Admission requirements
Only students of the Advanced MSc International Relations and Diplomacy can take this course.
Description
This course analyses the impact of the recently increasing geopolitical tensions and conflict on a highly globalised world economy. ‘Globalisation fever’ peaked around the turn of the century. As the bipolar world order of the Cold War broke down, the expansion of international trade and financial flows of prior decades enveloped the former communist world, which, in the footsteps of Southern Europe and Latin America, was simultaneously also undergoing democratic reforms. The world became more interconnected and, seemingly, politically, economically, and culturally more homogenous, while it appeared that traditional geopolitics took a back seat. In recent years, however, rising geopolitical tensions – primarily between the US and China, the West and Russia, and increasingly between the US and the EU – have been profoundly changing the landscape of the global economy.
The course will analyse the complex ways in which geopolitics is (re)shaping the world economy. Some analysts claim that we are entering an era of ‘de-globalisation’ in which we are faced with a new division of the world economy into geopolitical blocs not seen since the Cold War or perhaps even the interwar era. Others, however, see the ‘return of geopolitics’ less as an undoing of the previous era of globalisation and more as a rewiring of a resiliently globalised economy along geopolitical lines (‘re-globalisation’). This course explores the key academic and policy debates on topics like the (geo)political determinants of economic development; how globalisation and geopolitics affect economic inequality between and within states; the (geo)politics of migration; how states are weaponising economic interdependence and how they are trying to hedge against the risks of interdependence; and how great-power rivalry is reshaping the world economy.
Course objectives
The purpose of the course is to raise, exchange and evaluate questions regarding the ways in which globalisation and geopolitical processes intersect and influence one another. The main objective of the seminar meetings is for students to form their own judgement and to encourage critical thinking.
Timetable
On the right-hand side of the programme front page of the studyguide you will find a link to the online timetables.
Mode of instruction
Study load: 140 hours
Assessment method
Class participation 20%
Presentation 30%
Paper Outline: 10%
Final Paper: 40%
Failed partial grades or components should be compensated by passed partial grades or components. The calculated grade must be at least 5.50 to pass the course. It is not possible to re-sit a partial grade or component once you have passed the course.
Passed partial grades obtained in the academic year 2024-2025 remain valid during the academic year 2025-2026.
Passed partial grades obtained in the academic year 2025-2026 remain valid during the academic year 2026-2027.
Should a student fail the overall course, the student can complete the course in the next academic year. In cases of exceptional circumstances, a student may apply to the board of examiners for a resit to complete the course in the same academic year.
Reading list
No books need to be purchased; readings will be announced.
Registration
TBA
Contact
Dr. Kaspar Pucek
Research Fellow within the Security Unit and the Russia & Eastern Europe Centre (CREEC) at the Clingendael Institute
kpucek@clingendael.org
Remarks
This course is an elective designed for MIRD students.
This elective is conditional on at least 5 students registering for this course.
Second year students have priority for the registration to this course.
This course is offered by The Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’.