Description
Students choose (one of) the thesis seminar(s) offered within their specialisation. It is strongly recommended that students start thinking about the topic of their thesis before the start of the classes. Attendance is compulsory for all classes. Detailed information about the study material and the writing process can be found on Brightspace.
Course Objectives
Objective 1: To deepen the understanding of theories and methods related to research on the theme of the Master Specialisation.
Objective 2: Applying them to a specific topic as part of the student’s Master thesis project.
General Introduction Meeting
See 'Information and Deadlines' for the time and date of the introduction meeting.
Themes
Theme 101: The Global South in Global Governance (Dr. E. Nartok - v.d. Kist))
Theme 102: International Institutions (Dr. M. Sampson)
Course description
This thesis seminar will guide students through the process of designing and carrying out an academic research project studying international institutions with a focus on economic institutions. This seminar adopts a broad concept of international institutions understood as including both formal institutions such as the WTO, World Bank or UN and informal institutions and norms. This seminar is open to a variety of research methods but there will be an emphasis on qualitative research designs and methods.
The master thesis is an independent piece of work for which you have to delineate your own research question, related to the topic of international organizations. You are expected to do the readings required for the thesis seminar. You can use the further reading as a starting point for your research.
Following the COVID-19 crisis, Brexit, and the re-election of Donald Trump, the role of global and regional economic institutions has become increasingly important and contentious. At the same time, these institutions also increasingly shape the domestic economic and political policies available to states and remain central to international cooperation in areas from financial regulation to international trade. A great deal of important research has focused on describing the various factors shaping the origin and evolution of these institutions as well as their impact. This seminar will begin by exploring and evaluating broad analytical approaches to international cooperations, as well as questioning the role of power, timing, and ideas in shaping institutions.
Theme 103: International Governance (Dr. M. Mos)
This seminar brings together students working on international governance, broadly construed. It covers collective responses to global issues by various actors — including state-based actors (e.g. governments and parliaments), international organizations, courts, and non-state actors — through both formal and informal arrangements. The seminar invites a particular focus on international norms. Specific topics may include the behavior of states and advocacy groups within international organizations, the dynamics of international norms (e.g. human rights), compliance with and contestation of international law, and the agency of international bureaucracies. The thesis seminar, however, does not deal with these topics substantively. It focuses instead on the more practical matter of writing a coherent, theoretically compelling, and empirically sound thesis. The seminar is open to different research designs and methods, but will primarily cater to qualitative approaches. Suitable methods include comparative and in-depth case studies, process tracing, and content and discourse analysis.
Note that students are asked to complete a preparatory assignment ahead of the first meeting: they should come to class with a brief description – no longer than two paragraphs – of their initial ideas, including a tentative research question, for the research project.
Assessment method
Grades are based 100% upon the research thesis submitted toward the end of the semester, which is evaluated jointly by the instructor/supervisor and a second reader.
Registration
See 'Information and Deadlines'
Timetable
See 'MyTimetable'