admission requirements
Admission to the MA International Relations.
Description
Many of our students are new to International Relations (IR). This course serves as an introduction to the study of IR, with a focus on the broader link between IR and humanities disciplines. It takes a special interest in critical and non-Western approaches to IR.
The principal claim of this course is that no coherent and balanced understanding of IR and global politics is possible without taking into full consideration the rich diversity of ideas, beliefs and (self)-perceptions that influence both current events in global politics and how they are interpreted by diverse onlookers around the world.
Course objectives
This course has three major objectives:
1. To introduce students to mainstream and critical theoretical perspectives of IR.
2. To discuss the intertwining between IR and humanities disciplines, especially history, culture, and area studies.
3. To reflect on alternative critical and non-Western perspectives on the theory and practice of IR from around the world.
During the lecture series, we discuss the complex challenges which the current world order presents to the study of IR and global politics. We will engage with scholarly debates and the practical implications involving mainstream and critical political and social concepts, ideas and beliefs in global politics today. We will draw insights from how other disciplines have reflected on questions relevant to IR and global politics. We will also discuss how IR as a discipline is understood and negotiated in different parts of the world.
During the seminars students are prompted to expand on the topics discussed in the lectures. On the basis of academic texts and other relevant primary and secondary sources students will engage critically with the ways in which scholars in different disciplines as well as thinkers in different parts of the world have tried to understand international affairs, and how they have learned from each other. Students will develop their critical faculties and further their ability to research, articulate, report, and defend their position.
Timetable
Visit MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture and seminar.
Assessment method
subject to change
Participation: 20%
Policy Paper: 35%
Critical Review: 45%
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
Resit
The resit for the final examined element is only available to students whose mark of the final examined element is insufficient.
inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
T.B.A.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch.
Contact
Lectures: Professor André W.M. Gerrits
Seminars: your seminar professor.