Admission requirements
To participate in this course, students should have successfully passed the first year courses Introduction to International Relations, Introduction to International Organizations and Politics of the European Union, as well as the second year course Analysing International Relations. If the number of interested students exceeds the limit, preference will be given to students who have successfully completed most of their courses of year 1 and 2 in the IRO program.
Description
This course investigates the dilemmas and prospects of accountability in global governance. Global governance has become increasingly complex: numerous international organizations, civil society and state actors cooperate to address global issues such as peace and security, health crises and economic problems. With transnational authority growing over time, the question of how these actors can be held accountable has become especially pertinent when global decisions directly affect individual human rights.
In this course, we study the concept of accountability and how it can be applied to the context of global governance. We then analyze how accountability works in different empirical fields, such as peacekeeping, vaccine development and economic policies. In the last part, we discuss what accountability (or the lack thereof) means for the legitimacy of global governance institutions.
Course objectives
Students of this course will have acquired substantial knowledge in the conceptual, theoretical and empirical debates about accountability in global governance. They will be able to reflect on the core academic arguments concerning accountability in the International Relations literature as well as in other disciplines, such as International Law. In addition, they will have gained in-depth insights and apply the concept of accountability to specific empirical cases through in-class discussions, presentations and individual assignments.
In terms of skills, this seminar will help students developing their critical and analytical thinking in preparation of their final Bachelor thesis. By the end of the course, students will know how to present and support rigorous and well-developed arguments. Students will further have learned how to compare different empirical cases within a specific theoretical framework.
Mode of instruction
Seminar
Assessment method
Presentation (25%)
Reading reflection papers (35%)
Written assignment (40%)
The overall mark for the course is a cumulative grade established by determining the weighted average. If the final grade is insufficient, a retake option for the whole course will be provided in the form of an oral exam.
Reading list
The reading list and the course syllabus will be posted on Brightspace before the start of the course. All reading material will be available through Leiden University Library.
Registration
See 'Practical Information'
Timetable
See 'MyTimetable'
Contact
Dr. Gisela Hirschmann
g.k.hirschmann@fsw.leidenuniv.nl