Prospectus

nl en

Role of International Actors in (tackling global inequality and) Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Course
2021-2022

Disclaimer: due to the coronavirus pandemic, this course description might be subject to changes. For the latest updates regarding corona virus, please check this link.

Topics: Sustainable development, international and European governance, economics and governance.
Disciplines: Law, Political Science, International Political Economy, International Relations.
Skills: Research, public speaking, leadership, presenting, academic writing.

Admission requirements:

This course is an (extracurricular) Honours Class: an elective course within the Honours College programme. Third year students who don’t participate in the Honours College, have the opportunity to apply for a Bachelor Honours Class. Students will be selected based on i.a. their motivation and average grade.

Description:

The overall aim of this course is to analyse how international actors intervene in the discussion of global inequality and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, by using the case of taxation.

Governments and internationals organizations as international actors are building new initiatives to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. One field where these initiatives have clearly emerged is in the field of taxation since tax revenue can be used to provide public services (health, education, etc.) and therefore to alleviate poverty and to tackle global inequality.

This course will address the role of

  • Political fora (G7, G20, G24, G77);

  • International tax organizations (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD, International Monetary Fund IMF, World Bank WB, and the United Nations UN), and

  • Regional organizations (EU, African Union, etc)

  • Civil society (NGOs)

  • Donor countries (the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany)

This course welcomes interaction between different areas of law, public policy and international relations.

Course Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

Research, exercise public speaking, leadership, presenting, academic writing, social skills (cooperation, working in groups): by the end of this course the students will have integrated these skills and knowledge from the challenges that countries and international organizations face to deal with the Sustainable Development Goals.
In addition, students will gain a basic understanding of how international actors (civil society, international and regional organizations, political fora) intervene in the discussion of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Programme and timetable:

The seven meetings / seminars of the class will take place on the following Thursdays from 17.15 - 20.00:

Session 1: 11 November, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.17)
Session 2: 18 November, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.17)
Session 3: 25 November, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.30)
Session 4: 2 December, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.30)
Session 5: 9 December, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.30)
Session 6: 16 December, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.14)
Session 7: 23 December, 2021 (Kamerlingh Onnes, room B 0.14)

The following topics will be covered in the class:

  • Tackling global inequality and achieving sustainable development Goals;

  • Role of political forums (G7, G20, G24, G77);

  • Role of the OECD (guest lecture);

  • Role of World Bank, IMF and the UN;

  • NGOs (guest lecture);

  • Countries as donors (guest lecture);

  • Regional organizations;

  • Presentation memorandum.

Location:

Kamerlingh Onnes building, rooms B 0.17, B 0.30 and B 0.14.

Reading list:

In outline (some) examples of literature that will be used in this course. Provisionally, subject to change:

Taxation, International Cooperation and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Eds. I.J. Mosquera, D. Lesage and W. Lips. United Nations University Series on Regionalism. Springer Publications. 2021. Open access. Link https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030648565

Website: OECD Tax and Development Programme available at https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-global/tax-and-development.htm

Website: IMF Tax Sunday Conference 2018, 2019 and 2020 https://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2020/10/08/tax-Sunday-conference-2020

Website: IMF Taxation and the Sustainable Development Goals https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/video/2018/02/14/taxation-and-the-sustainable-development-goals

UN FACTI Panel Financial of the High Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda https://www.factipanel.org/

Other possible literature will be announced in class or via Brightspace.

Course load and teaching method:

This course is worth 5 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 140 hours:

  • Seminars: 7 seminars of 3 hours (total 21 hours)

  • Literature reading: 6 hours/week total 42 hours)

  • Memorandum and presentation: 42 hours

  • Essay: 35 hours

Presence and participation is mandatory

NB: For the memorandum, presentation and policy letters, students will work in a group (2 to 3 students) to ensure the exchange of ideas in the project and (also) the cooperation between students of different disciplines.

Assessment methods:

  • One memorandum:
    Memorandum addressing how international actors (multinationals, civil society, international and regional organizations, political fora) intervene in the discussion of global inequality?
    40%
    Word count: 3000 words. Deadline TBA

  • Presentation of the memorandum: (20%)

  • Essay: “Is the setting of international standards by the G20 and the OECD to tackle global inequality good or bad?” This question should be answered from 4 different perspectives:

  • From the perspective of a developing country

  • From the perspective of a tax haven

  • From the perspective of an OECD member country

  • From the perspective of a NGO
    Try and give both a positive and a negative answer for all perspectives, and give as many reasons as you can think of for both positions (40%)

For the memorandum, presentation and policy letters, students will work in a group (2 to 3 students) to ensure the exchange of ideas in the project and (also) the cooperation between students of different disciplines.

Note: please mention, the topic, the assessment method, the word count, and the deadline.

Students can only pass this course after successful completion of all partial exams.

The assessment methods will be further explained in the first session of the class.

Brightspace and uSis:

Brightspace will be used in this course. Upon admission students will be enrolled in Brightspace by the teaching administration.

Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for the Bachelor Honours Classes. Your registration will be done centrally.

Registration process:

Submitting an application for this course is possible from Monday 16 August 2021 up to and including Thursday 2 September 2021 23:59 through the link on the Honours Academy student website.

Note: students don’t have to register for the Bachelor Honours Classes in uSis. The registration is done centrally before the start of the class.

Contact:
Dr. I.J.Mosquera Valderrama: i.j.mosquera.valderrama@law.leidenuniv.nl